Game designer Mark Rosewater recently addressed the release of the Magic: The Gathering set “March of the Machine: Aftermath” on Nov. 27. Unfortunately, the set did not fare well according to market research data.
The release of “March of the Machine: Aftermath” faced several issues, including the entire set being leaked before spoilers began and high prices on products that only contained a few desired cards. Rosewater discussed these problems in his Odds & Ends series on Nov. 27, revealing that market research data ranked the supplemental set as one of the lowest-rated in Magic’s 25-year history.
Rosewater explained that players were asked to rate the set on a scale, and the top-two-box score was used to determine its overall rating. He revealed that “March of the Machine: Aftermath” had the lowest top-two-box score ever recorded for a randomized booster product in the history of Magic. This disappointing score has led Rosewater to express his lack of optimism about the future of supplemental sets.
The developers at Wizards of the Coast (WotC) also acknowledged that the handling of the Multiverse war with the Phyrexians could have been improved. Rosewater suggested that dividing the sets could have allowed “March of the Machine” to focus more on the Magic planes fighting back, rather than including the invasion in the same set.
Despite the issues surrounding “March of the Machine: Aftermath,” it is evident that players are more interested in well-rounded Standard-legal sets that effectively tell a clear story and represent characters through gameplay on the cards. Achieving this level of quality is challenging with a supplemental set.
Source: DOTESPORTS
