MtG Players Union

Organized Play overhaul final plans to be announced at GAMA in April

MagicRage — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:25:52 GMT

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dci/announce/dci20080221a

"The details of the plans to expand the reach of tournament play are still being worked on, and the final plans will be unveiled during the Gama Trade Show convention to be held in Las Vegas on April 20-23, 2008."

Updates in Alara

peterakeley — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 06:54:11 GMT

in case you have missed it wotc dropped a bomb tonight with their anouncement on the home page...

"Set Size

We have received a tremendous amount of feedback from fans that the

volume of cards released each year is too high. After evaluating the

set sizes, we have decided that card sets will be smaller than they

have traditionally been. For example, the set size for the Shards of Alara block is as follows:

Shards of Alara: 249

"Paper" (codename): 145

"Scissors" (codename): 145

The ...

and what about magic online ?

antoine ruel — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 16:57:12 GMT

Once for all, sorry about the english mistakes, being french sometimes sucks.

This forum's goal being to try to save the pro tours, and to find answers so that people can still earn their lives playing magic the gathering, i would be glad to have everyone's opinion about cash tournaments which could be hold on magic online.

First, i have to assume that winning money (or tix) on magic online would be allowed, that wizards would eventually redeem tix into cash, and that MODO III would ...

Hostels in hollywood

Shadowhunter483 — Sat, 17 May 2008 07:14:03 GMT

Does anyone know of any good ones? I'm staying for 1 night and something for a decent price would be good.

Chilling before/after PT Hollywood

Kev — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:12:36 GMT

Hi all,

I am a Dutchie that will be playing Hollywood, but I also planned a small vacation around the PT. I am wondering whether someone knows about some cheap hostels close to the venue, Malibu and/or Venice beach.

I am also looking for cool people that I can chill with over there. If you wanna know what kinda person I am, just try to combine Wessel and Ruud to 1 person, and I am pretty close to it, although i obviously am not as sexy as these guys (close though )

I prolly wont ...

Choose your own standard

Shadowhunter483 — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 20:17:08 GMT

It seemed like it was well received at the Invitational this year, what do you guys think of it as a constructed format? For anyone who doesn't know here are the rules. You pick any core set from 6th or above and two blocks. The banned list is anything banned in legacy or anything banned in its own block.

Anyone need someone to room with?

Kurce — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 07:22:22 GMT

First off,

I apologize if this is the incorrect place for this. I looked and I didn't see a clear-cut place for this type of question. If one of the mods can move this if this is in the incorrect place, that would be awesome.

About a month ago, I won a PTQ to go to Hollywood. So, looks like I need to find someone to room with. I was wondering if anyone is still needing someone. I would like to share one of the 2-bed rooms on site if possible. If someone has a better idea for sharing ...

GP Birmingham! Venue details

Luke — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 04:09:39 GMT

31st May & 1st June

Format: Block Constructed

Tournament Location:

NEC Birmingham

Pavilion 1

Birmingham

UK

Expect it to be huge, GPT's all over England and the continent. Theres a big feeling about this event in the UK and Wizards UK are plugging T.O's and players about the event.

Enjoy Block Constructed and the wonderful town of Birmingham!

If anyone needs help getting to Birmingham let me know and I'll do my best to help work out travel for you!

Why acquisition is a big priority...

TrickJarrett — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 22:56:21 GMT

I don't know if any of you are familiar with Google Web Trends and what information it provides, but this is a pretty visual explanation as to why Wizards is shifting gears in an effort to re-ignite the base of the game.

Google Web Trends for 'magic the gathering'

I'm going to write an article about it for mananation next week.

-- Trick

magic for charity

Shadowhunter483 — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 05:43:35 GMT

Do you think it would be possible to have a charity tournament? This is another thing I think Wizards isn't focusing on. Why not get a bunch of pros together and then they play magic for a charity of their choice. Kinda like celebrity poker showdown. I think it would be a good idea and it would show magic in a good light. What do you guys think?

midwest U.S. local chapter

DgiDraco — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 20:41:25 GMT

hey everybody, i would like to go ahead and get the local ball rolling. anyone from the midwest wanting to start locally please announce yourself on this site. name, location, email please

Tim Morrison

Indianapolis Indiana

tjmorrison@bsu.edu

Oops.........

Raph — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 12:12:27 GMT

Oops, I was cleaning up this part of the forum, and deleted the content of that part...

