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11.09.01 - A Bunch of Food for Thought
Well, another Pro Tour has
gone by and another win for Kai Budde is in the books.
I could say something negative here about how he is
crushing the game, but why? He's dominating, and
he deserves all the attention he is getting. He
is basically "Tiger Woodsing" the Pro Tour
right now. Funny thing is, I figured out the way
to beat him. It's actually rather simple.
Don't let him make day 3.
If you can keep him from playing on Sunday, you're
golden, because apparently on Sundays Kai doesn't
lose.
Here I was reviewing the
Pro Tour results when I started to try and figure out
how much Kai has won in the last year. I think
it is somewhere over $100,000. Not bad. We
also have to remember that is 100,000 in US dollars.
So I am sure the conversion makes for a lot more money
overseas. Anyway, seeing these numbers got me
thinking. Why is there so much money available
on the tour, but not on the lower levels of the game?
Don't get me wrong...I feel that I am definitely
qualified to play on the tour (now, to win it is a
totally different story). Increased prize
support has kept the Pro Tour running strong.
Why not do the same for lower level tournaments to
keep the game from dying out?
The most common and
obvious example here is States. I've ranted
probably about a hundred times about states not being
a higher caliber tournament.
In almost every
sport/competition the State championships lead to the
Regional Championships. Why is Magic any
different? I think we should conform to this
system. The most popular options are to let the
State champs, or the two finalists from the State
Championship qualify for Nationals. That would
make turnouts for states HUGE!! If you don't
want to do that, I would at least allow the two
finalists from the State Championships to get a 2 or 3
round bye at Regionals. The reasoning for this
is simple. Giving Pro players byes at Grand Prix
events is basically giving them another reason to
attend and to ensure that the pros don't just get beat
out of the tournament by random folks. Why not
do the same for Regionals? At the very least,
offer a decent cash prize to the Top 8. That
would get mor
Grand Prix Trials events
are next on my hit list. It's hard for me to
complain about these events really. They
generally have decent prize support. One thing I
will say, is that maybe Wizards of the Coast should
give away a $50-100 credit voucher. I have seen
many GP Trials events that had very poor turnouts,
even when they are attached to major events. If
you are going to be willing to give players a travel
award for a Pro Tour Qualifier, why not at least give
a smaller one for Grand Prix Trial events.
I think it makes logical
sense to do so and everyone would win all around.
It is be greater
motivation for the organizers to run them and more
motivation for the players to participate. And
yet again, this is one more way to keep enthusiasm and
participation high.
Pro Tour Qualifiers have
gotten a nice boost the past few years. It's
hard to argue the prize support for these in my eyes.
Granted, the prize support may not be stellar, but you
have to remember that there are definitely a lot of
Pro Tour Qualifiers every season. The only thing
I could see to do is maybe work a system that allows
every player to win to get a pack. Nothing
spectacular, but one more draw for the new guys trying
to break into the professional ranks. Maybe
having more two seat qualifiers would help.
People like playing when
their odds are higher. Maybe even offering a
lower cash voucher to second place (possibly $50)
would also make it more worth playing in. I also
think it should just be standard to give prizes
through 16th place. It's neat having the
"no pro point" prizes, but most of the time,
if you gave prizes to the top 16 participants, you
would cover those players anyway. I'm not saying
to give them anything exceptional. &nb
Local tournaments seem
almost as good as they are going to get right now.
A lot of the weight for local events has to be put on
the local organizers and not Wizards of the Coast.
You need organizers to run them on time, give more
random door prizes, etc. This is something that
the local organizers can tailor to their financial
numbers and players. Wizards of the Coast is
doing a great job with the Friday Night Magic events.
People really like having the foil cards as prizes.
They also started the Magic Player Rewards program to
increase player participation on the local level.
I think cards need to be sent out more often for this
program. Maybe every five tournaments you hit,
you should have something sent in the mail. This
way they aren't batching out the events all at once.
This way people will remember more often to go play.
Plus they will also have something to work towards.
Waiting to send things out two or three times a year
is
Now what good does it do
me to spread ideas like these to the masses.
Honestly it does nothing
unless you let yourselves be heard. Whatever
ideas you like, share them with Wizards. Expand
on them. Send Wizards e-mails.
Let them know that you
want some changes. Don't just talk about the
negatives though. Let them know what things you
DO like that they are doing. This way they see
what is working and what is not and can try to give
you the best of both worlds.
The tournament system is
very important to Wizards of the Coast (and more
importantly, to the longevity of Magic: The Gathering
itself). I would like to believe that Wizards
would go out of their way to make the system better
for the masses. The pros are obviously the icons
of the game. When you look at it though, the
masses are the ones that honestly support the game.
It's not that the pros
don't spend money buying packs for drafts and the
like, but it is simple numbers. The
average/casual players outnumber the pro players
probably 500 to 1.
Well, that's about all I
have on that. Just a bunch of food for thought
for you.
For those of you that are
going on to states, I wish you the best of luck.
The odds are, I won't be
attending. Not for any real reason other than
the fact that there isn't anything for me to gain out
of states. Well, maybe bragging rights, but ah
well. The product and stuff is pretty
irrelevant.
The trophy would be nice
to have in my store though :) Honestly though I
have more to lose than to gain by playing I believe.
That's part of what bothers me about the State
Championships.
I want to take a moment
and say thanks to everyone that has sent me fan mail.
I think I got back to everyone that wrote to me last
week. I always enjoy it and I try to write back
to everyone one. Also, thanks for supporting our
site. We are gradually getting better and trying
to bring you what you want to see.
There are so many websites
right now that are switching editors and switching
management, so I'm just glad that we are still around
and that I am able to write for you guys. Feel
free to share your thoughts and ideas with me and the
rest of the Magic community. It takes a lot of
voices to make change happen.
Until next time,
DeQuan Watson
a.k.a. PowrDragn
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