The State of Harry Potter
By Legolas -- sacrifice795@hotmail.com
Compared to the up-and-coming Yu-Gi-Oh, Harry Potter is just another Trading
Card Game. I believe this is partly due to us, the fans and players, not
supporting it enough. But I believe that, for the most part, it is Wizards
of the Coasts fault.
When Harry Potter Trading Card Game first came out, it looked like it was
going to be very popular, and Wizards of the Coast probably thought they had
brought another hit Trading Card Game to the world. However, now, it seems
like it is forgotten. Sure, most of us reading this play and enjoy it, and
that is exactly why I am writing this. I want to continue to enjoy playing
the game. I’m sure you all do to, but that’s hardly the case for Wizards of
the Coast. It seems like they don’t care if we enjoy, they just care about
their profits.
Many of the past scheduled Harry Potter Chats at wizards.com (Wizards of the
Coast’s official site) have been canceled due to the STAFF not showing up. I
have been annoying Wizards about this via custserv (Customer Service), but
they have not even answered. E-mails stretch from early July, until the last
one I made, which was Sunday the 28th day of July. It seems like they are
avoiding us avid Harry Potter fans, and concentrating more on games like
Pokemon and Magic: The Gathering. Even Star Wars, which they just starting
making, gets more publicity than Harry Potter at the site. So without the
chat, how do we know what rulings are correct? I have been meaning to ask
one, so I sent it in to custserv, and when I called, I got two separate
answers. Now, what company makes two different rulings on the same rule?
Besides the rules, there are many other things Wizards aren’t doing. I will
try to get through as many as I can. First off, where I live, there isn’t a
league in the whole state. There are many states that don’t have Harry
Potter leagues in them. Here’s the complete up-to-date list of states
that DO NOT have leagues:
Hawaii
Nevada
Wyoming
Colorado
New Mexico
Nebraska
North Dakota
Minnesota
Arkansas
Alabama
Louisiana
Tennessee
Kentucky
West Virginia
Rhode Island
Delaware
Maine
Vermont
That’s eighteen out of fifty states, or only 64% of the states have leagues
in them! Don’t you think that Wizards should NOT deprive people like that?
It’s also even hard to find cards around here – we have a community of about
one million people, and I can only manage to find Quidditch Cup booster
packs. Maybe if Wizards of the Coast wanted to make a profit, they should
make their products available to everyone.
If you live in Canada, and you wanted to get into a league, it is very
doubtful that you are located within 500 miles of there. In all of Canada,
there are only two leagues – one in Ontario and one in British Columbia. I
don’t even have to say anything about that. If you live anywhere else in the
world, you can tell that the chances of you being in a league are slim.
Now, don’t feel like Harry Potter is going completely out the window. I do
not work at Wizards, so I have no idea what they have planned for Harry
Potter Trading Card Game. Personally, I would like to see the popularity
grow a little more. Like I said, this is partly our fault. For example:
Last year, pojo.com would receive nearly 100 tips a month, this month, they
received a measly 11. I think that we could get the players participation a
little more ‘exciting’, than maybe Wizards would support it more. Also, more
people in Pojo’s Harry Potter TCG Ladder could be extremely helpful. Right
now, it has about 63 people, but there were only 24 matches yesterday on the
ladder. In #pojohp, Pojo.com’s official Harry Potter Internet chat usually
gets about 7 people. The channel record is only about 14. Although AOL is
banned, you can still get in with talking to an op (I can get you in if you
want, just e-mail me your name and I’ll try to contact you so you can get
in).
Of course, boycotting Wizards would be mean. So let’s not get that idea from
this article. I wrote this so I could express how I feel about the State of
Harry Potter, and what we could do to make it better. Just thought I’d say
that before I continue on.
Another thing I’d like to see have done is have a rule that you do (this)
before (this). For example, if I had out Neville Longbottom and the Location
Hospital Dormitory was in play, would the four blocked from Hospital
Dormitory go towards the eight that Neville doesn’t block? It’s a good
question, so I’d like to see certain steps that you use come out. (Note:
I’ve e-mail custserv and I called Wizards, and I got two different answers,
so that doesn’t help much.)
Another thing I’d like to see (I’ve already mentioned this, but I’ll go more
in-depth with it now) is a little more site devotement by Wizards. For
example, if you’ve ever been to the site, there’s nothing that has to do
with Harry Potter under the “Events” tab. Yet, somehow there is Star Wars,
Pokemon, Magic: The Gathering, Conventions, Showdown Sports, and Chain mail.
WHERE IS HARRY POTTER? According to the popular Scrye magazine, which
focuses on Trading Card Games, here’s the order of TCG sells:
1) Magic: The Gathering
2) Dragon Ball Z
3) Lord of the Rings
4) Pokemon
5) Yu-Gi-Oh
6) Harry Potter
Sixth out of all the TCGs! It outsells Showdown Sports, and it is right up
there with Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon. Of course it way outsells Star Wars, though
I have nothing against it, it has nothing going at this point in time.
Their store also irritates me. I tried to buy Adventures at Hogwarts
boosters from their sites, but it is so complex, it said that there wasn’t a
URL. When I went to buy Diagon Alley cards, it redirected me to another
site. If they could just stick with them dealing everything, I’m sure all
the fans would be happier.
Well, this is about the state of Harry Potter, right? Right now, I think
that Harry Potter is going down the drain unless we take action. We need
more people to show up for local tournaments, more matches and people on the
ladder, more tips submitted, etc. I feel like Wizard watches Pojo for
activity – after all, they do recommend the site for Card Lists, Spoilers,
and even sometimes rulings!
Of course, it would be great if Wizards helped us out a little bit, by
giving us more leagues to participate in that are local, but I don’t think
that they are going to do that before we get more activity. All members who
are in the top 30 on the ladder should ladder at least 2 times a day – if we
did this, we would have at least 60 matches a day. What do you think Wizards
would do if that happened?
Well, I’m going to try to wrap it up; I’ve gone on long enough. I’m going to
rant on a little more about the chat. The last chat was on June 12th. The
date is August 1st. The rhyme goes thirty days has September, April, June,
and November, all the rest have 31, February stands alone. If you don’t want
to do the math, that’s 50 days since the last chat.
In conclusion, I would like to see everyone get a little bit more active on
this site – if you sent in one tip a week, and joined the ladder and
laddered twice a day or more, it would most likely convince Wizards to give
Harry Potter a second look, and see how good it really is.
If you have questions about getting on the Pojo Harry Potter league, chat,
or how to send in tips, feel free to e-mail me, I’ll be glad to answer any
of your questions! Please put Pojo Harry Potter or something similar in the
subject line so I know it’s safe. ;) Thanks for reading!
Legolas – sacrifice795@hotmail.com