[stnikolauswagne]

My argument would be that it caps out at a certain point where more money stopes equalling higher win%, I have played a lot of high level magic tournaments and budget was never really something that impacted the meta game at the higher levels.

I always compare it to something like golf, my nearest golf club is 1500€/year, the equipment would probably be another 500 or so, does this make golf a play-to-win game or just an expensive hobby?

E: Ironically the thing thats most pay-to-win about magic is the way tournaments used to be ran, being actually competitive at a decent level involves 1-2 trips to different cities on the continent a month, with the occasional trip to a different continent thrown in. In my competitive years I spend like 1k/year on cards, pulled in 2k/year in winnings and spent probably 8k in flights and hotel costs.