ManaNation.com is your

Magic the Gathering

destination for articles, podcasts, news and more!
XMTG - An awesome webcomic about: Magic the Gathering, Philosophy and Geekery

DCI News

Wizards Explains 2010 Grand Prix Schedule

By ManaNation.com ⋅ November 10, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Print This Post

Man­a­Na­tion was eagerly await­ing the 2010 Grand Prix sched­ule, eagerly pre­dict­ing a ban­ner year for the acces­si­ble Grand Prix events. We had heard rumors that the suc­cess of Magic this year what with Magic 2010’s record sales, Zendikar’s sales, suc­cesses online with Magic Online and the Duels of the Planeswalk­ers.

When the Grand Prix sched­ule was released we were shocked to see a sched­ule shorter than the 2009 sched­ule. This announce­ment was met by some sur­prise and upset by the com­pet­i­tive and casual play­ers. Trick reached out to Wiz­ards ask­ing about the schedule:

Trick’s Email:

As you know, 2010 Grand Prix sched­ule went up today, and I was sur­prised to see a drop in the num­ber of Grand Prixes for next year. Can you inquire to Scott Larabee or some­one involved with orga­nized play, as to why this was done? Many magic play­ers (myself included) were under the belief that we would be see­ing an expan­sion of the GP sched­ule next year.

On Tues­day, 11/10/09 we received a response from Wiz­ards giv­ing us their offi­cial answer:

“While the num­bers of GPs has decreased by one loca­tion, over­all the sched­ule is sta­ble. Each year Wiz­ards of the Coast con­sid­ers regional bal­ance and pre­mier events such as PTs and Worlds when look­ing at the pro­gram over­all. Given the suc­cess of GPs, we are eval­u­at­ing options to increase the num­ber of GPs but will do so in a way that main­tains geo­graph­i­cal bal­ance and always con­sider the impact on the Pro Tour itself. It’s part of Wiz­ards of the Coast’s prac­tice to con­stantly be reeval­u­at­ing our pro­grams. We’ll incor­po­rate any feed­back and con­sider it for loca­tions for 2011.”

The answer they pro­vide is quite telling. The fluc­tu­a­tion of one event is con­sid­ered, by our under­stand­ing to Wiz­ards, to be a non-change. One of the major points, and some­thing we neglected to con­sider was the fact that Grand Prixes feed into the Pro Tour, and the player spaces at those events must be lim­ited or else it becomes unwield­ily to run in three days. If the Grand Prix were to jump to 29 events, it would mean at the least, 20 more Pro Tour com­peti­tors, which to main­tain bal­ance would come off of the Pro Tour Qual­i­fiers else­where. And so the change can’t be as dra­matic as we had ini­tially dreamt of.

Never the less, we wish we could see a return of the Fourth Pro Tour stop which would allow then an increase in Grand Prixes and PTQs to match our dreams and expec­ta­tions. With the con­tin­ued suc­cess of Magic through 2011, we may see just that hap­pen in 2012, but not before.

Thanks to Wiz­ards for answer­ing our ques­tion and hope­fully this sat­is­fies you all as it has us at ManaNation.

Comments

  1. thanks for get­ting a response out of them, i was won­der­ing as to why they would do that too.

    S. Mann | November 11, 2009, 12:43 pm | #

  2. I dis­agree with “geo­graph­i­cal bal­ance” when there isn’t a GP in South Amer­ica next year

    Tom Ross | November 11, 2009, 4:17 pm | #

  3. Or a GP in Asia after June… (Aus­tralia is just as far and expen­sive from Japan as Amer­ica is Wiz­ards.) Yes, we’re get­ting Worlds, but Amer­ica is get­ting almost twice the GP’s all of Eas­t­a­sia is in addi­tion to its 1.5 PTs. Yes, I real­ize the ratio of play­ers to events may be closer than any of us imag­ine, but at least give us semi-spikes some­thing to do for 6 months!! (i.e. bal­ance your sched­ule bet­ter) Besides, if they’re try­ing to keep the bal­ance as in pre­vi­ous years like they claim…How about giv­ing us some­thing to do for six months that doesn’t require a flight around the world. One last final note…They talked about how they made GP’s in the same area before all of the PTs. Where’s the GP in Asia before Worlds? Oh wait…It’s in Europe.

    I hon­estly have no com­plaints about next year’s sched­ule size, but at least fol­low through with what you’re preach­ing. Sorry for being so neg­a­tive, but for some­one in Asia who’s try­ing to break onto the PT it’s becom­ing harder, not easier.

    P.S. Thanks for mak­ing the one tourny cut be from Asia.

    Hal | November 11, 2009, 6:40 pm | #

Post a comment

Please feel free to ask questions!

Please use your best grammar and spelling.

Note: We require polite discussions here, any uncivil behavior will be promptly removed.

Additional comments powered by BackType


  • Looking for Big Magic the Gathering tournaments?

  • Recently on ManaNation.com

  • Poll

    What kind of food goes best with Magic?

    View Results

  • Monthly

    • ManaNation is video podcast about Magic the Gathering, it is copyright of its owner CoolStuffInc LLC and Patrick Jarrett. Magic the Gathering, and all related graphics are owned by Wizards of the Coast.