Textless promos are back. I imagine we won't get another Cryptic Command level card, though.
Wake me up when we get a textless Demonic Pact promo.
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Magic: the Gathering |OT| Guilds of Ravnica - We built this city on blocks of gold
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Wake me up when we get a textless Demonic Pact promo.
I can't wait for Gerry Thompson's measured response to this Ph.D
This isn't wrong, but I also think it misses out on the fact that if there isn't a competitive circuit, there probably isn't a need/market for as many vendors as we currently have, and those "Invisible" players (especially the EDH crowd) rely on those same vendors.
It also seems crazy- in the era where heavy amounts of money is being spent on Esports by all sorts of corporate interest- to completely gut your "esports" product
Yeah, this aspect is very important. (Also, related to why expeditions were awful as it reduced the amount of singles buy/sell sales volume $-wise)
But the point about MTG being a bad spectator sport with unmarketable pros has been an obvious one for ages. The PT and OP are primarily for players.
A few in the mail last month were like this. I'm already expecting mine to come out this way.
I'm not sure that stores need those super competitive players. At my local stores, most people attend FNM drafts just to have fun with friends. If anything, if I were Wizards I'd be looking to create a limited format that allows you to spend more time with friends. I have friends who only avoid FNM because they might get put in a table without any of the friends they went with.
It'll be interesting to see what they do with Arena tomorrow. Besides kill Magic Online that is.
I think if you're going to focus on the esports aspect you really do have to move everything over to digital, which is something they've understandably been reluctant to do.
The appeal of esports is the always-on nature of it. You can catch a stream whenever. If you ever happen to get good enough on the ladder, you transition "seamlessly" (not really, but in the perception of players) into pro play. There's no "gypsy life" chasing events around the world to grind out tournaments, there's no awkwardly-timed events in Hellsinki at 6 AM when you want to be watching someone play, there's no judges and no draws and no cheating. Basically, what people like about esports is that it's none of the things Professional Magic has been for the last twenty years.
And it could be that thing, if they moved it entirely to digital play for tournaments, but they won't.
The appeal of esports is the always-on nature of it. You can catch a stream whenever. If you ever happen to get good enough on the ladder, you transition "seamlessly" (not really, but in the perception of players) into pro play. There's no "gypsy life" chasing events around the world to grind out tournaments, there's no awkwardly-timed events in Hellsinki at 6 AM when you want to be watching someone play, there's no judges and no draws and no cheating. Basically, what people like about esports is that it's none of the things Professional Magic has been for the last twenty years.
And it could be that thing, if they moved it entirely to digital play for tournaments, but they won't.
Speaking for myself, I got into Magic through a combination of desiring a play experience like Hearthstone (a game I got into mostly because of my previous love of Warcraft) while also being able to interact and play with people in a face to face setting IRL. I have no desires to attempt to play at the highest levels but I am perfectly fine playing competitively in a more intimate setting like my LGS where I know the people I am playing with. I will be going to GP Vancouver because I was just planning on being in Vancouver around this time anyway but I have no desire to play in the main event and instead I bought a Limited Fanatic package.
I pay very little attention to who is playing at the top tables and my only interaction with pro play is just looking at decklists after the fact. Or maybe I'll read some free articles on CFB or SCG. So if Wizards was to pump a lot more money into the pro scene, they probably wouldn't see that many extra dollars from me.
I pay very little attention to who is playing at the top tables and my only interaction with pro play is just looking at decklists after the fact. Or maybe I'll read some free articles on CFB or SCG. So if Wizards was to pump a lot more money into the pro scene, they probably wouldn't see that many extra dollars from me.
Now see, there's a clear answer here. Yugioh already gave us an example of a world where a card game was the biggest thing around. And what did they have that we don't? That's right, holograms. Wizards just needs to make perfect, interacting holograms of all the cards. I'll leave it up to them whether or not they want to have the competitors feel physical pain when they lose life.
(But really, I feel like streamers are probably more important than the competitive environment, because it seems hard to get people invested in watching people play cards unless the personalities are interesting, too.)
(But really, I feel like streamers are probably more important than the competitive environment, because it seems hard to get people invested in watching people play cards unless the personalities are interesting, too.)
I mean if AR ever gets good I would totally play a Yu-Gi-Oh AR game where you have to do dumb poses and act like an asshole to your opponent.
