PDA

View Full Version : No More Modern Pro Tour



Phoenix Ignition
04-24-2016, 04:20 PM
Announced on stream. Article I didn't read here: http://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/ptsoi/where-modern-goes-from-here-2016-04-24

I'm not that upset/surprised about it, I just hope they update the B&R list when need be. I hope it doesn't take 6/8 eldrazi top 8ing a pro tour to get a ban there.

Liking the format a lot right now though. Still no obvious best deck, and the metagame is full of all different styles now.

iamajellydonut
04-24-2016, 06:12 PM
WHAT WE WANT MODERN TO BE

Modern should: Be a fun way to play Magic


Not rotate, allowing you to keep a deck for a long period of time


Not be dominated by fast, non-interactive decks


Have as small a banned list as possible that accomplishes all the previous goals

Nailed it.

the Thin White Duke
04-24-2016, 06:23 PM
For anyone who still thinks Wizards still gives a damn about anything but Standard, let this be your wake up call. There will be no more reprints because Wizards is now solely focused on Standard constructed /Standard draft. No one should hold out any hope that Wizards will reprint anything relevant for Eternal formats ever again. eternal Masters? Just a red -herring wraped in a cash grab surrounding a ruse to make Eternal players say "thank you Wizards for listening to us! Yay, you're reprinting a extremely limited set with probably nothing that will appease players...but thid means your listening, right?
I don't need to sound too harsh, but Wizards doesn't need to care about any format other than Standard because that is how they make $$. And I you think that Eternal Masters is anything other than a cash grab, you're kidding yourself.
This should be final proof that Wizards is offically spending zero time and effort on eternal formats.
Sorry, this was supposed to be a Modern topic, eh?
This leads me to a question I've had for a long time? Why are people so obsessed with playing" sanctioned " formats?
Anyway, I've lost my train of thought thanks to my 7 Mo old.

iatee
04-24-2016, 06:30 PM
'Bans are necessary before every Pro Tour to shake things up' = not really some undeniable truth everyone should take for granted. We're gonna ban your favorite deck then blame you, we told you this would happen!

In any case I think the Pro Tour ended up being an awkward format for Modern. I think what people want is a high level championship type event for the format, something bigger than a GP. It doesn't have to be called the Pro Tour.

Barook
04-24-2016, 07:26 PM
They wanted to cut the Modern PT already two years ago, but kept it due to public outcry. Since then, they've been intentionally sabotating the format with "shake-up" bans and the whole Eldrazi disaster to the point where people actually want the format gone from the PT. And they succeeded rather well with that.

As for reprints, they'll keep doing Masters sets since it's a cash cow.

The far more important announcement today was that Wizards completely shat on the attendance fees for Pros (http://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/ptsoi/2016-and-2017-premier-play-updates-announced-at-ptsoi-2016-04-24). Nice way to grow your "eSports" there, Hasbro & Wizards. :really:

Lord Seth
04-24-2016, 09:25 PM
This leads me to a question I've had for a long time? Why are people so obsessed with playing" sanctioned " formats? Because they're the ones that are run the most.

the Thin White Duke
04-24-2016, 11:04 PM
Because they're the ones that are run the most.

Yeah, a poorly wordedquestion and off topic. But since you brought it up... how many LGSs out there run house rules tournaments? If not many, why not? Why this need to be beholden to Wizards to make the rules when it's obvious they care not for non-standard formats?

Phoenix Ignition
04-24-2016, 11:15 PM
No one should hold out any hope that Wizards will reprint anything relevant for Eternal formats ever again.

And I you think that Eternal Masters is anything other than a cash grab, you're kidding yourself.


I don't get it. Who cares if they make money by making reprints, this is exactly what like 95% of the community wants for eternal formats. I'd be ecstatic if these "cash grabs" keep happening.


Yeah, a poorly wordedquestion and off topic. But since you brought it up... how many LGSs out there run house rules tournaments? If not many, why not? Why this need to be beholden to Wizards to make the rules when it's obvious they care not for non-standard formats?

Because it's the easiest way to convey information to anyone who isn't already a regular at your shop. If I call up the game shop that's 2 towns away and ask what formats they run, are they really going to be able to say something like, "We run Modern except no 7th edition is allowed and we unbanned Jace the mindsculptor and Splinter twin but also banned Thought-Knot Seer due to popular opinion and we don't allow more than 2 of any specific non-basic land" and have anyone at all show up to try it out? If you say "Modern" or "Standard" that conveys over 300 deckbuilding rules.

