After reading [author name="Ben Bleiweiss"]Ben Bleiweiss[/author]’ article, I have my own pet theory on the reason behind the supposed death of American Magic. It’s not because of poker. It’s not the result of poor internet etiquette, either.
My finger is pointed squarely at geography.
I live in Davis, California, basically a suburb of Sacramento (home of the Kings and the Governator). This season, we had three PTQs within same-day driving distance — one in Sacramento and two in Mountain View (kind of between San Francisco and San Jose). There was a fourth in Reno, Nevada, but weather through the Sierra Nevada Mountains was bad enough to thwart that plan. So with better weather, we had four PTQs tops.
Let’s take a look at how many PTQs a Japanese Magic player living in Tokyo had a chance to play in this season.
In the first major weekend, you’ve got Feb. 5 in Yokohama and Feb. 6 in Tokyo, which are both part of the same supercity of Tokyo, much like the boroughs of New York. Next week, there was Feb. 11 in Chiba (another borough) and Feb. 13 in Osaka. I’ve taken the train from Tokyo to Osaka a few times, and if memory serves me, it’s around a three-and-a-half-hour train ride. That’s a reasonable distance. I would probably drive that far for a PTQ, although the train trip is much easier because you can catch a catnap.
After a week off, the enterprising Japanese PTQer can play in Nagoya, about halfway in between Tokyo and Osaka. Maybe Ibaraki is closer. It’s been a while. But since they’re on the same day, we can only reasonably get to one of them, so my awful geography doesn’t completely torpedo this exercise. Next week, March 5 in Saitama, which is either another one of those boroughs or maybe a suburb of Tokyo, followed by March 6 in Tokyo itself. March 12 we go to Osaka again. March 19 in Kobe, just a little bit farther than Osaka (but worth it for the beef). And finally March 20 in Yokohama. Whew.
So how many is that? Ten. Ten PTQs all within reasonable same day travel distance from Tokyo. Or, "over twice as many as I can get to with the same distance constraints."
To be fair, Japan has a sizeable population advantage over California, so they should get more PTQs, but the fact that said population (about half of the United States as a whole) is packed into a bunch of islands smaller than California gives PT hopefuls there a big edge. What edge?
Well, for starters, the best of the up-and-comers have a better shot at qualifying for a PT event. Here in California, there is a lot more pressure to perform in each individual tournament. A couple of bad matchups or draws can deny you a full 33% (or 25%) of your qualifying chances that season. With more tournaments, the cream will tend to rise to the top more often and get their chance in the show. Second, there is the whole ratings thing — the other path to the Pro Tour. Given the same approximate play skill, it’s going to take Joe California three times as long to accumulate the ratings to qualify as his Japanese counterpart. And the Japanese player is probably going to become a better player much faster because he is playing in so many more tournaments.
Lastly is the innovation factor. More tournaments means more decks, more tech, more innovation. Within that ten-PTQ span, you’re going to see a lot of decks and new strategies that you possibly hadn’t considered. In turn you will adapt to what you saw, and come up with something new to counter that strategy. With so many ideas being bounced around, something really good is bound to pop out. (And you’re also not afraid to throw away a PTQ on a tricksy deck if you know you have six or seven more shots – The Ferrett, who doesn’t entirely buy this but feels he should point this out anyway)
Our three PTQ season here in Northern California are very stale and boring. I remember two years ago during Onslaught block season when the U/W control deck got big. I identified Cabal Interrogator as a huge problem for that deck, but the metagame shift was so slow that it never became an issue. Now eventually, Interrogator did become a foil to U/W control in the following Standard season — but had we had ten PTQs, I’m sure it would have come up during block and new strategies and counter strategies would have arisen.
As for the premiere events, like Grand Prixs, geography is equally daunting. I’m driving over twelve hours to go to Grand Prix: Seattle. Would it be easier to fly? Sure, if I were going alone. But with three people in my car, the gas is going to come out costing less than three tickets. Last season, only Grand Prix: Oakland and Anaheim were anywhere close to reasonable trips from here. Meanwhile, a Japanese player probably could have gone to all five Japanese Grand Prix events. So while the United States sees its lion’s share of big events, it just isn’t in the cards for most American players to go to them. The time, distance, and money involved in going from one coast to the other, are just as daunting as for those coming from overseas (okay, not exactly — but relatively speaking, they are both high enough to veto such trips for guys like me and many of you).
Japan is definitely on the rise as a world Magic power, and I think you can see that part of the reason is the sheer number of tournaments they play. I suspect that the same might hold true for Europe. While the distances involved are longer than in Japan, they too have an advanced mass transit system that makes travel between the various nations a breeze. So don’t blame poker for the demise of American Magic. Blame the damn size of the country. Blame Manifest Destiny and the drive to the West. The American Magic scene would have been much more manageable if it were still just the Thirteen Colonies. And blame Amtrak for good measure. Maybe this all came out as a personal bitchfest over my poor placement on the map, but I imagine a lot of you feel the same. Don’t you wish you could go to ten Extended PTQs?