Why isn't Magic popular anymore? Just 2 years ago it was

4 reasons:

A. Scalpers. The rampant buyouts of the past 2 years have eviscerated consumer confidence.

B. Poor card design. Over the past 2 years, WoTC has let an infinite combo and 2 instant win buttons into Standard, and a tier 0 deck into Modern.

C. Price gouging. The removal of Event Decks and Clash Packs as well as the switch to 6-month rotation increased the cost of Standard dramatically, albeit temporarily, as WoTC has since reversed their decision.

D. Failure to adapt to changing times. Technology is evolving, yet Magic Online still functions like a game from the early 2000s.

Don't know about your area, but all my local gaming stores ever talk about or really sell are MTG cards.

>>54811851
It's doing better than Yugioh, FoW, and Vanguard, but that's not a high bar.

>>54811219
We're all playing Commander, Cube/Limited with friends, or Kitchen Table at this point. They're the only formats that make any sense to invest in at this point, and they mostly consist of cards that we already own.

I mean, I bought a couple of new cards to tech up my Ghave deck, but I bought those as singles.

Though honestly... let's wait and see how Ixalam and Unstable does. If Pirates & Dinos, and Fun: The Draft Set don't sell, then we can finally call Magic Dead. However most of the recent changes resemble a change in MTG's design dynamic, one that seems to be for the better.

The shit is simply too fucking expensive and the new sets are largely jammed with garbage cards.

>>54811219
Magic sits in this awkward precipice where cards aren't powerful enough to have an impact on older formats and creatures in standard are too good while removal is too shitty to deal with them. I doubt that Looter Scooter would have been a big deal if they just reprinted lightning bolt or even incinerate, but they seem to be afraid of upsetting the format's most casual players.

They also went in the completely wrong direction to entice new players into the game. The Jacetice League is one of the single most obnoxious things I've ever seen in a story and I don't even want to bother buying any cards from the set where they're getting their shit pushed in. The two set per block format also means that there can't be any satisfying conclusion to the conflict they've introduced either. In the same set where Kozilek and Ulamog turn up, I see them getting blown the fuck out on another card.

It's a filthy normalfag game used in the same manner as fucking Art Museum Money laundering scam tactics. It's about the money, and only 5eniggers play it.

>>54811851
I kind of despise the local FLGS since I moved for this, they seem to care only about their MTG. Their tables are constantly occupied by MTG players, their agenda is just MTG tournaments. I get it, they have an established community, but I feel filthy buying regular cardboard in a heroin dealer den.

It's dead for me because every FNM is a draft, and it's always the same 2-3 guys who win. Any other format that the FLGS runs only brings in 4-5 people total. Losing to the same asshole every time isn't fun.

>>54812545
5 years ago, avengers was the biggest thing in nerd culture. Wizards saw that and glommed on, starting to develop the Gatewatch. This came to fruition 3 years ago (because it takes 18-24 months to go from idea to set) and wizards didn't realize that the fad more or less had vanished by the time they hit it. It took until last year for them to realize that shit wasn't fly, and it's taking another 18-24 months for them to affect any changes to reverse that.

It sucks that it took that long for this to happen, but that's logistics for you.

>>54811219
Probably the rise of online card games like hearthstone or whatnot.

>>54811219
Card design is shit, dumbed down rules, and boring-ass jacetice league. My reasons at least, which is certainly amplified by Wizards' digital offering continuing to be utter shit.

>>54824075
This.

HS, Gwent, Shadowverse are taking a big bite out of the market.