I have to admit that I rarely play MtG anymore. I'm not very good at it, and I've discovered that for someone that doesn't think quickly, this game is torture. I do however know a lot about it, and enjoy talking to the various kinds of folks that play.
Seeing the resentment and general crankiness MtG brings about, I wanted to see if there wasn't a consensus or some common ground somewhere to help the community out. I just spent the weekend with a large group of MtG players, and I figured I would address the topic while it was fresh in my mind.
From what I've gathered, there are three general complaints aimed at the MtG crowd. The first is that it's not a "real game"; that it does not require real thought or strategy. MtG was designed to be played between sessions at conventions, and originally it was intended to be pretty "shallow" with very few permeations.
But even in Alpha, the number of combinations and choices you could make was pretty high. Today, with over 11,000 cards available, the number of decisions a player has to make just to make a deck is staggering. Compiling a playable and competitive deck takes a very analytic mind. The actual gameplay becomes even more involved; when combinations, counters, the stack and board effects all become essential components. In addition, there's a certain expectation for a player to be able to respond quickly that makes the game all that more demanding. To me, I think the complaint that Magic is for "kids" or isn't serious falls flat.
The second is that whoever has the most money wins. This is a somewhat misleading argument. I won't disagree with the claim that there are power decks that win often, and that to build them you need some way to pay for the cards.
There are also people that seem to have unnatural abilities to "hack" the power deck and win against them, often with cheap cards. This goes back to my first section; where smarts and a great understanding of the "if/then" mechanics is a huge help. Additionally, power decks are totally run by the secondary market. The power decks that "win all the time" definitely drives the cost of the cards in the decks way up. But if a player had the cards all along, they are not out any money.
If the local card shop doesn't have what you want (or has priced it out of your reach), you as a player have to find what you want another way. That's where trading smartly becomes paramount. I know a guy who is building a Legacy deck via trades, and has spent a total of $200 to build the deck, when the average is $1000 for a good Legacy deck. He's a smart trader and has a good eye for cards that will help him get what he wants. Spending money doesn't have to be the only way to get a good deck.
The third complaint might be very specific to my area; but it's that Magic gets preferential treatment by the store over other games that might be out there. The comments include that Magic gets lots of scheduled events and awesome prizes, as well as the fact that TheDude and I "drop everything" if and when Magic has a special event, release or otherwise requires attention.
Many of our customers aren't aware that much of our schedule is dictated directly by WotC. We hold Friday Night Magic on Friday night because that is the only day that we're allowed to do so by the big Wizard. If we tried to run our FNM on Saturday, we'd lose our sanctioning; which in turn can and would lose us customers. The scheduling of "big events" is also dictated by WotC. Pre-releases (which are HUGE moneymakers) are completely structured by the guys in Seattle. We don't even get to pick what KIND of event we want to run- that's also decided back in WA. When pre-release, Games Day or Celebration comes down the pipe, we get very little say in the whole business except "ok" or "no, not gonna happen".
We very recently got a heartfelt and considerate letter talking to us about concerns on scheduling and how we handle the amount of time at a table any game has. Something that struck me later was that we did not host Encounters for 6 months to a year because we had roleplaying games that interfered. We just said "no" to Wizards because we wanted to consider our customers and what THEY wanted. At the time, there were enough roleplaying games going that we didn't have space for Encounters. [For those that don't know, Encounters is a D&D event that allows people to stop in and play for 2-4 hours without any prep or pre-built characters. It is also ONLY allowed on Wednesdays by WotC.] The scheduling of events isn't always something we can control, but when it is, it is almost ALWAYS in our customers' favor.
The undertone of the comments about preferential treatment is attention and promotion. This is an area where we do have a lot of control, and maybe our customers are right that we push MtG harder than other products. A great example to make a comparison might be GW's Warhammer 40,000 6th edition. When it and its' release date was finally formally announced to us, we didn't have sign ups to pre-order it. We didn't have scheduled demos at the store for those that wanted to see the differences between 5th & 6th. We didn't offer 12:01 am purchase until someone asked us to do so.
The latest MtG product will be released next weekend. The week before is Pre-release, and we make that a big party at our store. The pre-release was this weekend and we're still recovering from 24 hours of MtG events in a 36 hour period. We've had signups for the Pre-release event for a month at least. It's been on our Facebook. On our webpage. On the in-store calendar. We had several "How to Play Magic" demos for folks that might have been interested. We put together a prize box for the event that's worth $500+.
The difference between the two comes down to economics and scale. The economics of MtG are very hard to ignore. It's hugely popular and brings in a lot of cash. At one point on our sales sheets, MtG made 50% of our sales. It is not that high at the moment, but it has always been a fair sight higher than any other product. We've had people line up outside our store to buy Magic products on a regular basis. One guy even slept outside overnight to get first crack at a product. It makes good business sense to promote something that is selling; both to get new customers buying it, and to get those buying it to buy more.
The scale of MtG is a huge factor that many customers miss entirely. For 40K 6th edition, we had 8-10 guys spend the $80 on the new book. One of them was a guy new to the game, but most of the people buying were regulars. While $800 is nothing to sneeze at,the Magic crowd had 28 people paying $25 just to get in the door for the first event. There were 3 events, and none of them had less than 26 people come to play. Magic has incredible appeal and reach. I see ladies play at every single event (and usually more than one). I see kids -we had a guy playing his first tournament ever with us this weekend, and I think he was 12. We see couples, and we see older folks. There is a grandma that comes in with her grandson regularly. It's a game that actively grows and brings in new players, and it's very hard to ignore that as a store owner.
