Wizards has prize support that is right now called the DCI Tournament Support Kit, but it will be called the Wizards Play Network Participation Kit. That will facilitate whatever kind of play you on whatever day you want. We have resources that are available to you that are not on Friday night.
Very similar to the DCI Tournament Support Kits, where they are set driven and there is a rotation of support promo cards that come in brand new with each set. Friday Night Magic promo cards have been Extended and will continue to be for the short term. This year it is changing to Standard, but FNM cards are not tied to the set that is being emphasized and was most recently released. These cards will be. These cards will always point at the most recent release.
Running tournaments, and particularly with these casual formats that we are introducing, you don't need a judge. You need an organizer. They can't play in a competitive tournament, but for casual formats the organizer can play.
Interview sounds you will be able to sanction basicly anything.
Improved Game/Store Locator, new version of DCI Reporter, and more Gleemax goodies are also all in the works.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Sig banner by Xyre. My MTG Blog (inactive)
GDS1 & GDS2 entrant. Former Rules Advisor & casual-level TO. Semi-lapsed player in general.
This seems like it could be a decent way to accumulate more MPR points just for playing with a bunch of friends on a regular basis. It overall seems like it would be a good way to bring in more tournament players and get more people into it. If rewards can be given out for otherwise casual play I think that will draw in quite a few more people
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
From MaRo
Every rarity gets good cards. That means that some mythic rares will be tournament quality as will some commons, some uncommons and some rares. My promise wasn't that mythic rares wouldn't get good cards but that we wouldn't limit the good cards to only being mythic rare.
Bear this in mind the next time a powerful mythic rare is spoiled
Thanks to chaostheory90 for finding this quiz for me
i read into it the same way... i think this is quite an interesting initiative. a lot of free product to be given out, but, if you get people involved and buying lots of cards, it makes up well for it. this definitely gives players an incentive to organize more as well. excellent move there.
what distresses me is the change in FNM cards. i'm guessing that explains some of the more recent card choices (remand, witness, tendrils) - get in the last few cards before we go to all-standard. personally, i think it's silly, unless the cards are better. and by better, i mean "decent rare" and not "decent uncommon". i'm mixed on pendelhaven. at least it's a card that may be used in extended...
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Now playing Transformers: Legends. 27-time top tier finisher and admin of the TFL Wikia site.
i read into it the same way... i think this is quite an interesting initiative. a lot of free product to be given out, but, if you get people involved and buying lots of cards, it makes up well for it. this definitely gives players an incentive to organize more as well. excellent move there.
what distresses me is the change in FNM cards. i'm guessing that explains some of the more recent card choices (remand, witness, tendrils) - get in the last few cards before we go to all-standard. personally, i think it's silly, unless the cards are better. and by better, i mean "decent rare" and not "decent uncommon". i'm mixed on pendelhaven. at least it's a card that may be used in extended...
Umm.. I'm not sure but the way it's worded I think it's intended to say that FNM promos are going to stay extended for now, but will shift to standard, like they have in the past, and quite probably back to extended after awhile, but the last line isn't saying that all FNM promos are going to be standard cards forever, it's just saying that all the promos for the Wizards Play Network will be standard... kinda like how gateway promos are always standard...
I honestly think this will blow up in their face. The last time they tried this was via the Guru program. It was discontinued within a year. Free cards, and products often leads to hoarding, and fake reports.
Also, if you look at it on paper, the idea is great. However, in practice, I don't really see that it will really do anything. You send promo's to the individual groups, and HOPE that they will have the tournaments, and some fair way to hand out the promo's. My large group of friends can ALL individually sign up to be a host, and we can all just keep the promo's ourselves, since we all will have our own set. Then we can use each other's DCI numbers to pretend that a tournament was held. I can pretend to hold one monday, friend #2 on tuesday, et al.
I love the idea of having other random formats of magic to play. However, the only real way to efficiently hold a tournament, is to have it at a store. If it's constantly playing with your own playgroup of friends, how will promote magic? People do that already, without the need of a prize. I don't think it'll make them play anymore than they already do.
