MTG, the Corona-Virus Pandemic, and future events.

[Card Slinger J]

I think we might still have a chance to save physical retail, brick-and-mortar, and mom-and-pop stores from going extinct If the U.S. Government acts quickly enough. Congress's first attempt at the Coronavirus Stimulus bill didn't go through so hopefully both Republicans and Democrats will find some wiggle room to get it passed for the President to sign. I overheard that they're injecting $1 trillion into this piece of legislation though I don't know If it'll be enough to save these "non-essential" small businesses in the long run.

Recently at work I was given a parole slip to show to police officers notifying them that I work at a supermarket during this 30 day "Stay at Home" Shutdown so that I won't lose my job or get laid off. I was also rewarded with a $25 gift card to spend in case I needed to buy groceries for my family as well as getting a 50 cent raise on my next paycheck. Just spent $100 worth of groceries so I'm set for the next few weeks. I might pick up some more toilet paper If my store happens to restock them though I think we're going to have to import them from other countries to sell.

Also you can help urge Congress to send substantial, regular payments to the people:

https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/i-s ... the-people

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib also introduced a Universal Relief Proposal to Congress:

[motleyslayer]

I know some retailers in Canada are giving their employees raises for being essential during this pandemic. I don't know much of needing any kind of proof of working at essential services up here. I believe the relief legislation was passed today so hopefully everything falls into place soon

[Card Slinger J]

https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/455 ... businesses

The two stimulus bills passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by the President, including the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES), passed late last week, have provisions that can help retailers and other small geek culture businesses stay afloat through the coming months. The best summary we've seen of all the programs for small business from both bills is on this page from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce site, and the linked pages from it. Here are some of the key elements:

The Paycheck Protection Program provides for Small Business Administration loans through banks, without a personal guarantee or collateral, for small businesses to fund key expenses. The portions of the loans that are used for payroll, mortgage, rent, and utilities in the eight weeks following origination of the loan will be forgiven.

Economic Injury Disaster Loans are available not only to small businesses, but to individuals operating as independent contractors, and can be approved based solely on credit score. Loans under $200,000 do not require a personal guarantee. Emergency grants of $10,000 can be forgiven if spent on paid leave, maintaining payroll, increased costs due to supply chain disruption, mortgage or lease payments or repaying obligations that cannot be met due to revenue losses.

Some businesses may be eligible for both the Paycheck Protection Program and the EIDLs.

The CARES act provides for tax credits of up to 50% of wages up to $10,000 paid to employees between March 13, 2020 through December 31, 2020, for businesses that lose revenues, suspend operations, or have higher costs due to coronavirus.

Businesses can defer paying payroll tax obligations and instead pay them over the next two years (does not apply to wages supported by a Paycheck Protection loan forgiveness).

Businesses are required to provide paid sick and family leave for coronavirus-related absences, but can receive reimbursement for expenses beyond those normally offered via tax credits or direct government payments.

This is only a partial list; check out the U.S. Chamber of Commerce page linked above, or for another list of government small business programs and helpful hints, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund page linked here.

Here's some effective ways that the Local Game Store (LGS) can turn a profit during this quarantine period we're in right now. First is Gift Card distributions. The way it works is that you buy Gift Cards from said LGS via curbside pickup or through their online website / eBay account. First you mail them the money while they send you your Gift Card in the mail depending on how much money you put in it. When they open back up again you're free to spend that Gift Card at said LGS depending on how much monetary value the card has in it. Second would be door-to-door deliveries. If said LGS has an active online presence through their own personal website then you can place an online delivery while they ship the product straight to your door or by mail. I think Gift Cards are probably the best method though I've yet to actually test it out for myself.

[motleyslayer]

Door to door deliveries by LGS staff is something I've seen a lot of stores doing, it seems like a good opportunity to still make money during tough times. The risk is still there but you're not allowing a bunch of people in an area at once.

in Canada, especially Ontario where I live. There have been some pieces of good news lately. The premier (provincial equivalent of governor up here in Canada) announced that people won't risk being evicted if they can't pay their rent while they wait for relief. Also student debt repayments are being postponed until September

[Card Slinger J]

Funny story to share with you all. Turns out my local area isn't eligible for the Coronavirus Relief Stimulus Bill that my Government passed last Friday. Why you ask? Because it doesn't meet the 500,000 resident threshold since the area is too small. Here's the kicker, government officials and lawmakers won't be able to fix the problem until the quarantine ends which could end up lasting for months or even up to a year when the stimulus bill is already in effect 3 weeks from now.

