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Two things happened, and they happened in a specific order.
First, Wizards announced that all future PT events will be Standard.
Then, people started whining and complaining. I made the mistake of going into the MTGSalvation forums doing research for this piece and I wish I could ungo there. The phrase "Wizards is going to kill Magic" was used unironically so many times I considered trying to find every instance of this phrase all the way back to its first use in 1993 when they changed the casting cost of Orcish Oriflamme.
So, Magic: the Gathering is dead forever. Because, you know, the guys on the MTG Salvation forums all play on the Pro Tour, and they were really looking forward to playing Modern and now they won't get to.
Or will they?
Today, this was posted.
Since then, we have received comments and concerns from the Magic community regarding this announcement, and the omission of Modern from the 2015 Pro Tour schedule. After evaluating all feedback and after further discussion, we have decided to add Modern to the 2015 Pro Tour schedule.
I guess Magic would have died if they hadn't made this change, huh?
What do we think? Is this a good change? Did they save Magic from certain oblivion? Is Modern on the PT even a big deal? Is this just going to encourage the whiners to whine louder? Sound off below.
Squeaky wheel gets the grease and they are squeaky as hell. As much as they whine about modern not being on the list every other post is about how they can’t play modern competitively because fetchlands are too expensive. Lets get the fetchlands first, then whine about how we can’t rock our sick home brews at the the pro tour and take the world by storm…..
With the push for vintage and legacy online we should all demand both a vintage and legacy PT.
Absolutely love this change. Don’t think it saved Magic from extinction but it definitely gives me the feel-goods.
That is, I didn’t think Magic was going to go extinct in the first place. Just realized my wording above was ambiguous.
I think the whining was the vocal minority obsessively commenting, and I am actually quite surprised the WOTC catered to this. We have cried the death of the game so many times before, and they heald their position and inevitability, the game got better. They should have held their position this time as well, now players will be even more relentless down he line.
I don’t think magic would’ve died that’s pretty silly but there are a lot of people I know, myself included who love magic, play every week and love to watch coverage but won’t touch standard with a 10 foot pole. The only way I’ll ever be interested in watching a standard PT is if Greg Orange is playing again otherwise I don’t care.
I’m more of a Standard player than anything else, but I do understand where this change is coming from. The Modern playerbase might be the “minority” in the strictest sense, as in less than 50% of all tournament players, but it is by no means small. There are times when a tiny portion of people gets really loud, like those who wanted Counterspell back in 8th edition, but this time I’d guess many of the “silent” people wanted Modern back too.
I’m glad Wizard’s made this change. However I do agree that Magic wouldn’t have died if they had stuck to their guns.
I’m a big Modern fan and will take any opportunity to play it. Where I live in the UK it’s pretty hard to find any regular Modern tournaments (even for FNM). With the original the Pro Tour schedule stores over here would have been less inclined to support Modern.
No,, magic wouldn’t have died, too many prophets were already lost in that cause (ex.: new rules in 1999, new frame in 2003, futuristic look in Future Sight, etc), though I am quiet happy with the change.
As a viewer it is nice to give some high level focus to different formats, and Modern is wonderful for that due to its diversity. Moreover it is in the Pro-tour that things are shaken. For the speculators, this is all good news. If Modern behaved like Legacy, the metagame shifts would take 3 years to happen. This way, and with the ban/unban strategy, we can promote some diversity, and financial opportunities.
Good decision overall.
Screw modern. I want to know where my Vintage or Legacy Pro Tour is. That is what people should be complaining about.