I reiterate my question: what actual, specific, historical differences would we have seen between TMD-vintage and DCI-vintage, had we separated in, say, 2003?
Had the lists separated in 2003, I doubt that we would've seen Gifts or Brainstorm restricted. We almost certianly would've gotten Fact or Fiction unrestricted, and a more active discussion of LoA might've occured, especially if Gush had been unrestricted (which was unlikely). Flash would've been discussed, but I'm not sure what would've happened. Burning Wish wouldn't have been restricted(at least not immediately), and then there would've been an even more active discussion of banning Yawgmoth's Will. That discussion may have actually resulted in the card's banning, but I'd only put the chances for it at <50%. Trinisphere may have survived longer than it did, but ultimately would've gotten the axe. Bazaar would've been more seriously discussed, but ultimately would've stayed where it is. As far as trivial and cosmetic changes, I have no idea, but they aren't important.
Most recently, Scroll and Gush may have been restricted, but probably just Scroll.
I don't think we should have to wait for players to be perturbed to discuss methods of by which better decisions can be made in the future. If there's room for improvement, why not strive for it? There are enough people that feel the recent wave of restrictions is very bizarre and without sound justification.
This is the key point. The one thing that the Vintage community has consistently asked for (really, the only thing) is a more consistent and transparent process. That's the most realistic result from community outcry, because Wizards knows what Steve keeps pointing out: we are (in general) their longer term customers with more (per capita) disposable income than their Standard, Extended, and FMN communities. They, if nothing else, want to keep us active in the secondary market, because they know that we'll keep buying new product as long as we feel like the community is being taken care of. The last thing the DCI wants for the Eternal formats is a splintering off the community into more of an unsanctioned body than it already is, which is exactly what a move like this would do. As such, they have to take points brought forward in these discussions seriously. So if nothing else, this is an important discussion to have, even if it doesn't result in a split.
