He makes a ton of great points here on how to revitalize and dying competitive scene, and this is something I’ve been feeling for a while but haven’t really been able to articulate why.
Just commenting on a few of the things he raises, I think one of the bigger issues is beyond “bring back the GPs,” which I 100% agree should happen. It more just doesn’t feel like there’s a visible ladder/path competitively like there was before. I remember as a kid it was clear, FNM -> PTQ -> PT -> Worlds (!), and I had a DCI rating that moved up and down and felt like it mattered. Maybe it’s a marketing issue b/c I know there are local RCQs and other regional championship things but it just doesn’t feel clear to me at all.
The elephant in the room is obviously Commander as well, and Mengucci addresses this one. WotC is Commander-first now and it’s not even close, and I know this has been one of the main reasons local events just don’t happen anymore like they used to. This plus Arena eating into any remaining competitive player time probably nuked local competitive scenes for good, and I think that has gone a long way in making everything “feel” worse now.
I guess the other elephant in the room is the price of everything. I cannot pay $500 for a Standard deck, full stop. When I was a kid it was way, way more approachable, and we also had Block Constructed which I loved and was even more approachable. Not just price too but the shear volume of sets now just makes it feel overwhelming. It’s like 20 sets now for Standard, before it was just a known 7 sets (3 from a block each year and core set).
That’s kind of how it’s felt for me I guess, I’m not sure what if anything would correct it now or what is driving it the most but I know for a fact that I just feel way different about playing competitive magic now, even though I watch it every day and play for fun still.
WotC is Commander-first now and it’s not even close, and I know this has been one of the main reasons local events just don’t happen anymore like they used to.
While I loved (I say past tense because when I closed my shop I gave up Magic) commander, I miss 60 card.
The Commander Parties were fun to run, but I would have a group of players who would come In and wanted to play plain commander. They would end up in a pod with someone wanting to do the party and then refuse to acknowledge the night’s rules. This ended up souring people to the commander parties. Since my shop was in a small town, a lot of times I would only get enough for a single pod, maybe 2, and 3 on a really good night.
Yeah and sorry in no way did I mean to say Commander is “lesser than” or anything like that if I came across that way. I just meant that it’s completely different from the 1v1 competitive stuff/experience that LGSs I grew up with were all about. It’s definitely fun, I just think it’s rise in popularity came at the cost of competitive 1v1 magic and I kind of lament that.
This is sad to hear, and No slight on you. I ran an LGS for 7 1/2 years. The last time I really got an FNM with more than 4 players, that was not commander/prerelease, was either 2019 or 2021.
I tried so much to get people in to play at my shop. I only charged if we were doing a sealed/draft/prerelease. I gave out the WoTC promos, I gave out my standard decks I built, I threw a pizza party (0 attendees for that one).
He makes a ton of great points here on how to revitalize and dying competitive scene, and this is something I’ve been feeling for a while but haven’t really been able to articulate why.
Just commenting on a few of the things he raises, I think one of the bigger issues is beyond “bring back the GPs,” which I 100% agree should happen. It more just doesn’t feel like there’s a visible ladder/path competitively like there was before. I remember as a kid it was clear, FNM -> PTQ -> PT -> Worlds (!), and I had a DCI rating that moved up and down and felt like it mattered. Maybe it’s a marketing issue b/c I know there are local RCQs and other regional championship things but it just doesn’t feel clear to me at all.
The elephant in the room is obviously Commander as well, and Mengucci addresses this one. WotC is Commander-first now and it’s not even close, and I know this has been one of the main reasons local events just don’t happen anymore like they used to. This plus Arena eating into any remaining competitive player time probably nuked local competitive scenes for good, and I think that has gone a long way in making everything “feel” worse now.
I guess the other elephant in the room is the price of everything. I cannot pay $500 for a Standard deck, full stop. When I was a kid it was way, way more approachable, and we also had Block Constructed which I loved and was even more approachable. Not just price too but the shear volume of sets now just makes it feel overwhelming. It’s like 20 sets now for Standard, before it was just a known 7 sets (3 from a block each year and core set).
That’s kind of how it’s felt for me I guess, I’m not sure what if anything would correct it now or what is driving it the most but I know for a fact that I just feel way different about playing competitive magic now, even though I watch it every day and play for fun still.
While I loved (I say past tense because when I closed my shop I gave up Magic) commander, I miss 60 card.
The Commander Parties were fun to run, but I would have a group of players who would come In and wanted to play plain commander. They would end up in a pod with someone wanting to do the party and then refuse to acknowledge the night’s rules. This ended up souring people to the commander parties. Since my shop was in a small town, a lot of times I would only get enough for a single pod, maybe 2, and 3 on a really good night.
Yeah and sorry in no way did I mean to say Commander is “lesser than” or anything like that if I came across that way. I just meant that it’s completely different from the 1v1 competitive stuff/experience that LGSs I grew up with were all about. It’s definitely fun, I just think it’s rise in popularity came at the cost of competitive 1v1 magic and I kind of lament that.
No, i did not think you meant Commander is lesser. It is very different, and I wish WoTC push 1v1 Commander more, and multiplayer 60 card.
Brawl was a great format, i wish it had done better.
Now that I can just open the laptop and fire up Arena/MTGO, I’m not sure what it would actually take for me to go to the local LGS for paper magic.
Maybe if a local friend wanted to go, but I just don’t have the motivation.
This is sad to hear, and No slight on you. I ran an LGS for 7 1/2 years. The last time I really got an FNM with more than 4 players, that was not commander/prerelease, was either 2019 or 2021.
I tried so much to get people in to play at my shop. I only charged if we were doing a sealed/draft/prerelease. I gave out the WoTC promos, I gave out my standard decks I built, I threw a pizza party (0 attendees for that one).