Tim Aten recently wrote an article on Channel Fireball filling in a similar space as Sperling’s Sick of It. Although I find enjoyment from articles like these and can understand the motivation for promoting posts such as those (just check the number of comments compared to surrounding posts), there was one issue that struck a nerve with me. In the article he talks about content redundancy and that there are too many content creators these days. I don’t want to make this an angry post and I definitely don’t want to debate Tim (he’s like a 7+ time Jeopardy champion, I had to look up “diminishing returns” while reading his article just to confirm what it meant). Instead I’d like to take the time to encourage the opposite. We may be biased here at Draw and Get a Beer being a barely one month old blog of random guys with voices, but I think Magic is better if more players are creating content.

Types of Content

Back in the early days of the internet, Magic content was pretty sparse. There were only a few websites that published articles and you likely had to be a noteworthy pro or extremely lucky to get your article published. This restricted the possible content as most articles were strategy based with some nods to the casual crowd. Nowadays there are a ton more websites posting a much higher variety of articles. Outside of that there are blogs for additional articles, video content on YouTube, live streams on Twitch, and podcasts. Not only does this create more options of content for consumption, it opens the field up to more possible creators who might be stronger at a certain form of media over another. Someone who feels better speaking than writing, or who enjoys debating and discussing on the fly with another would much favor a podcast. Anyone with video editing chops can create interesting content for YouTube, and if you simply have a charming personality and can play Magic, fire up a Twitch account. You don’t even need to be an established pro to draw a following on Twitch; the most popular streamer for the past few years only just recently qualified for the Pro Tour.

Appealing to Wider Audiences

Sure, not every article about how good Bloodbraid Elf is in Jund is necessary for every player interested in Modern to read. However, there isn’t a reason to deny the existence of multiples of those articles. There may be diminishing returns to a player reading every article about Jace, the Mind Sculptor being unbanned, but each of those articles have different authors who may appeal to different audiences. By having this diversity of possible articles available, Magic is able to appeal to a wider audience.

It doesn’t stop at just strategy though; now that players have an easier path to creating content, we see much more content created for niche audiences. Different formats have risen up based on the amount of content created being created for them. Even websites dedicated to competitive Magic players will still have content about Commander. Someone found a need players didn’t realize they wanted in doing product reviews of sleeves, boxes, playmats and other gaming accessories. Before I’d just have to buy whatever and hope the quality would hold up enough to be worth my purchase. There’s even a channel dedicated to guiding players that want to invest in Magic cards.

All of these are possible because of the increased amount of outlets to consume content, and because creators are naturally going to try to reach out to as many hungry consumers as possible. The more dejected a person feels because the content available doesn’t appeal to them, the more they will love something that is finally created for them.

Curating your Consumption

The reason I want more content to be created isn’t because I need more to consume. There is plenty of content out there that I have not taken in. The reason I want more content is to have more options. I never thought I would have enjoyed watching streamers but now I watch it almost daily. I read articles on subjects that didn’t interest me before because an author I like decided to write about it. We can’t all be Owen Turtenwald and read and watch everything put out there. You shouldn’t feel like you need to consume all the content; just pick and choose what appeals to you the most.

That also means if you can’t get enough of a specific type of content, usually you’ll consume all of it. I know Commander players that enjoy multitudes of authors of the subject. Even something as simple as a specific deck in a specific format has endless amounts of possibilities for content to be created on it. Our very own Chris has probably read every article and watched every video made about Modern Storm in the past year and he probably wants more (EDITOR’S NOTE: you are correct). When you’re trying to master a deck there is no limit on the amount of information you’re willing to take in because it can all be useful. There are differing opinions on basic strategy and how to approach certain match-ups. Even something as small as reading about a line of play that has a low percentage of happening can help you if it comes up for you. Everything can’t be for everyone but everything is for at least someone.

Summary

Now without getting into the drama of it all, I’d be remiss if I didn’t say there is a such thing as a wrong type of content. Luckily with few exceptions that isn’t really an issue in the Magic community. We’ve evolved from a small selection of articles from a few creators to a wide swath of available media from a diverse set of creators. Thanks to the amount of content that is available, I’m able to enjoy Magic way more than I ever could have expected from a game I’ve been playing for 18 years.