Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Shadows over Innistrad

Not my favorite way to celebrate Halloween with a headache and an upset stomach, but still, when you own a small business, it is rather hard to call in sick. Still I am luckier than other store owners I know, who run their operations with just themselves and one or two part time workers. It raises hob for them when they get sick.

Rather appropriately for Halloween, WOTC let drop the name of the next block of Magic, coming next April:  Shadows over Innistrad. While a return to the Innistrad setting is quite welcome and I am certain we will sell quite a lot of the set, I do have a couple of quibbles. 

1)      Spring is a less than appropriate time for the release of a Gothic Themed set. Fall is when the customer’s mindset turns to things dark and scary. While making the announcement on Halloween was indeed appropriate, though not good timing from a public relations viewpoint, having the set come out in fall would have suited the season and setting more.

2)      While I understand WOTC wanting to use the Grand Prix Indianapolis tournament as a backdrop for the announcement, generating excitement among players at the event, doing so violates the basic rules of public relations.  You don’t release big news on a weekend and you don’t release big news on a holiday. The Shadows Over Innistrad announcement violates both of those. Still though, I am talking about it so a Saturday holiday announcement obviously didn’t hurt the news release that much.


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