LGS Support

Last year, Wizards made a reasonable effort to attract newer players to Magic. We already know that their sales data shows that the Universes Beyond sets sell better than the regular Magic sets, although much of the increase in sales is to collectors, and not to players. This means that the UB sets don't increase the player base, although they do provide a short term increase to revenues.

So last year Wizards introduced Foundations as a "permanent" set of Standard cards. (Yeah, I know that they're only guaranteed to be in Standard for five years. But the original plan was for longer, and they didn't say they would definitely rotate them out after five years.) More importantly, as part of the Foundations release, they also released the Beginner Box and the Jumpstart! boosters, which are designed for new players with far more playability and incremental revenues than the old Starter Kits. New players can play a variety of decks without having to learn deck construction. They enter the shallow end of the Magic pool, rather than being thrown into the deep end.

The problem is making the move from Foundations Jumpstart! to the full in person Magic experience. (Yeah, Arena is great for those who aren't interested in interacting with other human beings. I'm talking physical Magic.)

The full in person Magic experience is best done through the Local Game Stores (LGS). This is where players are exposed to the newer sets and newer formats. Where the social aspect of Magic shines through. (Did you know that there was a recent study that showed that people who attended weekly Bingo games lived five to ten years longer than those who didn't? I don't think it had anything to do with Bingo. I think it was the socialization that comes with playing Bingo. And the LGS experience provides the same thing for those of us who aren't challenged by matching numbers on a game card.)

I was talking to a LGS storekeeper. Local Game Stores get their stock from specialized distributors. The one at the LGS only stocks the latest sets, not Foundations. This means that the LGS can't be all that friendly to newer players.

If Wizards wants to maintain the stream of newer players into physical Magic, it needs to do a couple of things. First, continue to support Foundations by keeping those items in stock AND available at the LGS. Second, encourage the LGS to have a Foundations Jumpstart! event on a regular basis. No, not daily or weekly; I doubt there would be that much demand nor would newer players want to devote that much time to Magic. But a monthly Foundations Jumpstart! event would provide a path into more serious play, which would grow the long term market for Magic cards. And in order to encourage the better players to attend and help the newer players learn, Wizards could give the stores special limited cards to give to the volunteer coaches.

Just a thought.