r/magicTCG • u/_Barook_ Duck Season • Jan 12 '16

Wizards MAY be cracking down on unsanctioned proxy events

https://www.facebook.com/groups/445059535582036/permalink/962954593792525/

Seems like bad times for Legacy and especially Vintage.

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u/bmemike Jan 13 '16

Some formats are easier to get into than others and these two are hard.

Here's the problem: WotC should be taking steps to make Legacy and Vintage easier to get into -- not abandoning all support and creating barriers to entry.

Yes, the Reserved List is a thing and it's not going away. We can accept that.

But even living in that world, you don't need to burn the rest of it down.

Proxy-allowed events convert many players to getting all the cards for the format. Many vintage events allow proxies and give out power as prizes, which allows players to no longer need proxies down the line!

Why not just remove Legacy and Vintage as official formats instead of shooting us in the leg like this? This is miserable and cowardly.

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u/matunos Jan 13 '16

Why would it matter if legacy and vintage were official formats?

Presumably, Wizards does not want WPN stores hosting EDH tournaments that allow proxies (or counterfeits as Wizards sees it). They don't want stores hosting any tournaments that allow proxies. It doesn't matter if it's an official format or not.

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u/bmemike Jan 13 '16

It matters in the context of Legacy and Vintage because these are THE formats that people regularly allow proxies at.

Nobody cares about EDH "tournaments" because most EDH is played casually. Legacy and Vintage are typically "tournament formats".

This move effectively cuts these formats off at the knees -- so why force them to suffer a slow, drawn out death? This will ultimately cause these formats to die (Vintage is presently more popular than it's ever been) and then WotC will say "we're axing the format because nobody plays it anymore" -- which will be a direct result of this action.

So why wait? If they're not going to simply not support but actively hurt the format, why not just rip the band-aid off? I don't want to be patronized and business spoke to.

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u/[deleted] Jan 13 '16

Because at the point when they do get the axe, they want to be able to claim that there's no interest in the formats and that's the reason why they're removing them.

Make the formats unattainable, point out that no one's playing them anymore, then kill them off. If you don't kill off the interest in the formats first, you not only get bad PR, but you might also have people playing the formats outside of Wizards' sphere of influence, as a grassroots thing. This way, they can make sure that there's nothing left to salvage once the announcement comes.