There has been some discussion on the internet since the announcement of draft leagues. One of the concerns brought by some players is that along with adding the draft leagues, the 6-2-2-2 and Pack/Win Swiss queues are both being removed, so there is no more option to play Swiss in-pod play. I wanted to discuss this issue, and first talk a bit more generally about determining what offerings to make available.

There is always a tradeoff in any system providing play opportunities between decreasing wait times and increasing fire rates by having more players engaged in each of a small list of options vs. having more options and letting players play the exact specific structures they prefer, but having to wait longer to do so. In my view, if Magic Online is too far to one side of this scale, it is too far to the side of having wait times and fire rates being too long as a result of having too many options.

More specifically, let’s look at Magic Online drafts. Since the drafts we offer have the same entry and total booster prizes, there’s really four factors a player will consider.

The scheduling flexibility and reduced wait times of a league



Top-heavy vs. flat prize structure (and resulting opponent skill)



Single elimination vs. Swiss



Whether players are only playing opponents in the same pod



It’s worth noting that different players will have different opinions on these factors, and weigh them differently.

Now I want to talk a bit about the suggestions I have heard from those who are upset about the lack of Swiss in-pod draft options. One suggestion is to leave one or both of the 6-2-2-2 or Pack/Win queues up, in addition to offering draft leagues. This suggestion would mean splitting up the player base more with more options, meaning longer time to wait for matches or drafts to fire. As I indicated above, we think moving in this direction would make Magic Online worse, not better. Ideally in the future, I can see only two draft offerings (one single-elimination and one Swiss) being a realistic possibility.

Another consideration is only moving either 6-2-2-2 or Pack/Win to a league, and leaving the other up as a queue. Now let’s look at the four factors above again.

This suggestion asks us to favor those who care a lot about the third and fourth factors over those who care a lot about the first and second factors. Leaving 6-2-2-2 as a queue, for example, doesn’t give a more competitive player a league option, even though they may value the flexibility of a league (or need it to be able to draft at all).

I do not deny the route we are choosing is the reverse of this. In choosing to replace both 6-2-2-2 and Pack/Win queues with leagues, we are instead accommodating players who care a lot about the first two factors more than they care about in-pod play. But we have to look at the player data we have access to and use it to make judgments about which offerings we believe will create good experiences for the most players. We believe that the offerings we have selected will do that.

I respect the passion on this issue from those who really want in-pod Swiss play, but I hope at the same time you at least understand how we came to this decision, even if you disagree with it.

Could we be wrong? It’s certainly possible, and we’ll continue to evaluate if the data suggests we could be serving players better with a different set of event offerings. If so, we will make adjustments. For those passionate about in-pod play, I hope you’ll give the new draft leagues a try, even if they aren’t the experience that you preferred.

- Lee