In recent articles, I've suggested that the number of card sets released should be slowed down. I've talked about the future of Magic as a classic game and teased folks with the idea that the DCI should sanction a Base set or Base set/Starter only format. I'm still waiting for the Flamewave from that suggestion. In the meantime, I am going to develop the arguments for sanctioning a format that as far as I know no one plays.

There are lots of discussions distinguishing between casual, serious, and newbie players. I don't want to get into trying to pigeonhole every player into a category since I don't think that everyone fits uniquely in a single category. But I am going to add a new category to the list: the Occasional Player.

The Occasional Player is the player who, for whatever reasons, does not play Magic more than once per week and possibly less than once per month. This player will often be older, out of school and working, and may have a family. These, and other reasons not listed, put this person in a position of not being able to play on a regular basis.

The Occasional Player is the one who gives up Magic due to the difficulty of keeping up. I've mentioned before that I have a job and can afford to support my Magic habit financially. But, the same conflicts that keep me from playing regularly make it difficult for me to keep up with the latest cards and decks. To play Magic in any of the currently sanctioned formats you have to consider the impact of a new card set every four months. You have to learn the cards, what they do, and how they impact your game. This takes a lot of time.

If you play regularly or irregularly, you may not even realize how much time keeping up actually takes. A lot of players end up quitting Magic when they go to college or get that first job because they find out that they just do not have the time to keep up anymore. They have two choices: quit or play poorly because they don't know the cards.

I fit this category and I know that there are a few more like me out there, but I don't think that there are very many. The simple reason is the number of players that quit rather than trying to hang on against all odds.

A few years ago, WotC came up with an idea that I consider brilliant in concept and foiled in execution: the ranking of card sets. They came out with a set called "Portal" which was a "Starter" level set that was designed to introduce the new player to the wonderful world of Magic. It was a wonderful set. All of the basic color themes were represented and well balanced. The set was small, so the new player could become familiar with all the cards, and it was playable.

A short time later boxes of 5th Edition started coming out with the label "Advanced" and the stand alone block cards were labeled "Expert". This was supposed to help players select the level of play appropriate for them. This is brilliant. It should have been a marketing juggernaut. It should have doubled the number of Magic players. But it didn't.

When the beginner walks into a shop where Magic is played does anybody actually recommend that they begin with the Starter set and work up? No.

Why not?

Well, some feel that Magic is easy enough that you can start with the expert level cards from the get go. Those people are wrong. The interactions and rules complications that occur with many of the expert level cards truly justify the term "expert".

Memory is a funny thing. Once we know something, we tend to lose track of the fact that we didn't always know it. I suggest that this is the case with many Magic players who claim to have understood the game with only an hour or two of play. They do not remember when they were confused about the difference between Sorceries and Instants. They know it now and therefore the believe they always knew it.

Even if you know the rules, even with the simplified (6E) rules, there are plenty of rules questions resulting from expert level card interactions. The expert cards require serious effort and study in order to play even reasonably well.

Another reason nobody recommends Starter is that even if you agree with me that starter is a viable teaching/learning tool you still won't recommend the cards because the cards are not tournament legal. Why have someone start playing with cards that they will have to throw away as soon as they learn the game? I'm sure someone in marketing figured that once people got into the game they would be happy to spend more money so that they could really play it. They were wrong. These players don't graduate to Magic, they go to Pokemon or they go away altogether.

No cha-ching for WotC from what should have been a brilliant marketing ploy!

The same with the Advanced (Base) set. Sure, a beginner might be encouraged to buy a few packs to pick up some of the staple commons that don't show up in the expert sets, but otherwise you will skip the Base set even if you are a beginner.

But, 6E is an amazingly well constructed set. The color balance and color themes are excellent. There are no degenerate combos and the fantasy element of the game is reasonably well preserved, the impossible rarely happens. (Thanks to Peter Jahn for his discussion of Magic as a fantasy game that has lost its fantasy element.)

But none of this is being exploited by WotC to increase their player base. They have dropped the ball on this brilliant idea.

There needs to be a sanctioned format for beginners. The JSS is NOT a beginners format, per se. It is a format for young players who are very often good enough to "play with the big boys". The age segregation is a poor substitute for ability level segregation which is what is really needed in the world of Magic.

If WotC/DCI are serious about supporting new players coming into the game, they have to take the final steps in executing the "Levels of Play" vision. They need to sanction a beginners' format for tournaments. A format for new/young players only. The format would be both time and age limited using cards from the Starter set. This would also be a good format for more experienced players to get some judging experience.

An advanced format for older/more experienced players that aren't expert level would sit between the beginner and expert formats using cards from the Base set or Base set and Starter. This would be a place where the pro wannabes could hone their skills before moving up. It would be a place where the Occasional Player could play without having to worry about a constantly changing card pool and degenerate combos. It also provides a format for the person who loves Magic, was playing at the Expert level, but who can no longer commit the time and effort to keep up with the new sets.

Finally, the expert format would consist of the currently sanctioned formats.

We could even label these levels something clever like "Apprentice Mage," "Mage," and "Master Mage."

Every year, thousands of folks say "goodbye" to Magic forever. Even some of Magic's highest level and highest profile players call it quits. They quit because they cannot keep up anymore. Sometimes it is money, but more often it is because they look around and realize that they can have a life without Magic or a life without everything else. At the expert level of play, Magic is only for people who have a lot of time to devote to the game.

None of these people hate Magic or are bored with it. Many would continue to play if they could do it without sacrificing everything and everyone else in their life.

If a Base set format were sanctioned for local/regional tournaments, for Friday night Magic, Wednesday night Magic, for something, the folks who would normally quit would have a reason to stick around and play. They will have a reason to become Occasional Players rather than former players. They might not buy a ton of cards anymore, but they'll buy a few. They will be the ones who take the time to show the next PT kid wonder how to play rather than beating him over the head with their combo deck while he is still learning and turning him off of Magic forever.

Because the typical Occasional Player is going to be older they will usually have better manners and hygiene than many active players. This will ultimately improve the public image of the game.

More importantly there will be an increase in the number of people playing Magic instead of ongoing increases in the number of people who used to play Magic.

Who knows, Magic might even become a classic game?

Michael Granaas
Mgranaas@usd.edu