"Eternal FOMO: The Enchantment That Never Ends."

 

"Eternal FOMO: The Enchantment That Never Ends."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

I imagine that sometime back in 2020, at Wizards of the Coast headquarters, they gathered everyone who opposed the proposed Secret Lairs and Universes Beyond crossovers into one room and sacrificed them.

Then, using all that newly generated mana, they cast a Global Enchantment.

An enchantment that still affects us to this very day.

Eternal FOMO.

Yes. Wizards of the Coast has permanently enchanted all of us with the fear of missing out.

They bombard us with an endless cycle of previews, spoilers, reveals, Secret Lairs, bonus sheets, and announcements until we can barely think straight.

Surely you need to buy this set.

After all, look at this card.

And this one.

And this one.

And then the influencers arrive.

“This set is a banger!”

And just like that, the spell grows stronger.

Those who resist are eventually drowned beneath a deluge of new cards. Sometimes, Wizards even manages to hit that exact obscure creature type you have been waiting years to see supported.

You waited forever for a Lord for your favorite tribe?

Congratulations.

Now you have twelve cards for it.

Heck, Spiders and Turtles barely had a Lord before, and now we are practically up to our necks in Spiders and Turtles.

Eternal FOMO is real. And it is here to stay.

Case in point: a friend of mine recently bought a Hobbit Bundle.

He had barely opened it.

He probably hadn't even finished admiring what he pulled.

And before he could properly enjoy his haul, here comes the deluge of Reality Fracture spoilers, bringing with it another wave of cards that suddenly feel like absolute must-haves.

And guess what?

Once you finally buy your Reality Fracture products, the next set will already be staring you in the face.

Before you have even received your Reality Fracture cards.

Then add all the Secret Lairs.

Then add the cards already being spoiled for sets coming in 2027.

Then add whatever else Wizards has decided we absolutely, positively need to know about right now.

There is no escape.

Eternal FOMO will never die.

And MTG players, despite our supposedly strong wills, have only two choices:

Quit...

or succumb.

We complain about the endless release schedule.

We complain about the constant spoilers.

We complain about our wallets.

And then Wizards shows us one more card.

“But look at this one.”

And suddenly we're checking preorders.

Nice move, WotC.

Nice move indeed.