The situation for MTG tournament host Star City Games, or SCG for short, has been snowballing out of control. They have decided to update their MTG Covid policies, effective at the beginning of their Syracruse event starting on July 8 of this year. The feedback to this change has been overwhelmingly negative.
Up to this point, to attend an SCG convention, players are required to have proof of vaccination and take and receive a negative Covid test. Once Syracruse’s event begins, only a mask will remain mandatory.
After a week of silence, SCG has spoken up about the situation.
SCG’s Response
On May 17 at 11:31 AM US EST, SCG Con’s twitter account released a statement. You can read it here.
To summarize, SCG has decided to reflect the changes of loosening Covid policies that are currently being seen across the United States. They stand by their decision at this time.
Responses to this statement over social media have also been overwhelmingly negative.
These are some of the (much) tamer responses to SCG’s statement from MTG personalities. If you want to read the rest, you can do so here.
Part of SCG’s reasoning suggests that their competitors are also making this change. This was announced only two days after another major gaming convention Gen Con announced that proof of vaccination would remain a requirement to attend. You can read about that here. The NRGSeries, another major MTG tournament host in the US, also still requires proof of vaccination for those wanting to attend. That being said, other major gaming conventions have already done away with vaccination requirements.
READ MORE: Players Still Don’t Know How to Draft MTG’s Newest Set
The Debate
Gaming conventions require a lot of people to be in close proximity. This makes them a potential hotspot for spreading Covid-19. As the US gets more comfortable living life with Covid, they want to make things more accessible for everyone. What is the right decision to make? Personally, I would side on what your employees and customers are most comfortable with. A host’s top priority should be providing their guests with the service they want.
Hopefully, everyone can agree on a universal policy for MTG Covid related subjects before things get out of hand.