It's HARD to ignore a customer base that brings in stacks of money and helps your business grow. But it's essential as an owner not to forget the customers that spend their time and energy in a store, building the community and spending similar dollars; just on a slower time frame. It takes a lot of work to come anything close to a balance, and we're always working at it at our place.
I don't know if this will change any opinions, but I wanted to see if I could shed some light on the topic. I do wonder how other stores handle these challenges; and would love to hear from you about your experiences.
The second is that whoever has the most money wins. This is a somewhat misleading argument. I won't disagree with the claim that there are power decks that win often, and that to build them you need some way to pay for the cards.
There are also people that seem to have unnatural abilities to "hack" the power deck and win against them, often with cheap cards. This goes back to my first section; where smarts and a great understanding of the "if/then" mechanics is a huge help. Additionally, power decks are totally run by the secondary market. The power decks that "win all the time" definitely drives the cost of the cards in the decks way up. But if a player had the cards all along, they are not out any money.
If the local card shop doesn't have what you want (or has priced it out of your reach), you as a player have to find what you want another way. That's where trading smartly becomes paramount. I know a guy who is building a Legacy deck via trades, and has spent a total of $200 to build the deck, when the average is $1000 for a good Legacy deck. He's a smart trader and has a good eye for cards that will help him get what he wants. Spending money doesn't have to be the only way to get a good deck.
The third complaint might be very specific to my area; but it's that Magic gets preferential treatment by the store over other games that might be out there. The comments include that Magic gets lots of scheduled events and awesome prizes, as well as the fact that TheDude and I "drop everything" if and when Magic has a special event, release or otherwise requires attention.
Many of our customers aren't aware that much of our schedule is dictated directly by WotC. We hold Friday Night Magic on Friday night because that is the only day that we're allowed to do so by the big Wizard. If we tried to run our FNM on Saturday, we'd lose our sanctioning; which in turn can and would lose us customers. The scheduling of "big events" is also dictated by WotC. Pre-releases (which are HUGE moneymakers) are completely structured by the guys in Seattle. We don't even get to pick what KIND of event we want to run- that's also decided back in WA. When pre-release, Games Day or Celebration comes down the pipe, we get very little say in the whole business except "ok" or "no, not gonna happen".
We very recently got a heartfelt and considerate letter talking to us about concerns on scheduling and how we handle the amount of time at a table any game has. Something that struck me later was that we did not host Encounters for 6 months to a year because we had roleplaying games that interfered. We just said "no" to Wizards because we wanted to consider our customers and what THEY wanted. At the time, there were enough roleplaying games going that we didn't have space for Encounters. [For those that don't know, Encounters is a D&D event that allows people to stop in and play for 2-4 hours without any prep or pre-built characters. It is also ONLY allowed on Wednesdays by WotC.] The scheduling of events isn't always something we can control, but when it is, it is almost ALWAYS in our customers' favor.
The undertone of the comments about preferential treatment is attention and promotion. This is an area where we do have a lot of control, and maybe our customers are right that we push MtG harder than other products. A great example to make a comparison might be GW's Warhammer 40,000 6th edition. When it and its' release date was finally formally announced to us, we didn't have sign ups to pre-order it. We didn't have scheduled demos at the store for those that wanted to see the differences between 5th & 6th. We didn't offer 12:01 am purchase until someone asked us to do so.
The latest MtG product will be released next weekend. The week before is Pre-release, and we make that a big party at our store. The pre-release was this weekend and we're still recovering from 24 hours of MtG events in a 36 hour period. We've had signups for the Pre-release event for a month at least. It's been on our Facebook. On our webpage. On the in-store calendar. We had several "How to Play Magic" demos for folks that might have been interested. We put together a prize box for the event that's worth $500+.
The difference between the two comes down to economics and scale. The economics of MtG are very hard to ignore. It's hugely popular and brings in a lot of cash. At one point on our sales sheets, MtG made 50% of our sales. It is not that high at the moment, but it has always been a fair sight higher than any other product. We've had people line up outside our store to buy Magic products on a regular basis. One guy even slept outside overnight to get first crack at a product. It makes good business sense to promote something that is selling; both to get new customers buying it, and to get those buying it to buy more.
The scale of MtG is a huge factor that many customers miss entirely. For 40K 6th edition, we had 8-10 guys spend the $80 on the new book. One of them was a guy new to the game, but most of the people buying were regulars. While $800 is nothing to sneeze at,the Magic crowd had 28 people paying $25 just to get in the door for the first event. There were 3 events, and none of them had less than 26 people come to play. Magic has incredible appeal and reach. I see ladies play at every single event (and usually more than one). I see kids -we had a guy playing his first tournament ever with us this weekend, and I think he was 12. We see couples, and we see older folks. There is a grandma that comes in with her grandson regularly. It's a game that actively grows and brings in new players, and it's very hard to ignore that as a store owner.
It's HARD to ignore a customer base that brings in stacks of money and helps your business grow. But it's essential as an owner not to forget the customers that spend their time and energy in a store, building the community and spending similar dollars; just on a slower time frame. It takes a lot of work to come anything close to a balance, and we're always working at it at our place.
I don't know if this will change any opinions, but I wanted to see if I could shed some light on the topic. I do wonder how other stores handle these challenges; and would love to hear from you about your experiences.
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