So I've made threads in the past trying to ascertain why Standard, my favorite format, has been dying these past few years. I've come up with a few (what I think anyway) valid reasons as to why this is happening and what the future may hold for the game in its paper form (and why it may go away):
MTG Online and MTG Arena
MTG Online has been around for a while now. Cards are cheaper to buy here than in paper form (because Wizards doesn't have to worry about card stock, ink, and shipping costs). Magic players, many of which who are somewhat awkward/anti-social IRL, have even less incentive to attend physical tournaments. Instead, they can play the game in the comfort of their home, and have little to no interaction with other people as they see fit. Aside from playing the game, that is. MTG Arena is the same deal, BUT (as of right now) it exclusively supports the Standard format. Which, AGAIN, gives Standard players less reasons to play at stores/tournaments.
Paper Card Quality has Deteriorated
There have already been multiple threads on Mtgsalvation alone that have gone into depth as to how/why this has happened. As a paper player, I personally feel like I'm playing with an inferior product. But I also see this as a sign that Wizards believes gamers won't care about this unless they're collectors (I am not one of these, I buy in for the game). It's a cost-cutting move that makes them more money in the long run, players be damned. This makes it harder for players who invest in the paper game to preserve the quality of cards they wish to trade in with vendors/buddies because the cards are more easily damaged. I find it hard to bring myself to purchase expensive $20+ cards for this reason alone, but didn't really have a problem with this in the past.
Standard Player Turnout/Tournament Coverage
I've been told by other players that play other formats that standard is a boring format because the card pool is smaller and there's only 2-3 decks that dominate the field. This is partly true, but I think it has to do with how the format is covered, more so than anything else. A lot of tournaments these days are Team Constructed. The goal from broadcasters is to highlight each format equally, but that often isn't the case. I can't tell you guys how frustrating it's been to want to tune in a watch a good Standard match, only to see Modern and Legacy get most of the screen time. Heck, at Pro Tour 25 Anniversary Turbo Fog was getting a lot of hype and placed 5th overall. It used Nexus of Fate, a card that is currently $45+. Speculators are saying the card could get even more expensive should Turbo Fog become the dominate deck in the format. How many times did I get to see the deck work on camera? Once. One time. And this happens more often than not.
I think all of these reasons (and others I haven't mentioned because they require a serious, more adult conversation) will eventually lead to the end of paper magic in the next few years. Let me know what you guys think is the root cause of all this!
I personally think, and I could be wrong, that if they attempt to branch into the esports world and become fully or even primarily online based, it will be the death of magic. The appeal of magic is it's the longest lasting, best made card game ever. Culturally it's unique, it's community is diverse and seems special to most players I speak with whether casual or pros. The cards being physical makes them have a special kind of importance and sitting across from your opponent while playing vs them has an appeal and dignity to it similar to chess.
At this point, what makes magic special is everything that sets it apart from things like Hearthstone, I get hearthstone makes more money, gives out bigger prizes and has a larger player base but that sort of makes sense, hearthstone requires less money(virtually free to play), it's far easier to learn, it's easy time wise you can literally play it on your phone while pooping but if they push to model magic after this...it will just become another online game, when it's really much more than that.
Actually walking into independently owned stores and becoming part of communities, making friends, hanging out and playing a game together, sharing a culture together is pretty awesome and unique in this day and age. As far as the competitive aspect, I think for most of us more serious players the traveling aspect, the face to face competition and the camaraderie when you show to events and see everyone you know through competition is literally the best damn part.
I don't get it, the game may be a little too expensive, especially modern and Legacy but the card market is somewhat stable. Counterfeit are becoming a bit of a problem too, but I don't think it's the end of the world. However, magic isn't even comparable to your gaming consoles and esports, it is it's very own special thing. Throwing that away for short term gains isn't wise in my opinion, interest will dwindle and it will just become another online CCG, nothing special and slowly die.
