I must admit, I disagree with the OP and with all of you who are saying that the advantage to the player playing first is a 'problem to be solved'.
As has been pointed out, in tournaments, the advantage of going first actually evens out over multiple rounds.
On a game by game basis, the person who plays first has an advantage. Obviously. And, that's not a bug, it's a feature. Most games and sports are like this and it doesn't make them any more or less 'fair'.
One of the great things about Magic is that it's so flexible that you can actually adjust your play style (within the confines of your opening 8) based on play order. Or to put it in more concrete terms, if play order really were a huge issue, I think we'd be seeing more decks with Simian Spirit Guides and Gemstone Caverns for turn 0 shenanigans.
Another great thing about this game, and something I've loved since I started playing 24 years ago, is that it's as much as about skill as it is about luck. The comparison with Chess is apt, but so is the comparison with Poker. You have to do the best you can with the hand you draw.
If you take away the element of chance that the roll of the dice is a part of (and the choice of play/draw), you fundamentally change this game, in my opinion, for the worse because you remove some of that chance element.
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As has been pointed out, in tournaments, the advantage of going first actually evens out over multiple rounds.
On a game by game basis, the person who plays first has an advantage. Obviously. And, that's not a bug, it's a feature. Most games and sports are like this and it doesn't make them any more or less 'fair'.
One of the great things about Magic is that it's so flexible that you can actually adjust your play style (within the confines of your opening 8) based on play order. Or to put it in more concrete terms, if play order really were a huge issue, I think we'd be seeing more decks with Simian Spirit Guides and Gemstone Caverns for turn 0 shenanigans.
Another great thing about this game, and something I've loved since I started playing 24 years ago, is that it's as much as about skill as it is about luck. The comparison with Chess is apt, but so is the comparison with Poker. You have to do the best you can with the hand you draw.
If you take away the element of chance that the roll of the dice is a part of (and the choice of play/draw), you fundamentally change this game, in my opinion, for the worse because you remove some of that chance element.