It would be the complete opposite of these phenomenally bland Arena emotes.
It would be the complete opposite of these phenomenally bland Arena emotes.
OP
OP
Set the new cover image as everyone's favorite card from this set.
I think you can count the printing dots on that scan.
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/01Xe4
OP
OP
Updated.
Only one way to fix this!
Change it to Assassin's Trophy!
Magic eSports investment (article copy below)
https://www.dailyesports.gg/magic-the-gathering-esports-investment/
Someone has broken NDA on tonight's VGA announcement. A lot of money for both paper and Arena
Someone has broken NDA on tonight's VGA announcement. A lot of money for both paper and Arena
Depends how quickly Arena catches up with non-rotating formats and things like cube.
I do wonder if modern will be played on this circuit, even if just paper. If not it's putting a lot of pressure on the R&D guys to keep standard engaging.
MTGO will be a place for people to play Commander, Legacy, and Modern for potentially a pretty long time depending on how on-the-ball they are with working through the back catalog of old sets in Arena. (Assuming that's even ultimately the plan.)
Its basically impossible for them to get modern on MTGA there are just too many cards. Like if they did 1 old set a month (ignoring the logistics - theres no way to do that with the current economic model) it'd still take them like 5+ years to catch up.
They'll probably do a neo-Modern format starting with Kaladesh (or maybe a couple blocks before that which is feasible) and everything from there forwards. Or just add in Modern via Modern Masters type of sets where they are only adding in cards people actually play.
The fact that Ultimate Masters is specifically a graveyard themed set is something I didn't notice until right now
They are most definitely being de-emphasized re: pro play w/ the MagicFest branding stuff.
IE, they aren't dead but assuming the audience transitions to or grows in digital their days as anything other than CCG Conventions are probably numbered. (Hence the preemptive branding change, I suppose.)
Blizzard doesn't invite the biggest streamers to their most important tournaments just for visibiilty. Usually they just get invites to exhibition type stuff. I don't think WotC will necessarily be all that different. So you might see Trump/Amaz/Day9/Kibler at some exhibition events.
To be honest it probably makes as much or more sense to have major streamers at MagicFests as artists.
The biggest draw at SGC Con is honestly probably the Commander VS group. The (misplaced) feeling of personal relationship viewers feel like they have with streamers makes them a huge draw for meet-and-greet type of events.
The biggest draw at SGC Con is honestly probably the Commander VS group. The (misplaced) feeling of personal relationship viewers feel like they have with streamers makes them a huge draw for meet-and-greet type of events.
From the MTGA thread:
The code is GAMEAWARDS and it seemed to work for me. :D
The code is GAMEAWARDS and it seemed to work for me. :D
Major changes to competitive Magic
OP
OP
Article going over the eSports changes, including Pro Tours being changed to Mythic Championships.
Despite being announced only a month ago, they're changing up the upcoming Pro Tour events as a result of this.
There are plenty of angry tweets from Magic pros about this.
And Arena will have a "Standard+" format, likely what people have nicknamed "Arena Extended" and "Arena Modern" with all sets that were on Arena being legal.
Despite being announced only a month ago, they're changing up the upcoming Pro Tour events as a result of this.
There are plenty of angry tweets from Magic pros about this.
And Arena will have a "Standard+" format, likely what people have nicknamed "Arena Extended" and "Arena Modern" with all sets that were on Arena being legal.
This announcement is a mix of good and bad IMO. It's great that more money is being invested into the competitive scene and it's undeniable how successful MTG Arena is. The game wasn't going to grow without a better digital presence and they have succeeded there.
I don't like completing gutting the Pro Tour. It's been around forever and has a good name -- better than Mythic Championships. Why are they always renaming stuff that doesn't need to be renamed? It's a little worrying to see that they are making this up as they go along and there is no serious future plan. They announced the 2 additional PTs just 3 months ago. Now they're cancelled. What kind of planning is that? It feels like they saw the cash rolling in from Arena and have decided to go all-in.
Modern and Legacy are probably dead right? Maybe SCG and Magicfests will keep them alive but I'm doubtful. I don't play Modern but I very much enjoy watching it as I do with Legacy. Since competitive is now being pushed mostly through Arena how can the eternal formats seriously survive? You can't have those formats at these Mythic Championships if you're funneling in players from Arena who may not have ever even seen a card older than Amonkhet.
