Articles

Let's look at how Magic can be improved in Brisbane

Caveat: This commentary of ideas is my personal opinion only. Therefore, no blame can be made on my advice if they fail miserably, as these suggestions are made without extensive research in the market conditions, economic factors and purchasing powers of the target markets. As far as the danger of appropriation of existing ideas and practices are concerned, I stress again that these are my comments and thoughts and mine alone. Any resemblance to existing situations are unintentional. If however, my thoughts and ideas are taken up as actual practices, let it be understood that I will be pursuing the full royalties due to me. It is therefore declared that the intellectual property contained in this document is mine and mine alone. [Sorry, you can't have the glory without the blame. :-) --Darryl.]

In addition, the ideas, situations, places and people in this article are purely from a Brisbanite's point of view, and any resemblance to any other situation, place or person outside Brisbane is purely unintentional. However, if any of the ideas, situations, places and names in this article are adopted outside Brisbane without the prior permission of the author, legal action will ensue to obtain the expected royalties. (I hope WOTC reads this and implements it in Seattle and I will never have to work again!)

1) Originality prizes in tournaments.

If tournament organisers could set aside a substantial prize pool, say half a box of boosters, for awarding to the individual who has the most original decklist, decided by a panel of judges, usually the tournament judges, or even by internet vote, I would hazard a guess that people would not be turning up with net decks. Then we might be able to see decks other than your standard Pandeburst, Copeman Survival and Trix. I think Greg Romans should be commended for making a 4 colour deck based on the strongest cards in each colour.

2) Invitational tournaments.

Invitation to a special tournament spanning the entire weekend, with a small cash prize pool but a large prestige component will keep existing players interested. For instance, an invitational for the top 16 players in Brisbane will keep the local flavour alive with competition, and foster higher attendances in other tournaments so that players will get a higher ranking to be invited. The tournament format should be played over several formats: Classic, Extended, Standard, Rochester and Point Draft. (I think it should be DCI Sanctioned!)

3) Hold Grand Prix tournaments in Brisbane.

That's a no-brainer. It's like having the Australian Open in Melbourne. Tennis memberships skyrockets. Just take a look at Sydney. After GP Sydney, the amount of Tradewind Survival Decks packing maindeck Mother of Runes and Stronghold Machinist trebled. Mind you, while I think that deck copying is an absolute prick of a crime, it is hell of a way to promote the game. Seeing one of your peers win or place high in a top level tournament is a very good motivational thing.

4) Team sponsorship.

Companies like Pizza Hut, Red Bull, Hungry Jacks, the local fish and chip store; they all should be approached to sponsor Magic teams, since all the Magic players regularly patronise these establishments. Teams are required to wear the sponsors' T-shirts or caps during tournaments. Perhaps press exposure for these tournaments will provide real synergy with the sponsors' agendas. You might even get to a stage where Hungry Jacks buy a case of cards for their team members to keep.

5) Have tournaments involving partners.

Need more women. Really. Preferably shorts-clad, tight-topped, perky and shapely, 16 year old looking university student who plays Magic with the same gusto as she would ... erm ... perform other tasks. You could hold a "Play only with your girlfriend/boyfriend Two Headed Giant" tournament. First prize could be a gift voucher for Adultshop.Com (another potential sponsor!). The sad thing is that they'll spend half the type playing Elves or Goblins or Orcs because they look cuter than an active Morphling (or an in-play Crystalline Sliver, as Dan Romans puts it).

6) Have cross ownership of cards.

Team members should pool their resources so the entire team has a collection of cards to pick from, thus enlarging card pools and allowing access to colours which they might not normally play. For example, I might need mountains (God forbid!) which I don't have. No really. Not a single one, I checked.

7) Have a big-brother system.

Each team (except for team BNE, as they themselves probably need big brothers) should adopt a big-brother approach to recruit a young rookie and train him like a potential Jedi Knight. The kid would have full access to the pool of cards, which allows the kid to really have the opportunity to use Jason's Timewalk or Benjamin's Beta Sinkhole. Or my foiled Islands. All of them.

Lord love a duck, Christmas periods are really really boring. Cheers and have a good one.

Roy Ho
roy_ho@poyntons.com