The Long View

[MuzzonoAmi]

I think that that is a very real possibility, but it's not going to happen for a long time, because constructed formats continue to be the big headliners that draw more people into competitive play. But as for the Vintage/Legacy issue, I think that Extended is likely to die in 2 rotations (that is, the 2008 rotation) because the cardpool will have changed so drastically that well over 50% of the cards that competitive players own will be useless, and no one likes to have useless cards. So Legacy takes up Extended's old slot on the PTQ circut and Extended becomes Legacy's bastard stepchild. This probably means that there will be a great deal of crossover between Legacy and Vintage, because the cardpools really are rather similar and it's likely that many Vintage decks will be derived from pro-level Legacy tournaments at this time. As a result, I think that there will be a considerable number of Legacy players who want to have a good time or just play with the obscene brokenness that is available in Vintage, and since they have most of the cards to do so, they won't think twice about picking up a few Moxen and some Workshops over the period of a few years. It's a real growth opportunity for the format.

[Machinus]

I liked it a lot better when Type 2 was the format of choice for the Pro Tour. The "golden age" of magic when such giants as Budde and Finkel played monstrous decks with powerful cards, in diverse fields, can't happen when WotC puts only one broken deck in an environment.

Look at the last three world championships: Tog, Wake, W/G Control. WTF? That is the most boring shit ever. The "fun" decks always lose, like Madness, Bidding, and Affininty. Granted, these decks are powerful and can have a "distorting" influence on the environment, but what the hell? Wizards has recognized blue as a "problem" and tries to make it suck, prints broken ass shit like Skullclamp and Ravager, and blue still wins. Standard has been one of the most boring environments I have ever seen for the past year.

[EDIT: My bad about the last deck. I changed the second color. With 4 wraths, 2 akroma's vengeances, and 2 DoJ, it is definitely a control deck.]

You are right about Limited being more profitable - I was thinking in terms of presence and "staying power" of the game. People don't keep playing magic so they can be good at drafting - they buy packs and support stores so they can finish their deck and play in the environment. This is something that is definitely slipping out of the game.

Look at Canali - he makes jizzilions of mistakes, plays fairygodmother.dec, and wins thirty grand - and he does it in an extended tournament with a BLOCK DECK.

Standard and the other Constructed formats aren't something that might decline in the future - they're something that WotC is already taking gigantic craps on, on a regular basis.

[Komatteru]

Hate to interrupt, but you have your facts slightly wrong, Machinus.  The last world championship deck was W/G Astral Slide.  No blue to be found.

As for the matter at hand, I agree with Ami.  Legacy was created to help deal with the upcoming extended rotation.  There's going to be a lot of people with a lot of cards that can't be played any more, and Wizards wants a format to help bridge that gap.  They removed all the super expensive stuff to make it accessible for current extended players.