Sorry about that!

Raph

Hotels in Birmingham?

Espennordahl — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 16:29:09 GMT

If anyone has info on cheap hotels in Birmingham near the site(or near public transportation to the site), it would be great if you could share it.

-Espen

Jumping on the WOTC bashing bandwagon =)

crabchef — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 01:29:57 GMT

Basically I wrote an article (it's very brief and is only part I of many to come) about the ongoing problem with WOTC. I fully support this site and I hope that the owners will grant me permission to post their articles on the pileshuffle site as we get a lot of traffic and spread the awareness. Anyway, here's the article. I tried to refrain from using any ideas gathered from this forum until i've been further notified that it's ok. So, please drop me a line moderators!

http://www.pileshuffle.com/index.php?action=blogViewPost&postId=77

How likely are you to take part in a "buy-in" tournament?

Raph — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 03:52:44 GMT

Everything is in the question.

If you take part in the poll, try to add some comments about your answer:

Does it depend on where the tournament takes place? How much the buy-in is? What if you can qualify online?

Merci!

Raph

Web Programmer Needed for mtgplayersunion.com!

misterorange — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:03:14 GMT

Hey everybody, the union is in dire need of a nice web programmer who can help us get more official.

This would consist of installing and maintaining a phpbb and Wordpress installation. Heavy edits would be necessary to both, including custom programming to setup a signup process for official members of the union.

Graphic design/skills would be appreciated, but right now we just need a PHP guru who can help us get going beyond this free forum we have right now.

Please PM me if ...

'Magic is over' for the U.S., says foreign minister of France

Reindeercards — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 03:53:21 GMT

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/12/europe/france.php

Bernard Kouchner, the foreign minister of France and a longtime humanitarian, diplomatic and political activist on the international scene, says that whoever succeeds President George W. Bush may restore something of the United States' battered image and standing overseas, but that "the magic is over."

In a wide-ranging conversation with Roger Cohen of the International Herald Tribune at the launch of a Forum for ...

The latest developments

Eelco1972 — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 16:34:35 GMT

Hey people,

In the Union's Representitives part of the Forum we have been gently preparing for the next level of this website and the ideas we have for the Union. A possible approach to handling the future of especially the website part of these ideas have been approved by Raph and in the next couple of days i'm going to contact TobiH and Evan to have some brainstorm sessions.

The idea is to have some sort of plan for the near future up before some of us leave for Vienna and possibly ...

Some news ...

Raph — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 12:30:09 GMT

Hello people,

don't think we have forgotten about you! We are currently working on the best way to build the new website, and it might take a little time, but Evan and Eelco threw some good ideas to the pot.

About the Union's name: For now it's here to stay. As we open the new website, we'll decide wether or not we keep it. I've been silently following the discussion on the other topic and keep in mind the suggestions.

I'll give you updates on what's going on soon!

Raph

StarCity takes sides?

Reindeercards — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 10:49:56 GMT

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/15476.html

Are we committed to "Mtg Players Union" being the official name?

Reindeercards — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 20:31:23 GMT

Are we committed to "Mtg Player's Union" being the official name?

The word "union" is considered to be a negative term by somewhere between a third to half of the people in the US. Think of it as being similar to a priest belonging to an organization with the word "whorehouse" in its title. Even if its not a whorehouse in the sense of The Bunny Ranch, a priest would having difficulties joining and passionately defending the organization.

I understand this ...

LLM or Shadowmore�

Pokemon — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 19:35:10 GMT

This gp its gonna be with Shadowmore�

social structure of the union

DgiDraco — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:52:30 GMT

posted this in the wrong forum

Hey everyone,

First off let me say thank you to Raph and everyone for voicing thier opinions to wizards at KL. Due to the nature of the formation of our union, we need to establish certain guidelines (Bi-laws) in which we are established to be taken seriously. We have two groups of people in this union (Pros, and Joes) and we need to be able to adhear to both of them. We also have one of the most diverse cultures in the world, but we are within ourselves ...

Misconception about "casual" players

TobiH — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 08:49:22 GMT

I think there is one serious misconception about the so-called "casual" players. And that is, that everyone starts playing Magic as a casual player.

Yes, the decks and formats (multiplayer, for example) played by beginners tend to resemble those of the self-proclaimed casual players, and beginning players are sometimes scared by the tournament scene and reluctant to join it, but that's not exactly the same as genuinely not being interested in competition!

