Following Wizards of the Coast’s announcement about the elimination of the Magic Pro League (MPL) last week, Magic: The Gathering head designer Mark Rosewater further elaborated his thoughts on organized play and the enfranchised players of the game. On Friday, Rosewater said that less than 10% of MTG players have ever played in a sanctioned tournament; now, he went on to clarify “two important things”.
On Twitter, he said that organized play isn’t going away, so competitive Magic, at all levels, will still exist. Secondly, he noted that enfranchised players are important to Wizards, and that they significantly spend more time on them than any other group.
For those unfamiliar, “Sanctioned” means events that are registered and reported to the DCI such as Friday Night Magic, Prerelease events, Grand Prix, and any event organized in a Wizards Play Network (WPN) associated store.
Related:
MTG Hall of Famer Brian Kibler on The MPL Shutdown and Restructuring of Organized Play
Wizards’ decision to eliminate the MPL was criticized for cutting support for MTG professional players. WotC stated that the new system will look to support both in-person and digital events with a focus on providing access and supporting regional level competitions instead of the current structure that supports professional players.
In other news, Rosewater recently confirmed that there are a “bunch more” legendary characters in the upcoming straight-to-Modern set Modern Horizons 2 compared to the first Modern Horizons.
If you’re excited for Modern Horizons 2, you can now preorder Draft Boosters, Collector Boosters, Set Boosters, and Bundles online .
Modern Horizons 2 is scheduled to release on June 18, 2021. You can check out spoiler section here.