I'll confess that I like the paper Magic product. Sure maybe it's not the friendliest spectator sport and it's got all it's own problems. But paper MTG is a unique social gaming experience. I thought Arena was supposed to bring new players into the game and eventually to paper. I don't think we're that many steps removed from WotC abandoning paper altogether. It's not likely but it's not out of the question. Cut all the manufacturing and distribution costs and just make people pay for digital.
I don't like completing gutting the Pro Tour. It's been around forever and has a good name -- better than Mythic Championships. Why are they always renaming stuff that doesn't need to be renamed? It's a little worrying to see that they are making this up as they go along and there is no serious future plan. They announced the 2 additional PTs just 3 months ago. Now they're cancelled. What kind of planning is that? It feels like they saw the cash rolling in from Arena and have decided to go all-in.
Modern and Legacy are probably dead right? Maybe SCG and Magicfests will keep them alive but I'm doubtful. I don't play Modern but I very much enjoy watching it as I do with Legacy. Since competitive is now being pushed mostly through Arena how can the eternal formats seriously survive? You can't have those formats at these Mythic Championships if you're funneling in players from Arena who may not have ever even seen a card older than Amonkhet.
I'll confess that I like the paper Magic product. Sure maybe it's not the friendliest spectator sport and it's got all it's own problems. But paper MTG is a unique social gaming experience. I thought Arena was supposed to bring new players into the game and eventually to paper. I don't think we're that many steps removed from WotC abandoning paper altogether. It's not likely but it's not out of the question. Cut all the manufacturing and distribution costs and just make people pay for digital.
I think, to be more specific, they saw the streaming and YouTube numbers for Arena content and realized their potential audience basically dwarfs what they get from live PT coverage. Which probably made it a lot easier to bite the bullet on changes that you have to assume have been rattling around in concept for the better part of five years, at the least.
But, yeah, they're reacting to the market; it's kind of a nice change for Wizards, to be honest.
Legacy's going to be as dead as it's been. I mean it's essentially been a novelty format for years now, I don't see any particular reason for that to change. You already had people looking at you like you grew a second head if you asked, "Hey anyone here have a Legacy deck to play against mine?" at your LGS.
As a professional (ie, career) competitivel environment the paper game is terrible. It's rife with cheating, both blatant and accidental, which in turn makes it prone to being petty and childish when things (often) break down. It's incredibly slow, requiring entire weekends to play a few hours worth of actual meaningful games, and many of them needlessly going to draws. It's a horrible way to live, engendering this sort of gypsy caravan that chases the tournaments from state to state and country to country, making it almost impossible for the people doing it to have a decent quality of life even if they are winning, which most of them aren't.
It's a huge mess, and it should be abandoned for professional play, though I honestly still doubt that's going to happen. I don't think Wizards has the guts.
(This is in reference purely to paper professional play, and not whether or not paper as a format should exist at all. That's a different issue entirely, but it is absolutely wrong-headed to have players still playing paper for money matches when it demonstrably harms the integrity of the competition.)
In fact, they are not pros anymore. They have actual pros now.
I'm guessing the timeline here is because they came up with this idea and figured they'd do it after the next year of Pro Tours and someone came up and told them they need to push esports NOW while Arena is still getting popular and not put it off.
Article doesn't say anything about the Kaladesh and Amonkhet blocks ever coming back. I don't understand why they even made the effort to even add them to closed beta only to get rid of them completely from the game.
I wonder if Artifact's release moved up their timetable. Either way cementing MtG as a legitimate esport before more competitors get a foothold is probably a good idea. I think we all saw the move to esports/streaming as their central way of promoting the game coming, it's just a little surprising how quickly they're ripping the band-aid off. Hopefully they invest in production because even the minor tournaments that happened for Artifact's release looked more professional than most MtG events.
Because at that time they were in standard. There is no need to have them now because an Arena modern just for those sets would be silly especially as players already have enough cards they need to collect.
The only question now is if they bother to bring them back with next rotation. I currently don't think so because there is no reason to immediately fuck up your format with those terribly overpowered cards.
Those sets were also already in the game for their internal testing and development. It wasn't much work to include them in the closed beta. Internally they had sets going back to SoI in the game.
Just heard about the Upper Deck / Konami / Yugioh drama. Can someone point me to a place where I can read up on some details?
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