First off let's give acknowledgement to Wizards for stepping up to the plate and making changes a public and official event. No being coy, no cuddly wrapping, they just make sure it is said publicly and in plain sight, though the announcements may smell strongly of PR speak.

Starting with Shards of Alara, Wizards and the DCI are making a few changes with the Prereleases we've come to love.

First, they're now moving Prereleases up to be only a week before the actual set release. I don't know if this really has any effect other than it gives the theory less time to spin before the set "hits."

Second, the reason they're making it only a week before the release is because now stores and other organizations can organize these events. It would be much harder to "secure" the product before the official release. They're taking Prereleases out of the hands of the Pro Tournament Organizers and putting it anyone's hands. In fact, the question in my mind is, will these events require DCI Judges?

It's hard enough to find a judge unless you've got one on staff, I should know.

For those of you who don't know much about the actual event organization, Prereleases are the money makers for these organizers. Some are able to take losses on PTQs to offer low prices and good prizes knowing that the Prerelease was going to take them out of the red and into the black for a Quarter.

There is an economic ecosystem that surrounds Magic. Shortly after the game was born and begin selling, stores began the secondary card market. Then came the DCI and PTOs spawned up. All of these companies and people relying on the game by Wizards. As more card games came out some turned and supported them as well, meaning that they no longer wholly relied on Magic but it is still consistently the strongest economically. Most recently, in terms of this ecosystem is the metagame coverage. The Dojo was a free source but after that spawned Scrye, Inquest, SCG, Brainburst (aka TCGPlayer) and of course ManaNation.

All of these businesses exist in the ecosystem around Magic, fighting and jostling for space and their spot on the food chain. The change in Prereleases is a change that, while not directly significant, could have larger implications down the road.

These events were only run by the PTOs. This change, while positive for players, coverage, and store owners - it is directly negative for PTOs. They had the monopoly on these events, they were the knights of the DCI, blessed and given these events in their regions. By removing their monopoly on these events, you make it much more difficult for them to survive. We rely on them for PTQs and GPs.

For now.

One thing about the Professional Organizers is that they are separated by region. They have state(s) that they handle and they aren't put into competition with other tournament runners. If those boundaries are removed and you create competition for tournaments, then the laws of economics come into play and the hounds of war are unleashed as stores vie for players.

Imagine stores within the same city cutting prices and offering discounts to attract players to their events. Now in a perfect world the stores would continue to coexist but one would end up the de facto tournament organizer. This is a fine time for players, but what if the owner turns out to be quite... vicious.

I mean, how can a small store hope to compete with the mega-giant in their city? Is it possible? What if those stores become the new PTOs, you've got a new species in our ecosystem and it is going to cause havoc.

What if a single megastore develops a news outlet online, attracts a major following, and begins to expand? They run events not only in their region but elsewhere. We've got a 800lb Gorilla and the DCI can't stop them. Sure they can stop them from running DCI sponsored events but the truth is that people only follow the DCI because it is the only "Pro" tournament league.

Whether the DCI is doing things right or not, I don't know. But I think this is a slippery slope that a lot of players may not even realize.

What about Magic Online you say? Sure, there is always Magic Online, but as useful as it is, I hate it. Oh I'll say it. I hate double paying for cards, for drafting the foil Garruk Wildspeaker and knowing I'll never have him in my grubby little paws in his physical form. It sucks. Sure being able to draft 24/7 is awesome, but it's so impersonal online. Most games are played in silence, players only speaking for truly historic events or to say "gg." Bah, it's a new way to play, but I think it's still a bit different than table top.

So is it the end of days? No not at all. Magic will continue to grow and thrive, but you all need to understand some of the deeper implications of this "Magic Play Network" and that it may cause a deeper shift in how tournaments of any sort are run in your area. We still have yet to see it's real effect and it may be a few years before any conclusions can be drawn.

The game's game has changed, no longer is it let's make the game a Professional event, it's back to "let's acquire more players for a time."