Subject: Community: Academy Decks
Date: Sun, 08 Nov 1998 02:35:46 -0500
From: Jeff Daniels <jeffd@ibm.net>
To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com, dci@wizards.com

Frank,
After attending a State Championship tournament this weekend I was
struck by the most troubling
development that I have observed in Magic since I started playing the
game (which was when
Revised first came out).
Simply stated, it appears that a single deck has quickly became totally
dominant. I'm talking about
the Tolarian Academy deck, of  course. In the tournament I attended, I
believe 6 of the final 8
were playing the deck - and it might have been higher except some people
were not playing the
deck only because they had so far been unsuccessful in acquiring the
necessary cards.

The reason I am concerned is because the deck works - and it works fast!
To elaborate:
Kills by the second or third turn are routine. Because of this speed,
other decks have no time to
set up either offensively or defensively.
It might be possible to create a deck that will work well against the
Academy deck but that
would leave it highly vulnerable to the other decks in the field. Anyone
analyzing this situation
comes to the conclusion that they should be playing the Academy deck. It
is bad for Magic
if it becomes clear that there is only one deck that is worth playing.
Obviously, everyone
does not wish to play the same deck, but if you can't win playing
something else, there is
good chance you won't play at all.
In addition, the deck is relatively expensive to put together for a Type
2 deck. This means
that many players who would play it, won't be able to because they won't
be able to afford
it. Type 2 Magic will end up with a have and have-not bifurcation and
many of the have-nots
will simply give up.

Most Magic players I know don't mind losing if they can at least have
fun - get some good
games out of a tournament. How much fun is it when you play a single
land and never get
another turn? I saw this happen repeatedly at the tournament I attended.

Even worse, the cards that work best against the Academy deck - Arcane
Laboratory and
Annul - are also blue. So now we have a situation where the best deck is
blue and you
probably have to play blue to counter it. What about the other 4 colors?

The closest parallel to this is the Necro summer. With Necro, at least,
the games usually
extended past the first few turns so you had a shot at winning if your
deck played well - and
decks of all other colors could realize a measure of success against
Necro. Plus, you could
sideboard against Necro somewhat effectively without fatally weakening
your deck against
the rest of the field. Also, the Necro decks were fairly inexpensive to
put together so if you
wanted to play it you probably could. And still, Wizards took steps to
reduce the power of
the Necro deck after recognizing its dominance.

While I've been talking about the Type 2 environment, the fact of the
situation is that this
deck seems most likely to be as effective in Extended and Type 1 also.
It is a horrendous
situation when a single deck can dominate at all levels. One of the
beauties of Magic is
its infinite variability. This deck has destroyed that.

The bottom line is that WOTC needs to look at this situation without
delay. I don't believe
they can afford to study this problem and not take action for months. By
then, the game
might have lost many players who will then never return. And a reduction
in the number
of players will impact the gaming stores, which will then impact those
players who are
still actively playing.
For example, one of the local game centers where I play has a $1000 cash
Type 2
tournament every month. But the entry fee is $25. Most players realize
that their probability
of winning (or even getting to the top 8) is small so they only want two
things: a chance
at winning and some fun games. If most or all the usual top players are
playing the
Academy deck, both those objectives become unreachable. How many people
will then
fork over $25 under those circumstances? I doubt I will and I'm one who
is more
likely to do it than most. If the number of entrants drops, the store
will no longer be
able to support this level of tournament. Everyone suffers.

Local Magic players, the online community, store owners and tournament
organizers need
to band together and make WOTCand the DCI aware of our deep concern over
this
seriously troubling issue. It's my opinion that action needs to be taken
immediately to derail
the potentially disastrous effects this deck could have on the game.
Jeff Daniels
jeffd@ibm.net