Casual vs Pro

[rkoelsch]

I am finding I like to read these articles more than tourney reports or strategic articles by someone entirely to pleased with themselves. So here is another article about the state of Magic.

http://www.grimmoire.com/index.php/article/articleview/321/1/5/

 

[Spiderman]

You know, just talking off the top of my head without any knowledge behind it whatsoever , perhaps one of the problems is that to compete effectively in the "high-stakes" tournaments, you only use a "handful" of cards out there, thus getting a handful of decks. What if there were so many decks that it would be nigh-impossible to test your deck against beforehand? Obviously it would be frustrating, as you have no idea how your deck will perform, but then, isn't that kinda what you do against a stranger in a "casual" game anyways?

Maybe the solution is that tournament decks need to follow Starter deck format or tweak the number of rares/uncommons. Maybe the number of cards allowed in a deck needs to be looked at again. Maybe there has to be a rule that if a decklist can be found on the Net (or by 2 or X number of sources) it can't be used and the top 4 or X decks finishing are added to the list. Who knows?

 

[rkoelsch]

I don't really think that it should be a matter of changing current tournament formats. I just think there should be more support for the casual player. I always thought the Arena league was fun, adapting to the different deck designs. Using different cards, just playing for alt art cards. But what happened to it? Did the prize support die at Wizards? or did stores decide it wasn't economical?
The Prereleases are really a casual event. Would promoter's of PTQ's and Prereleases be open to some other venue's like a Type 1 tournament or a Tribes tournament if the had some prize support from Wizards?

 

[Spiderman]

Yeah, but it seemed the article was saying that everywhere there were tourney reports/strategy but nothing for the casual, hence a divide. If people felt more comfortable in a tourney setting and didn't feel they had to get 4 of whatever rare or had to spend 10 hours a day play-testing to prepare, then there might be more articles that everyone can use.