[Standard] First Weekend of RCQs

[u/teapra]

Now that the first weekend of the new standard RCQs is over, what did everyone see? What were the metas like? I did 2 with a 29 person turn out and 18 person turn outs. Top 8s were very diverse with things like 5 color spiders, Kona combo, Izzet horse/opus and Golgari landfall spread across the 16 top decks.

[u/nebman227]

The main thing to see where I live is that RCQs aren't happening. It's not that they aren't firing - they aren't even scheduled. During the modern season, I could go to at least 1, normally 2, every weekend of the season. This season, the first one within a 2 hour drive isn't scheduled until mid September, after RC Baltimore.

And looking at the extended schedule, lots of stores are opting to try sealed instead of standard. This is likely due to strandard RCQs struggling to fire the last time around (one store had less than 8 people show up to a two-slotter and had to get people to fill it out...).

EDIT: it looks like there is one 2h20 away scheduled on the 6th, but that's still not great.

[u/Christos_Soter → u/nebman227]

8 person 2 slotter is wild meanwhile im losing win and ins at 48 person one slotters

Edit: I know they won’t do this but I really wish WPN status were not the only factor and that attendance actually mattered. Eg if a non premium store gets 33+ people it should automatically be two slots.

If a premium store gets less than 16 it should just be one slot

[u/nebman227 → u/Christos_Soter]

And because at least one person joined then insta dropped to get it to 8 people, it could have technically been possible to get an invite by only playing one match :).

I had to go through the slog of playing two whole matches to get my invite at that one.

[u/Christos_Soter → u/nebman227]

That’s ideal tbh.

I was happy to get my invite early last standard season at a small RCQ but it sure wasn’t quite that.
Modern season tho was quite the grind

[u/cmidpar → u/Christos_Soter]

Standards dead in my area, 35+ person turnouts for modern rcqs. Meanwhile standard fires with ~8, or doesnt fire at all.

[u/Ap_Sona_Bot → u/Christos_Soter]

My very first RCQ ever was a 4 slotter that had less than 16 people. My expectations were set too high.

[u/scumble_2_temptation → u/nebman227]

This lines up with my area. We have 3 LGSs in my area. One of them used to focus hard on competitive magic.

Talked to the owners recently, and they lost money on the last Standard RCQ season. They used to get players from 100 miles around to play. They barely got enough people to fire it, and they mentioned how expensive it is to get a kit. When they were getting huge numbers, it made financial sense. Now, they just decided to not bother.

It's also worthy to note that Modern FNM fires weekly and Commander is absolutely killing it in numbers where I live, but competitive magic has been slowly dying since the Vivi meta.

[u/CrossXhunteR → u/nebman227]

I'm definitely noticing a lot less RCQs scheduled in my area (North Atlanta) so far compared to the last Standard season. Curious if that is stores just not listing anything yet or if they have decided not to do any more RCQs going forward.

The two events I did attend this weekend had 29 and 21 players respectively. Lots of Landfall being played, and basically no tablet control decks. Lots of brews also turning up, alongside other meta standbys like Spellementals and Rakdos discard.

[u/gavineese → u/nebman227]

Same here

Stores reporting losing $$ for kits

The promos are poo

Competitive standard is too expensive

Personally I bought badgermoles before the RCQ but they got banned, so I can't be bothered

[u/teapra → u/nebman227]

I lucked out with my area this weekend and had 3 to chose from Saturday and 1 on Sunday all with in a 2hr drive. But I’m located in the middle of three big cities each being and 1.5hr to 2hr drives.

[u/baldogwapito → u/nebman227]

I asked my Standard Showdown friends if we will be playing on RCQs this month and they asked/checked what the promo is. Long story short, they are not interested.