Hold My Beer

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

We had just been browsing the Hold My Beer subreddit, when some related Magic: the Gathering news had popped up on our radar.  The news comes from yesterday's Updates to Alcohol and Age Restriction Policies, posted by the Wizards Play Network (WPN).  

Specifically, as of July 23, 2018, the WPN Terms and Conditions had been updated to removed any prohibition of serving or consumption of alcohol at sanctioned events (including in play spaces).  The policy had also been amended to allow organisers (excluding Premier Play events), to run events with age restrictions which supports the above Alcohol policy, but also promote Magic: the Gathering events to younger players who may not otherwise be engaged given an older, more competitive crowd.  WPN would still ensure that members do "maintain a family friendly environment or retail hobby focus."


This is great news, as this would provide a degree of flexibility to organisers to better cater to their local demographics.  Whether encouraging younger players to attend a less competitive environment or to other gamers (like us) who have been migrating away from gaming stores to the kitchen table and within reach of our favourite beverage.

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Tuesday MTG News

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

Concerning that article we posted yesterday (linky over here) - well apparently we already need to update it.  You may recall the announcement by Wizards of the Coast via Helene Bergeot, WotC director of organized play and trade marketing during Pro Tour Shadows Over Innistrad Madrid - well as one may have guessed, it did go over like a lead balloon with the Magic: the Gathering community and more specifically the professional / Platinum players.  There was just about a half-hour ago (5:00 PM EST) another announcement from WotC reversing the earlier decision -

The nitty-gritty essential is that status-quo is to remain in effect for now with WotC to reassess plans for improving pro play before August.  We think a lot of people are happy with this decision.

Although we love our Friday Night Magic events and kitchen-table games, we've never bothered going to the big tournaments - a combination of perhaps finances, work schedules and a dash of apathy.  Having said that, we do look to what the Pro / Platinum players are doing and writing about following the big tournaments to help adapt and chart our own strategies for this wonderful game.  We applaud WotC for this.  

Next up - More WotC stuff.
This one involves a number of long-serving DCI Judges bringing a lawsuit against Wizards of the Coast which essentially claims that judges could be considered employees and as such be entitled to particular rights associated with that.  The official WotC statement may be found right over here. The very awesome Evan Erwin had shot a tweet over with a link to a very good article by an attorney summarising the issues involved.

As we are Canadian, having reference to some of the American mechanics and case law is appreciated.  Pop on over to Jeremy Byellin's article over here on Reuters.

From what Mr. Byellin's excellent summary indicates, WotC may have some challenges ahead should the case proceed in light of the National Labour Relations Board decision in the BFI Case.

Hey - we hope to start talking about the game soon - so be certain to drop in again !  :)

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