A New Jersey MTG retailer overplayed their hand when it got here to rumors of a Magic: The Gathering x Star Trek Universes Past deck
Earlier this month, pre-order pages for an unannounced Magic: The Gathering and Star Trek crossover undertaking made its technique to a small MTG on-line retailer. Buried within the hundreds of pages of the shop, followers discovered it and assumed it was a leak – an unintentional launch of data tied to actual initiatives about to be introduced. Phrase of this took over MTG communities through the July 4 weekend, and allegedly, some followers even purchased into it by putting pre-orders for this ‘leaked’ MTG x Star Trek deck.
The downside is, none of it was true. It wasn’t a leak, and even a rumor. It was a Ferengi-style method to promoting Magic: The Gathering playing cards on the web.
The MTG x Star Trek deck leak that wasn’t
A New Jersey-based tabletop collectible card (TCG) retailer named Saga Ideas has a web based retailer. Whereas solely a small portion of its income comes from on-line gross sales, it noticed a probability to extend that by tricking the Google search algorithm to prioritize its merchandise over different companies if a MTG x Star Trek card sequence have been ever to be made. Discuss of a MTG x Star Trek card sequence is one thing that comes up usually round MTG tables, and has been topic to rampant hypothesis over time on-line – the purpose that a purported ‘test card’ for the never-confirmed series was created and posted online as if it was the real thing.about 12 months ago.
Driving excessive, apparently, on the record-breaking success of the Last Fantasy x MTG playing cards that got here out simply a few weeks prior, Saga Ideas started creating actual listings for pretend merchandise on its on-line storefront in an effort for the Google algorithm to consider they have been among the many first to find out about these merchandise, and record them larger in search rankings that they usually would. And in keeping with considered one of Saga Ideas’ house owners, this is not the primary time they’ve completed this.
“We paused the preorders- did not count on you guys to purchase these so quick!” Saga Ideas’ co-owner Teghjaran ‘Teg’ Chadha wrote on the company’s Discord in a message that is now not public. “We hid these within the web site like we have completed in previous for rumors to bribe Google to love our web site. Nobody discovered the Nicktoons MTG set, although!”
Saga Ideas did not simply create one itemizing for an imaginary MTG x Star Trek card set, it created a number of ones that have since been deleted. Following within the format that Wizards of the Coast has completed with different crossover units, corresponding to with Last Fantasy and Lord of the Rings, Saga Ideas listed 4 Commander Deck merchandise, a Play Boosters product, a Collector Boosters product, and varied Bundles. It even went to the purpose of making what it now says is a fictional launch date, that of September 30, 2026.
Will a Magic: The Gathering x Star Trek deck ever occur?
Will a MTG x Star Trek ever occur? Talking as a 20+ yr popular culture journalist and somebody who performs MTG with pals weekly (generally extra), I might say its seemingly. Not by any insider data, however by these three easy info:
- These crossover decks are Wizards of the Coast’s best-selling decks in effectively… ever.
- Wizards of the Coast has a stronger relationship with the house owners of the Star Trek franchise – Paramount International – and has already introduced crossover decks for different franchises it owns corresponding to Avatar: The Final Airbender and SpongeBob SquarePants.
- Folks like cash.
- MTG followers love Star Trek
As I await the eventual, possible announcement of an MTG x Star Trek deck someday in my lifetime, let’s not get forward of ourselves and keep in mind rule #7 of the Ferengi Guidelines of Acquisition: “Preserve your ears open.”
[Editor’s note: For full disclosure, Popverse’s parent company ReedPop has a strong partnership with Wizards of the Coast with the official Magic Con events throughout the year. We didn’t consult with ReedPop or Wizards of the Coast for this article.]
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