Ok, here it goes.
As an initial matter, I think we have to determine what the goal here is. From my view, there are really two potentially reasonable goals: a large unsanctioned Vintage following (similar to what we have previously had with large SCG type events, though possibly bigger, along with the Vintage world championship) or a large sanctioned Vintage following. I think these goals initially follow a similar path, but in the long run will diverge, depending upon what happens and depending on what we want to do with it.
Regardless of which path we decide we want to take, we need to figure out how to get more players into Vintage and how to keep the players we have. So, why do players play Vintage? No, really, why do they play? Because it’s fun. But what constitutes fun for players varies to a greater or lesser extent among the players. Among the things I would include would be the gameplay, the prizes, the prestige, the community, and collecting cards to play with, and playing with all of one’s cards. On the other hand, there are people who don’t play who potentially could. Why don’t they play? Because the format is too expensive to enter, they don’t know somebody they could borrow cards from, they don’t know that they would enjoy the format, they don’t know how to play the format, the format is too hard, the format doesn’t have any prestige on a sanctioned level, tournaments are too far between each other chronologically or geographically, they don’t like the format, or some combination thereof. That’s a lot of factors weighing in both directions and there are probably others I’ve forgotten or just didn’t mention. Therefore, I think everyone involved needs to realize that nobody is suggesting that we can suddenly overcome all of these problems or further strengthen the positives the format has. On the other hand, I think it also suggests that there are a number of things we can in fact control and ought to try to influence in order to better get the format going.
Upon reflection, I have decided that the major hurdle to getting new people into the format on a competitive level is the prestige factor, with the economic cost of entry being a significant, but subsidiary factor. There are no major Vintage tournaments in America with the exception of the Vintage championship (which, by itself, was
definitely a big step in the right direction). Consequently, nobody outside the format entirely who doesn’t have a friend already in the format has a reason to investigate. Why bother? Even if he becomes the greatest Vintage player ever, he’s still just the greatest
Vintage player. To people on the outside, that just doesn’t say much.
Therefore, in my opinion, increasing format prestige must be the number one priority. I think that if the prestige hurdle can be overcome, the people will come to the format. Yes, the cost will prevent some players from coming in (to some extent, though see my discussion below concerning non-powered prizes). I’m also not suggesting that Vintage would ever overcome Standard or even Extended. I am saying, though, that as long as Vintage is the black sheep of formats, we’re just not going to enjoy the kind of success that we want.
One of the best ways to build prestige is to have tournaments sanctioned. Regular sanctioned Vintage events? A difficult mountain to climb indeed. However, after deep reflection, I think this is the road to long term prosperity for the format. A sanctioned format gives the players that little something extra to play for. It gives the players a rating. It gives Wizards the opportunity to openly support and talk about big events. It lets Wizards sell the format. These are things that unsanctioned, even on a large scale, will never be able to offer. While I have significant respect for the community initiating the TMD Vintage rankings, it’s just not the same. It’s not. (This is not to demean, in any way, the accomplishments of those who are doing well in the race. Instead, I am saying that the long term health of the format would be better served by a sanctioned ranking system because “outsider” players are more likely to come into Vintage and stay if such an official system were in place.). If we could somehow get Vintage to be regularly sanctioned, I think that would be the Vintage promised land so to speak.
But, as I mentioned earlier, this is a very difficult goal to achieve. After all, in 2002 when proxies were just starting to come into acceptance, the goal there was to induce more people to enter the format. By moving away from any sort of sanctioned model, we got more people in. That, undoubtedly, was a huge success. However, the format has floundered over the years, particularly of late in America. As has been mentioned by many others, there are a number of factors at play here. I personally think the economy is a big one; people need to eat and keep their houses before playing Magic. Hence, achieving Vintage’s revival may require us to wait out the current economic situation. That’s fine. However, I think the initial steps we can take now both allow greater access to the format and give a greater allowance for economic weaknesses anyway, so it might work out in that respect.
So, what to do? We can’t just declare all tournaments sanctioned; that is obviously not the correct path. On the other hand, leaving the proxy situation as it is, in my opinion, is unacceptable. The reason, in so many words, is because it destroys the mystique of the format. A post by Steve over on the thread about Ben’s article really resonated with me:
The use of proxies has undermined the psychological happiness and benefits that come with not simply owning power, but the quest to achieve it.
