An Open Letter to Mike Turian

Last week, I had a quick conversation with joekewwl, a former Community Cup champion, advocate of Standard Pauper, and unofficial liaison for beta-testing on Magic Online. At the time, he was chatting with one Mike Turian, who is the new Digital Product Manager for Magic Online at Wizards of the Coast. Joe later posted the gist of his conversation on the Standard forums of PDCMagic.com. You can read it for yourself, but the big takeaway is that Wizards Online has a positive outlook on the Standard Pauper format, and once the new client has been officially launched, is something they would like to move forward on at some point in the future.

Joekewwl encouraged all of us to continue to make our voice heard. So, with that in mind, I will be sending the following E-mail to Mike.


Dear Mike Turian,

My name is George Leonard, known as gwyned on Magic Online. For the past four years, I have been a major proponent of the Standard Pauper format. I am also a good friend with Joe Dillard, known as joekewwl online, whom you met during the 2011 Community Cup. I have over 70 published articles on the Standard Pauper format, and currently host Monday Pauper Deck Challenge, which is one of the most popular Player Run Events dedicated to this format and is now in its 23rd Season.

First off, on behalf of the community let me extend my gratitude for the addition of the Standard Pauper game filter on Magic Online. This has been a tremendous boon to the format, allowing us to much more easily find opponents and reducing confusion about what was and was not legal in the format. 

Second, it is my understanding that there has been some positive discussion regarding future sanctioned events for Standard Pauper. This is great to hear. I believe this will benefit both the Standard Pauper community and Wizards of the Coast. Here's why:

•  Standard Pauper is the perfect format for new players. It uses the most popular format (Standard), yet allows them to play in a less complex environment while learning the ropes of online play. It also has a much lower cost of entry compared to any other format online.
• Success in Standard Pauper very naturally transitions players to both Standard and Limited. As these are the most popular (and thus must lucrative) formats, growth in these formats would lead to increased revenues.
• While less complex than other formats, Standard Pauper still boasts a rich and varied metagame, with competitive decklists that in many ways mirror the major archetypes found in Standard and Limited.

While I understand that most of your development assets are tied up in completing the new client, I strongly believe that sanctioned events for Standard Pauper would be a wise use of your resources for the future of Magic Online.

But don't just take my word for it. Earlier this year, a petition circled online regarding full support for this format. To date it has over 300 signatures. There are also a growing number of clans on Magic Online devoted to the format, with the largest - Standard Pauper Players - boasting almost 70 members from around the globe, with more added each week.

Thanks for all you do for making Magic Online such a great product for so many like myself to enjoy. I look forward eagerly to what's in store for the future.

Sincerely,

George Leonard
gwyned@gmail.com


If you've got suggestions on how I might improve this letter, I'd love to hear them. And I'd also encourage you to send your own E-mail to Mike Turian and make your voice heard. Wizards has said in the past that they want to support any format that the community rallies around. Let's hold them to their word. Thanks for reading!