What are your thoughts on the Grand Prix Trial Changes?

[Wilkin]

I saw it mentioned briefly on the State of Magic thread but I wondered what other peoples' feelings on this. Not just in terms of Legacy but the other Grand Prixs.

I'm personally very disappointed by the decision to get rid of Store Trials because I don't play enough Magic to get 2 byes. I just got 1 bye with points and that's because I played in 2 Grand Prix over the last year. I guess since we have so few Legacy GP anyway, it didn't get the reaction on this forum than it would on other forums.

Realistically, I'm going to go to a Legacy GP, byes or no byes. I love Legacy and also because there are so few of those tournaments available. But for other people, especially for the other Grand Prix, I could see some people bowing out if they don't have any byes.

[ed06288]

youtube is freaking out over the changes... apparently there are changes to modern too which is making everyone upset. i don't know, nothing else is going on right now so i guess i'll read some forums on the subject.

[thecrav]

I work at my LGS. When I told the manager, he kept saying, "no. there's no way that's right."

[Julian23]

In Europe, MKM Trials have been more important anyway. Since most people had at least 1, if not 2 GP Byes, GP Trials weren't as important as they used to be back when they still awarded 3 Byes. But I can totally see how LGSs would be pissed about this change overall. I sucks that WotC didn't really offer them anything in exchange.

[Lord_Mcdonalds]

Given I've been to maybe one GPT that didn't have lots of collusion involved, I imagine wizards wasn't too cool with that happening and axed it, but still, at least replace it with something (assuming that isn't already in the works)

[Stuart]

I mean, it'd be cool if they just did away with byes completely. They're pretty much bullshit. That said, for as long as they exist, it's fairer to have more trials than fewer.

[Lord Seth]

"What are your thoughts on the Grand Prix Trial Changes?"

What changes? A link would be appreciated for topics like this. I tried looking up information online but "Grand Prix Trial Changes" pops up stuff from mid-2016, not something more recent.

[nedleeds]

Means that the pros are now absolute, over the top favorites. They already were with 3, but now this widens the gap even further. Its not going to matter for Eternal players much. Next year I doubt theres even any stand alone Legacy GPs anyway.

[Barook]

Next year I doubt theres even any stand alone Legacy GPs anyway.
At the rate they're currently going? Highly likely, considering they're also busy to slay Modern for MOAR STANDARD.

Can't wait for their plans to backfire.

[Wilkin]

"What are your thoughts on the Grand Prix Trial Changes?"

What changes? A link would be appreciated for topics like this. I tried looking up information online but "Grand Prix Trial Changes" pops up stuff from mid-2016, not something more recent.

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/return-nationals-and-changes-grand-prix-2017-02-09

Hope this link works.

Lord_Mcdonalds. Hm....never thought of that point before. But yeah, a lot of the time the finals doesn't actually gets played out since not everyone who goes to a Trial intends on going to the Grand Prix.

I'm also disappointed that they didn't replace the in store trials with anything. Getting to 2250 points is pretty much impossible for me since I rarely play anything but Legacy. I guess I could continue to grind the Fridays of the Grand PRix but i've never been able to get byes that way.

[phonics]

At the rate they're currently going? Highly likely, considering they're also busy to slay Modern for MOAR STANDARD.

Can't wait for their plans to backfire.
Kill legacy, kill modern, pave the way for FRONTIER, the true WOTC 'eternal' format that will be killed in 5 years because the same thing that happened to modern will happen again.

And magic online will still suck 5 years from.now too.

[Lord Seth]

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/return-nationals-and-changes-grand-prix-2017-02-09

Hope this link works.

Lord_Mcdonalds. Hm....never thought of that point before. But yeah, a lot of the time the finals doesn't actually gets played out since not everyone who goes to a Trial intends on going to the Grand Prix.

I'm also disappointed that they didn't replace the in store trials with anything. Getting to 2250 points is pretty much impossible for me since I rarely play anything but Legacy. I guess I could continue to grind the Fridays of the Grand Prix but i've never been able to get byes that way.Thanks.

From my experience, there weren't that many in-store GPTs, so I'm not sure how much of a difference this necessarily makes. More commonly, when stores did have a GPT, it wasn't for the purpose of having a GPT; they were just having some tournament already and figured they might as well slap the 'GPT' onto it to maybe get more people to show up.