The quest to achieve it. I’ll personally admit I have been on that path for a looooong time. I remember when I finally took down the big prize the first time, sporting UR fish (the old, old version, with Grim Lavamancer, Standstill, and Curiosity. Oh yeah, good times! Ok, anyway...). The other guy I split with had gotten a speeding ticket that day so he needed the cash for the other half of the Mox Emerald. Though I parted with a few cards from my collection and some cash, that card was mine and still is to this day. When I play in an event, I play the power I have won (three and a half, if you count the Timetwister that I sold to put toward Ancestral Recall as a half) with some pride because I worked my way to get there. Even if I had enough money that I could just pimp my decks however I wanted, I don’t think I would buy Beta power. There is something special to playing with those Unlimited cards that I earned.
While this is just an anecdote and your experience may vary from mine, there is just something special about playing with the real cards, especially when they’re your cards. I mean, if that isn’t the case, why aren’t Vintage (costless entry to play, though there are no rewards for doing well) and MTGO (identical to real Magic mechanically) played online more?
Because it’s not the same. People want to play with the physical, real cards. Playing with something less just sucks.
But that’s exactly what we have with proxies. They’re not the same. They’re sharpied basic lands most of the time. While that will help players enter and stay in the format people outside the format can only look at this with disdain. It’s not real Magic because it’s not played with the real cards and it’s not ranked and scored like real Magic. It’s bastardized Magic to some extent, both for those on the inside and the outside. Why would you play that when you could play “real” Magic?
I am admittedly being a little overly dramatic in my description of the proxy situation, but I want to give a sense of the general sentiment. It is this sentiment that drives a number of other problems, namely those I listed earlier on in this post. The proxies make going to events worthwhile because the events themselves are not genuine and the prizes aren’t genuine.
We need to get over this hurdle somehow. But how? We need to get to what I’m going to refer to as the “tipping point,” meaning the point at which a significant number of players can make the transition from unsanctioned proxied play to sanctioned play. This is not to say everybody needs to have every card to make every deck he wants or even that a player have every card he needs to make the particular deck he wants to play (perhaps he’s short an off-colored mox or two.). What it does mean, however, is that we have to discourage proxies, particularly for large events. We have to wean the
major Vintage events from proxies (which, of course, presumes there even are large Vintage events in the future!).
Now, note that I’m talking about major events. I am not talking about little events for the most part. The point of the little events that allow
some proxies is so that players can get in. After all, a number of people don’t sign up for the main event at the World Series of Poker because they can’t afford the entry fee. But that doesn’t stop them from playing in satellite tournaments with much lower entry fees. I think this is what we need analogously for Vintage. We need to have smaller tournaments, with lower barriers to entry (i.e., more proxies), that allow players to build up their collections so that they can compete at the big events with the big kids that have all the cards.
I think, to a greater or lesser extent, this is the goal that Ben and Steve are talking about, though not necessarily for those reasons or in those words. If we can structure the format to allow for proxies on a smaller level, but to somehow keep/create the prestige on a large level, the format will flourish. The key then becomes how to structure the smaller tournaments and, at least initially, the larger tournaments.
Finally, I reach Steve’s tripartite plan. Point one, reducing dependency on proxies, I obviously agree with, for all the reasons I’ve articulated above. The precise number, I think, will have to depend upon local conditions. For places like Arizona or Seattle (to name two I saw in the threads around here), they may very well have to continue to use significant numbers of proxies and that’s fine. On the other hand, areas that have more players and more events ought to cut back at least some of the time. In my opinion, the ideal number of proxies is somewhere near 5 or 7, though I could at least understand 10 (though no more than that). This, I think, gives players a very wide range in terms of what they can play, but also requires that they actually build up some sort of collection. As was mentioned by Steve, this gives players part of an “ownership” of Vintage as a format. Players aren’t going to take the Vintage plunge all at once. In fact, if someone did, I would be concerned. But, if new players build up over time, that is a sustainable model for the growth of a player from fledging to SCG P9 regular T8er or Vintage world champion. Moreover, the cardshop owners are happy because they sell more cards.
I’d like to note that we can’t make the barrier to entry zero by just permitting unlimited proxies. Again, it just destroys the game. It’s not special. I don’t know what it is. There is just something about physically putting the real card on the table that is better than putting the proxy on the table.
The best way, in my opinion, to further this growth model is through Steve’s third point, prize support for “unpowered players” (however that is defined). Europe doesn’t just have sanctioned events with one prize schedule. They have two tiers: everybody and unpowered. The Vintage community can make the concession to the unpowered players and the Magic world at large that having power is unfair. By explicitly recognizing it in the prize structure, it’s a major concession to would be players. They don’t have to win the event; just beat everybody else that has the same resources they have. That to me seems like an obvious way to get new players interested. I would further recommend that the prizes for the unpowered players be power cards or other Vintage staples, while the prizes for the overall winners should probably be cash.
