The 2007 Invitational is coming up, and I'd like to use this article to address a matter that didn't go as well as people hoped last season: the Invitational voting process. Not only was it very possible for the voting process itself to be subject to fraud, I also think that a lot of players that thoroughly deserved an invite were left without one. I've talked about the matter with a few Wizards employees, and they agree with me that not everyone that deserves the invite gets one, but they told me that it is an event for publicity rather than for the players, and therefore the Fan Favorites should get their spots.

While I agree that publicity is very important, I think a balance can definitely be reached between the two goals, because right now I think that there are far too many invites based purely on the popularity of a player. Let's have a look at last year's voting categories:

1 - Previous Invitational Winner
Clearly the defending champion should be able to defend his title, and I wouldn't touch this vote.

2 – Current Player of the Year
The player of the year title is only won by the very best in the game and, as opposed to single-event titles, really shows a player's consistency. The player of the year should definitely be in the Invitational.

3 –Current World Champion
The World Champion is someone you want to be there for both the community and the press, and again I wouldn't touch this vote.

4, 5, 6 – Road Warrior, the Fanatic, Resident Genius
Let's be honest, the majority of the votes will just vote for their personal favorite rather than the one that best fulfills this criterion. It's basically the same thing as the “Fan Favorite” votes.

7, 8, 9, 10 – Continental votes
Again a popularity contest, although this time the categories make a lot more sense. At any Magic event, it's good to have players from all around the globe.

11, 12 – Fan Favorite

13 – Judges' pick
Sportsmanlike conduct is a very good quality in a player and I think that the judges have a good view on players when it comes to that.

14 – Players' pick
Last year, during the player meeting of a Pro Tour, players were asked to fill out their ballots, and that's what this vote was based upon. It's a good idea in itself, as it can reward the players that are really good but escape the public eye, but I would adjust the vote slightly.

15 – Writers' pick
Most writers are formidable Magic players themselves, and know some of the top Magic players personally, and they can form a good opinion on who should be in and who shouldn't.

16 – R&D pick
Most, if not all, R&D members have played Pro Tours and are still showing up at the events, and know a lot of the top players very well because they ask for opinions on new sets all the time.

A lot of these voting categories make sense, but to reward the better players the same as the popular players, I would suggest something like the following voting system for next season:

1 – Previous Invitational Winner

2 – Current World Champion

3 – Current Player of the Year

4-8 (approx) – Current Level 6 Pro Players
To become a level 6 Pro Player requires real dedication to the game; just being very good isn't enough. You have to be very good, consistent, and willing to travel all over the world for professional events.

9-14 Fan Favorites (or continental favorite if there is a continent not yet represented).
If there are more or less than five previously uninvited Level 6 players, this will be adjusted with the Fan Favorite votes. Some of the Fan Favorite votes could also be replaced with votes such as Judges' Vote or R&D Vote. Also, to prevent a repeat of last year's voting controversy, DCI numbers should be used to track the voting.

I've removed all the categories that were previously used because they don't really eliminate nominees and therefore still bring out whoever is the most popular. You could, however, use categories that eliminate a lot of players to make sure that people in that category will be represented. Examples could be “Best player without a PT Top 8 this season” or “Best young player.” Also, some of these votes could be replaced with restricted votes such as Judges' Vote, R&D Vote, Pro Level 3+ Vote, Writers' Vote, Hall of Famers' pick.

15-16 Current Invitational Invitees Vote
Who else than the top players themselves know who should be invited? If you have the current invitational invitees compile a top 5 list of who they think deserves to be in the invitational, I'm sure you'll get a relatively unbiased list of players that truly deserve to be in there.

Of course, this is only a suggestion, and I'm sure a lot of other ideas are very valid, but I hope this will make the community have a good look at how things are currently done, and hopefully change it. If Wizards continues in the same way as they have the last couple of years, I'm afraid there are too many votes rewarding popular players and too few votes rewarding the best of the best, while I think that a combination of the two will contribute best to making the Invitational as memorable as possible.

That's it for now, thanks for reading,

Julien