All in all, I really think this program is a waste of time and that it will collapse on itself. F the casual players. Competitive players are what feeds magic, not these casual players.
Watch it with the language. Warning issued. -charlequin
All in all, I really think this program is a waste of time and that it will collapse on itself. F the casual players. Competitive players are what feeds magic, not these casual players.
YOU sir are Ignorant and an ass. Competitive isn't the only hand that feeds wizards...
Casual also feeds them too.
I know you know this isn't appropriate. Infraction for flaming. -charlequin
There's a reason cards like doubling season and coat of arms have a high value on the secondary market.
And I don't think we can blame that on extended or type 1.
ANYWAY, on the program: I like the idea. More support for casual magic is a good idea, I know there are newer players that I wouldn't really feel comfortable bringing to local tournaments right now because they probably wouldn't play again (Extended here is fairly competitive). But if there's more casual stuff involved, along with free stuff, I'd totally be down to persuade people into hitting those up.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A card game about Presidents. Stabbing each other. With knives.
Coat of arms average at $5 on ebay, and Doubling season averages at $7.50. That doesn't mean anything. Heck, crap rares at retail stores go for at least $4, so I still don't understand. Plus, as you mention, that's Secondary Market. It feeds nothing to WoTC, as they don't make money off the secondary market. Moot point?
Obviously casual players buy packs here and there. However, they aren't what feed WoTC's lifeline. They aren't out there demanding packs. They buy cards when they can, and if they can't they are totally satistifed with what they have. Competitive players simply do not stop.
For example the Wizards chain store back in 2003, and early 2004 closed down. It didn't generate enough money and lost on average $18 million a year. Hasbros bought out Wizards for a sum around $325 million. That translates to 6% of what they paid each year. So Hasbros decided to cut the stores and allowed local stores to take over FNM events.
And remember the days when 7-11 announced that it will be selling magic packs? at the time, packs at MSRP were $2.99. 7-11 sold them for $4.50, which included tax, instead of the regular $3.25 at retail stores. This program was also aimed at casual players, and FAILED!
Let's review what casual players had:
Guru program - Failed
Wizards chain store - Failed
Arena League - Failed
7-11 - Failed
Topdeck Magizine and other various mags - Failed
Unhinged set - Disappointment! but pretty lands =/
@Sapphire Tri If you don't agree, don't flame me. Come up with an intelligent counter argument.
Crap rares for 4 bucks? I'm not sure what you consider crap but thats a rip off bud. I pick up some good rares for under 4 bucks depending on the card.
@Sapphire Tri If you don't agree, don't flame me. Come up with an intelligent counter argument.
Perhaps if you hadn't said "f the casual players..."
I don't have any stats on sales. But, I dislike the pro-tour mentality. It has visibly driven away a lot of new players at the venue I attend. It also fosters the "WOTC prints 95% crap cards" theory.
Coat of arms average at $5 on ebay, and Doubling season averages at $7.50. That doesn't mean anything. Heck, crap rares at retail stores go for at least $4, so I still don't understand. Plus, as you mention, that's Secondary Market. It feeds nothing to WoTC, as they don't make money off the secondary market. Moot point?
The singles market does not directly benifit Wotc, but it does indirectly.
As I type this, somewhere in the world a vendor is busting open Shadowmor boxes, and organizing them into singles that they can sell. They paid for those boxes that they are opening. As hot cards rise in demand, the supply must be met, so someone out there is busting packs.
The secondary market only truly reaches a dead point, in regards to wizards revenue, when the set is no longer in print.
Regarding the amount of packs different demographics purchase; I can only speak on my own observations, but the pro tour players that I know, and the people they play with, generally don't buy boxes or packs. They generally trade aggressivly, using former hot cards that are no longer in type two to pull hot cards from others. It's the simi-casual players, the casual FNM players who tend to pour money into random packs here and there. I've seen it time and time again. One of these guys pulls a hot card that their samurai deck doesn't need, so they trade down to a hardcore player for 4x Random sucky samurai an 3x Random sucky equipment which is synergistic in a samurai deck.
