February 21, 2008
As a follow-up to the recent changes to Organized Play programs, Wizards of the Coast organized a Q&A session with the players attending Pro Tour–Kuala Lumpur.
During this Q&A session, Chris Galvin, Vice President of Organized Play, delivered the following messages:
The changes were made to increase resources to improve the reach of tournament play at the grassroots level. The Pro Tour is an important part of Wizards’ Organized Play program and will continue to be down the road.
To the question about why programs such as States/Champs or the Magic Scholarship Series had been cut, Galvin's response was that "in a given year States and the MSS only represent about 3-4 percent of total tournament Magic players." Even though many players enjoyed participating in these programs, those events were far less effective than needed for the important goals they were trying to achieve in terms of bringing new players into the game or getting non-tournament players to consider trying organized events.
Galvin noted that "these decisions [regarding the OP programs] represent the best thinking of the people who have taken Magic this far over the past decade and more."
The details of the plans to expand the reach of tournament play are still being worked on, and the final plans will be unveiled during the Gama Trade Show convention to be held in Las Vegas on April 20-23, 2008.
A complete summary of the Pro Tour–Kuala Lumpur Q&A session can be found here.
