Episode 98

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Published on:

14th May 2021

MVP098: Wizards Announces the End of Professional Level Play

On May 13th, 2021, Wizards of the Coast announced plans to move away from it's current iteration of Organized Play and phase out the MPL and Rivals leagues. The 2021-2022 season will be the final season of Wizard's foray into e-sports in it's current form, and it looks like they will be refocusing on in-person and local level play more closely in the future.

Wizards Announces Major Changes To Professional Organized Play

The new Organized Play vision is to balance the five categories of play away from the heavy focus on professional or “elite” play. The five categories include:

  • Friendly play (local game store level)
  • Aspirational play (drive to play at a higher level in stuff like States)
  • Elite play (higher level events similar to Grand Prix or Pro Tour)
  • Festivals (things like CommandFests)
  • Digital (playing on MTG Arena and Magic Online as an on-ramp for players anywhere to have access to varying levels of play).

Key Points

  • Magic is a poor e-sport and is not compelling to watch from a spectators perspective. This was a major hurdle that Wizards had to overcome to make Magic successful as an e-sport and this announcement indicates that it didn't achieve what they were hoping.
  • Players shouldn't expect to make professional Magic into a career. Organized Play always has been a marketing strategy and always will be. It's not a way to employ people.
  • The older paths towards high level play were simpler and easier to follow for the average Magic player, making them more aspirational and interesting, which drove sales. The current version is convoluted and messy, and reducing the complexity will certainly help.

What does this mean for the local game stores?

Overall, it's probably a positive change. With a renewed focus on local and regional events, the focus will be more on the average major player and using organized play as a way to support their enjoyment of the hobby, and the local game stores that support the community.

Future versions of the program will probably be simplified and recapture the original sense of excitement and achievability for average players.

Links

https://magic.gg/news/esports-transitions-and-getting-back-to-gathering

https://articles.starcitygames.com/news/2021-2022-will-be-last-season-for-pro-magic-play/

https://articles.starcitygames.com/news/weekly-mtg-answers-questions-regarding-op-announcement/

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The Manaverse Podcast: Magic: the Gathering Business / Game Store Entrepreneurship / LGS Professionals
Grow your business, sell more games.
The Manaverse Podcast is a podcast created for you, the gamer with aspirations of building your own local game store (LGS), the entrepreneur running an LGS who wants to grow their business, and the player who wants a behind the scenes look into their favourite hobby. If you’re looking for inspiration, new ideas, and interesting perspectives then Tom Traplin has you covered. Learn the business of selling some of the best games in the world including Mtg, Warhammer, Warmachine, Dungeons and Dragons, board games and Euro games from some of the best retailers in the industry. Once a week, Tom talks with some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the game industry and pulls out the strategies, tactics, and systems that make their businesses so effective. With a special focus on Magic: the Gathering, you will learn how to level up your LGS and build a better community with Tom Traplin and the Manaverse Podcast.
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Thomas Traplin

Tom Traplin has been involved in the Magic community for the past 18 years in a variety of roles. As a player he played competitively in cities all over North America. As a tournament organizer he's managed hundreds of events and given away thousands of dollars in prizes. As the owner of an LGS he built up a local community and made a living selling Magic cards.

Tom is also the host of the Manaverse Podcast where he interviews some of the best game store entrepreneurs in North America including Pete Hoefling, John Coviello, Lynn Potyen, and many more. He is also a husband, father, business strategist, digital marketer, Dragonball Z fan, and philosopher. Not necessarily in that order.

His mission is to encourage more people to become game store entrepreneurs by giving them the tools and skills they need to succeed.