Take me for example: ...

Fixing what was wrong with States/Champs

Reindeercards — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:57:50 GMT

I understand States/Champs aren't coming back, at least as we used to know them. But they went away because they weren't working for WotC. If we take a look at why they didn't work and what could have been done to fix them, maybe we can help the same problems from cropping up again.

These are the issues I can see

1) No one outside of WotC seemed to have any clue that Champs was unsuccessful.

I understand WotC can't put out press releases proclaiming one of their tournament events ...

MtG Players Union and Representation

occisor — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:18:01 GMT

I am relatively new to the debate over the PT changes, and the reasons for the formation of this union, (new baby means I've been away from mtg for a while), but it seems to me that a union like this can only act at best as a focus group for WoTC rather than an actual force for change. The biggest threat that the union can use against WoTC would be a boycott of an event, and you can't tell me that should this happen no-one who is quailified would turn up? - to an event where there is prize money ...

social structure of the union

DgiDraco — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:44:56 GMT

Hey everyone,

First off let me say thank you to Raph and everyone for voicing thier opinions to wizards at KL. Due to the nature of the formation of our union, we need to establish certain guidelines (Bi-laws) in which we are established to be taken seriously. We have two groups of people in this union (Pros, and Joes) and we need to be able to adhear to both of them. We also have one of the most diverse cultures in the world, but we are within ourselves a culture. We represent people ...

Greatest Accomplishments

kj_4247 — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 11:28:57 GMT

With his latest win in Kuala Lumpur many have re-proclaimed Jon Finkel to be the greatest Magic player ever. His list of accomplishments is long and varied highlighted by 3 PT victories (tied for the second most ever) and a staggering 12 PT top 8s (the highest total on record). The only man that can even contend with his claim to all-time-best is of course Kai Budde. The German Juggernaut amassed 7 PT victories out of 9 top 8s (second most ever, behind Finkel). Kai is also the leader on both ...

News from KL

Raph — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:57:46 GMT

Hello people,

the meeting in KL took place. Fried Meulders, Frank Karsten, Luis Scott Vargas, Ruud Warmenhoven and myself were attending. On WotC's side, Chris Galvin, Scott Larabee, Helene Bergeot and Devin Low were attending.

The meeting lasted two hours and a half with questions asked and answers given.

We will work on a summary of the meeting with the others and post it here as soon as it is ready.

I am personnaly happy with how it went. Do not expect too much though! ...

A comment on sponsorship

rickiep00h — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 08:00:09 GMT

There's been much talk of sponsorship of the Pro Tour lately, mostly in comparison to professional sports. I'd like to mention a few things.

I'll use the example of American football, but this extends to most, if not all, of the major sport in this country (the US).

First, in order to properly draw parallels, the NFL is to football as the DCI is to Magic, it is the overall governing/sanctioning body. It is in charge of rules and organization, and it handles some licensing for the teams ...

A Brazilian overview of the facts and regional issues

7ropz — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 05:12:39 GMT

Ladies and Gentlemen, first of all I would like to introduce myself:

My name is Vinicius Santos Rodrigues, I live in Brazil and I am a regular player of this good game Magic: The Gathering and regular follower of the news within the game, championships and so on. As I follow the Pro-tours and Grand Prixes, something got my attention for that is the number of foreign players attending to some event.

As a viewer of both sides of the matter, I believe that there are somethings that WToC could ...

Magic Online Account ratings with DCI Magic the Gathering ratings

G0-DRAW — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:40:54 GMT

I was wondering if anyone else thought that Magic Online ratings should affect DCI Magic the Gathering ratings and the reverse (DCI affect MODO ratings). I feel the DCI could improve the DCI ratings system, really do we have to wait until wednesday to view out changes to the DCI ratings? I would like to hear what others have to say regarding letting the DCI ratings move and be moved by Magic Online ratings.

Death of MSS = I'm in 100%

wombat45678 — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 03:43:03 GMT

When WOTC cut the MSS I was absolutely devastated. Many of my closest friends became even closer by traveling around the country and playing magic. I had friends and relationships with people all across the east coast. Now it would seem that WOTC has driven a stake into my heart by canceling the MSS. I absolutely support the Mtg Players Union 100%. I am willing to do whatever it takes to make magic what it once was. Count me in to help with everything!

