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| Pojo's Magic The Gathering news, tips, strategies and more! | |||||
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Pojo's MTG
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The Dragon's Den
Obviously you've all known that you
could make to the Pro Tour and get paid
to play this game that you love.
Well this past Monday, Wizards of the
Cost made the deal a lot better. That
added a lot to the glitz and glamour of
the Pro Tour. So if you didn't want to
make it before, you definitely want to
make it now.
This whole deal actually started back a
few months ago. Wizards of trying to
figure out a way to increase the aura
and allure of the Pro Tour. Many people
believed that WotC was worried about the
effect that the game of poker was
starting to have on the game, but I
don't think that problem is as big as
they think. We'll get to that later
though.
Anyway, a recently while back (if that's
a term) WotC got this great idea to have
a player's lounge added to each Pro Tour
event. This would allow the players to
be treated like the professionals that
they were. The players lounge includes
free drinks and snacks. It also has
wireless internet access and even long
distance calling service. The players
lounge is the ultimate area to relax and
hang out between rounds. It's almost
like the equivalent of a clubhouse style
place on a PGA (professional golfer's
association) stop.
The players seemed please with this new
development. This has established
nothing but a positive response from the
pros. So, Wizards is moving in the
right direction. They didn't want to
stop there though. They wanted their
professional players to get the best
possible treatment.
Well, this week they announced the
creation of the Player's Club
membership. There is no fee for this,
but it comes with some AMAZING
benefits. All players have to do is
accumulate pro tour points and they get
more benefits as they gain more. They
have things broken into levels to make
it easy to track your benefits. Here's
the breakdown of each level:
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3Everything listed before, plus ...
Level 4Everything listed before, plus ...
Level 5Everything listed before, plus ...
Level 6Everything listed before, plus ...
And here is the breakdown on points for each level threshold:
It's not easy to gain the higher levels on a setup like this, but that's OK. It rewards good, consistent performance. Realistically, everyone's goal should be to reach level 3. That's 20 pro tour points. Now, this is no small feat in and of itself, but it is definitely achievable. I think there are a lot of benefits to a system like this. The largest is that it absolutely creates a set of professional players. Before, the players were considered professionals by definition. This new system allows players to make enough money to actually attend each event. Once you reach level 3, you are guaranteed a set fee at each event. That is income that you can effectively count on for a full year. On top of that, it encourages the top players to keep showing up. Consider the fact that simply attending each Pro Tour gets you essentially 10 points for the year. That gives you a huge jump on your goal. At that points you just need a couple of finishes in the ballpark of 48 or better and you're set for the next year at level 3. Or you can show up to all of them and get one strong finish of top 16 or better and you are golden. This makes players want to go to each event. The reason they will likely attend is that now the travel expenses become negligible. The players now know that their travel expenses are nearly covered completely. So this is a great deal for everyone. If you have to travel far, you would need to come up with a few extra dollars, but even then, you are still much better off. This takes away almost any excuse that some one would have to not attend an event. And finally, I think it keep WotC as the front runner in professional level events in the realm of gaming. They were the leaders and they want to keep being the leaders and the innovators. I don't blame them. They have the number one game, so why shouldn't they have the number on professional level event. This helps push the bar for other game manufacturers to follow. Now, at the very least, you have to offer a bunch of other incentives outside of just cash to draw attention. This could start some interesting and strong competition. If it does, great. The people who benefit most are the players. Now, I can't wait for the announcement
later this year from WotC about what
non-professional players get.
DeQuan Watson
a.k.a. PowrDragn at Pojo dot Com
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