blaze-1013 asked: In the article where Blake said you weren't trying to exclude people with the change to the token promos, but your comment today sounds like you are trying to exclude the competitive players from playing at FNM. This is really hurtful since it sounds like you don't care about them. The standard showdown is really cool, but FNM has is the main place a lot of people draft, or play modern, or legacy. Why are you trying to rebuild a +20 year old event when you could have just made a new event?

Two things:

1) Let me correct a misconception that I have inadvertently been propagating. We are concerned not with people but with environment. We would like Friday Night Magic to be a place where a wide spectrum of Magic players, everything from a novice to a very experienced player, can enjoy a friendly atmosphere of Magic.

Our goals are not to drive anyone away, but rather create the proper atmosphere, make a clear expectation of what people will find when they show up. Even the most competitive player can loosen up if the atmosphere is correct.

Having valued prize cards based on performance tends to push things towards competition and more often leads to a less friendly atmosphere.

2) There is no definitive current Friday Night Magic experience. Stores range from very casual to very competitive. Our data has shown that the stores that lean towards creating a friendlier atmosphere on Friday Nights, draw in larger crowds.

Note I’m talking in a general sense. Any one store in isolation might have a different experience.

Our move to gently nudge Friday Night Magic more towards a friendly atmosphere will be no change at all to some stores while it could be a bigger change to others.

And remember, all of this is up to the discretion of your local game store. We’re just trying to help them draw in more players and create more regulars.