So, I have been giving this a lot of thought and I may be attempting to get something out of MTGO that I just cannot get from it.
I have been playing Magic for 23yrs, and I have been playing Vintage for all of those years.
When I started out Standard and Vintage were not very far apart. You could play Balance, Strip Mine and 4 Necopotence in Standard. I played competitively for a bit but not very serious until 2003.
In 2003, I played very seriously in both Standard and Vintage. I would prep for hours and I would play very hard in Standard and I got very close to some big top 8s but I would burn out around 2006.
I took a big job with IBM and slowed way down on Magic until 2009. I came back to Vintage with a fervor and started to travel to local events in Cleveland and Chicago. I did well, I went to Champs in 2010 and after a 4-0 run got 2 loses and dropped. After that, I had kids and took a break for a bit.
My point with this is that I have gotten very serious again and I wanted to play at a very high level. The way that you do that has changed.
Years ago there were weekly Vintage events, some were even sanctions as a weekly events. Then, there were weekly non-sanctioned proxy events where I could practice and perfect a deck.
Now, I have some friends in the area and my brother to test with but no access to much more than a monthly event locally and a couple of other events about 2-4hrs drive away.
The world has changed and everyone is supposedly on MTGO but I am not finding on MTGO what I found years back.
After speaking with some of you I realize that I may come off as inflammatory but I am not doing it with that intent, and I want to be part of something bigger here.
I bought into this game and I continue to spend way too much money on cardboard because I not only love the game but the interaction.
I guess MTGO can help me with some technical stuff but it is not giving me what I want.
I have to stop and admit that the issue may be me and not the platform.
Thanks for all of the great feedback and tips.