Ted Yee of T&N Games in Burnaby, British Columbia (Canada) writes in to discuss the upcoming changes for Wizards of the Coast's Organized Play Rankings.

There's an interesting change in how Wizards of the Coast deals with Organized Play rankings.  Previously, under the ELO system, it was very punitive for high-level players to play in anything but high-level events.  After all, even losing a single match at an Friday Night Magic would generally require eight straight wins just to even things out.  But now, you can never lose points and are rewarded for playing more and winning more, which is how I've always felt it should be.

I'll say this; I really like these changes.  I'm not sure how much more attendance this will equate into, but it will dissuade people from dropping out of tournaments early if they aren't doing well and just encourage more overall play.  That's what I like... a store full of people playing and having fun.

Some might think this will encourage more "rules lawyering" from those looking for more rating points.  I suppose this is a possibility but I fully expect that kind of play at high-level events.  People who play with a consistently bad attitude at Friday Night Magic or other casual-natured events aren't invited back to play so it's not really an issue personally.

In any case, I expect things to pan out in a favorable way.  For most players, this change isn't really a big change, although it will be more fun to track their progress.  For the small minority, it can go either way.  The benefits far outweigh any drawbacks and I applaud Wizards for giving an outdated and somewhat unfair system a much-needed overhaul.

The opinions expressed in this article are solely hose of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.