Then again, the whole reason I went to my first Grand Prix was because I happened to win a GPT. I never would've done that if there hadn't been in-store Grand Prix.

It IS a little odd for them to make such an announcement without some kind of replacement, though, or at least something new for stores.

[nedleeds]

At the rate they're currently going? Highly likely, considering they're also busy to slay Modern for MOAR STANDARD.

Can't wait for their plans to backfire.

I think they will move it to these big multi-GP weekends in Vegas for adults with expendable income. We'll see but this Vegas GP has the potential to be a massive success. They move it to a yearly thing so we can plan, and the only Legacy GP lives there as part of the 3 GP weekend.

[Richard Cheese]

Thanks.

From my experience, there weren't that many in-store GPTs, so I'm not sure how much of a difference this necessarily makes. More commonly, when stores did have a GPT, it wasn't for the purpose of having a GPT; they were just having some tournament already and figured they might as well slap the 'GPT' onto it to maybe get more people to show up.

Then again, the whole reason I went to my first Grand Prix was because I happened to win a GPT. I never would've done that if there hadn't been in-store Grand Prix.

It IS a little odd for them to make such an announcement without some kind of replacement, though, or at least something new for stores.

There are usually several around here in the weeks leading up to a GP. They are generally some of the highest attended Legacy events around. Lately it seems like stores are hesitant to commit to any kind of larger Legacy event because attendance is so unpredictable, but GPTs were generally the exception to that rule.

[ReAnimator]

GPT’s were historically some of the worst attended events around, especially if it’s for a GP that is not remotely close to the city the trial is in.

All the people who were committed to travelling super far for a standard/modern/sealed GP already have enough PWP’s to have the byes anyway. So there really wasn’t much of a prize, and a competitive event that can’t attract the grinders and the people already interested in attending the GP is just an awful thing for the store owners and organized play.

GPT’s didn’t really serve a good purpose, and probably should have been killed years ago.

All that being said, it’s a bit of a different animal for Legacy GP’s as the people attending are more likely willing to travel far for a Legacy GP, and are also more likely to not have enough points for byes.

This is just another one of those things in the long list of Legacy not really fitting in with all the other formats and organized play.

[Megadeus]

GPT’s were historically some of the worst attended events around, especially if it’s for a GP that is not remotely close to the city the trial is in.

All the people who were committed to travelling super far for a standard/modern/sealed GP already have enough PWP’s to have the byes anyway. So there really wasn’t much of a prize, and a competitive event that can’t attract the grinders and the people already interested in attending the GP is just an awful thing for the store owners and organized play.

GPT’s didn’t really serve a good purpose, and probably should have been killed years ago.

All that being said, it’s a bit of a different animal for Legacy GP’s as the people attending are more likely willing to travel far for a Legacy GP, and are also more likely to not have enough points for byes.

This is just another one of those things in the long list of Legacy not really fitting in with all the other formats and organized play.
Agreed with all of this. It's a thing that makes a lot of sense, but as a legacy player, I also realize that we're the main ones getting hosed (once again) by this business decision

[Lord Seth]

GPT’s were historically some of the worst attended events around, especially if it’s for a GP that is not remotely close to the city the trial is in.

All the people who were committed to travelling super far for a standard/modern/sealed GP already have enough PWP’s to have the byes anyway. So there really wasn’t much of a prize, and a competitive event that can’t attract the grinders and the people already interested in attending the GP is just an awful thing for the store owners and organized play.

GPT’s didn’t really serve a good purpose, and probably should have been killed years ago.
The problem with these is that this isn't really a reason to get rid of them. You mention that it wouldn't attract people, and it is true that GPTs often weren't that great at it. Okay, but... isn't that the concern of the store, not Wizards? If a store wants to run a GPT, what's wrong with it? Stores weren't being forced to run them, it was totally their choice.

[icedagger]

The problem with these is that this isn't really a reason to get rid of them. You mention that it wouldn't attract people, and it is true that GPTs often weren't that great at it. Okay, but... isn't that the concern of the store, not Wizards? If a store wants to run a GPT, what's wrong with it? Stores weren't being forced to run them, it was totally their choice.

^ This. The decision doesn't affect me much but it just seems odd that they'd cut GPTs given that they don't really lose anything from letting shops run them.