Perhaps if you hadn't said "f the casual players..."
I don't have any stats on sales. But, I dislike the pro-tour mentality. It has visibly driven away a lot of new players at the venue I attend. It also fosters the "WOTC prints 95% crap cards" theory.
Yeah I agree 100%. I've been to pro tour events and the attitudes of the pro players was just disappointing. One person said that the event was held sucked because they hadn't thought to ask anyone local where they could go for entertainment. Another said "I hate magic players more than VS players." Another SCREAMED "GET OUT OF MY WAY I NEED TO GET TO MY MATCH" like a little baby when everyone in the room was trying to find their FIRST round matchups. All three of these guys are CELEBRATED in our community.
Sorry, but I know three times as many Magic players who NEVER SET FOOT into an FNM or Pro level event simply because they'd rather find better things to do with their time than pander to egos. It has ZERO to do with play skill or years of play, but EVERYTHING to do with the ignorance of people who spend WAY to much energy trying to make some money off this game with minimal results for the most part. But of course, in my city there were Legacy tournaments every week that drew 20-40 kids that was non sanctioned... before WOTC supported the format. Casual does rule supreme in this game, and whether you like it or not the kitchen table players are just as legit as the spikes... they just know better than to spend hundreds of dollars on decks that do little in the long run but get you a couple free booster packs and bragging rights till next week.
Boo freaking woo... sign me up for the EDH tourney!
250 decks seem to be pretty popular where I am and I am sure they would love to get some sanctioned tournaments going along with cube tourneys. Also I guess I am pretty lucky in the fact that a lot of the store owners in my area are magic fans, not just in it for the money, and stuff like this new promo are targeted at them, so they can sell singles that would be kind of hard to offload and just get people in the store on days that are not friday.
Grassroots seems to be a solid foundation to get more people playing and push more money and interest into the game.
I will certainly alert my local store to this new initiative and see if they would organize something. (They have done a type 1 tournament a few weeks back, I would like them to do something more offbeat and fun)
Oh well, we will see where this goes.
I have noticed how WoTC is sneaking in T2 FNM cards, I would assume that from May on (Pendlehaven) the foils will be standard ones. I am fine with the change. It is always nice to win something you can use. (My store was giving out the DCI Llanowar Elves as prizes and I certainly am glad to have a playset)
This isn't a 'We killed X to do Y' type of thing either. This is just a new structure to do events at all levels, encouraging lower-level stores to run events and such.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
News and spoiler contributor for GatheringMagic.com
I play both Extended and Standard, so I'm not really going to be effected much by the shift in foils. Sure, it's easier to get good Standard-legal foils than good Extended-legal ones, but oh well.
As I've noted in the past, I fully approve of and support the Wizards Play Network. I'll definitely be watching my local shop to see what we can get going.
Edit: Oh, and Sanctioned casual = epic win. I'll be able to play Sanctioned Prismatic and EDH matches, I hope?
And remember the days when 7-11 announced that it will be selling magic packs? at the time, packs at MSRP were $2.99. 7-11 sold them for $4.50, which included tax, instead of the regular $3.25 at retail stores. This program was also aimed at casual players, and FAILED!
Selling packs at 150% of MSRP should fail miserably because its overpriced and nobody with any knowledge/sense will may the extra cost.
Let's review what casual players had:
Guru program - Failed
Wizards chain store - Failed
Arena League - Failed
7-11 - Failed
Topdeck Magizine and other various mags - Failed
Unhinged set - Disappointment! but pretty lands =/
Magazines have been failing due to A) internet making them obselete B) the fact that the majority of players don't care about the magazines they have to pay for any more than they care about internet articles. Remember, people who read a single printed/digital word about MTG beyond the product itself are in a minority.
Perhaps all those things you listed failed because they were bad, not because their target audience was bad? Didn't Arena give promo basic lands? Most casual players don't give a hoot about those. I know far more tournament players who are Foil *****s than casual ones. Also, I think Arena was even less widespread than FNM.
Also, if you look at it on paper, the idea is great. However, in practice, I don't really see that it will really do anything. You send promo's to the individual groups, and HOPE that they will have the tournaments, and some fair way to hand out the promo's. My large group of friends can ALL individually sign up to be a host, and we can all just keep the promo's ourselves, since we all will have our own set. Then we can use each other's DCI numbers to pretend that a tournament was held. I can pretend to hold one monday, friend #2 on tuesday, et al.
Player fraud is definitely a danger and hopefully they are aware of this and have some idea of what to do about it.
FWIW, stores can commit tourney fraud too and unless somebody reports them DCI will never know either. Yes its less likely but if nobody ever checks their DCI info and go "hey, why is the store owner's son listed as the winner instead of me?!" and contacts the DCI about it nothing ever happens.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Sig banner by Xyre. My MTG Blog (inactive)
GDS1 & GDS2 entrant. Former Rules Advisor & casual-level TO. Semi-lapsed player in general.
Obviously casual players buy packs here and there. However, they aren't what feed WoTC's lifeline. They aren't out there demanding packs. They buy cards when they can, and if they can't they are totally satistifed with what they have. Competitive players simply do not stop.
For example the Wizards chain store back in 2003, and early 2004 closed down. It didn't generate enough money and lost on average $18 million a year. Hasbros bought out Wizards for a sum around $325 million. That translates to 6% of what they paid each year. So Hasbros decided to cut the stores and allowed local stores to take over FNM events.
And remember the days when 7-11 announced that it will be selling magic packs? at the time, packs at MSRP were $2.99. 7-11 sold them for $4.50, which included tax, instead of the regular $3.25 at retail stores. This program was also aimed at casual players, and FAILED!
Let's review what casual players had:
Guru program - Failed
Wizards chain store - Failed
Arena League - Failed
7-11 - Failed
Topdeck Magizine and other various mags - Failed
Unhinged set - Disappointment! but pretty lands =/
I can tell you that you are flat out wrong. Having worked at a retail store for years, I can say with 100% certainty that it is the casual players that drive Magic sales. Competitive Magic may keep design heading in the right direction, but casual players are the ones that spend money. The competitive players we have will come in and buy playsets of the half dozen or so cards from each new set that they like, none of which is money that Wizards sees, and that is the extent of their spending on Magic until the next set 3 months later (Aside from tournament entry fees, none of which Wizards sees unless it's a limited event where they're forced to actually purchase product). Casual players, however, are the ones that will walk in and decide "Hey, I want to buy a full booster box, just because I feel like it". (Casual players also spend a lot more on secondary market cards as well).
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Wizards could put $100 bills in packs and people would complain about how they were folded. http://www.twitter.com/Dr_Jeebus - Follow me on Twitter!
Check out www.mtgbrodeals.com for daily content from the brothers of Mu Tau Gamma!
Here's a question... will sanctioning casual events bring out casual players who avoid sanctioned events to the shops... or give the competitive players an excuse to try new things and "ruin" the casual formats for the people who avoid sanctioned events to begin with?
But this is so much more than stores doing stuff. It can start as a casual playgroup. You just need to be a structured organizer and you can do this anywhere. They just want you to be active in some of the professional events as well.
That's how it sounds to me when I read it at least.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Talkin outta turn....That's a paddlin'. Starin' at my sandals....That's a paddlin'. Paddlin' the school canoe....You better believe that's a paddlin'!" --Jasper
Yeah sounds like it. Much like smaller CCG games... sometimes all you need is someone willing to push for events and the game companies send out support. Of course Magic was always much more "organized" so it seemed beyond them to do such a thing, esp when FNM's are such juggernauts in the world of CCGs.
If I was Wizards and I was in charge of this program I would be collecting data from each of the tournament organizers. That way this program could actually result in DCI run sanctioned tournaments in new formats.
Say they find that 25% of the people signed up for this program are running Elder Dragon Highlander events. Well maybe the the DCI starts having EDH side events at Pro Tours and Grand Prix.
Additionally you are exposing more casual players to, most likely, a small tournament environment. This is something even more casual than FNM, but maybe this leads to these players checking out FNM one week and then maybe they go to a PTQ and maybe they become more competitive and keep the standard market afloat.
I think this program could allow for a good amount of crossover between casual and tournament players. This will up not only card sales, but sanctioned event attendance as well.
I have said my piece and continue the discussion in the news announcement so i will refrain from condemning this waste of money on gleemax any here.
HOWEVER the guy who said screw casual players... your flame baiting and being ridiculous. Both us(tournament guys) and casual players are necessary for this game to continue being what it is. Also the casual players going "typical spike metality/pro tour mentality" have you read any of the comments by the casual players in the past? They are just as bad so both parties are to blame and just ignore stupid people who make comments like those.
Also those pointing out local store trends(Dr. jeebus) does not a nationwide trend set. I would say the exact opposite at my store. My tournament players hit min. 3 drafts a week AND buy a box of each expansion. I am lucky if my casual players hit 10 packs in a given three months. Is that a general trend no, although talking to other stores in Texas it is down here.
Interview sounds you will be able to sanction basicly anything.
Improved Game/Store Locator, new version of DCI Reporter, and more Gleemax goodies are also all in the works.
Sig banner by Xyre.
My MTG Blog (inactive)
GDS1 & GDS2 entrant. Former Rules Advisor & casual-level TO. Semi-lapsed player in general.
Bear this in mind the next time a powerful mythic rare is spoiled
Thanks to chaostheory90 for finding this quiz for me
what distresses me is the change in FNM cards. i'm guessing that explains some of the more recent card choices (remand, witness, tendrils) - get in the last few cards before we go to all-standard. personally, i think it's silly, unless the cards are better. and by better, i mean "decent rare" and not "decent uncommon". i'm mixed on pendelhaven. at least it's a card that may be used in extended...
The MirroCube - 420 card Mirrodin themed cube
And if I've offended you, I'm sorry, but maybe you need to be offended. But here's my apology and one more thing...
Netdecking is Rightdecking
My latest data-driven Magic the Gathering strategy article
(TLDR: Analysis of the Valakut matchups. UB rising in the rankings. Aggro correspondingly taking a dive.)
Umm.. I'm not sure but the way it's worded I think it's intended to say that FNM promos are going to stay extended for now, but will shift to standard, like they have in the past, and quite probably back to extended after awhile, but the last line isn't saying that all FNM promos are going to be standard cards forever, it's just saying that all the promos for the Wizards Play Network will be standard... kinda like how gateway promos are always standard...
Also, if you look at it on paper, the idea is great. However, in practice, I don't really see that it will really do anything. You send promo's to the individual groups, and HOPE that they will have the tournaments, and some fair way to hand out the promo's. My large group of friends can ALL individually sign up to be a host, and we can all just keep the promo's ourselves, since we all will have our own set. Then we can use each other's DCI numbers to pretend that a tournament was held. I can pretend to hold one monday, friend #2 on tuesday, et al.
I love the idea of having other random formats of magic to play. However, the only real way to efficiently hold a tournament, is to have it at a store. If it's constantly playing with your own playgroup of friends, how will promote magic? People do that already, without the need of a prize. I don't think it'll make them play anymore than they already do.
All in all, I really think this program is a waste of time and that it will collapse on itself. F the casual players. Competitive players are what feeds magic, not these casual players.
Watch it with the language. Warning issued. -charlequin
YOU sir are Ignorant and an ass. Competitive isn't the only hand that feeds wizards...
Casual also feeds them too.
I know you know this isn't appropriate. Infraction for flaming. -charlequin
And I don't think we can blame that on extended or type 1.
ANYWAY, on the program: I like the idea. More support for casual magic is a good idea, I know there are newer players that I wouldn't really feel comfortable bringing to local tournaments right now because they probably wouldn't play again (Extended here is fairly competitive). But if there's more casual stuff involved, along with free stuff, I'd totally be down to persuade people into hitting those up.
A card game about Presidents. Stabbing each other. With knives.
Obviously casual players buy packs here and there. However, they aren't what feed WoTC's lifeline. They aren't out there demanding packs. They buy cards when they can, and if they can't they are totally satistifed with what they have. Competitive players simply do not stop.
For example the Wizards chain store back in 2003, and early 2004 closed down. It didn't generate enough money and lost on average $18 million a year. Hasbros bought out Wizards for a sum around $325 million. That translates to 6% of what they paid each year. So Hasbros decided to cut the stores and allowed local stores to take over FNM events.
And remember the days when 7-11 announced that it will be selling magic packs? at the time, packs at MSRP were $2.99. 7-11 sold them for $4.50, which included tax, instead of the regular $3.25 at retail stores. This program was also aimed at casual players, and FAILED!
Let's review what casual players had:
Guru program - Failed
Wizards chain store - Failed
Arena League - Failed
7-11 - Failed
Topdeck Magizine and other various mags - Failed
Unhinged set - Disappointment! but pretty lands =/
@Sapphire Tri If you don't agree, don't flame me. Come up with an intelligent counter argument.
Feel free to bid on my cards here!
Perhaps if you hadn't said "f the casual players..."
I don't have any stats on sales. But, I dislike the pro-tour mentality. It has visibly driven away a lot of new players at the venue I attend. It also fosters the "WOTC prints 95% crap cards" theory.
This report makes me personally happy.
The singles market does not directly benifit Wotc, but it does indirectly.
As I type this, somewhere in the world a vendor is busting open Shadowmor boxes, and organizing them into singles that they can sell. They paid for those boxes that they are opening. As hot cards rise in demand, the supply must be met, so someone out there is busting packs.
The secondary market only truly reaches a dead point, in regards to wizards revenue, when the set is no longer in print.
Regarding the amount of packs different demographics purchase; I can only speak on my own observations, but the pro tour players that I know, and the people they play with, generally don't buy boxes or packs. They generally trade aggressivly, using former hot cards that are no longer in type two to pull hot cards from others. It's the simi-casual players, the casual FNM players who tend to pour money into random packs here and there. I've seen it time and time again. One of these guys pulls a hot card that their samurai deck doesn't need, so they trade down to a hardcore player for 4x Random sucky samurai an 3x Random sucky equipment which is synergistic in a samurai deck.
Yeah I agree 100%. I've been to pro tour events and the attitudes of the pro players was just disappointing. One person said that the event was held sucked because they hadn't thought to ask anyone local where they could go for entertainment. Another said "I hate magic players more than VS players." Another SCREAMED "GET OUT OF MY WAY I NEED TO GET TO MY MATCH" like a little baby when everyone in the room was trying to find their FIRST round matchups. All three of these guys are CELEBRATED in our community.
Sorry, but I know three times as many Magic players who NEVER SET FOOT into an FNM or Pro level event simply because they'd rather find better things to do with their time than pander to egos. It has ZERO to do with play skill or years of play, but EVERYTHING to do with the ignorance of people who spend WAY to much energy trying to make some money off this game with minimal results for the most part. But of course, in my city there were Legacy tournaments every week that drew 20-40 kids that was non sanctioned... before WOTC supported the format. Casual does rule supreme in this game, and whether you like it or not the kitchen table players are just as legit as the spikes... they just know better than to spend hundreds of dollars on decks that do little in the long run but get you a couple free booster packs and bragging rights till next week.
Boo freaking woo... sign me up for the EDH tourney!
Feel free to bid on my cards here!
I will certainly alert my local store to this new initiative and see if they would organize something. (They have done a type 1 tournament a few weeks back, I would like them to do something more offbeat and fun)
Oh well, we will see where this goes.
I have noticed how WoTC is sneaking in T2 FNM cards, I would assume that from May on (Pendlehaven) the foils will be standard ones. I am fine with the change. It is always nice to win something you can use. (My store was giving out the DCI Llanowar Elves as prizes and I certainly am glad to have a playset)
This isn't a 'We killed X to do Y' type of thing either. This is just a new structure to do events at all levels, encouraging lower-level stores to run events and such.
Twitter
As I've noted in the past, I fully approve of and support the Wizards Play Network. I'll definitely be watching my local shop to see what we can get going.
Edit: Oh, and Sanctioned casual = epic win. I'll be able to play Sanctioned Prismatic and EDH matches, I hope?
EDH:
UBGThe MimeoplasmUBG
Selling packs at 150% of MSRP should fail miserably because its overpriced and nobody with any knowledge/sense will may the extra cost.
Magazines have been failing due to A) internet making them obselete B) the fact that the majority of players don't care about the magazines they have to pay for any more than they care about internet articles. Remember, people who read a single printed/digital word about MTG beyond the product itself are in a minority.
Perhaps all those things you listed failed because they were bad, not because their target audience was bad? Didn't Arena give promo basic lands? Most casual players don't give a hoot about those. I know far more tournament players who are Foil *****s than casual ones. Also, I think Arena was even less widespread than FNM.
Player fraud is definitely a danger and hopefully they are aware of this and have some idea of what to do about it.
FWIW, stores can commit tourney fraud too and unless somebody reports them DCI will never know either. Yes its less likely but if nobody ever checks their DCI info and go "hey, why is the store owner's son listed as the winner instead of me?!" and contacts the DCI about it nothing ever happens.
Sig banner by Xyre.
My MTG Blog (inactive)
GDS1 & GDS2 entrant. Former Rules Advisor & casual-level TO. Semi-lapsed player in general.
I can tell you that you are flat out wrong. Having worked at a retail store for years, I can say with 100% certainty that it is the casual players that drive Magic sales. Competitive Magic may keep design heading in the right direction, but casual players are the ones that spend money. The competitive players we have will come in and buy playsets of the half dozen or so cards from each new set that they like, none of which is money that Wizards sees, and that is the extent of their spending on Magic until the next set 3 months later (Aside from tournament entry fees, none of which Wizards sees unless it's a limited event where they're forced to actually purchase product). Casual players, however, are the ones that will walk in and decide "Hey, I want to buy a full booster box, just because I feel like it". (Casual players also spend a lot more on secondary market cards as well).
Wizards could put $100 bills in packs and people would complain about how they were folded.
http://www.twitter.com/Dr_Jeebus - Follow me on Twitter!
Check out www.mtgbrodeals.com for daily content from the brothers of Mu Tau Gamma!
Oh boy, I haven't even thought about those.
Ugh, I wish I had more non-standard cards...
Twitter
That's how it sounds to me when I read it at least.
Say they find that 25% of the people signed up for this program are running Elder Dragon Highlander events. Well maybe the the DCI starts having EDH side events at Pro Tours and Grand Prix.
Additionally you are exposing more casual players to, most likely, a small tournament environment. This is something even more casual than FNM, but maybe this leads to these players checking out FNM one week and then maybe they go to a PTQ and maybe they become more competitive and keep the standard market afloat.
I think this program could allow for a good amount of crossover between casual and tournament players. This will up not only card sales, but sanctioned event attendance as well.
HOWEVER the guy who said screw casual players... your flame baiting and being ridiculous. Both us(tournament guys) and casual players are necessary for this game to continue being what it is. Also the casual players going "typical spike metality/pro tour mentality" have you read any of the comments by the casual players in the past? They are just as bad so both parties are to blame and just ignore stupid people who make comments like those.
Also those pointing out local store trends(Dr. jeebus) does not a nationwide trend set. I would say the exact opposite at my store. My tournament players hit min. 3 drafts a week AND buy a box of each expansion. I am lucky if my casual players hit 10 packs in a given three months. Is that a general trend no, although talking to other stores in Texas it is down here.
Yes i am the same guy who trades/sells on MOTL AND Wizards of the Coast and i trade on POJO.