When I heard about the Wizard's Play Network [WPN] I was pretty impressed. The idea of it - or rather, my idea of what it is supposed to be and do – was very appealing. In short, the WPN is “a network of local grass roots organizers that supports a wide variety of play formats… recognizing a wider range of casual formats, including leagues, multi-player, and team play.”.

Grass roots, casual play, network of organisers... it sounded great. Wanting to be more involved in the MtG community, I signed up pretty quickly, with the intention to get an EDH community up and running.

So, over the past year, what have I learnt from being part of the WPN?

1. The Wizard’s Play Network is not a Network.

The first question I asked when I joined was, “So can I get a list of other organisers?”, and the answer was “No.”.
“Is there a forum or mailing list?” – “No.”
“Can I get a list of local players?” – “No.”
“Can I get the contact details of anyone other than my nominated DCI representative?” – “No.”
Since then I’ve managed to get in touch with various people in the community, mainly through participation in PTQs, FNMs and the like, but never with the assistance of the WPN. This is because the WPN is not a network.
A social network, as I understand it, ties various people together, allowing them to communicate and interact. The WPN facilitated none of this. I couldn’t get names, numbers, or contact details – not even of others in the WPN. Although I have now built up a list of about a dozen EDH players in my area, this has been despite of, not because of, the WPN’s help.

2. The Wizard’s Play Network does not support “casual” events

Or at least not casual as I would define it. I think of a casual event as one generally between people who know each other, that isn’t for prizes, and often over the kitchen table.
There are no Kitchen Tables allowed in the WPN.
This is because WPN sanctioned events – no matter if they’re sanctioned as “casual” or not – must be held in a “Public” space, such as a Public Hall, Library or Place of Business [regardless of the fact that a Place of Business is not a public space]. A sanctioned event cannot happen at a Place of Residence.
There are legal reasons for this – WoTC don’t want to find themselves in the position of sending 11 year old kids to the houses of bad-people. However, I believe there is a lot more casual play happening in people’s houses than in shops, which is naturally where the competitive events occur.
I believe Kitchen Table Magic is the lifeblood of Magic in general. That the WPN – a supposedly “grass roots” effort trying to cater for the “casual” gamer doesn’t support it seems like an unbelievably missed opportunity to me.
I have a wife, three kids, and a job that takes me to all corners of Australia every week. To get an event up and running as part of the WPN I need to:
* Book a venue and pay the deposit myself
* Buy the product retail myself
* Find people to come to the event myself
* Pray that enough people turn up to break even.
I’ve managed to achieve it once – well, all but the break even part.

3. The WPN Giveaways are great – if I could just give them away

I have to say, I have really enjoyed the promotional material that the WPN has provided me to give to people who I organise. At my last EDH night I had nine people show – a fantastic turnout for Northern Metropolitan Sydney – and gave them each a foil Path to Exile. They were genuinely excited by this [several immediately sleeved it up] and were enthusiastic about coming back.
The only problem – I wasn’t supposed to give them away.
This is because the EDH night was held at my house, and therefore not sanctioned by WoTC. If an event isn’t sanctioned, you can’t give out the promotional material.
Nevermind that each of these guys were sporting hundred-dollar decks they had lovingly crafted from cards stretching back to Alpha.
Nevermind that each of these guys would be certainly tracking down new cards to buy for next time from the new sets coming out.
The fact was that I shouldn’t have given them that encouragement.
Right now I have a host of foil promotional cards just sitting around because I don’t have time to run a sanctionable event.


As a result of these three factors, I’m pretty disappointed in the WPN. I think it could be great – brilliant even – if it would make a couple of changes.

1. Get WPN members in touch with each other and their player base. I’m sure that if the WPN polled players about whether they’d like to receive information directly about events happening in their area, and WPN organisers in their area, they’d be glad to. So why not ask, instead of simply saying “No”?

2. Allow events to be held in private residences. If WoTC want to encourage acquisition, then stop insisting it be at the shop front. I’ve had more people come to the EDH nights due to word-of-mouth and friendships than scouting them out in stores. Let casual play be casual play, encourage Kitchen Table Magic, and recognise the importance of playing at home with friends.

3. Let the promos run free. If WoTC want M10 and its various new rules to be a hit, how about a pack for us casual gamers designed to teach us the new rules, with promotional cards encouraging people to buy more product. Some of the people I play with only learnt about the new damage-on-the-stack changes last year. Don’t let them hear about the M10 changes in 2019. Let the message start over a casual game between friends.


As usual, if you have any feedback – or, if you live in Sydney and want to play EDH with a good group of people – let me know at wrongwaygoback@yahoo.com.