Remastered Format Bo3 Plea
This is just a heartfelt plea – can we please, please enable Bo3 for the upcoming KLR Limited format? Let’s just try it, and see how the numbers stack!
I've been musing on the reasons for limiting these supplementary formats to Bo1, and the only conclusion I can reach regards queues. But if data on overall Bo3 entrants suggests the numbers are insufficient to maintain two queues, could this result from there being only one queue in the first place? Is it not worth gambling (now, on a single short-term format) to test the waters and see whether more options will = more participants overall, i.e. enough to sustain two queues?
Admittedly I am projecting here, but as Arena matures, surely so too do the tastes and desires of a proportion of the player base, with many increasingly hungry for a more authentic MTG experience a la Bo3? Additionally, at this time now when, increasingly, populations are returning to lockdown for a period, if ever the player base could support two queues, now may be it? Probably this would skew the resulting data, but surely more options now that the player base has more free time = more profits too?
AKR was a masterpiece and, so far as I'm aware, provided tangible evidence of player’s desire for a greater availability of different Limited formats. But, although there appear on first glance to be a lower proportion of sideboard-specific cards in KLR than AKR, the draft experience of AKR was hurt by the number of such cards that were simply unplayable in Bo1.
I get that Arena is cultivating a quick-play, Bo1 audience, but that has left a segment of the player base caught in a hinterland, with money staying in pocket in the absence of a preferred outlet. Were temporary formats such as AKR and KLR available on MTGO, there could be a valid argument that these players are catered to, enabling WOTC to tap into their economic value in one way or another (although newer and less skilled players are also disinclined from MTGO by the stronger competition and higher costs of entry). But being Arena-only, there is consequently a certain demographic that simply cannot enjoy the fruits of WOTC's labours.
Often I see respected streamers – some MPL, some Rivals, many others just good players - lament the lack of Bo3 options for these short-term formats – consequently never playing them and, as such, never providing marketing for WOTC’s product. Personally, in a bid to improve at the game I’ve come to adore over the past 13 months (I’m a Limited junkie), I’ve begun investing spare time in writing my own, personal format prerelease analyses – a process I enjoy almost as much as playing. But it feels like an exercise inherently limited in value, and so I am disinclined from doing so, when the lack of Bo3 makes luck of the draw almost as much of a determining factor as any other. In particular, aggressive formats such as AKR can feel so bad when a whole draft can be derailed within 15 minutes via three poor draws and three aggro opponents. Personally, I needed to take an extended break from MTG following my experiences early to mid-M21 and early-AKR due to the low-grade PTSD of numerous low or zero-value drafts due to being rolled over by aggro decks. Burning through gems at this rate, and gleaning no satisfaction and so little opportunity for rewarding play was simply unsustainable. Sure, I could just get good, but when doing so requires monetary investment it’s a more logical step to just stop. And, sure, maybe for some Bo1 encourages spending more money, but for many of us – particularly, and increasingly so now – investments of money have to offer a decent return to feel good. Noone wants to play Magic to feel bad, hey. It’s well recognized that the quality of one’s draw is the most significant agent in any game of Magic, and in Bo3 I feel I at least have agency within this context; Bo1 is a more quickly a demoralizing experience, with the potential to lead more rapidly to burn-out, as I experienced this year.
In conclusion, there is a demographic that is super hungry for a greater depth of Bo3 support, and which feels pushed away from Arena by its lack, with nowhere else to go in pursuit of these unique, supplementary Limited formats. I’m fascinated by Magic’s history, and so remastered sets are of immense interest to me, but I know I will only a very small amount of this format because Bo1 feels so bad. My primary argument for Bo3 options, though, are economic rather than emotional, and I implore the team to consider experimenting with a Bo3 queue for KLR to bring Bo3-loving Limited players – and their wallets! – back into the fold.
Warm regards , and sincere thanks for taking the time to read this plea,
Jesse
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Juicy#06898 commented
Oh my glob, you did it! Bo3 KLR! Love and gratitude guys XD