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I disagree with the premise of the article. It's been insinuated and directly said by multiple parties now that a lack of actual ownership of the power 9 creates a detachment from the format, at least over time. I can't buy this because the fact of the matter is, Vintage had problems with attendance before proxies were even incorporated. We started using them in the first place because non-proxy environments weren't successful. What would make anyone think that if you could only use half-powered decks, anyone would be attracted to attend tournaments anymore?
I do agree that a lack of ownership ends in a certain lack of attachment to a format but I don't think this is a major reason people aren't interested in the format. It's only a symptom of the greater problem, which is lack of variety and easily accessible tournaments, logistically speaking. It's ironic that when I started getting serious about playing Vintage, I subscribed to StarCityGames Premium and that's what ultimately made me lose a lot of interest in the format. I initially subscribed to read Smmenen's articles and found them worthwhile. However, after a while, I wondered why I was paying for all these premium articles and only reading one a week. I started reading about drafting, Extended and Standard and found out that those formats were simply much more interesting. Vintage almost always stays the same. You go to a tournament and always play the same old matchups. With Standard, Extended and Draft rotating as much as they do, you can't really get bored unless you're getting tired of Magic entirely. Add to that the multitude of tournaments available for those formats and the much larger player base and you have a Vintage player base that's either losing interest in the format because the other formats are fresher and easier to attend or you're losing players due to naturally mounting responsibilities, whether familial or professional.
Raising the cost barrier by reducing the proxy count and prodding players who rarely play anyway to buy ugly Collector's Edition cards won't remedy anything. I don't say this to be negative but realistic. I honestly think the best thing a Vintage player can do to help the format is establish a local playing environment. I use to be really dedicated to the format but with the bad economy, I don't have the desire to spend money to travel out of state to play the same matchups I have for the last four years. Simply put, I would play more Vintage if it was closer to home. If you want growth in the format, it's going to come by making things easier for people to play, not harder.
I do agree that a lack of ownership ends in a certain lack of attachment to a format but I don't think this is a major reason people aren't interested in the format. It's only a symptom of the greater problem, which is lack of variety and easily accessible tournaments, logistically speaking. It's ironic that when I started getting serious about playing Vintage, I subscribed to StarCityGames Premium and that's what ultimately made me lose a lot of interest in the format. I initially subscribed to read Smmenen's articles and found them worthwhile. However, after a while, I wondered why I was paying for all these premium articles and only reading one a week. I started reading about drafting, Extended and Standard and found out that those formats were simply much more interesting. Vintage almost always stays the same. You go to a tournament and always play the same old matchups. With Standard, Extended and Draft rotating as much as they do, you can't really get bored unless you're getting tired of Magic entirely. Add to that the multitude of tournaments available for those formats and the much larger player base and you have a Vintage player base that's either losing interest in the format because the other formats are fresher and easier to attend or you're losing players due to naturally mounting responsibilities, whether familial or professional.
Raising the cost barrier by reducing the proxy count and prodding players who rarely play anyway to buy ugly Collector's Edition cards won't remedy anything. I don't say this to be negative but realistic. I honestly think the best thing a Vintage player can do to help the format is establish a local playing environment. I use to be really dedicated to the format but with the bad economy, I don't have the desire to spend money to travel out of state to play the same matchups I have for the last four years. Simply put, I would play more Vintage if it was closer to home. If you want growth in the format, it's going to come by making things easier for people to play, not harder.
I very much agree with this post. Making Vintage easier and more accessible would help. I don't think switching from 10 proxy to 5 proxy would help create a greater feeling of ownership in the format, it just adds a roughly $1200+ fee to anyone who is interested in vintage. The cards that really make me care about vintage are the cheaper ones regardless. You'll never come close to the brokenness of casting a Yawgmoth's Will or Tinker in other formats.
Why does owning the only legal in vintage Black Lotus create a greater sense of involvement in the community than a pile containing the only legal in vintage Demonic Tutor, Tinker, Yawgmoth's Will, Necropotence, Strip Mine, and other such cards
I guess I'll make the concession that setting a uniform proxy norm would help the overall health of the format in the long run though. I do not believe the correct number is 5 though; 8 or 12 seem like the most reasonable choices. Eight proxies covers the the moxen, lotus, walk and recall. Twelve allows the uses of commonly used expenses in nearly every deck, namely: drain, workshop, and Grim Tutors. I think this important more for consistency and stability than creating ownership. The whole creating ownership argument sounds like an appeal to return Vintage to the country club days where it was a small independent niche far separated from the rest of magic.
