Ted Yee of Comic Land Toys and Games in Coquitlam (British Columbia), Canada comments on the recent Wizards Play Network changes (see "WotC Ends Magic Player Rewards Program").

I honestly do not understand all the uproar over these changes. WotC wants gameplay to go to brick and mortar stores instead of random locations run by independent tournament organizers.  Independent TOs can still associate with a store to run events.  It is true that any given store can only run a limited number of events like Friday Night Magic (FNM) each week, whether it's on their own or through another tournament organizer but the reality is that stores sell product, independent TOs do not.  WotC, as the manufacturer of Magic, has to give preference to those outlets that improve their bottom line in a direct and quantifiable manner.

It is also true that there are areas where there is no local game store available but still has a thriving Magic community.  WotC has explained all the ways to be creative in getting any brick and mortar store to become a WPN store.  Until the affected independent TOs make the attempt to jump through these extra hoops, they really have no business complaining.  The fact of the matter is, WotC has been very generous in allowing indie TOs to run premium events like FNM in the first place.

In places where there is competition with a game store, how is this fair?  Some guy gets to run events down the street from the WPN store, siphoning off players and at the end of the day, consumer dollars, without having to go through half the trouble or cost the WPN store had to.

Some indie TOs make the argument that they help grow and market the game.  This is true but stores do that as well as sell the game.

While it may seem that WotC is eliminating freebies and pocketing the cash, which still might well be the case, I'm willing to give it some time to see how this pans out.  I've never been a fan of text less cards as they make life difficult for new players who have enough trouble with all the cards that have text, let alone cards that do not.  The tournament playability of some of the cards is also highly suspect.  I'd like to see this "redirection" of resources result in more prize cards for FNM for non-winners and/or extra-special foils for winners, perhaps even some freebies that aren't cards like card-style life counters, deck boxes or portfolios.

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