Wizards of the Coast Talks Magic: The Gathering Streaming

Published: February 2, 2017 6:16 PM /

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Wizards of the Coast oped

Back in November, Wizards of the Coast made an announcement that beginning in 2017, all streaming of Magic: The Gathering events would be exclusively streamed on Twitch as part of a partnership between the two companies. On February 01, 2017, Wizards of the Coast made a second announcement detailing their plans for 2017 streaming.

One of the biggest complaints that Magic: The Gathering players have had is the decline in event coverage by Wizards of the Coast - fewer events that aren't Limited or Standard format are given airtime, and what little airtime they receive has declined in quality. This has led some to believe that Wizards of the Coast is moving away from supporting formats that aren't Limited and Standard; to rectify this, Wizards of the Coast is increasing the number of events they're streaming from twenty-two in 2016 to forty in 2017, and covering more events in other formats. This includes the following events:

  • 4 Pro-Tours
  • 32 Grand Prix
  • World Magic Cup
  • Magic World Championship
  • Magic Online Championship
  • Super Sunday Series Championship
These forty streamed events cover the following formats:
  • Fifteen Standard format events
  • Four Modern format events
  • One Legacy format event
  • Seven Limited format events
  • Four Standard/Booster Draft events
  • Two Team Unified Modern events
  • Three Team Limited events
  • Four Mixed format events
The complete schedule for when events will be occurring is available in the Wizards of the Coast article.

In addition to announcing more event coverage on Twitch, Wizards of the Coast will be rolling out subscriptions for the Twitch Magic: The Gathering channel effective immediately. Subscribers will have access to six launch emoticons and a special Planeswalker symbol based on how long their subscription to the channel is; in addition, subscribers will have exclusive access to members of the Magic: The Gathering Research and Development Team in the form of subscriber-mode question & answer sessions.

Stay tuned to TechRaptor for further information on all things Magic: The Gathering.


Quick Take

I'm glad to see more events and more formats being covered by Wizards of the Coast.  It's very embarrassing that their coverage of their own IP has paled in comparison to sites like ChannelFireball, StarCityGames, and other sites.  I do worry that the historically lackluster coverage of events by Wizards of the Coast will lead to more of the same, but hopefully having more events to cover will force the coverage team to get better.

What are your thoughts on the changes to the streaming schedule? Do you think covering more events is the way to go, or should Wizards of the Coast focus on improving coverage quality before taking on more events? Let us know in the comment section below!

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


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| Former Staff Writer

Brandon is a former TechRaptor Staff Writer, who primarily covered news and Tabletop - especially Magic the Gathering.