2024 Annual State of the Chicken
Written by Robert Wilson of Buffalo Chicken Dip Legacy
In past years, I’ve given an update on the state of Buffalo Chicken Dip Legacy (BCDL) — what went well, opportunities for improvement, and where BCDL is headed in the upcoming year.
I appreciate everyone who supports BCDL, so thank you; whether you attended events, helped source prizes, did coverage, or assisted in some way to make BCDL work. Thank you to the great people who worked with me on broadcasts, events, and spreading the word,whether in an article, podcast, sponsored content, or just word-of-mouth. Getting people registered and awareness of the event up are the most significant time commitments for BCDL.
BCDL is a labor of love; it doesn’t generate profit. Every dollar that comes in goes to the event or is used for future purchases like venue deposits, streaming gear, artist commissions, etc.
2024 was a big year for BCDL and me personally. I want to discuss what went well for BCDL in 2024, opportunities for improvement, and then goals for 2025.
2024 Successes
When I initially started BCDL, I thought “how do I make BCDL something that lives beyond Robert Wilson?”
In 2024, I had a professional opportunity requiring I move from Columbus, Ohio to Houston, Texas — I couldn’t pass it up. I created BCDL's event model such that it could be duplicated and used by others. Finding how to continue BCDL in Columbus was important.
Carey Banyas and Matt Strand stepped up to continue running BCDL events in Columbus with The Warp Gate. I’m grateful BCDL continues in Ohio to huge success. I’m happy the passion and quality of BCDL is as high as ever.
I was happy with BCDL Legacy Open 3's planning during my move from Ohio to Texas and how it ran. When I chose the venue, it didn’t even exist.
I proposed the event to The Warp Gate to vend it. They revealed their secret that they were moving before it was announced. When I agreed to hold the event at their new space, a lease hadn't yet been signed, and construction hardly started by the time I moved in in early June.
I trusted Steve and his vision for a new space, and it didn’t disappoint. Planning a large event at a new space that I couldn’t see or go to required a lot of trust. It was the first large event in The Warp Gate’s space. Running a large Saturday Open and Sunday BCDL event was the perfect call for that space.
After nearly two years in the making, BCDL Legacy Open 3 featured Kai Sawatari. Seeing the BCDL community share their love for the format and embrace Kai was spectacular. Everyone was welcoming everyone and Kai received a ton of engagement from a relatively small event. Hanging out with Kai was a joy; I look forward to next time.
BCDL commissioned Kai to create a special Eldrazi Spawn token which players received at the BCDL Legacy Open 3. BCDL commissioned two special tokens from MTG artist Jeff Laubenstein for 2025. One of which has yet to be revealed at the time of this article's publication.
Running the first BCDL event outside of Ohio and expanding the BCDL community to Texas was successful. I quickly discovered Texas has an eternal Magic community locally in Houston and in Austin. They’ve embraced BCDL and I’m happy to continue organizing these events I love. I’m appreciative of the eternal communities of Texas and, in particular, the Romancing the Stones in Austin for making BCDL Texas a success.
Opportunities for Improvement
While 2024 was great, there were setbacks. Financially, the Legacy Open 3 was a failure — the largest event loss in BCDL’s history as well as the lowest attended Open event BCDL has run. Attendance was approximately 70 players and below the breakeven point (approximately over 80 players).
The breakeven was set at the lowest historical attendance. Going from just over 80 players at Legacy Open 1 to 100 players at Legacy Open 2 to approximately 70 players at Legacy Open 3 was unexpected.
As a result, BCDL took an approximate $800 loss; I was personally out a Scrubland. Fortunately, BCDL and Robert Wilson are okay since as other events made up for the loss. This isn't mentioned for sympathy or to get anything from the community. Rather, it's to assert the financial risk of running Magic events and reiterate how it is not a profitable venture without buying and selling cards.
Star City Games (SCG) and Nerd Rage Gaming (NRG) can run their traveling tournament series because they sell singles and buy product to sell on their sites. I attribute low attendance largely to format sentiment and how much people disliked Grief, Psychic Frog, and the format at that time.
Live Streaming
Live streaming is hard. Equipment is expensive. Finding people to run it who are familiar with OBS and Magic isn’t easy. I usually handle set up and let someone else run the event because I prefer to play (poorly) in BCDL events (I still pay the entry like everyone else).
BCDL is constantly moving equipment, resulting in wear and tear from venue to venue. You don’t know fully understand how to produce a live stream at a venue until you've worked in that venue. BCDL usually has two hours to set up before an event goes live. During that time, BCDL must also check players in, have decklists submitted, and everything else a tournament requires.
Mornings of events are mad dashes to get everything, including the stream, set up, which often involves troubleshooting inevitable technology issues. Ultimately, BCDL is making strides in its stream quality, albeit slowly, but in a fiscally responsible way.
Looking at the quality of streams produced by Anuraag Das and Jeph, SCG, and NRG, it’s hard not to feel behind. Given our limited resources, we’re making progress. Those talented people make live event streaming look easy, but I assure you, it’s not. I’ve never put more effort into losing money, but streaming has a lot of indirect benefits worth the effort and expense.
Goals for 2025
I’d like to keep a steady quarterly cadence of BCDL events in Houston and Columbus. Additionally, the plan is another two-day Legacy BCDL Open with Saturday featuring a premium prize/premium entry Open and Sunday featuring a normal 64-player cap, $55-entry BCDL.
BCDL Legacy Open 4 goals include the is winner receiving an highly played (HP) Mox Jet — The Warp Gate asked about using the Mox Jet as a prize and offered me a price that works. BCDL Legacy Open 4 will be held in Columbus, Ohio, on a date to be determined.. The plan is to announce a date around April, allowing for at least three months notice for traveling planning.
I’ve received much interest in the Southwest regarding a second Vintage Open. I did not do one in 2024 due to my move and the return of NYSE. Before running the First Vintage Open, I spoke with Nick Coss and got his blessing. I’m happy NYSE has returned and may be back for 2025.
My potential plans include potentially running another large Vintage event after NYSE and Oklahoma Land Run (historically June and July respectively) in the Fall in Houston after those events but before Eternal Weekend. That puts us in September or October. Again, more to come. I hope this pans out.
I’d like make further strides with event streaming quality. We recently tested a two-match camera setup to have a backup match to reduce dead air. The test went well; we’ll likely continue using it.
We previously used face cams for other events. We stopped that in Texas due to technical issues but will likely bring it back. Including timeshifted matches is the goal, but involves using a second computer to record the backup match in its entirety and then play it back on the main stream.
We’re approximately $1,000 in equipment away from this goal. BCDL would like to spend money to have software written to manage in match life totals at the table. We previously used a stream deck setup but that had issues. I hope these improvements can happen in 2025.
I’m happy with how 2024 went and look forward to a successful 2025. I want to reiterate how much I appreciate the BCDL community: thank you to everyone for all the support.
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Featured image: Buffalo Chicken Dip Legacy