Changes to WPN for TOs without stores - i.e. TGC

[Paul Hodgson]

Spotted this on MTGSalvation earlier today, I imagine that there are serious implications for TGC...

http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=277459

"Originally Posted by Wizards of the Coast

In Wizards of the Coast's continuing global efforts to build strong Magic and D&D player communities in hobby stores, WPN levels and benefits will apply solely to stores as of the December Friday Night Magic solicitation round starting October 15th. This change will also appear in the Mirrodin Besieged Prerelease solicitation round starting October 18th. This change allows Wizards to better leverage the strengths of the WPN and our programs, maximizing their impact for stores and promoting the formation of vibrant player communities. 

Stores will earn WPN levels based on all sanctioned OP activity that they sponsor. All WPN programs, including Prereleases, D&D Encounters and FNM, will be given exclusively to store locations. 

Most stores and organizers will notice no change with this shift. The vast majority of Organized Play already happens in retail locations. However, we do have individual organizers who are not associated with specific stores. We encourage these organizers to team up with a local retailer so their players can enjoy the great programs at the store's WPN level! 

For those organizers unable to associate with a store, we will offer an Event Support Kit starting with Mirrodin Besieged. This kit will be identical to the Gateway Support Kit for the most recent Core set (Magic 2011 in this case), and will refresh with each new Core set. Organizers not associated with a store will also have access to rated and casual sanctioned events. 

For more information please refer to the detailed FAQ, or contact your dedicated Wizards of the Coast support team at 800.324.6496 or online at www.wizards.com/customerservice.

Jason I imagine you're impacted significantly by this, as it means that pre-releases and FNMs are no longer available to TGC. Do you have a view on what the impact is going to be to the London Magic scene? Is there anything that the community (i.e. us!) can do?

/worried...

[Thomas David Baker]

Actually it turns out I only have the decklists from deckcheck not any of the attendant information like what tournament they are from or how many played in it. A rough date can be gained from the ID which is in there.

Will be an unfortunate loss if he really does close it for good.

[Tom Reeve]

http://wizards.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wizards.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp...

There is now more of an FAQ for the changes to WPN. A quick pass over them reveals little reason that I can spot to be reassured that this isn't a complete clusterfuck of an idea.

[Thom Richardson]

If I am understanding of the new FAQ correctly this means that unless Jason finds a store to affiliate with TGC loses:

FNM foils
Local (sunday) prerelease

Which is pretty lame but at least all the other events should be unaffected.

It does completely suck for other parts of the UK that don't have a Regional prerelease and have independent TOs running their local prerelease. So much for supporting the people who help build the community.

Also the suggestion that places without a game store should try to get somewhere to start selling Magic just makes the whole thing seem like an attempted money grab by Wizards.

[Tom Reeve]

I have a feeling that the UK does not in fact have 'Regional Prereleases' in the sense that the term is used there (and does not have PTOs that could run Regional Prereleases, in fact.) So I would imagine that the Games Club Prereleases would be impacted by this.

Thom Richardson said:

If I am understanding of the new FAQ correctly this means that unless Jason finds a store to affiliate with TGC loses:

FNM foils
Local (sunday) prerelease

Which is pretty lame but at least all the other events should be unaffected.

It does completely suck for other parts of the UK that don't have a Regional prerelease and have independent TOs running their local prerelease. So much for supporting the people who help build the community.

Also the suggestion that places without a game store should try to get somewhere to start selling Magic just makes the whole thing seem like an attempted money grab by Wizards.

[Ben Titmarsh]

The saturday prerelease in The Royal National is considered a 'Regional' prerelease, the sunday one in The County is local. So our big prerelease will be unaffected.

The only other thing not on your list Thom is Games Day.



Tom Reeve said:

I have a feeling that the UK does not in fact have 'Regional Prereleases' in the sense that the term is used there (and does not have PTOs that could run Regional Prereleases, in fact.) So I would imagine that the Games Club Prereleases would be impacted by this.

Thom Richardson said:

If I am understanding of the new FAQ correctly this means that unless Jason finds a store to affiliate with TGC loses:

FNM foils
Local (sunday) prerelease

Which is pretty lame but at least all the other events should be unaffected.

It does completely suck for other parts of the UK that don't have a Regional prerelease and have independent TOs running their local prerelease. So much for supporting the people who help build the community.

Also the suggestion that places without a game store should try to get somewhere to start selling Magic just makes the whole thing seem like an attempted money grab by Wizards.

[Thom Richardson]

How could I have forgotten the much loved and attended event that is Games Day?!?