Last Friday I marched in protest against political inaction regarding Climate Change. I was one of a hundred thousand people. I hope we made some noise.
Climate Change is a bigger issue than I can begin to cover here. If you’re here, you’re probably here for Magic stuff and nerdy comics. And that’s fine. But it can be tough to play Magic sometimes if packaging and plastics stress you out. Magic is an extremely packaging-heavy game.
I wish Wizards/Hasbro would find a biodegradable alternative to plastics, especially for booster packs. I feel bad cracking packs and looking at that huge pile of garbage. It’s worse with things like precons, which do not need to have fully packaged boosters inside. Knowing that a lot of stores order boxes of Magic cards just to crack them for singles sucks too. Those packs never even saw retail.
Drafting drives a lot of MtG sales. It’s a hyper-accelerated version of Standard, in terms of card turnover. You always need new cards. I will be writing about ways to get a draft experience and use cards in things like Draft Cubes, but if you’re doing in-store, or sanctioned drafts, you’re cracking fresh packs every time.
I like drafting, especially getting to choose from a fresh 15 of cards that have a whiff of new pack smell. I want future players to continue to enjoy that, too. A biodegradable alternative to packs would be a good start, and an order option for stores that will crack them immediately, or for inside precons, could be created with packs that are less packaging, plastic, and ink intensive.
Another massive way for Magic to get greener is to reduce the footprint of products like Commander precons and Signature Spellbooks. I own some of these. I got them for the cards inside. Which are small. I have never been swayed by the look of a big bold Magic product sitting on a shelf. Maybe that’s a Walmart thing. I imagine most LGS’s (Local Game Stores) would appreciate smaller products. They might order more. And Wizards can ship them for less.
In the same vein, it’s time to eliminate the jumbo-sized commander card. It’s the only part of the product that’s larger than the cards. Is there a demand for these? They make for several large single-use plastic pieces that hopefully are recyclable in your area.
I recently opened a Signature Spellbook: Gideon. I’m super happy with the cards inside, but not with the many layers of packaging I pushed through to get there. Most of it was empty space. This has to stop. If you care about this, Wizards listens to their consumers to some degree. If enough of us raise this concern, it might make a difference.
On Magic’s Main site, you can drop down to the bottom and follow links until you come to their support area, which has an option to submit a request. Another great way to post your feelings on this topic is on a forum page. The mothership’s forum page is here. Give them feedback. If you take one of their surveys, put it in your comments.
Greener thinking often saves a lot of money. Smaller, less involved packaging helps everyone in the entire MtG pipeline. We can get these things together, and all profit. Thanks as always for reading!
I’m giving out a prize for getting to the bottom of this post! The first person to post a comment wins a code for a Fblthp avatar and sleeves on Magic: Arena!
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