[Card Slinger J]

I took a dangerous gamble a few weeks ago by supporting my LGSs through their e-commerce websites in the prospect that they might be able to bounce back from this pandemic. It's already gotten to a point where I'm already starting to run out of singles to purchase from them for some decks I've been trying to complete, one of which is for a friend of mine that I won't know If I'll ever see again though I have his e-mail address to contact him. I was also planning on purchasing singles for Ikoria and Commander 2020 though thankfully there wasn't very much I was interested in given the current circumstances. One of the LGSs I normally go to on Friday nights is temporarily closed even though it's eBay store is still open while the other that I go to on Saturdays is still open for curb-side pickup and mail deliveries. Luckily I didn't spend my $1,200 Stimulus Check on the singles I've already ordered from my LGSs since I'm saving it for essential items as I've only spent $300 on the stuff I needed thus far. So my financial situation right now is pretty stable for the most part especially since my parents make more money than I do living in the same household.

I still have my job working at a grocery store chain for 17 years as a sacker / utility worker making $200 every two weeks plus with hazard pay I'm getting extra income. I only work 5 days a week during a 4 hour shift while I'm now stuck on cleaning duty and sometimes carts whenever I get the opportunity. It's been pretty rough compared to what I'm used to doing which is sacking but the set schedule I've acquired for myself without having to work during the weekends has been a real blessing for me that I'm thankful for. I don't get to socialize with my co-workers as much as I did when I used to go to my LGSs during the weekends but that's to be expected I guess. The weird thing about my LGS experience leading up to the pandemic is that despite all the negativity surrounding the culture that everyone's talked about for the last 5 years is that I didn't feel a real sense of closure like I did when I quit Yu-Gi-Oh! back in 2004. There's just something about the community that you don't get from Digital that will be deeply missed similar to how I felt when North American Amusement Arcades went out of business in the late 90's and early to mid 2000's. Sure there's Dave & Busters but it's not the same.

Maybe I'm just getting old as kids these days have already decided the fate of the LGS by going digital exclusively. I wouldn't be surprised at this point yet it's sad just thinking about the positive aspects of the LGS experience that they've already chosen to miss out on. Every generation blames the one before after all so I guess that's to be expected. I fear a Post COVID-19 society where social gatherings become extinct and self isolation will forever be the new normal regardless of whether or not If a vaccine is found. It almost feels as though this pandemic was a ploy to push older millennials into a digital space because the younger millennials don't find the positive aspects of the LGS experience let alone social gatherings for that matter all the worth while. They were raised under a different mindset compared to how I was raised growing up as a young teenager because society didn't treat them as fairly in regards to what goes on in pop culture. The Internet has made that extremely difficult in some ways compared to how it was with Cable Television's draw of being able to captivate audiences better. Something about this pandemic still makes me feel uncomfortable.

[motleyslayer]

I think that there will still. be a demand for brick and mortar stores that playing online will not be able to fill. There are people that prefer to play in paper as it gives them a form of social interaction that playing online can't provide. Stores provide people who may otherwise be limited on social interaction a way to meet people. There's probably also some kind of benefit I may be missing in terms of events and product availability

[The Fluff]

I'm glad scg and other online stores can still thrive in this calamity. Although would be sad if our small lgs bites the dust, that store has been open for almost 10 years - a good place to buy mtg deck boxes and also Kantai Collection cards + other niche tcg that I also collect.

edit: also when I was cleaning up email messages today. Saw that SCG seems to have done a home kind of event. Although when I click on the link it does not go anywhere.. it seems the event is over.

[motleyslayer]

I feel that there are a few stores that are taking advantage of MTG Melee, MTG Companion or Discord to host events on Arena or MTGO. I'm enjoying the ones I've played and I'm glad I can still support stores in this time

[Card Slinger J]

I think that there will still. be a demand for brick and mortar stores that playing online will not be able to fill. There are people that prefer to play in paper as it gives them a form of social interaction that playing online can't provide. Stores provide people who may otherwise be limited on social interaction a way to meet people. There's probably also some kind of benefit I may be missing in terms of events and product availability

The demand for Local Game Stores (LGSs) will still be there post COVID-19. The problem is whether If they got the sufficient funds from the government to help weather the storm they're in. There's a lot of big businesses who are trying to profit off of this pandemic by siphoning money they don't really need that could've gone to Local Game Stores (LGSs) who are already financially struggling. Then of course there's the issue with landlords and having to constantly pay rent at a time when most Local Game Stores (LGSs) are unable to stay open due to the pandemic.

If you're a Local Game Store (LGS) owner, forced to close your business temporarily, and you have a lease on your property then the money you owe your landlord isn't going to go away. It's only going to accumulate the more the lock down lasts especially when it comes to rent. So these owners are left with only two choices: Either they stay open to continue paying their employees; or they close temporarily in which their employees don't receive pay just to open back up again to pay rent while owing their landlord money they don't have. Thus the owners are forced to file for bankruptcy and liquidate.

[motleyslayer]

Let's keep this thread on the topic of how Covid-19 is going to impact LGSs and avoid broad political/social impacts. I want this to stay related to MTG-Motleyslayer

I'm not exactly 100% sure of measures in the US to protect small businesses from times like this but Canada is working on funds to help small businesses that are struggling to pay rent while being closed.

Again, for those of us that have the option of our local stores providing home delivery, that is a great option to have for helping your stores. plus it can give you and your family some additional entertainment during this time when we can't go out much. I myself put an order in through my store

[Card Slinger J]

One of the Local Game Stores (LGSs) in my local community are firing FNM events through MTG Arena via Discord for communication which is one way that they can stay in business during this lock down period while the other doesn't have as much of an online presence except on eBay. I have noticed that less people are buylisting cards to their LGSs and more through online vendors where they feel that they're getting better deals when they really should be supporting their LGS so that they'll have a place to play later depending on whether If they'll be able to open back up once this pandemic blows over. Perhaps social gathering events need to be smaller to help combat the virus.

I can only imagine how hard it would be to social distance with an opponent you're sitting across 6 feet away from just to play MTG whether it be for Standard, Pioneer, or EDH / Commander. Best they can really do is wear a mask and latex gloves but even then it would be pretty hard to adjust to that type of escapism when it really isn't. The best solutions I can think of would probably be to just take peoples' temperatures whenever they walk into their LGS and If they're sick then they're not allowed back in. Limiting the amount of people entering and leaving seems like an effective strategy as well. Too many people have a normalcy bias where they want to continue to do things that still feels natural to them. Let them.

[motleyslayer]

I'd imagine that gaming stores like an LGS will probably be the last types of stores to open up once this is over for that reason, they require people to be close to each other to run events. There could be a scenario that stores open up but don't run events to prevent people from being close.

If I recall correctly, WotC isn't allowing any events to be run until around May 10, which id actually approaching quickly. Up here in Canada though I can't see much being open at all before then anyways

[Card Slinger J]

This article on ICv2 pretty much sums up the fate of Paper Trading Card Games / Collectible Card Games due to COVID-19:

https://icv2.com/articles/columns/view/ ... tore-model

Well, some places have started to open up after the nationwide shelter in place. Much of Georgia and some of Florida opened this past weekend and, according to an interview with the Mayor of Las Vegas, that city's ready to re-open. Meanwhile, we here in Illinois will see some relaxing of the shelter order whilst in Virginia, everything remains closed until mid-June. However, due to the nature of the game store model prior to the national shelter in place, most stores will see significant changes in their business model once their state lifts the shutdown order. This is due to the reliance of most game stores on in-store play (I have seen estimates of around 80% and higher) to drive an extensive amount of store traffic and sales. After the shutdown ends, the game industry will see a significant change in that business model, at least for the next year.

Case in point the Pokemon Pre-release for the Sword and Shield Rebel Strike booster set scheduled for the past week. Unless your store is located in one of the areas that is not practicing social distancing, you were not running a pre-release for the set this week (see "Pokemon Shuts Down Organized Play").

If you check DCI Reporter (which most of us have had no reason to do since WOTC canceled all events through mid-May, you will notice that all events you had scheduled through mid-May have vanished from your schedule and the pre-release events have all disappeared as well. Instead, the only option offered is to run a Magic Casual Pre-release: Ikoria At-home Prerelease (see "WotC Adds Coronavirus Accommodations for 'Ikoria' Prereleases"). Stores can sell customers Ikoria Pre-release Packs and Commander Decks (although, according to my distributor, the main allocation of Commander Decks will be delayed, see "Half the 'Commander' Decks for 'Ikoria' Delayed"; deck displays allocated for the prerelease weekend should arrive on time, but not those stores ordered for regular release), but they do not get the excitement of having customers in the store opening booster packs and excitedly exclaiming over the cards that they pulled. Of course, since we have had people on YouTube opening boxes and cracking packs of Ikoria for at least a week now, and spoiler lists have appeared since early this month, any surprise over cards in the set has long dissipated, with only the excitement of players opening their own packs and seeing what they get remaining. (There is a growing body of evidence that indicates giving product early to social media "influencers" has little to no impact on subsequent sales or consumer behavior, but that is a topic for another column.)

Konami has also canceled all of their events through mid-May (see "'Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG' Printer Shuts Down") and is allowing stores to cancel or reduce orders on the pre-release for their next set of Yu-Gi-Oh!.

Given that so many stores base their model around events and in-store play, it is hard to see how that model continues given the new environment, at least for the estimated year it takes to develop a vaccine for COVID-19. Given the traditional design of tournaments, especially card tournaments, for the players to sit directly across the table from each other in order to allow a clear view of the opponent's cards, it is hard to see how maintaining a safe distance from one another happens. I have some ideas on this and would be interested in hearing from anyone with thoughts on how to accomplish it. Email me at Castleperilousgames@gmail.com with your thoughts.

[The Fluff]

lockdown extended by 2 weeks in my country. Still can't get my cards from post office.

also still cannot order prowess cards from scg... because those will just get trapped in the post office as well.

[Card Slinger J]

So I recently watched the Magic Historian's YouTube video about Wizards of the Coast officially discontinuing the DCI (Duelists' Convocation International) for Paper Magic due to the recent ban of In-Store Play at Local Game Stores (LGSs) from COVID-19 (he doesn't actually say that's a main reason for why Wizards of the Coast is doing this in the video just my guess as to why):

Wizards of the Coast is effectively deleting all MTG playing history in terms of actual records. The DCI is no more. So what is the DCI? The DCI is the Duelists' Convocation International. It is the way that Wizards of the Coast has organized their MTG tournaments from all the way back when I started playing MTG in 1994. Depending on how long you've been playing MTG, you may have an old DCI number with a few digits. I saw somebody who was responsible for writing a number of different events. I dealt with a bunch of peoples' DCI numbers and I saw how long they got over time and I got a teeny-weeny DCI number. So at this point Wizards of the Coast has put out an announcement about what's going on here and in all honesty I can't get behind this:

https://magic.gg/news/sunsetting-planeswalker-points

So basically Wizards of the Coast is taking 26 years of MTG history and just flushing it. Now there's no real justification for this overall. Now If you understand technology, If you have the most basic level of understanding coding you will realize (when I mean by coding I mean by computer programming) how easy it is to transfer this sort of information. Doing like database queries and linking up databases is not difficult. So instead of putting in the effort to actually bridge these systems together and merge them where If you have a DCI number we're going to automatically generate a Wizards account for you. You can go to this website, you can enter your DCI number, and we will just go ahead and put in your name to know that it's you and we'll populate an account for you.

This isn't a difficult thing to do. So I find it pretty skeezy that Wizards of the Coast multiple times mentions about, "For many players, this is going to feel like the end of an era. Comparing four-digit DCI numbers at events was something of a badge of honor—a way to show how long you've been a part of the community." Interesting how being a long term part of the MTG community has no value to Wizards of the Coast. None. NONE! That's identified by the fact that they're not willing to do anything to preserve this information. You have to understand that tied to your DCI number is also information of EVERY EVENT YOU EVER PLAYED IN! Any event you played in with your DCI number is registered there. So you can go back and see your entire history of MTG. They're literally deleting players' entire histories for no good reason!

It's not like porting this information over would cost a ton of money, it's not like storing this information costs a ton of money, these are tiny little text files essentially. It's not like they have video recordings of everyone's games and they're just deleting it all. They're just deleting huge chunks of MTG history. I hate this. There's a reason why I'm called the Magic Historian because I like the old school stuff, I like the whole way that MTG's been going along keeping track of all of it, talking about it, that sort of thing. I found that when it comes to older information about MTG, some of it is just gone. Some websites have been deleted, the official Wizards of the Coast stuff has been deleted, or locked up in dead links. It's so hard to dig up parts of MTG's past but it's understandable If it's something from 20 years ago.

In this case they have all the information, they can store it, and they know it matters to people. The way they've worded this shows they know that it matters to people. If you want to put everybody in one universal style account great! Why can I not download my pre-existing Arena account and my DCI? Why am I not able to do that? How is that difficult? It's not. Honestly I shouldn't be surprised considering that I contacted Wizards of the Coast just to get multiple of my DCI numbers combined into one and they couldn't even manage that. Honestly I just find myself very frustrated by this because they're being so cheap here. The cost of keeping this database is negligible. It's essentially non-existent. So reading over this, "Adapting our technology to best serve a modern framework mean some software and services must change."

There is no justification for this. It would cost them so little money to find a way to integrate this and let people keep their history with the game. They acknowledge, "Oh I know this matters to you but it doesn't matter to us." This is the final nail in the coffin of the Paper era of MTG right? By the end of Paper era of MTG I don't mean the end of Paper Magic cards being created, I just mean the end of the Physical era of MTG where we play cards in person, we go to the store, we build up an actual community, and now it's all just Digital. Arena doesn't give you a Digital community. You don't have the same stories. Sure people share an Arena screenshot or something or a recording of a game that's NEVER going to be the same as an actual event you went to. Being able to go back and see that.

That's a really nice thing that Wizards of the Coast is throwing down the dumpster and setting on fire for no good reason. We already took away coverage, took away prizes, we destroyed the actual Pro Tour itself, it's like bit by bit Wizards of the Coast is destroying MTG's history. Some of it I can understand but this unnecessarily egregious in my opinion. I understand at the end of the day that it's just a card game but it's also been a part of my life for a long time. Thinking about the old school people who have been playing for decades who have tons of memories buried in that DCI, "Oh you can go and store it yourself" It's not exactly the same as having access to the database. I can't let the complete obliteration of decades of MTG tournaments and all these peoples' memories, I can't just let that slide without documenting it.

[motleyslayer]

The elimination of the DCI/DCI #s and planeswalker points is something that annoyed me, because it's something that I've just gotten so used to. It's been around since almost the daw of tournament Magic.

I'm sure they'll have something in place once everything is up and going again. They probably implemented the changes now since everything is closed and events can't be run right now anyways so there won't be as much chaos

[Card Slinger J]

Here's a somewhat comforting interview of Mark Rosewater (MaRo) by The Professor of Tolarian Community College on COVID-19's impact on physical play and R&D (which is now renamed Play Design):



Here's what OrzhovPlaneswalker said on MTGSalvation in regards to this interview:

I think there were actually a lot of noteworthy tidbits. One of the most important being that they are aware that some might being feeling anxious about the company's commitment towards paper, face-to-face Magic and that the crisis and Wizards' response to it may reflect a 'hollowing' out of the offline community. MaRo effectly said that while digital MtG is becoming increasingly popular, it still doesn't represent the majority method by which the game is enjoyed by most players and that they remain dedicated to supporting a game that is largely played offline, often in a local gamestore environment.

That is not to say that there couldn't be any PR tricks here such as the avoidance of contrary evidence and the emphasis of those facts supporting MaRo but as 'the Professor' stated, the point of this interview isn't to critically analyze WotC policy but come together as a community and reassure one another and learn how MaRo (and I assume WotC) wants us to understand COVID's impact on the game and its creatve process.

Another major point I found was that we might see more individually created designs as a result of this crisis. While team meetings and cross-company co-ordination is still happening, it seems as though MaRo and maybe a few others are perhaps spending more individual time making cards as opposed to doing other company-associated activities relevant to their job. Expect more cutesy cards and mechanics that individual creators have more personal associations with rather than team-associated experiences. The most important job would therefore be to try to maximize the good that comes from that while taking measures to diffuse any negative consequences that could also arise.

I think as a fan-base we are sometimes a bit overly-negative. Why not take a deep breath and celebrate what we all share in common?

So he admits that the game is still largely played offline, often at an LGS, but how are players going to do that in the next many months (potentially year or more)? In person play is not happening at LGSes, if they're even open, and I highly doubt the average playgroup is getting together for game night. Is MaRo expecting a dramatic spike of people playing paper Magic via Zoom?

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad the company is at least signalling a continued commitment to paper Magic, I just don't see it as anything other than a platitude given that in person play is largely impossible right now and LGSes are going to start dying soon, if they haven't already.

I have to agree with mikeyG from MTGSalvation on this one. I'm still debating whether or not If I want to sell my MTG collection yet though I want to keep a hold of my friends' EDH / Commander deck in the happenstance that In-Store Play is allowed at Local Game Stores (LGSs) again.

[motleyslayer]

I think that it's too early to say whether or not selling collections is a good idea. WotC extended the no paper events until June 1, so still another month of no events.

I think that there will be some people who sell off their collections because they don't want to play anymore but there are still people who only play paper because it's the only real social interaction they get

[Card Slinger J]

Found another article on ICv2 that follows up the last article I posted that's worth a read:

https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/456 ... ay-changes

Following up on last week's column on what sort of changes we can expect to see in organized play over the next year or so, it looks as if, much like with Magic, we will not see any in-store tournaments from Konami until sometime in June. Also much like WOTC's push to get players to participate in Friday Night Magic on Arena and encouraging stores to run their own tournaments on Arena, Konami is now offering stores the opportunity to sanction Yu-Gi-Oh! tournaments on assorted gaming platforms, and instead of offering digital awards for participating, recommending that stores charge for the events and offer OTS promo packs as prizing, with the participants receiving the packs via whatever delivery method the store is currently using, or holding them for the players until the store opens back up. Record-keeping would be a bit of a hassle but for stores with a heavy investment in Yu-Gi-Oh! it might prove worthwhile.

After I asked in last week's column for some thoughts from stores as to how the nature of organized play and game store retailing might change in the time of COVID-19, I received some thoughtful responses which I post here with the permission of the authors. This week, the response from ComicReaders in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

We sell comics, graphic novels, board games, CCGS, etc and have a game room that comfortably sits 48 people. We have been closed to the general public since March 23. We've been doing orders by phone, email, and Facebook and offering curb-side pick-up since then. We stopped holding events in the store on March 16, but even the week before attendance was down. Our provincial government has a plan to "re-open Saskatchewan" in May. Certain retail stores (we are included in that list) can reopen to the public starting May 19 but there are various restrictions. So that is where we are at the moment and where we expect to be through to the end of May.

I expect we won't be allowed to have in-store events when we re-open on May 19. Certain guidelines, I think, won't make that possible:

• Two-meter distancing between people in the store
• A maximum of 10 people in the store at one time

I also think even though we will be open there won't be a sudden increase in renewed interest in playing games at the store. The pandemic won't be over. Our numbers of active cases have decreased but each day there are still a handful of new active cases in the province. I think people are going to be very cautious.

We are fortunate that we have a relatively large store. We are currently in the process of redesigning our floor plan in order to allow 2 meters of space between each set of racks. We are moving some of our product into the game room because I don't think we're going to need that gaming space until at least July.

My overall concern about in-store gaming is how long before people are comfortable returning. I'm thinking it will be low numbers throughout the summer at least. Tournament fees, product purchases of CCGS and supplies. Not having that in the store is going to hurt. I'm not sure yet how to replace those lost sales.

I really think the release of Ikoria and Commander 2020 will be the litmus test for how heavily the pandemic has affected my Magic: The Gathering community. I've had inquiries and have taken pre-orders, so I'm optimistic.

For Dragon Ball Super, Yu-Gi-Oh, Cardfight Vanguard, Pokemon and Final Fantasy, sales have dropped significantly. Zero sales for Final Fantasy. It's a 70 - 90% decrease for the others depending on the game.

Changes to the model in the future:

• Communication to the gaming community about regional pandemic guidelines and restrictions and how that impacts in-store play.
• Communication to the gaming community about safe gaming in the store, if and when we are allowed to have events in the store. Surfaces wiped down. Hand-wash stations. No handling of each other's gaming materials. No trade binders.
• I think miniature games are poised to return when allowed because players don't handle each other's materials and distance between players is not an issue. Card games are going to be tougher. We'll do some tests around safe distance between players in regards to readability of cards, etc.
• Engage with your communities even if they are temporarily or permanently shifted to online versions of their games.

Owner/Manager, ComicReaders, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Next week, comments from Dark Star Books in Yellow Springs Ohio and the Chicago Board Game Café in, well, Chicago Illinois, as well as any other comments I receive. If you have comments on how you are adapting or how you see the future of organized play and game retail in general, I would be glad to received them at castleperilousgames@gmail.com.

I'm not sure just how strict the guidelines will be for Local Game Stores (LGSs) attempting to re-open their businesses back up during the pandemic though I think it will vary based on state laws and city / province regulations. For example, one of the Local Game Stores (LGSs) in my area that I go to on Saturdays is doing a limited re-opening of their store. In short the retail area and limited amount of gaming space will be available on May 15th. At the time I'm posting this I don't know the full details as that will be discussed later. As for the other Local Game Store I go to on Friday nights which is also primarily a Comic Book Shop, they recently reported that they'll be opening back up on May 15th since they got word from Diamond Comic Distributors that they'll be shipping comic books for them to sell on May 20th. They did warn that dramatic changes can happen without warning since a pandemic has its own way of doing things.

I was a bit shocked but not surprised that most of Magic: the Gathering's competitors aside from Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokémon TCG are struggling financially in terms of sales which went down by 70-90%. Another big reason for this aside from the quarantine is due to the fact that most Local Game Store's don't have as much inventory for these card games as the risk of purchasing singles and flipping these cards for money / store credit isn't worth the reward. The LGS owners and employees don't think these games will stand the test of time especially If you look at the history of discontinued Paper Trading Card Games / Collectible Card Games over the last couple decades. It creates a situation for other LGSs to cater to these niche card games that their competition normally doesn't provide for their customers and community. Every community is different with what Paper Trading Card Games / Collectible Card Games they play.

[The Fluff]

I think this is mtg related enough to post here.

Had a talk with an scg staff, and told me they had to turn off USPS shipping to my country, because my country decided to stop accepting USPS packages due to corona. Can't blame them I guess... it's my country's decision to stop accepting USPS.

Well, if I become desperate enough for cards.. might use the more expensive UPS shipping method. Although for now, I can wait.

[Card Slinger J]

I have been hearing rumors about a looming Credit Card Debt Crisis on the horizon as a result of consumer spending during the pandemic. So I wonder how that would affect people purchasing MTG products from their Local Game Stores (LGSs) via e-commerce? Over where I live the retail areas at my LGSs are starting to open back up for business so that should help ease the pressure somewhat. Organized Play is still suspended for the next two weeks and possibly longer. Not sure what that entails for In-Store Play in general though. Masks are not required but are recommended however it's mandatory for LGS employees.

One of my LGSs is also limiting the total number of people at the store at a given time but given how big the overhead is it shouldn't be too much of an issue right now. My area is currently in phase 1 of reopening the U.S. Economy so we're not at phase 4 quite yet where all businesses can completely re-open at least not until a vaccine or treatment is found for COVID-19 which is still being worked on as we speak. I'm more than likely going to wait til June to see what happens as a second outbreak is inevitable by Autumn later this year. Hopefully it won't be as bad as the first outbreak where we were more unprepared.

[motleyslayer]

I don't know much about how credit and what not works so I'm not gonna speak on that

However I've seen a few posts about how stores I follow on facebook will be opening next week. In Ontario, Canada, the Premier (Canadian equivalent of State Governors) has been working on a plan o slowly open the province again while being safe about it. I'm kinda worried about a second wave but I'm excited to go to stores again

[Card Slinger J]

The latest ICv2 article talks about the future of In-Store Organized Play, the Local Game Store (LGS) model that comes with it, and how the bankruptcy of J. C. Penney might tie into all of this:

https://icv2.com/articles/columns/view/ ... bankruptcy

One more email received on my question a couple of weeks ago regarding what is going to happen with in-store Organized Play and the future of the OP game store model, this one from Eric Garneau, head of Games and Retail at the Chicago Board Game Café. "I would really love Wizards of the Coast to open up Arena card pools for Ikoria over prerelease weekend, so stores could run a social distancing-era tournament with people building decks out of cards they pulled in physical prerelease packs. In my head, on prerelease Friday I could drive around Chicago like some kind of Magic: The Gathering Santa Claus, bringing people the physical product they preordered, and then running a remote event using those same cards that night. It feels like the functionality should already exist in Arena; it's just if WotC would be cool with it. I know this idea has been expressed on the WPN Facebook group and they said they would look into it.

Meanwhile at the FLGS, most stores reported doing very good sales with Magic: The Gathering – Ikoria Lair of the Behemoths this past weekend, with a number saying their sales hit a typical pre-COVID-19 sales weekend, and a number of stores that had recently come out from under quarantine seeing what they said were sales comparable to Black Friday, even with no in-store play (I also did hear of a few stores running in-store tournaments but most said they canceled everything). A major reason given was players having played with the digital cards on Arena now wanted to get copies of the physical cards in their hands. How were your release weekend sales? Let me know at castleperilousgames@gmail.com.

And then, by my count, at least three major retailers have declared bankruptcy since most states shut down for quarantine last March: J. Crew, Neiman Marcus, and just last Friday, J. C. Penney. However, it would appear that the primary reason for the bankruptcy declaration was not the closure, although the drop-off in sales there did not help matters any. Rather it was the same thing that pushed Toys 'R' Us into filing for bankruptcy back in 2018 (see "Toys 'R' Us Closing All US and UK Stores"): a reliance on the private equity method of funding to pull a company through.

Although publicly traded, shareholders with enough stock in the company can control it, and with a publicly traded corporation, someone can control it with a surprisingly small amount of stock ownership (the controllers of JC Penny did so while only owning about 8% of the stock), can direct the actions of the corporation, since the rest of ownership is too diffused for the other stockholders to exert much influence on the corporation's actions. In case of TRU, J. Crew and Neiman Marcus, private equity firms borrowed against the value of the company to buy all of the outstanding stock in the company, taking them from publicly traded corporations to privately held ones that now held all of the debt that the private equity firm had taken on to purchase them. Ideally then, the private equity firm puts in new management to turn the company around, moving it towards profitability and using those profits to pay down the debt before selling the company at a profit 2-3 years later with a target ROI of about 25%. While the majority of private equity firms do just that, a few fail and those are the ones that make headlines as their failures usually lead to bankruptcy and a significant amount of media attention.

I know this probably sounds crazy to think about but what If the over reliance of private equity funds to pull companies like Toys R Us and J. C. Penney out of bankruptcy is expected to happen with Hasbro? Remember Hasbro owns Wizards of the Coast and the reason why there's been a severe lack of quality control lately when it comes to selling new MTG products is because they're trying to milk as much money as possible before reaching their contractual obligation with the parent company they work alongside with. In other words Hasbro is taking advantage of the Toy Industry completely collapsing on itself so that they can become more financially stable as a company long-term. Throwing Wizards of the Coast under the rug is one of their last obligations before pondering how their business model will inevitably change in the near future.

So in this hypothetical scenario, it's going to force Wizards of the Coast to officially discontinue Paper Magic since they no longer have the resources they had when they worked with Hasbro since 1998. Without Hasbro it's going to be a lot harder to get Arena and MTGO to be good enough to replace Paper Magic that appeals to both casual and competitive players alike. I think it will expose a lot of vulnerabilities with Wizards of the Coast as a company that people are going to try to exploit that they previously weren't able to with Hasbro backing them up beforehand. For example, they could be more vulnerable to class action lawsuits that Hasbro's lawyers and attorneys would've effectively prevented these federal cases from going forward. Wizards of the Coast may be forced to furlough or layoff their employees simply because they don't have the financial backing of Hasbro to help sustain themselves further.

[motleyslayer]

I think that expecting Hasbro to be in some sort of trouble financially is jumping to conclusions and is something that we should wait for them to say for sure.

I don't think this is going to mark the death of paper Magic, as it is still a large market and there are still people who much prefer paper to online.

I think the only thing we can really do is wait for WotC/Hasbro themselves to publicly state their intentions rather than fear mongering/jumping to conclusions on this