Regarding Steve’s second point, legalizing CE and IE power, however, I do not agree. The main reason I do not agree is because, even if successful, this 1) puts us on the path to a large
unsanctioned Vintage and 2) perpetuates the “fake” feel of Vintage. Undoubtedly, the CE and IE cards are very nice to look at. But they’re still not legitimate power. Wizards is never going to legalize the cards, if for no other reason than the square corners (which I think are
a concern, though not necessarily a large one). Do we want players investing in cards that they can’t play in sanctioned events? I just don’t like this path for that reason. Yes, it will increase the card pool, potentially reducing the barrier to entry. But I just think it would be Vintage going for “second best” again, which it has done many times in the past.
Instead, on the unsanctioned level, I prefer the “proxy tax” system where one has to pay for extra proxies. This is desirable for a couple of reasons. First, it recognizes the investment the powered players have made. They’ve paid the price so they don’t have to pay extra. Second, it provides a subsidy for funding the unpowered prizes. Third, it incentivizes getting the real cards, which again, pushes the format closer to sanctioned. I would suggest each player gets 5 or 7 proxies free, with $1 more for each additional proxy, up to 10 (
maybe 15).
Also, as a note, on registration sheets, players should mark which cards they proxy so we can track not only how many cards are being proxied but also which cards are being proxied. All of the data out there seems to largely just be conjecture and speculation without a lot of hard evidence. We could easily implement this today.
Proxies aside, I think there are a few other things we can do, I’ll address them below.
First, and most importantly, in my opinion, as marske has been saying, getting events organized is a major concern. Somebody has to do the legwork. If there are no events, Vintage can’t grow. In my opinion, there are basically two ways to get events organized: either store owners have to do it or the players have to do it. I think having the players do it on their own has been overlooked to some degree. The players need to seek out cheap or free venues and hold the events themselves. At least in my (relatively small) hometown, I know that there are rooms available for free to the public for chess events, so I would presume Magic could hold an event too. Reducing costs of events means more prizes. On the other hand, store owners also want to get players in the store to sell cards. By disallowing as many proxies, they will sell more cards. The trick is finding a balance between allowing enough proxies that players come but not allowing so many that players don’t buy cards at all. I’m not in the business, so shop owners would have to figure that out themselves.
Second, we need to develop an online play community of some sort. I’m not talking about rankings or anything, but just some place where people can contact each other. What better way to get players to understand the format than having a place where they can play for free on a whim? I mean, having seen the “MWS players to avoid list” thread just exploding recently, clearly something is needed. There are competent, un-teamed players out there; they’re just not playing each other. This might be easier said than done, but I think it’s something we could easily and costlessly investigate.
Third, we need to engage in some king of education about the format, namely the first turn/coin flip stigma. I really can’t say with certainty to what extent this exists. This would take a lot of work. How we would go about doing that, beyond just writing articles out the wazoo, I am unsure. This particular goal may be out of reach right now because I don’t think there are enough willing hands. That being said, if these other things I have suggested work, players might just educate themselves.
Fourth, From the Vault: Exiled. This is potentially a big chance for Vintage! I know that power cards aren’t going to be reprinted. However, some big guns, like Mana Drain, Imperial Seal, and to a lesser extent Mana Crypt are candidates. Furthermore, cheaper staples have a good chance of being there in shiny foily goodness form. This could spur interest in Vintage. In order to capitalize on it, we have to have events they can play in. Again, proxies will be required, perhaps to a greater extent when the set comes out, and that’s fine. I’m going to go out on a limb and say either Imperial Seal or Mana Drain is going to be in From the Vault: Exiled (Note: please don’t derail the entire thread on this one issue). If Mana Drain in particular is in there, we have a really, really big chance to make a big, big impact. If that happens, we can’t let this one slip away.
Fifth, and this is farfetched, but perhaps we could approach Wizards about some sort of very limited distribution of new power. Yes, a touchy subject indeed. Wizards isn’t going to reprint power on a mass scale. They could, however, print limited copies of new power as prizes for major (and I mean major) Vintage events. These cards would likely not make a significant dent on the price of other power, but would definitely spur interest in the format. For the uninitiated, Wizards can (and has), in accordance with the Official Reprint Policy, print “premium versions” of reserved cards and not violate the policy. This would be a narrow way to do that.
In my opinion, this is how we should proceed. This is not to say that there are other ways to do this, but I think implementing some or all of these suggestions would be a good start. Obviously, constructive criticism and discussion is encouraged.
