Found this article by Saffron Olive of MTG Goldfish and thought I'd share it.
Discuss.
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"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
A well reasoned article. The conclusion seems reasonable but also fairly unimportant. Which explains why no one is talking about it.
The only thing he doesn't touch on is that this shift in how they are pushing the game is also possibly coming with how they treat standard with the possibility of quick bans if anything goes wrong. Having been burned by a string of mediocre standards due to a surplus of caution on bans the decision to no longer do regular ban updates means that if standard goes south we could see a ban the same week people notice a problem which could be huge.
That's what happens when you print Standard legal cards to be on the same power level as Modern in order to sell playable cards in eternal formats. Competitive Magic is currently in the worst state it's been in the game's history. Everyone seems to be moving to Pioneer since Modern is too expensive and too degenerate. The Grand Prix has been replaced with the MPL where it only rewards players who grind competitively on MTG Arena online instead of grinding competitively at a live event where they can socialize with others at the table.
Now imagine If there was a Paper Magic tournament at an LGS where the only prize support was MTG Arena Codes. Why would an LGS sell a product that promotes their customers not to shop at their store? Imagine If this was a Pre-Release Event which is the biggest casual event to build up your player base, everyone of those participants are going to receive something to go online and get a free draft on MTG Arena. Why would someone want to be selling a product that's eating themselves? The answer is that they wouldn't.
The scary thing about this is that the LGS would have to do it If Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro told them to even If they're a WPN store. If the LGS ends up getting rid of the prize support If it ends up being MTG Arena Codes then there's no incentive to play. The Collector's Editions that they started doing in recent Standard sets with Throne of Eldraine and now Theros Beyond Death is a deliberate attempt to get rid of Paper Magic. MTG Arena makes more money than Paper Magic where they don't have to rely on the LGS, local distributors, printers, packaging, etc.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
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Found this article by Saffron Olive of MTG Goldfish and thought I'd share it.
Discuss.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
The only thing he doesn't touch on is that this shift in how they are pushing the game is also possibly coming with how they treat standard with the possibility of quick bans if anything goes wrong. Having been burned by a string of mediocre standards due to a surplus of caution on bans the decision to no longer do regular ban updates means that if standard goes south we could see a ban the same week people notice a problem which could be huge.
Now imagine If there was a Paper Magic tournament at an LGS where the only prize support was MTG Arena Codes. Why would an LGS sell a product that promotes their customers not to shop at their store? Imagine If this was a Pre-Release Event which is the biggest casual event to build up your player base, everyone of those participants are going to receive something to go online and get a free draft on MTG Arena. Why would someone want to be selling a product that's eating themselves? The answer is that they wouldn't.
The scary thing about this is that the LGS would have to do it If Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro told them to even If they're a WPN store. If the LGS ends up getting rid of the prize support If it ends up being MTG Arena Codes then there's no incentive to play. The Collector's Editions that they started doing in recent Standard sets with Throne of Eldraine and now Theros Beyond Death is a deliberate attempt to get rid of Paper Magic. MTG Arena makes more money than Paper Magic where they don't have to rely on the LGS, local distributors, printers, packaging, etc.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta