From: Patrick/Jamie [boyzbot@home.com]
Sent: Saturday, December 08, 2001 4:43 PM
To: cardtips@pojo.com
Subject: Re: RANT - what should we do about it?!

I totally agree with Ness.  Wizards is just trying to force us into
Magic, a game I don't really like.  I'm already good at Pokemon and I've
made huge mental, time, and cash investments in it, and next June 17th
they expect me to drop all of this to play Magic?

Plus, Wizards has come up with a Pokemon League equivalent for Magic
aimed at younger players, who aren't, I guess, old enough for "Friday
Night Magic".  They call it "Magic Academy" and they provide starter
sets, boosters, playing tips, mats, goals, rewards, and tutorials.  Now,
why didn't they do this kind of thing for Pokemon league?  At the very
least it would have set those Toys'r'Us people straight.  Not only that,
it's rumored (and as Ness pointed out, rumors about Wizards are mostly
true) that they intend to eliminate the STS all together in favor of a
Pro Tour stlye set-up -- which is just how competative Magic works, only
with (unless we do something) no +15 competition.  This way, they get
-14 kids into a wavelength which allows them to just switch the game on
'em.

So where's our Gust of Wind?

I get the sense that a lot of Pokemon players watch the WWF, so I'll
make a little reference.  When Vince, a.k.a. the company, screws The
Rock over, he doesn't just sit there, he screws Vince over.  Now, I'm
not saying we should all hit Wizards officials with chairs or give 'em
the Rock Bottom, but we need to do something.

Personally, I think Pojo should add a section to its message board for
discussion of ways we can get our point across Wizards of how valuable
we are to them, as players, journalists, parents, and above all, sources
of revenue.  Some ideas I have to throw out there are boycoting the
Wizards' 
message boards and cards.  I realize some of you may not want to go that
far (I need my boosters too) but we've got to do something if we are to
survive.

SuperSpaceGuy