Supporting the Players' Union

Azrael — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 19:30:05 GMT

I've been playing Magic for over 13 years of my life with a modest number of tops eights in the past few years. While the amount of money offered on the pro tour is not of the greatest concern to me, the escalating expenses that have been passed onto the competitive/casual player base concern me greatly.

For many years, we've had 'crises' where players drifted away from the game, and were replaced. I was never worried.

But an alignment of various circumstances, especially the number ...

Frank Karsten's summary for the purpose of WotC talks at PT KL

Eelco1972 — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 13:46:54 GMT

Hi all,

I wanted to be prepared for any meeting in Kuala Lumpur, so I read through all threads on this forum (skimmed over some) and thought about some ideas myself and then wrote a structured summary of all issues and ideas to give me a better overview of everything. If you have some time, please read through it and tell me if you don't agree with something or whether I am missing an important issue. I hope that with some suggestions, I can take this summary to KL and then have all our ...

PT Seattle

Reindeercards — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 19:13:32 GMT

There is no real PT Seattle at this point. But I'd like to brainstorm about how to make it a reality.

And to be clear about what I'm talking about: I'm talking about the most intentionally cheap, lame-ass Pro tour event that could ever be imagined. WotC doesn't have the money to put on a real PT. So let's talk about how to do one, just one, on the cheap.

And when I say intentionally lame-ass, that's exactly what I mean. There's no way to dress up a PT done cheaply to be anything ...

A different perspective

MattNZ — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:28:48 GMT

This is my perspective on the whole Issue of the Pro Tour I would appreciate if you read the whole thing before deleting/skimming over it.

I really don't think you can blame Wizards or Hasbro for shutting down a Pro Tour if it is costing more then its perceived Benefit to there product.

This is why I think we as magic players should approach this in a different manner a Business like approach lets think up angles to decrease Cost, instead of telling them that increased costs will give ...

team pro tours

Shadowhunter483 — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 19:06:14 GMT

What do players think about the team pro tour. It is my understanding that Pros don't care for Two headed giant that much, but what about the other team formats like team draft or emperor?

First Step - requests from PTQ players; Or things that will keep us from going away

Chomps — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:14:10 GMT

Hello all,

Here are the (reasanoble) changes we would like to see:

1 - A compromise of WoTC that the next year PT schedule as well as the PPC benefits will be available AT LEAST in october (after the results of the third quarter have come in);

2 - All news should be announced in an easy to see banner in their website front page (the banner could even relocate ppl to a BDM article, I'd be cool with that);

3 - The creation of a mail-list informing players of changes and DCI ...

Raph — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:10:19 GMT

If you want our "group" to expend and get some consideration, we need to be supported and known by the players.

I'm talking here to people who have access to other Magic Forum and who are writing for strategy websites: if you could drop a couple of lines and a link here and there, that would be great.

Cheers,

Raph

Hasbro and WotC: looking at the numbers

Reindeercards — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 03:46:40 GMT

Hasbro's stock has dropped 18% since May 2007 - http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ao?s=HAS

And analysts aren't convinced the outlook in the future to be rosy. http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ao?s=HAS

With the further downturn of the economy, I wouldn't be surprised if that's true.

And Hasbro company officials have been selling their Hasbro stock far, far more than buying. That usually indicates the company officials are pretty certain the stock price is going to slide further. http://finance.yahoo.com/q/it?s=HAS

That's ...

Preparing for round 1 vs WOTC/Hasbro

janos_wuryon — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 18:35:15 GMT

I see that the response to the forming of the Union has been outstanding. Now I know that the specifics of choosing rep's and deciding our agenda will take some time to hammer out in detail I do think that the founders of this movement need to be a bit totalitarian and decide what topics they will focus on when they go to KL to meet with WOTC. I believe that if there is no clear cut decision made on the specific topics of this first meeting then this movement could be buried by the wieght if ...

Random Pro tour stats

maarten — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 17:21:11 GMT

I saw BDM linking to the Life Time Pro points list in his article today. The following has no relevance but I needed some data to do some spreadsheet functions test so I played a round with it a bit.

op 5 magic countries:

counting only top 1 in Pro Points

1 Germany (Budde)

2 USA (Finkel)

3 France (O Ruel)

4 Netherlands (Wiegersma)

5 Japan (Fujita)

Counting Top 3 in Pro Points

1. France 1064

2. USA 1023

3. Germany 824

4. Netherlands 823

5. ...

