My main concern is the sudden lack of people to play against. I think I have said this multiple times now. I surprisingly like many other of the people on this forum am busy during the weekends doing various activities that don't involve sitting in front of a computer. So yes I rarely get to play in the weekend dailies. It doesn't help that WoTC has decided for me what is the "ideal" time for me to play in the dailies on either day.

I guess we will just have to agree to disagree on this one.

It couldn't be farther from the truth.... You do realize that the VMA draft format is also conveniently coming back. WoTC again has product to push and an upcoming World Championship that is featuring none other than the VMA draft format. What better way to entice the people on MTGO to draft VMA again for the Worlds players practice than to have a big Vintage event after World's for us common folk.

I'm not "fear mongering". It's a legit concern.

I really appreciate you taking the time to actually read my earlier replies. If you had, you would have surely read that I never once stated I was "expecting some "Vintage Champs level of organized play each and every day". Perhaps you were spending more time thinking of ways to hurl thinly veiled insults at my expense than address my actual disappointment with buying in and why I would advise against it. I just wanted to experience vintage. I can't afford to buy paper power so MTGO seemed like a great option for me. If I could do it over again, I would have just put that money into paper. I've only been playing vintage for 1 month. I've only been playing on MTGO for 1 month. In that month I went from being able to play plenty of vintage games at my leisure, to playing 1 or 2 games against a DIFFERENT person in as many hours a night.

How is any of that helping to drive people away?
What did I do?
I'm sorry that my mere presence is enough to offend so many people and stop them from playing vintage on MTGO. What can I do to help bring them back?

I'd still only get to play in as many paper tournaments as I do now with MTGO, which is a nice way of saying I would get to play in just about zero. Don't get me wrong, I am genuinely excited that WoTC is having the Winter Holiday Festival Event. What ever it takes, just as long as I get to play some Vintage.

I would agree that on the surface it looks like it could, but splashing blue would leave you with some awkward opening hands or draws where you have blue spells but no fetchlands or other ways to access to blue mana. In a format such as vintage, being able to be consistent is just as important as being able to do crazy broken things. However, I am definitely not an experienced Vintage player, so please don't put to much weight into my answer.

Was my use of "soul searching" overly dramatic? Without a doubt it was. As you stated, I really just wanted to convey to someone who was thinking of buying in to really think about what they wanted to get out of it. Perhaps I did a poor job of clearly stating why "Vintage on MTGO is still like playing anything on MTGO, except worse". MTGO is what it is. For all of it's short comings it's still a way to play MTG and I can live with MTGO in it's current state.

A lack of traffic in the tournament practice room, dwindling interest in vintage, and daily events relegated to only the weekends that still only fire with some regularity doesn't exactly equate to a boon for tournament players. It is however a big part of the concerns I have had with buying into the format via MTGO. What I wanted was to experience the vintage format. While you could argue that I have achieved that, unfortunately for me the tournament practice room has had a noticeable drop off in activity for vintage games and it's getting increasingly difficult to find more than 1 or 2 games with a different opponent a night. Like you, I am also not a "tournament player", but I have been willing to spend tickets on the dailies in order to get exposure to the format since I have none up till this point.

With Vintage being a somewhat niche format with a small community when compared to the other main formats, MTGO should in theory should make it easier to consistently find a Vintage tournament or a pickup game. Getting to play on a regular basis at first and see the player base erode away in the month that I have been playing the format is downright depressing. That is what has been extremely disheartening for me. That is why I would not recommend someone buying in. Without VMA or some other Vintage product to push, I fear WoTC isn't going to do much else to keep the format going other than putting it on life support which they have already done. I suppose I don't exactly regret "buying in", but with the experience I've had so far and the current outlook for vintage on MTGO, it does make me wish I would have used that money towards "buying in" for RL power instead. I'd probably get to play in about as many tournaments as I do now anyways.

I have found an amazing format with an equally amazing player base. I have not had anything but enjoyable interactions with anyone that I have encountered which I definitely can't say about the other formats. Vintage is amazing and like you said, hopefully the Winter Celebration helps promote the format so others get to experience how awesome Vintage truly is.

Recently bought in, and in a complete shock to everyone reading this, recently began playing vintage. Since I cannot justify plopping down the cash to buy real power, mtgo is probably going to be my only opportunity to experience the format. I've played in paper exclusively up till this point. The temptation to try vintage was too much so I signed up for MTGO and away I went.

The format is not what I expected. Vintage is way more interactive than I could have ever imagined. However, I now know that losing the coin flip to Workshop decks or turn 1 tinker, robot, vault, key is about as much fun as having your finger nails pulled out one at a time. The plays that get made in vintage are at times mind boggling. I've literally been sitting in front of my computer in awe at some of the lines of play that get made to side step hate or combo out when they in theory they shouldn't have been able to do so. I have also learned that some of the cool splashy cards you would get laughed at for playing in Legacy, Modern or Standard can be surprisingly effective and often times back breaking in Vintage. It's like nothing I've ever played before.

Unfortunately, Vintage on MTGO is still like playing anything on MTGO, except worse. I could continue with the xyz of MTGO's failures as a viable product, but I'll spare you the frustration of reading it again. I'm sure you all know all to well, but I wouldn't have believed it was as bad as it is even if you told me. The daily events no longer existing... that did it for me. It made me regret buying in. The whole point of MTGO is to get to play MTG when you want to play MTG. It's supposed to make it easier to your hobby into your life. Instead, I've been told I can only play on the weekend. Like it or lump it.

If I had to do it again, I wouldn't. To anyone considering buying in, I'd do some serious soul searching about how bad you actually want to play vintage before you decide to do so.