Hello everyone –

Thank you to everyone who came out to help make our first $1,000 Open event a success. We heard a lot of feedback on site from players who were unhappy that our March 20th Open was scheduled to be Modern, due to the recent dominance of Eldrazi in the meta (#EldraziWinter). We took the conversation to Twitter, and got a lot of feedback in support of both options. We also took a look at the results from the StarCity Modern Open, where Eldrazi variations were 12 of the top 16 decks. 2 of the remaining 4 decks were Affinity. We saw strong opinions on both options, as well as many votes for other non-Modern formats. After a long internal discussion, we believe we’ve come up with the best solution we can in these extraordinary times:

Time Vault Games has changed the format for the March Open from Modern to Standard, while also adding a $500 Modern GPT side event to support the Modern players. You can find the updated event page here: http://tvgopen.com/marchopenevents.

That being said, the rest of this post in a more in-depth explanation of our decision process, and an attempt to answer a few other questions that you sent us during the discussion.

Is Modern really that bad off?

It’s impossible to say for sure. Eldrazi obviously dominated the Pro Tour, but the card pool is Modern is quite large, and there might be an answer out there. However, the response by competitive players on Magic Online and at the recent StarCity Open seems to be a diversification and updating of Eldrazi to trump the mirror. It’s like someone said back during the Survival of the Fittest period of the Legacy meta – “The format is healthy! You can play aggro Survival, control Survival, or combo Survival!” We believe the Modern format is still healthy and fun at the FNM level, where many players stick to the deck they have built, but at high level competitive events, the format currently looks like a two-deck war between Eye of Ugin and Mox Opal. Wizards of the Coast has officially announced that there will be no bans before the next Banned & Restricted list update on April 4th, and we support that decision. It’s important for players to be able to have faith in the value of their cards, and those player who excitedly bought into the Eldrazi decks deserve a chance to play with their cards. However, we do not believe the current format is good for high level competition, so we will not be scheduling any Modern Opens until after April 4th.

I respectfully disagree, and I really want to play Modern.

We completely understand. There are people who only play Modern and aren’t interested in another Standard Open. We were already planning to have a Grand Prix Trial for Los Angeles at the 3/20 Open as a side event, and we have pumped more support into that event so that Modern players can still have an exciting tournament. We have added a cash prize pool of $500 to the GPT, and our friends at Channel Fireball have graciously agreed to provide a free Planeswalker Package GP upgrade to the winner in addition to the byes you would normally receive from a GPT.

If you win a free-entry voucher at your local store for the March Open, but would prefer Modern to Standard, you can use that voucher for free entry to the $500 GPT instead of the 1k Open.

In addition, we have scheduled a May 28th Open as Modern, and we look forward to hosting high level Modern after the next B&R List update.

Will I be able to earn Time Vault Points at the Modern GPT?

Unfortunately, Wizards of the Coast policy means that we cannot give out Time Vault Points at any GPTs or PPTQs. If we could, we would!

But what about Legacy?

April 10th!!!

We know there is a strong and vocal Legacy community in the Northwest. We’ve always planned to have something for you, and we’re happy to be able to officially announce April 10th as the date for our 1K Legacy Open in Portland. The event page is available here: http://tvgopen.com/aprillegacyopen.

Can you run a Sealed Open?

Sealed was an option we considered for March, but in the end there are a few too many complexities with it. We would love to run a Sealed Open, but we need a little more time to figure out the correct price point for entry fees on a Sealed event and how it would interact with our in-store voucher program. Sealed is a possibility in the summer or fall as we continue to announce new Open dates.

I have some feedback that’s not related to the formats of Opens!

Good, let’s switch to that, because otherwise we were going to have to break the sad news to one passionate fan that we will never run a Masques Block Constructed Open.

Will you do video coverage of the next Open on Twitch?

We definitely want to do video coverage, but we do not currently have the infrastructure to do so at a level that would meet our quality standards. Rest assured, we are researching options. Our goal is to have Twitch coverage at the Invitational in December at a minimum, and hopefully before then.

Can you make the prize pool bigger?

We want to make this the biggest and best tournament series it can be. Our goal is definitely to expand beyond $1,000 events, which we will do once it is financially prudent to do so. For the March Open, we re-arranged the top 8 prize structure slightly, with a little bit more going to 5th-8th. In addition, if attendance is at or over 150 players, we will add extra cash to the prize pool for the Top 16, along with increasing the Time Vault Points for Top 16 from 2 to 3, and adding a Time Vault Point for everyone in the Top 32. We’re also paying out another $500 during the day for the prize pool for the Modern GPT.

Are you still running other side events besides the GPT?

Yes, on demand win a box side events will return and will begin firing after the GPT launches. In addition, as a thank you for doing business at the Time Vault Games booth, anyone who buys, sells or trades $100 worth of singles at the booth will receive a $12 on demand side event coupon. That translates into a free entry to a Modern/Legacy/Standard win a box, or an $8 win a box draft.

Are you going to have a full buy list this time?

Yep, we’ll be expanding the buy list in your Swag Bags to the same sort of buy list we bring to Grand Prix events instead of the top 20 buy list we had last time. We’ll also post that list on Facebook and Twitter the week before the event and have copies available at the booth.

When are you coming to Seattle?

We’re in talks with venues right now. As soon as we reach a deal with an appropriate space, we’ll announce a date for Seattle/Tacoma area Open in the summer.

I have feedback something on something that you didn’t cover here!

The conversation is always ongoing as we work to make these better and better for you. Hit us up over email at events@timevaultgames.com, or on Twitter: @timevaultgames. Thank you for supporting the return of high level Magic to the Northwest!