How WotC deals with inflation/deflation.

Last time we concluded our discussion on inflation and deflation. Armed with this background knowledge, we are going to look at how Wizards of the Coast deal with this for Magic the Gathering Online and how it affects those of us who run bots.

First off, Wizards of the Coast is in the business of making money. Now, this may shock some, but they really do care about the health of MTG. They want to make as much money as possible. I can hear some of you screaming now “No wonder they charge $4.29 per pack!” or “Is that why they release four (4) sets a year?” WotC has addressed these concerns on their site.

This may also shock some people but WotC also cares about the secondary market for its cards as well. Why? When it comes to physical Magic playing, the stores that sell booster packs, also sell the cards individually. This is how these card stores and gaming centers can get extra money. They can buy/sell individual cards and sell them on the secondary market. If there are no places to play Magic, then Magic as a game will dwindle and die away.

The same is true for the online market. Having bots buy/sell excess cards from players is a great way to bring in casual players to the scene and a way to get beginners involved without a high entry fee. I can purchase a couple hundred cards for a couple of dollars, experiment with them and can even enter tournaments using said cards and can have a reasonable chance to doing well. This is healthy for Magic, so it is in WotC's best interests to keep the secondary market alive and well.

So what specifically has WotC done to keep card values stable? Back in the early days, Invasion cards were going for a real premium. I've even heard at one point there were only three (3) copies of a certain rare foil in existence in the entire MTGO universe. So what did WotC do? They had events using Invasion cards which would increase the supply of said cards so that those who desired them, can obtain them at a reasonable price.

Deflation is more of a concern. When a set rotates out, the demand of said cards plummets. Since WotC creates this problem by rotating what is acceptable in standard and extended formats, Wizards must also address it in the secondary market as well. Otherwise, people will dump their supply just before they rotate out and the physical card shops and bots get stuck holding the bag.

So, WotC also stops printing boosters. This is done to keep the prices stable. Otherwise, a trickle of cards would enter the market as those boosters would be opened and increase the supply of cards, keeping the prices set low.

In conclusion, WotC really desires a strong secondary market for its cards because that makes their business, selling a tournament experience and booster packs, much strong and that makes them (and us who run bots) stronger in the end.