i havent heard anything about this, is there an article or video where they talk about this? or is it just speculation?
"we’re adjusting our coverage for tournaments at Magic Fest. For New Jersey forward instead of live written coverage we’ll be posting critical end-of-tournament information on Sunday evening.”
paraphrased slightly (for clarity), this was the message as per the MTG Protour twitter account.
written coverage will no longer be live (read as: no more written coverage) - meaning no pairings or standings as events unfold. They'll create a summary after the tournament ends (replacing coverage with an article).
The protour photographer (Craig?) has been made redundant/let go in the last couple of weeks. He's been part of the mtg coverage scene for years.
regarding streaming, GP New Jersey (which sold out and was a hugely successful event) received no coverage at all and they took down the feature-match stage part way through the event:
"Besides Mythic Championships/the Mythic Invitational, we have not announced our streaming schedule for the year yet"
as I said, this isn't an inherent cause for panic, but I still think it would be great to have a central place for people to link coverage and information when they find it.
UPDATE: CFBEvents will be providing written coverage to pick up from WotC:
We are excited to announce that @ChannelFireball will be providing text coverage for all Grand Prix starting with #MTGToronto next weekend!
Coverage will be available at http://ChannelFireball.com and will include decklists, player profiles, match coverage, and feature articles.
In addition to this, coverage staff (Marshall, hagon, those guys) have alluded this week that they don't know what their schedules are for this year, as of Wednesday (Jan 30). That's not to say they won't be centre stage again but there's an element of uncertainty in display which suggests changes are happening. Several podcasts this week have mentioned that WotC sources may be pulling money out of the GP coverage ecosystem, which I can't verify. It came from multiple different people but I don't know where they got their info from. These are people who know WotC staff though, so... Meh?
It goes further. This week for the first time since... 2006? There wasn't a weekday post on daily mtg. By itself this doesn't signify anything but let's consider it alongside other current messaging from WotC. they also changed the layout on the site to move (or remove) elements relating to coverage. It's probably still there but they've made it less obvious.
I think we can agree that kicking off Magic Fests with zero coverage implies some disorganisation at play. Some people are saying the sky is falling and paper coverage is doomed but I don't share their doomed perspective. I do however think that we may need to band together as a community and help each other find the best coverage or information about coverage for modern, and specifically paper tournaments.
so there's a current shift in coverage happening for larger events and how information is disseminated.
GP (Magic Fest) video coverage is being reconsidered, and some aspects (written coverage) are being removed.
we don't currently know what their goals are with this or where their investment is going, so there's no need to panic or complain speculatively about WotC or the state of things as you see them (really, don't do this). This thread is not a place for long-winded conversations, speculation or opinion-sharing.
however! I'm hoping that this thread may be a place to share news and tidbits of info which can help us all get the best access to coverage.
stream coming online without much warning, of a GP or large Modern event? share
decklists, breakdowns, Day 1 or 2 meta, top 32 etc from GPs? share a link
informative tweet from a WotC employee about coverage and their future plans? share
mothership update, article from a third party or other info about coverage? share
(maybe the mods will consider giving this a sticky so that we can have access to an updating stream of news?)
paraphrased slightly (for clarity), this was the message as per the MTG Protour twitter account.
written coverage will no longer be live (read as: no more written coverage) - meaning no pairings or standings as events unfold. They'll create a summary after the tournament ends (replacing coverage with an article).
The protour photographer (Craig?) has been made redundant/let go in the last couple of weeks. He's been part of the mtg coverage scene for years.
regarding streaming, GP New Jersey (which sold out and was a hugely successful event) received no coverage at all and they took down the feature-match stage part way through the event:
as I said, this isn't an inherent cause for panic, but I still think it would be great to have a central place for people to link coverage and information when they find it.
UPDATE: CFBEvents will be providing written coverage to pick up from WotC:
In addition to this, coverage staff (Marshall, hagon, those guys) have alluded this week that they don't know what their schedules are for this year, as of Wednesday (Jan 30). That's not to say they won't be centre stage again but there's an element of uncertainty in display which suggests changes are happening. Several podcasts this week have mentioned that WotC sources may be pulling money out of the GP coverage ecosystem, which I can't verify. It came from multiple different people but I don't know where they got their info from. These are people who know WotC staff though, so... Meh?
It goes further. This week for the first time since... 2006? There wasn't a weekday post on daily mtg. By itself this doesn't signify anything but let's consider it alongside other current messaging from WotC. they also changed the layout on the site to move (or remove) elements relating to coverage. It's probably still there but they've made it less obvious.
I think we can agree that kicking off Magic Fests with zero coverage implies some disorganisation at play. Some people are saying the sky is falling and paper coverage is doomed but I don't share their doomed perspective. I do however think that we may need to band together as a community and help each other find the best coverage or information about coverage for modern, and specifically paper tournaments.
GP (Magic Fest) video coverage is being reconsidered, and some aspects (written coverage) are being removed.
we don't currently know what their goals are with this or where their investment is going, so there's no need to panic or complain speculatively about WotC or the state of things as you see them (really, don't do this). This thread is not a place for long-winded conversations, speculation or opinion-sharing.
however! I'm hoping that this thread may be a place to share news and tidbits of info which can help us all get the best access to coverage.
stream coming online without much warning, of a GP or large Modern event? share
decklists, breakdowns, Day 1 or 2 meta, top 32 etc from GPs? share a link
informative tweet from a WotC employee about coverage and their future plans? share
mothership update, article from a third party or other info about coverage? share
(maybe the mods will consider giving this a sticky so that we can have access to an updating stream of news?)