I try to be sociable, outgoing and friendly but I am very competitive and sometimes it gets the best of me, especially at more relevant events like GPs, RPTQs, SCGs, Nationals etc. The sarcastic remarks, when my opponent topdecks after I made the right lines and probability was in my favor, getting flooded/screwed the "good job" or "you did it" remarks sometimes slip out, but I try to be conscious, I usually avoid being snarky with my opponents and just beat myself up over it later. Sometimes when I make a play mistake, I cant resist telling my opponent how I could have won and that I should have won, but that's just me being insecure and petty too...I try to curb these things and usually they don't come up. Also at my LGS when drafting, if I'm reading my signals right in pack 1 and I'm in x and y colors because theyre open and I'm passing the person to the left of me different colors that are open for them, but they just somehow force my colors...I lecture them sometimes, even if I 3-0, that still irks me.
The other day at my LGS however, there was a Duel Commander tournament and I am close with a lot of people at the shop so we bust each other's balls pretty badly, crass jokes, mean insults, gamesmanship during matches to say the least, laughing at each other etc. There was a new player and game 1 he went basic swamp, basic plains, turn 3 blood moon in an extremely color intensive Marchesa deck playing WW, RR and BB 3 and 4 drops that could never feasibly support a blood moon consistently. I was somewhat kidding and didn't much care about the outcome of the match but I said "I'm getting ****ed by your bad Mana base" as I had all nonbasics in play. Other remarks and me being cocky as a bit of a shtick, fast forward three games I end up winning and the guy apparently was so upset he never wants to come back to the LGS, I felt and feel pretty bad about it. I wish he would have said something, but I understand why he didn't. I just couldn't have imagined someone would have taken my remarks so seriously, but that's ignorance on my behalf.
I'm still amazed at people who refuse to play at an LGS because of a salty player. I once got dressed down by an LGS employee for winning with a standard control deck a couple years ago because I literally just had generic walls in my sideboard to stop fast aggro. I wasn't offended at any point. I wasn't scared, I didn't feel like I was in an unsafe space. Was he being a jerk? Absolutely (and he did end up being fired for repeating this behavior, but far as I was made aware it was less about complaints and more about bad PR). But unless someone is threatening me, and I mean actual threats where someone's trying to fight me in the parking lot I will gladly come back and play again and again.
People need to learn to deal with conflict in a healthy way. Yeah, you were an ass, but avoiding conflict is just as bad as getting too angry in the fact of it. If that guy was so upset, it was HIS responsibility to say "hey, that's not cool, man" or something to that effect. Nowadays everyone just runs from conflict, or they want some authority figure to intervene and crush the other person. It is genuinely sad.
I agree with this to a reasonable extent. The guy was 20 years old (I'm 24) and laughed along with my remarks and acted like everything was cool, if he had said something I would have explained I was kidding, apologized and acted accordingly but he didn't give me that opportunity, he ran and told on me then dropped the hammer that he's never coming back because of me, on top of it. Leaving me with no real option but to feel like a piece of *****.
I wasn't even salty for what it's worth, although the salty remark is hilarious...if someone calls you salty and you say nothing, you're salty! If they say they are not salty, they're super salty! If they agree they're salty, they are! I just again, enjoy gamesmanship, making remarks, talking to my opponents, calling plays, joking around, I honestly mean nothing by it and most people know that.
I try to be sociable, outgoing and friendly but I am very competitive and sometimes it gets the best of me, especially at more relevant events like GPs, RPTQs, SCGs, Nationals etc. The sarcastic remarks, when my opponent topdecks after I made the right lines and probability was in my favor, getting flooded/screwed the "good job" or "you did it" remarks sometimes slip out, but I try to be conscious, I usually avoid being snarky with my opponents and just beat myself up over it later. Sometimes when I make a play mistake, I cant resist telling my opponent how I could have won and that I should have won, but that's just me being insecure and petty too...I try to curb these things and usually they don't come up. Also at my LGS when drafting, if I'm reading my signals right in pack 1 and I'm in x and y colors because theyre open and I'm passing the person to the left of me different colors that are open for them, but they just somehow force my colors...I lecture them sometimes, even if I 3-0, that still irks me.
