Ah yes... the old doomsday for magic rants...

I have to laugh.

You see, I've been playing magic for a long time and I have been hearing these
rants in one form or another since Beta.  Yeah, you heard me right - ever since
Beta came out I have been hearing about how MtG was a product/game on its way
out.  It becomes a hot topic about once a year - sometimes more often.  Some
of the things I've heard: (paraphrased)
"To expensive - magic will die"  (when Beta came out)
"Legends sold out - magic will die"
"The Dark sucks - magic will die"
"Fallen Empires sucks - magic will die"
"Homelands sucks - magic will die"
etc...

Some people listened to themselves and now regret it.  (DexCon - what is that?)
I should have listened to myself when I was thinking about buying those
moxes and lotuses for $5 because I knew they would go up.  A friend convinced
me magic was on the way out.

Of all the rants and raves the only one that rings true is this - 1 slot
qualifiers suck.  Even a fanatic like myself does not want to travel any
distance for a 1 slot qualifier.  For Mirage I went far afield to play in the
qualifiers... for the last round I could not bring myself to travel for a 1
slot qualifier.

However, all the other comments are kinda silly
 - Not enough Type 2 events.  See next entry.
 - Not enough Sealed events.  See prior entry.
 - To expensive.  Feh, people been saying this since Beta.  The fact is playing
   a sealed deck magic tournament is much cheaper than going to the movies in
   terms of entertainment cost per hour.
 - The Dojo Effect.  This is a myth.  Even before the Dojo to play well you had
   to know what the environment was all about - the Dojo just makes it easier,
   but it is still the same.  If the Dojo effect really was as bad as people
   say then top players would not be able to win so consistently.  Jamie says
   that all the "scrubs" are winning in Middlebury and in the past they did
   not.  To this I say simply this: maybe the scrubs were always winning in
   Middlebury (i.e. nothing has changed).  Here in NY the same players that
   always win are still winning.  It has not changed.  There is nothing
   different about the current format that lets scrubs win.  It is just the
   case that what Jamie was seeing as the non-scrubs in Middlebury were not
   that much better than the scrubs.
 - Rock/Paper/Scissors.  NEWS FLASH!  Constructed magic has ALWAYS been R/P/S
   It is only when WOTC R+D makes a mistake that it is not.  They fix this as
   soon as possible with a ban/restriction.  Garfield's original conception
   of the game is that it would be R/P/S.  It is a testament to how well
   designed this set is that YOU can see this so clearly (and some thanks to
   articles on the Dojo).
   SIDE NOTE: It is in the nature of the game to be R/P/S.  Even in the black
   summer you had Necro(R)/Anti-Necro(P)/Anti-Anti-Necro(S).  See how it works?
   If a deck dominates then the anti decks become the Paper.  This is exactly
   why I don't like constructed.
 - Block Dropping is Bad.  Feh.  These sets are designed to be dropped all at
   once.  That should make it good.  Some of you have not been around for it
   but it was worse when we lost a set AND gained a set at the same time.  That
   meant instead of one big change there would be lots of little changes.  It
   was just as upsetting and it happened more often.  But the whole point of
   type 2 is it is only in print sets - thus a new player can get the cards
   with more ease.
 - No more original decks.  Hey we are at the end of a cycle... expect exciting
   stuff soon.


Now here are some interesting facts that I have noticed:
 - Every year when school starts attendance drops off.
 - Right at the end of a cycle attendance drops off.

Hey what do ya know... it is the start of the school year and the end of a
cycle.... I got news for you... if attendance had not dropped off I would be
worried.

The death of magic... yeah right... I've heard that joke before.

May all your draws be good ones,
Hogan Long
Team Grumpy Old Men
NYC Sept 98