TLDR:
Upgrade Promos: Significantly increase the quality and value of RC and RCQ promos.
Potentially Overhaul the RC System: Consider sunsetting the RC/RCQ system and reallocating Pro Tour invites to Spotlight Series events and standalone PTQs.
Spotlight Trials: Replace RCQs with "Spotlight Trials" that award 2 byes at Spotlight Series events.
The Current State of Competitive Magic:
I absolutely love Magic, and it has been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember. Because of that, it pains me to see the competitive aspect of the game fall behind. With the recent excitement surrounding games like Riftbound, paired with record-low attendance and declining sentiment within the competitive Magic community, I believe that sweeping changes are desperately needed before it’s too late. While many people do not enjoy the direction that the core gameplay has headed over the last few years, I will not be discussing that and will be focusing solely on the competitive system.
The Pro Tour & World Championship:
The Pro Tour (PT) and the World Championship (WC) remain the pinnacle of competitive play. The event coverage and storylines are electric, and every competitive player watching wishes they were there. In my opinion, these events are nearly perfect. While not everyone may agree with me on this, I personally am a fan of the Adjusted Match Point (AMP) system. It allows players to chain PT invites and qualify for Worlds, rewarding consistent performance over multiple events.
Some players complain that the prize pool has remained largely stagnant over the last decade, but realistically, Wizards is unlikely to increase cash prizes unless it directly benefits their bottom line.
The Regional Championship Qualifier System:
The main way to qualify for the Pro Tour and subsequently the World Championship is through the Regional Championship (RC) system. Players must win a Regional Championship Qualifier (RCQ) event at a local game store (LGS) or destination event to qualify for the RC.
While this system worked as intended for its first few years, I believe that it is slowly falling apart. Major metropolitan areas that once hosted multiple RCQs every weekend would now be lucky to see a single event in driving distance each weekend. Many store owners that I have spoken to have told me that running these events is no longer financially viable, largely due to low player turnout, which has ultimately led to many of them either no longer hosting RCQs entirely or foregoing hiring a judge to save costs. Outside of Modern season, it appears that many stores in my specific area don’t even bother scheduling events due to low turnout.
I believe that a big part of this decline in attendance is due to poor promo choice. During the very first RCQ season, the Top 8 promo was Nykthos, a ~$50 card that made making Top 8 feel rewarding. Today, players receive promos like Laughing Jasper Flint or Pinnacle Starcage, which feel like a slap in the face compared to promos that are given out from other TCGs. Upgrading promo quality is step one if Wizards intends to save this system.
Winning an RCQ used to feel like an achievement. Now, stores can host up to three RCQs a season, with some countries having as many as 4 invites at each. The prestige is gone, and for most competitive players, the mindset has shifted from “if” I win one to “when” I win one. As things stand, players show up to events with lackluster promos and prize support just to check a box and move on to the next step of achieving their Pro Tour dream. I believe that the number of invites given out to RCs should be reduced to preserve the prestige of the RC.
I won’t get into it too deeply, but the RCQ system is also filled with collusion, including but not limited to people who already have their invites joining events with the sole purpose of conceding to their friends to get them an invite (Personally I don’t have a problem with this). In its worst cases I have seen people paying for match wins in both the swiss rounds and Top 8. Before people say it’s a skill issue for me, I and every other player that I know has qualified for every season they have attempted to and at least for me, it has felt like a chore every single time.
A Possible Solution:
If I had input on the future of organized play, I would sunset the RC/RCQ system. The RPTQ/PPTQ system of the previous decade functioned similarly and had similar problems and was ultimately sunsetted as a result.
With plenty of PT qualifications vacated, I believe there are two places that Wizards can put them. With Spotlight Series attendance at an all-time low, adding additional PT invites from the former RC system would be a nice touch to boost attendance. It depends on how many qualifications were vacated, but I imagine the number of invites from each Spotlight increasing from 8 to something like 12 or 16, depending on the math. Of course, considering the number of invites available in each region.
Additionally, I would bring back standalone Pro Tour Qualifiers (PTQs). Every Magic boomer talks about the glory days of the PTQ. The best players from your area would all walk into a room with nothing and at the end of the day somebody would walk out with a PT invite. As someone that has played these events myself, they were absolutely thrilling and every single person I know is nostalgic for them and to this day wishes they still existed. I know these events already exist in some capacity as side events at Spotlights, but if they could be brought back as standalone events, I don’t know a single competitive player that wouldn’t absolutely love to see these back.
In this hypothetical scenario with RCQs gone, there will be a void at the LGS level for competitive play. A potentially interesting idea would be to bring back Grand Prix Trials (GPTs) of old and rebrand them as Spotlight Series Trials (SSTs), where winning one of these events would give a player two byes at an upcoming Spotlight Series event. Stores that previously decided to no longer host RCQs would be less pressured to host these events, and competitive players would still support the stores that do decide to host them. Having two byes at an event is a massive edge, probably worth more than an invite to an RC in the current system, in my opinion.
Conclusion:
These are just some of my late-night thoughts. I’m curious to see what everyone else’s thoughts are on the current state of organized play in Magic. Ignore any typos, and please keep it civil in the comments.