Rolling for Initiative is a weekly column by Scott Thorne, PhD, owner of Castle Perilous Games & Books in Carbondale, Illinois and instructor in marketing at Southeast Missouri State University.  This week, Thorne gives an update on tariffs and the Diamond Comic Distributors  bankruptcy, plus a look at the reaction to the Aetherdrift prerelease.

The threatened 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico have been pushed back for 30 days.  However, the 10% tariff on products imported from China went into place, the de minimus exemption on imports was eliminated, and the Post Office stopped accepting shipments from Hong Kong and China.  But then, the de minimus exemption on imports was reinstated and the Post Office resumed accepting shipments from Hong Kong and China (see "Slow Motion").  All of that took place within one week.  Just imagine what the next 52 weeks hold for the game industry, much less the economy at large?

Meanwhile, we still have the Diamond Comic Distributors bankruptcy and its potential impact on Alliance Game Distributors looming.  Universal Distribution still has its stalking horse offer on the table for Alliance, and I have not heard of any other offers to buy Alliance or any components of Diamond.  So it is a pretty good bet Universal will acquire Alliance, giving Universal an entry point into the American market and minimizing the disruption to the game industry a Diamond, and hence Alliance, liquidation would cause (see "Diamond Files for Reorganization").

Magic: The Gathering - Aetherdrift released this past weekend to a pretty good sized "meh" among our customers, with the smallest attendance for prerelease events in recent memory.  I did see photos of a number of nice racing-themed displays set up by other stores, but most of our customers were more interested in the Amonkhet subplot in the set rather than the main planer racing theme.  Given that the Eternal Might mummy Commander Deck outsold the Living Energy deck by a factor of four here, I can hope we see a follow-up to the Amonkhet set in 2026.

Customers are also looking forward to the announced Return to Lorwyn set, now pushed back to Q1 2026, rather than any of the Universes Beyond sets scheduled for release later this year.  Other stores may differ, of course, but I'm hearing little interest in the Spider-Man set, even from Marvel fans.  This may be due to how thematically different the Spider-Man set is from previous Magic sets.

With a few exceptions (Universes Beyond Doctor Who, Warhammer 40,000 and Neon Dynasty), Magic sets have remained firmly ensconced in the fantasy milieu and Spider-Man is the first full set to venture outside of that theme, which may throw players off.  Putting a few really desirable cards in Warhammer 40,000 stoked demand for that set though, and if Wizards of the Coast does something similar with Spider-Man, I would expect a similar reaction.

One last note: we have run the WotC-produced videos discussing the new 2024 Player’s Handbook, 2024 Dungeon Masters Guide and 2024 Monster Manual in the store and the staff found them interesting, although I have not noticed much interest in them from our customers.  I did happen to notice a call to action at the end of a few of them directing viewers to purchase enhanced versions through D&D Beyond.  Please WotC, add six words to the end of the video "or from your local game store."  Local game stores will thank you.

How did Aetherdrift do in your store?  Other comments?  Send them to castleperilousgames@gmail.com.

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.