You call up the store and it takes 3 seconds when they say "we're running draft on Monday, Modern on Tuesday, and FNM is Standard but sometimes we get 8 people who will fire off a Modern event then too."

Echelon
04-25-2016, 02:01 AM
I don't play Modern, but wow. It pretty much boils down to "We want to drop format X from the Pro Tour b/c we want people to see and therefor buy the cards that are in the packs we're currently print/selling".

It seems the problem is that Wizards doesn't profit from the secondary market. Hyperboling this, the only way to get Vintage players to buy packs is when you put Power 9 in them and the only way I'll ever buy a booster pack (as a Legacy player) is if it has a chance to hold fetches, duals or Gaea's Cradle. I've said it before and I'll say it again - WotC should just print on demand. Mail them a list of "I want X of this and Y of that", fork over a dime a card and have them mail the package to your house. Secondary market solved, WotC is back in control, we can start enjoying all formats across major tournaments again.

CorwinB
04-25-2016, 02:20 AM
I'm not sure this move has to do with reprints and secondary market prices (except WotC are perhaps weary of price spikes after Modern PT), but more with :

Players being fed up with the arbitrary yearly "let's ban something good" that would have huge collateral damage just for the "benefit" of a single tournament (no matter how high profile)
Wanting to avoid another Eldrazi-size disaster where their lack of testing for other environments than Standard and Limited is exposed for all to see in a ridiculous fashion


I'm fine with this move, especially if this means less arbitrary bans. While I own a good amount of Modern staples and may be able to switch decks relatively easily if need be, several of my friends got burned hard by the Birthing Pod and Splinter Twin bans (having invested a lot of money), and gave up the format as a result of the bans. I'm not sure having a single high-level tournament each year is worth the cost of alienating many players because of this silly "Let's shake the metagame to make for a more interesting tournament" mindset.

Also I agree with Barook, the big news of this weekend is the cut in HoF and Platinum fees, which really sucks.

sjmcc13
04-25-2016, 11:57 AM
No one should hold out any hope that Wizards will reprint anything relevant for Eternal formats ever again. eternal Masters? Just a red -herring wraped in a cash grab surrounding a ruse to make Eternal players say "thank you Wizards for listening to us! Yay, you're reprinting a extremely limited set with probably nothing that will appease players...but thid means your listening, right?
I don't need to sound too harsh, but Wizards doesn't need to care about any format other than Standard because that is how they make $$. And I you think that Eternal Masters is anything other than a cash grab, you're kidding yourself.
Personally I think EDH is the only eternal format that they care about, and am expecting Eternal Masters to be filled with cards to sell to EDH players and Kitchen Table players, with a couple valuable Legacy/Vintage playable cards as mystics to justify the cost of packs. Their usual ration of crap to bomb rares in set design would support this is well. Look at how many of the rares in Moden Masters, MM2015, etc had no chance of seeing competitive play outside of drafts, but could easily end up in some casuals EDH deck.



Yeah, a poorly wordedquestion and off topic. But since you brought it up... how many LGSs out there run house rules tournaments? If not many, why not? Why this need to be beholden to Wizards to make the rules when it's obvious they care not for non-standard formats?Wizards controls the supply of sealed product, and have caused issues for stored holding proxy events where he only change was allowing proxies, they want people playing their formats with their cards. That said I have heard of cases where store owners were blatantly breaking rules or making up their own and no one at wizards cared, because it was a single store, but anything that starts to become widespread will be crushed.

Plus it is allot easier for players if you have a standardized set of rules for what can be in decks, both for visitors, new arrivals, and when your players travel to other locations.

TsumiBand
04-25-2016, 06:19 PM
Commander PT 2017 confirmed, kappa

No, I agree with those calling this a pointer to their limited ability to maintain a healthy Eternal format. Honestly I find it hard to blame them, you see a lot of armchair experts stand up and talk about how they'd handle their favorite Eternal format while still printing a fun and balanced Standard, but I find it hard to fathom that any format with more than a few thousand immutable cards in it can ever really survive under anyone's purview without ultimately catering to a particular style of play. After watching the ways the EDH RC has (mis)handled the last few years with varying degrees of success I don't even really think it can be an open-source effort. Why else would EDH encourage house rules?

So they recognize that a cardpool reaching 10 years back with less efficient counters/discard/board control, with all colors on the battlefield, with combat being the most important phase of the game... results in proof that a heavy-handed banned list cannot make up for the lost mechanics. At least they're being somewhat earnest.