The other day at my LGS however, there was a Duel Commander tournament and I am close with a lot of people at the shop so we bust each other's balls pretty badly, crass jokes, mean insults, gamesmanship during matches to say the least, laughing at each other etc. There was a new player and game 1 he went basic swamp, basic plains, turn 3 blood moon in an extremely color intensive Marchesa deck playing WW, RR and BB 3 and 4 drops that could never feasibly support a blood moon consistently. I was somewhat kidding and didn't much care about the outcome of the match but I said "I'm getting ****ed by your bad Mana base" as I had all nonbasics in play. Other remarks and me being cocky as a bit of a shtick, fast forward three games I end up winning and the guy apparently was so upset he never wants to come back to the LGS, I felt and feel pretty bad about it. I wish he would have said something, but I understand why he didn't. I just couldn't have imagined someone would have taken my remarks so seriously, but that's ignorance on my behalf.
I personally think, and I could be wrong, that if they attempt to branch into the esports world and become fully or even primarily online based, it will be the death of magic. The appeal of magic is it's the longest lasting, best made card game ever. Culturally it's unique, it's community is diverse and seems special to most players I speak with whether casual or pros. The cards being physical makes them have a special kind of importance and sitting across from your opponent while playing vs them has an appeal and dignity to it similar to chess.
At this point, what makes magic special is everything that sets it apart from things like Hearthstone, I get hearthstone makes more money, gives out bigger prizes and has a larger player base but that sort of makes sense, hearthstone requires less money(virtually free to play), it's far easier to learn, it's easy time wise you can literally play it on your phone while pooping but if they push to model magic after this...it will just become another online game, when it's really much more than that.
Actually walking into independently owned stores and becoming part of communities, making friends, hanging out and playing a game together, sharing a culture together is pretty awesome and unique in this day and age. As far as the competitive aspect, I think for most of us more serious players the traveling aspect, the face to face competition and the camaraderie when you show to events and see everyone you know through competition is literally the best damn part.
I don't get it, the game may be a little too expensive, especially modern and Legacy but the card market is somewhat stable. Counterfeit are becoming a bit of a problem too, but I don't think it's the end of the world. However, magic isn't even comparable to your gaming consoles and esports, it is it's very own special thing. Throwing that away for short term gains isn't wise in my opinion, interest will dwindle and it will just become another online CCG, nothing special and slowly die.
I agree with this to a reasonable extent. The guy was 20 years old (I'm 24) and laughed along with my remarks and acted like everything was cool, if he had said something I would have explained I was kidding, apologized and acted accordingly but he didn't give me that opportunity, he ran and told on me then dropped the hammer that he's never coming back because of me, on top of it. Leaving me with no real option but to feel like a piece of *****.
I wasn't even salty for what it's worth, although the salty remark is hilarious...if someone calls you salty and you say nothing, you're salty! If they say they are not salty, they're super salty! If they agree they're salty, they are! I just again, enjoy gamesmanship, making remarks, talking to my opponents, calling plays, joking around, I honestly mean nothing by it and most people know that.
Oh well, eh.
The other day at my LGS however, there was a Duel Commander tournament and I am close with a lot of people at the shop so we bust each other's balls pretty badly, crass jokes, mean insults, gamesmanship during matches to say the least, laughing at each other etc. There was a new player and game 1 he went basic swamp, basic plains, turn 3 blood moon in an extremely color intensive Marchesa deck playing WW, RR and BB 3 and 4 drops that could never feasibly support a blood moon consistently. I was somewhat kidding and didn't much care about the outcome of the match but I said "I'm getting ****ed by your bad Mana base" as I had all nonbasics in play. Other remarks and me being cocky as a bit of a shtick, fast forward three games I end up winning and the guy apparently was so upset he never wants to come back to the LGS, I felt and feel pretty bad about it. I wish he would have said something, but I understand why he didn't. I just couldn't have imagined someone would have taken my remarks so seriously, but that's ignorance on my behalf.