Why just pro tours... What about MSS?

Gniksigerg — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 04:54:41 GMT

Why has there been know talk to bring the JSS back... i have almost payed for most of my schooling with it.... i want it back, also the funny kids you meet... it is just a great program... please can someone talk to wizards!

Love Greg

Where to next?

mercenarybdu — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 06:04:14 GMT

We see that a dozen programs have been cut from the MSS/JSS to programs that were popular to the low profile player, where will they go next?

The programs that have been cut as of 2008....

MSS/JSS

States

Champs

There were some previous programs cut or replaced before this present time but keep in mind that I don't know all of them other than the fact that the following were either cut or replaced by other programs.....

Arena League (2006)

JPT (1999)

If anyone else ...

is the distribution of new tournament programms, pro tours and grand prixs fair?

atomsmasher — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 04:02:24 GMT

following the announcements of new tournament systems or grand prix and pro tours is often sad for non american players, because we do not get access to these tournaments, like the scholarship series or champs, and usually get less pro tours and grand prix than north america. worlds is again in the usa, for the second time in a row. what are your opinions on that topic?

Technology Support

TrickJarrett — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:34:43 GMT

Raph + crew,

If you need any support for hosting, please let me know.

-- Trick

The Player's voice

Santander — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 04:08:15 GMT

I think this is an excelente idea.

The player's voice, the vox populi, must be heard.

Why?

Because in my opinion, WotC is making bad assumptions in what is the best for the players.

(They 've made some good assumptions before, like the airfare prize in PTQ's)

You cant's design good incentives (is all about how you do that) if you don't what motivates the players, what they think, what they prefer.

That's why i think that the player should organize more, and this is a first step.

Saludos ...

States/Champs Another Event Taken Away?

gleemax — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 01:10:27 GMT

Read: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=events/magic/champs

What is with all of these changes? It says this is only a temporary change, but it also doesn't gurantee that we will get States/Champs back either. They could end up cuting this and giving us yet another GP or two. This is an event that's more popular with lower level players even if you higher pro's don't always attend. Since they're restructoring this anyway, I think this would be a good chance for the Union to get they're ...

Latest Thoughts - Restoration of the EoYP.

Raph — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:21:28 GMT

I have been thinking lately of a way for WotC to fix the damage. One of the solutions I thought of is to restore the End of the Year Payout. I'm not talking about cutting the Pro Player Club, it would be in addition to the Pro Players Club.

-The money would come from the prize money of the PT Cut.

-It would still save them the costs of the logistics used to organize the PT (the biggest part of the budget of a PT).

-Unlike the Pro Player Club, they know exactly how much they are giving ...

MtG Players Union

Organized Play overhaul final plans to be announced at GAMA in April

Updates in Alara

and what about magic online ?

Hostels in hollywood

Chilling before/after PT Hollywood

Choose your own standard

Anyone need someone to room with?

GP Birmingham! Venue details

Why acquisition is a big priority...

magic for charity

midwest U.S. local chapter

Oops.........

Hotels in Birmingham?

Jumping on the WOTC bashing bandwagon =)

How likely are you to take part in a "buy-in" tournament?

Web Programmer Needed for mtgplayersunion.com!

'Magic is over' for the U.S., says foreign minister of France

The latest developments

Some news ...

StarCity takes sides?

Are we committed to "Mtg Players Union" being the official name?

LLM or Shadowmore�

social structure of the union

Misconception about "casual" players

Fixing what was wrong with States/Champs

MtG Players Union and Representation

social structure of the union

Greatest Accomplishments

News from KL

A comment on sponsorship

A Brazilian overview of the facts and regional issues

Magic Online Account ratings with DCI Magic the Gathering ratings

Death of MSS = I'm in 100%

Supporting the Players' Union

Frank Karsten's summary for the purpose of WotC talks at PT KL

PT Seattle

A different perspective

team pro tours

First Step - requests from PTQ players; Or things that will keep us from going away

Advertisement

Hasbro and WotC: looking at the numbers

Preparing for round 1 vs WOTC/Hasbro

Random Pro tour stats

Why just pro tours... What about MSS?

Where to next?

is the distribution of new tournament programms, pro tours and grand prixs fair?

Technology Support

The Player's voice

States/Champs Another Event Taken Away?

Latest Thoughts - Restoration of the EoYP.