Thursday, November 19, 2015

Long Odds...

Today I sent the following E-mail to Mark Rosewater. Figured, what have I got to lose?

Mark,

I figure my odds of you actually reading this are pretty slim. Nonetheless, here goes nothing:

I don't know if you're aware, but Magic Online recently killed a very fun format known as Standard Pauper. As you'd expect, it's identical to Standard, but using only Commons. There's a big online community that supports it, with free events every week that award prizes donated by online vendors.

It's mostly supported by people who love Magic but don't have the finances to compete in the sanctioned formats. Yet it's competitive, lots of fun, with a rich metagame. And if the hallmark of any set is its Commons, then it's also one of the quintessential ways to experience this great game.

I'm not expecting you to design or develop for it or anything like that. But I do want you to know that the format exists, and its existence was one of the great aspects of Magic Online. You should try it sometime with your team. I think you might be surprised by just how fun and accessible it is. And who knows? Maybe if it's something you and your team enjoy internally, the format might someday return to Magic Online.

If you're still reading this, thank you. Thanks for all you do to contribute to the Magic community. Thanks for all your efforts in keeping Magic going. Keep up the good work.

George

PS - I blog and publish articles on Standard Pauper regularly. My blog is writeradept.blogspot.com, and I publish under the username gwyned at PureMTGO.com (where Ryan Spain used to publish his articles before he was hired).

2 comments:

  1. Useful post and mailing here. I wish Mark Rosewater could read it and make appropriate moves. Constructive thing, It's hard keeping such a state of mind following what's going on with MTGO these days. Thanks for your positive approach ot the problem. Because there's one unless wizards can't feel it.
    Anticipate !

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  2. This is a fantastic letter. I do hope that Maro reads it. And I hope even more that you get a proper reply. One of the starred messaged in my GMail inbox is from Mr. Rosewater. Years ago I sent a little e-mil regarding the card Walking Atlas in Worldwake (it was an artifact creature, but was printed without the word artifact). His only one-sentence reply to me was that the card has been errated. On this issue, you deserve an explanation from him. And if I'm able to get a reply from him regarding a little-known common, I'll bet your odds aren't as long as you might think. Good luck!

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