So the silence in OP announcements (if you call silence a BuildALegend, CityChamp and Elite Series in the next 2 months) is causing some familiar threads (and a YouTube video) to pop up. You have people on one side saying that the reduction in "competitive" OP has "killed" the game and others who say that this same change has created a "casual" "rebirth" of VS.

I think it's a zero offset. For every pro that quit, there is a probably a new or casual player that starts. The problem is, whereas pros would stay on as long as there were "money" events involved, casuals would quit no matter how many type of marquee events were held because there is really no investment. You can see this in WoW... although it hit with a big buzz... all those MMORPGers came out and bought tons of it... and tried to play it... but almost 11 months later... where are they now? They went back to their computers. The people who play now are mostly ex-VS players, Magic players or those few WoW fans who aspire to win the $100k at Worlds.

It doesn't matter what game, what "subject matter", what engine, what art, what level of OP... what it comes down to is convenience. Dave Spears has talked about this many times but it got lost in all the flames... why does Magic continue on despite mana screw/flood, lower chances of getting on the money train etc etc? Because almost any store in the country/world has some guy with a Magic deck to play against. That's why it will be impossible to topple MtG... it has over 10 years of history and investment by pros, casuals, competive casuals, newbs and whoever knows what red/blue/green/black/white means.

Sure... UDE could have done some things better. Sure... all these players who said they'll play no matter what could have shown up when UDE was giving away $250 to play 8-10 people. But let's face it... convenience rules. Why would I drive to a card shop, pay $5 to play against the same 6 people when I can just roll out of bed, turn on the computer and get my WoW on? Why would I pay $5 to play in a 4-man VS Hobby League when I can use that to buy issue #214 of Stupendous Man? Or... just use that money to play Magic because there are always players who have decks to play against?

We can analyze the crap about complexity of mechanics, flavor, kitchen tables, OP, prizes, entry fees, when to play Flame Trap etc etc... but what it comes down to "How easy is it for me to play a game of VS?".

But don't despair.... this is the problem for all games. Whoever can solve that will make lots of money. The best we can do is to keep buying and playing (and hope that Marvel/DC reduces their licensing fees... hehe).

The funny thing is that everyone is talking about VS dieing it is growing and florishing here in Northern California (our next elite series numbers will not represent this)

I agree. A lot of people I know don't particularly like Halo, but they know that if they want to play an FPS with others, that's the one they're going to have to go with. If you want to be able to reliably play a TCG, you play Magic. And it's going to take a good little while for that to change.

That sums it up perfectly.

Tons of people will play Magic because, there are tons of people that play Magic.

Sadly, that's all it is. Just a critical mass where it has so many, that it will attract more than it loses, and keep going at a relatively constant rate.

I think there are a lot of problems with the whole local scene that killed vs. I think the main bulletpoint is all about the people you play with. The competive scene killed the casual scene. It's a fact, who wants to play with people who gloat, talk trash, and always win. Roll those up and multiply it by a lot and you get the end of Hobby League. When Vs first started up in my area, before the store change, we had a large group of players at two different locations. Both stores drew in the Yu Gi Oh crowd very fast. So it was a mix of casual and competitive. The thing was that the best players in yu gi oh weren't that great at Vs. It was a whole different game and more complex; so everyone was at the same level. At one store some local magic players, the kind that are good enough to dominate local tournaments and act elitist but never make it, started playing the game. The players base went downhill from there; at the same time the other store still had 20+ players and went on for a long run. I mean maybe there were other things that cause it, but one thing is for sure; no one wants to play with douchebags. The Empire still gets 12-16 people and it's been the same people since the beginning; why? Because they are easy going and no rule nazis (unless you count eric.... just kidding) running around winning because they know more about the rules. Some people dont know where to draw the line, in the PC you shouldn't be "take backs" but at your local games store there should be a friendly ambiance. I mean how can you be a douche with the Pokemon World Championship 2007 banner over your head?

One major problem I have with VS is that you can't get it anywhere. In St. Louis a few select comic book stores will have a set or two, but other than that where do you find it? Unless you specifically go to a store and ask them to start carrying the product, and buy everything they bring in, you just can't find it. WoW and Yugi-Oh are both at Target. Heck, you can even get WoW at QuickTrip now.

I guess my problem is this, how do you bring in new customers when you have to actively hunt down the product. Where is the advertising in comics, or in InQuest, etc? The hardcore fans know and love VS, but unless you know someone who already plays VS, you probably will live your life never knowing it existed.

I agree that this is a big problem. When I introduce students to the game, they usually like it and ask where to get it. I have to try to give complicated directions and then hope their parents will maybe take them there. I understand that our play stores need to be able to sell product, but the only people that buy are the ones there playing.

How do we reach more people? Sell the cards at Wal-Mart, Target, etc and on the back of the point card have the website where they can find a local hobby league to play.

I'm not going to drive to my local hobby store (can be upwards of 30 min drive depending on traffic) to buy a pack or two as an impulse buy. If I'm at Wal-Mart and I find some packs, I probably will buy a pack or two as an impulse buy. So, me times 1000 people suddenly gets UDE some more money. Me times 1000000 people gets the pro circuit going again.

On the impulse buy subject:

I probably bought about 3 or 4 boxes of Marvel Origins through impulse buys at a convenience store down the street from where my friend lived. We'd hang out at this place every weekend, playing board games and stuff, and we'd go to the convenience store to get chips and pop and stuff, and whenever there was MOR packs available we'd buy a couple, since for the longest time it was sold out at all the card places, and there really weren't any we went to frequently [other than the one at the university, where I'd often stop buy and get some impulse packs as well, but that wasn't until a few sets later].