Update on writing Magic content:

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Hey everyone,


As you may or may not know, I (and several other writers) have been let go from Starcitygames, which means that, for the first time in over fifteen years, I do not have a place to write for. In my tenure as a weekly writer, I’ve written over 600 articles, which amount to over two times the entire Harry Potter saga’s worth of words, and I’ve really enjoyed doing that, because I love writing; I like having a platform to express my thoughts, I like teaching and helping people improve, I like the challenge of trying to convey some very complex concepts in simple terms that can be illustrated and visualized by readers of different skill levels. And, honestly, I think I’m quite good at it. Of all the forms of content I’ve dabbled in (videos, podcasts, streaming, etc), writing is by far the one I enjoy the most, and it’s also the one I’m best at.

Once I got the news from SCG, I reached out to several different stores and websites, but I was unfortunately unable to reach a satisfactory deal with any of them, which posed a problem, because I’m not at a point in my life where I can dedicate the time and resources to write quality regular articles without remuneration. I’m not going to bore you with details, but the pandemic was particularly tough on me and my family, and it caused a period of maximum spending and minimum gains. The revenue I got from writing articles was very important, and if I’m not generating this revenue, then I need to dedicate my time to something else instead.

So, as much as I love writing, and I would like to continue being able to write, I need help if I’m going to do that. I’ve decided to try to become an independent writer, which means I will rely on support from my readers to cover editing costs and my own work.

I’ve toyed with several forms of monetization, including mailing lists and subscriptions, but in the end I decided that I wanted to keep my articles open for everybody, because I really value being able to reach people. Instead of charging for a subscription, I will rely on Patreon (patreon.com/pvddr) to be that source of income. Everyone will have access to my articles regardless of whether they are supporting me monetarily or not.

We will start with an article every two weeks, and then I will set stretch goals where this number goes up depending on how much support I get, gradually going up to weekly articles and potentially videos and bonus articles. Simply put, the more I can make with articles and other forms of content, the more time I am able to dedicate to that versus doing something else.

So, if you’re a person who likes reading my articles and would like to continue doing so, I urge you to support me if you can. You will have access to the articles regardless, but without support they will not exist for much longer, because I cannot justify dedicating so much if I’m not getting any return.


There will be some perks on the Patreon, but the gist of it is simply that you want to support my work so that it can continue. I will try to be more active on the Patreon-exclusive Discord, however, and the more content I create the more opportunity there will be for the Patrons to participate (whether that is sending questions/decks, choosing topics and so on).

So, what can you expect from me? Basically an assortment of things. The good thing about writing on my own is that I’m not beholden to anyone else’s schedule, and I can write about whatever I think is important at the time. I want to write:

- General theory articles about important points that apply to all formats.

- Deck guides for decks that I play in tournaments, trying to focus on whatever formats and decks are relevant moving forward

- Set review type articles when new sets come out

- Gameplay situations that we can discuss

- Format overviews (“what’s good in Standard” type of thing), again focusing on whatever is relevant - for example if there’s an Arena Open the following weekend then I will try to talk about that format.

- Opinion pieces on big changes (ban announcements, etc)

- Update of older, classic articles with more relevant cards and concepts

- More casual articles such as listicles


You can expect articles to be published on Thursdays (though again the cadence is going to depend on how much support I end up having). I will be posting them on Patreon for now (though, again, you do NOT need to be a Patron to be able to read them, they will be open).

If you are interested, please go to patreon.com/pvddr.

Thank you,

PV

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