There's no telling where I would be today if it wasn't for the SCG Tour.

I spent much of the 2000s completely immersed in Magic, occasionally to the detriment of other areas of my life. For the first half of the decade, I relentlessly focused on learning and improving my game on Magic Online, while also never missing a Pro Tour Qualifier within 200 miles driving distance. After many miles driven playing PTQs in hotel conference rooms and dingy game store basements, I would finally qualify halfway through the decade for my first Pro Tour in Honolulu 2006 (the Craig Jones Lightning Helix Pro Tour).

The second half of the decade was spent chaining invites to Pro Tours and trying desperately to stay on the train, sending me globetrotting to multiple events in Japan, Europe, and here in the United States. "Play The Game, See The World" was the tagline for the Pro Tour at the time and it couldn't have been more accurate. However, while I was doing all this grinding and globetrotting, living the life that most Magic players at the time aspired too, I also wasn't doing anything to further my own professional life.

After spending most of the decade working part time retail and going to school part time, while rationing tournament winnings and borrowing money for as long as I could until the next tournament spike came in, I decided that something needed to change. I had spent four years on and off the Pro Tour, with some decent finishes and cashes, but had never broken through to the next level. I'd won a few grand here and there and had the mild respect of my peers, but that's not a lot to show for almost a decade of dedication. I was also just super burned out and dejected from trying to be a full time pro and falling short year after year.

Eventually enough was enough and I stopped playing Magic, enrolled at Stony Brook University fulltime, and planned to move into the real world and mostly leave Magic behind. This was super healthy for me, as aside from my studies I got into a bunch of non-Magic activities. I started playing music again, joined the Stony Brook Roller Hockey Club team, worked my way to my own radio show on WUSB Stony Brook 90.1 FM, and more. However, despite the healthier life outlook and more diversified set of hobbies, I still loved Magic and was looking for chances to play.

As such, the SCG Tour got me back into the game.

It was called the SCG Open Series at the time, but the big cash events were simple, self-contained, and exciting. I could just take a weekend and go play in an event, and if it didn't line up right, I could just not go. There wasn't a compulsion to "not miss an opportunity" to qualify for a Pro Tour and go to everything. I'd make the finals of the 2011 SCG Open Series Invitational in Indianapolis, and after winning a PTQ I somewhat randomly attended I decided to approach StarCityGames.com about writing my first article. After playing Magic seriously for over a decade, I was finally getting paid for something other than just my results.

The coverage of the Open Series was one of the best parts, putting a spotlight on the players while giving the series a level of legitimacy. Being on coverage was awesome and made all the events feel important, and the quality of the coverage was a large part of that. There was a comfort and consistency in knowing that almost every weekend you could tune into the Cedric Phillips and Patrick Sullivan (or many other great commentators) calling some great Magic on a smooth and clean broadcast. The more I played these events, the more I wanted to play them and the visibility they afforded opened many doors.

I'd go on to continue writing articles for StarCityGames.com, help form Team MGG as well as Team BCW, win the 2015 Player's Championship, and of course start streaming, which would eventually lead to the full-time career in content creation that I have now. My first streams started with around a hundred viewers, all thanks to the visibility from doing well in the SCG Tour events and the wonderful coverage that made me a known quantity.

So why am I bringing this all up now, especially when there hasn't been a proper SCG Tour event since the pandemic?

I'm a free agent

Read: https://t.co/5AoRQjqXLp

— Cedric A Phillips (@CedricAPhillips) January 3, 2022

Cedric Phillips, who was not only the voice of the SCG Tour as well as one of its main architects, has just stepped down from StarCityGames.com. I've worked with Cedric for many years across various projects and I've always greatly admired his work ethic, drive, and vision. Through hangouts on the SCG Tour (mostly my Sunday flight being cancelled due to weather and Ced and Pat being gracious enough to let me crash on their floor) I'm happy to call him a friend.

The SCG Tour, like everything else, got stopped cold due to Covid-19, and the big question for the last two years was "when is it coming back?" In his statement, Cedric gives the grim answer:

This, coupled with the current disastrous state of official Organized Play from Wizards of the Coast, has me feeling many different ways.

We're still in the middle of a pandemic, so it's clear that having Pro Tours or SCG Tour events wouldn't even be feasible at this moment regardless, but part of the light at the end of the tunnel was hoping we could return to something similar once the pandemic is finally settled. With official organized play in shambles, currently working through a "dead man walking" final season of the MPL with no future plans established, the SCG Tour felt like the beaming beacon of light it always was whenever official Organized Play faltered.

That light has now been extinguished and without it I find it hard to picture what the future of tournament Magic is.

I'm not a grinder anymore. I'm very happy with my shift from "tournament grinder" to "full time content creator" and very happy with my life and place in Magic as a whole. Even if the Pro Tour and the SCG Tour were to both return to their full glory tomorrow, I highly doubt I'd be on a plane every weekend chasing The Player's Championship or whatever the Pro Level was.

However, one of my favorite things to do is still to play in large, competitive Magic events and it makes me sad to know that options will be limited. Furthermore, I feel for players who are newer to the scene and won't get to experience the growth and thrill of playing in a series and working their way up toward a goal, battling weekend in and weekend out alongside their friends and all the adventures they'll have along the way. Playing in Pro Tours and SCG Tours over the years, the things I've learned and the people that I've met, will be something I'll always cherish, and it makes me sad that it's something that may not be there for others to experience.

So where does this leave us?

Honestly? I don't know.

I don't really have any solutions or big point today. This is just the reality of the current situation and how I feel about it. Sometimes writing isn't meant to have a point other than general catharsis.

I do want to say thank you to Cedric, Pat, and everyone else who worked so hard to make the SCG Tour and the coverage of the SCG Tour what it was, as well as everyone who I ever competed with, traveled with, shared a meal with, or just shared a brief chat. I really do owe everything to y'all, as it's hard to imagine where I'd be right now without the SCG Tour and that Player's Championship win. I have a house, a wonderful family, a comfortable living, and essentially my dream job, and I'm acutely aware of how lucky I am to be here.

I do hope there's some sort of light at the end of the tunnel for tournament Magic. Both MTG Vegas and SCGCON showed there's still a huge demand for paper tournament Magic and hopefully when the world returns to some semblance of normality there will be somewhere there to pick up the baton.

When they do, I'll be there!