Thursday, February 28, 2013
Open Letter to Helene Bergeot and WPN Organized Play
Helene Beregot and the rest of the the WPN Organized Play,
After the announcement of the US WMCQ
for 2013, I believe the WMCQ system needs to be completely scrapped (at least in the United States).
The United States has the largest number of Magic
players in the world. We are one of the largest countries in the world. Distance is a problem in a country this size despite the advent of air travel. Most of us still get around by car and prefer to carpool to events. The USA gets 3 qualifiers this year. One is in the Chicago area, one is in the Washington DC area, and the last one is in Santa Clara, CA. The logistics of that simply does not work in a country
the size of the US.
The US WMCQ system needs one of two things to fix the problem:
Return to a US Regional event system that feeds a US National event.
That system gave
players the best opportunity to compete within a specified distance
(say 6 hrs max).
Do you people not believe that the current system isn't alienating sections of the player base? Just ask players in Texas, Florida, Alaska, Hawaii, Washington (state), Oregon, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Maine, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota and Tennessee if you don't believe me.
The US Regional events could be scheduled in April or May. Top 8 of each US Regional event would be automatically qualified for US Nationals and receive a 3 round bye at the US Nationals event.
The US Nationals event could be scheduled in June. This event could have a similar Planeswalker Points threshold that the WMCQ do to enter (or it could be increased as necessary). It could also have Pro Level invites, special invites, Top 8 from each Regional event, and WMCQ Grinder winners. Pro Level invites, special invites and Top 8 from each Regional event would receive 3 byes. Grinder winners and players who meet the PWP threshold who do not meet the other requirements would start with 0 byes. The event could be set up similar to a GP using multiple formats (Standard, Draft, Modern). The Top 3 players make the US National Team and the Pro Player invite to the team from last year would remain the same.
Reinstate the State Championship system and have that system feed the US Nationals event.
Now here is another idea.
The State Championship could be placed logistically so that distance would not be an issue for players. To complete in the revamped event you would need some number of PWP (to be determined and must provide verification that you are a resident of that state). These events could be scheduled in April or they return to their spot in October / November (which would qualify them for the Nationals next year). The Top 2 players earn Invites and 3 byes to US Nationals.
The US Nationals event could be scheduled in June. This event could have a similar Planeswalker Points threshold that the WMCQ do to enter (or it could be increased as necessary). It could also have Pro Level invites, special invites, Top 2 from each State Championship, and WMCQ Grinder winners. Pro Level invites, special invites and Top 2 from each State Championship would receive 3 byes. Grinder winners and players who meet the PWP threshold who do not meet the other requirements would start with 0 byes. The event could be set up similar to a GP using multiple formats (Standard, Draft, Modern). The Top 3 players make the US National Team and the Pro Player invite to the team from last year would remain the same.
Reason Why I Feel This Way
Let me give you the reason I think that the US should return to that system: It worked. The only US Regionals that I was able to attend was the 2002 Southeast Regionals. There were 16 US Regional events that year. Here is a breakdown of the locations and the number of players from each event that year:
Alaska - Anchorage, AL - NA
Hawaii - Honolulu, HI - 39 players
Northwest - Seattle, WA - 338 players
Northern California - Palo Alto, CA - 373 players
Southern California - Los Angeles, CA - 301 players
Mountain - Salt Lake City, UT - 167 players
Southwest - Albuquerque, NM - 201 players
South - Dallas, TX - 453 players
Midwest - Chicago, IL - 502 players
Plains - Lincoln, NE - 298 players
Ohio Valley - Columbus, OH - 688 players
Southeast - Atlanta, GA - 430 players
Florida - Orlando, FL - 348 players
Mid Atlantic - DC - 531 players
Northeast - NYC, NY - 355 players
New England - Boston, MA - 384 players
US Regionals Total - 5408 players
Most of these events had between Pro Tour to Grand Prix amount of player attendance. That was 11 years ago but it was one of the most fun times I have ever had playing Magic in my life. That was 11 Rounds of pure Magic. Nothing but the Grind. Three of my fellow columnist here on The Phyrexian Arena were also at that Southeast Regional event, one of which (Matthew Norton) made Top 8 and qualified him for the US Nationals event that year (where he finished 66th).
What was the attendance of the 3 United States World Magic Cup Qualifiers in 2012?
WMCQ Oakland, CA - 119 players
WMCQ St. Louis, MO - N/A
WMCQ College Park - N/A
WMCQ Oakland, CA - 119 players
WMCQ St. Louis, MO - N/A
WMCQ College Park - N/A
Not very convincing that players in the US want to be apart of the WMCQ system. Go back to the old system and you'll see numbers increase as players will turn up in droves to grind their way to be apart of the US National team.
Thank you for your time,
Bradley Reeves
The Phyrexian Arena
Infecting Magic One Grinder At A Time
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The problem with the American WMCQ system isn't that of attendance, 100% of people who wanted to go went (getting players exited about the WMC is a whole nother issue) it's that they are situated Geographically akward. Californa Coast, Nothern part of the midwest, then nothern east coast leaves players interested and able to attend in the deep south from texas to flordia with quite the commute. the problem is one of geograpy, there are also similar problems in Canada (sorry any player who lives 30 miles from the US border, all 10 of you) and other geographically large nations.
ReplyDeleteAs far as player interest, it's a threshold invite tournament, with terrible prize payout, where you are basically hoping to qualify to play in a over-glorified PTQ. The only players that are really going to care about this Grinders trying to make it onto the Pro Tour, or Established pros looking to score a small handful of extra Pro Points. and the kicker is you could Win your Qualifier, and your National Team could Win the whole thing, If you were the odd man out from your team on day 1 you get nothing.
Wizards will try to sell the angle of playing for national pride, but your typical magic player doesn't have that, magic players exist in a global community, national borders don't really matter or even exist for us. The World Magic Cup is what it is, and it's not really all that great.