Coverage of Magic: The Gathering tabletop tournaments has hit an all-time low.
The co-founder of Mage Market (a website for buying and selling MTG cards) pulled a social media prank today, saying that he was in the top eight at the Minneapolis Grand Prix this weekend.
While this was likely a PR stunt, the tweet brought to light how difficult it is for the MTG community to follow MagicFest and Grand Prix tournaments. Has viewership of tabletop dropped to all-time lows because of a lack of interest, or has the community lost interest because of a lack of coverage?
At the beginning of the 2019-2020 MTG season, WotC changed the format for competitive events. Introducing MTG Arena only tournaments with livestreaming coverage on Twitch, WotC moved away from smaller events to focus on the big ones.
The experiment has seen successes and failures throughout the year. One such failure was the switching of weekly Grand Prix streaming coverage to ChannelFireball (CFB). Only a handful of MagicFest events have been streamed on Twitch this season, likely because of a lack of budget.
Related: Major leaks of MTG Throne of Eldraine Rowan cards foil WotC’s release schedule
Magic: The Gathering has deep foundational roots in tabletop gaming. It’s why the trading card game has survived over two decades. No one disputes that the era of digital gameplay is taking MTG to new heights. But some things aren’t meant to be forgotten.
