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By: JXClaytor, Joshua Claytor
Nov 18 2011 9:55am
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Day one of Worlds is in the books.  When this goes live in the afternoon the draft portion of the event will be underway.  Coverage so far of the event has been underwhelming.  In this day and age of live streaming video (Thank you GoodGamesLive) I believe that magic spectators have been spoiled.  Personally I love written coverage and I would hate to see it go away because I have other things going on while events happen.  It is rare for me to have the time set aside to watch the games live.  I know that watching people better than me play magic is a great learning tool and I am thankful for the achieved matches that we can view be it from goodgameslive, starcitygameslive or wotc's coverage.  However because of the amount of video coverage that we get and have access to, it seems absurd to me that the only part of World's that will be covered on video is the final day.  There is plenty of reason to stream this stuff live.  This is the last real worlds after all.  WotC has the resources to do this now, they have the webcast booth in place and they have a wonderfully qualified pool of commentators to pull from (Although no one will ever top Osyp for the pure entertainment factor.)  I just feel like they dropped the ball here. 

With that out of the way what happened this past week?

Lucas Florent was banned.  For life. Made a "joke" about raping Helene Bergeot (Director of Organized Play at WotC).  Apparently it is a huge misunderstanding.  Rape however is not a joking matter.  A lot of talk has gone on in regards to females and magic ranging to the laughable Kastle article about Dating and Magic (I still read it from time to time, it's like catnip for me.) to Geordie Tait's article to his one day future daughter, it has become more and more apparent that females are embracing magic more.  There is no place in the game for these types of threats, and while some see the life time ban as too much, I see it as just about right.  With this move WotC showed that it cares about its employees and its players.  It sucks for Lucas I am sure but hopefully this was a teaching moment for him (More towards the cultural difference, I believe that this would have been avoided had he known there is a rape taboo in America, and no I am not making excuses for him, it was one that he made on gatheringmagic) and one for the rest of the players in our community. Threats are taking seriously, and safety is important! 

Speaking of Helene Bergeot she gave an interview that all but confirmed PTQs moving to the store level starting next year.  I'm pretty sure I have said this before but I hate this move and believe PTQs at the store level will cause more harm than good.  I'll wait to play in some before I pass a real judgment, and that may be for a while since I do not plan on playing in the modern season.  Realm Qualifiers will be going on during that time, and it's a lot easier for me to get there in WOW.  

Moving on we would like to wish Tom LaPille success in his future endeavors as he is leaving Magic research and development to take a similar position with the Dungeons and Dragons Brand.  I think Tom will do fantastic work with D&D and am happy for him! 

Quick Hits

The new premium deck Graveborn comes out today.  This all foil deck features new out for some cards (like Animate Dead) and a first time foiling for others (Exhume springs to mind.)  I am going to pick up two, one to crack and one to keep in the collection of magic stuff that I have created for Cassius.  I have a ton of neat things for him.  Sealed from the Vaults (All but exiled) Sealed Duel Decks (all but Divine vs Demonic) promo cards (still missing a ton of Judge promos) and resin statues.  Hopefully this collection will be a neat thing for him, but it may just show him how much of a nerd daddy is. 

Flusterstorm and Xiaohou Dun, the One-Eyed got the special foil treatment.  It makes sense to me now why Xiaohou Dun was not included in From the Vault: Legends.  The recent judge promos felt like that had a commander slant and this continues the trend from powerful tournament cards like Bitterblossom to more casual cards like Doubling Season

December is coming up soon and with that comes and new Friday Night Magic card.  It's Savage Lands from all reports.  Unexciting yes, but maybe this was selected for Commander players as well. (I'm not bagging on Commander players either, I have my Animar deck built and I love it!)  I would be happy if they make a Command Tower FNM promo.  That's just me though.  

Evan Erwin was in the news recently.  Getting ready for Worlds he was interviewed by a local TV station.  Not about Magic though, instead he was questioned about carry on baggage.  It is not as entertaining as Mark Herberholz on the Price is Right but it's still neat to me!  I also hope that I made the video work. 



Ten Things I Think I Think (This Week)

1.  I really want to see Andrew Cuneo make the top eight of Worlds.  I'd love to see his UW control deck (Which looking at it just reminds me of an old school CMU deck) in the elimination rounds.  
2.  The undefeated decks from the standard portion look I guess for lack of a better word standard. 
3.  Olivia Voldran is a card I would love to see a price chart on for today and today only.  I think she started off hot, but eventually cooled off as the day went on. 
4.  I think wow is in an unhealthy place right now because of the dominance of Horde cards. 
5.  I love the season two masteries on League of Legends. 
6.  I hate the Netflix on my 360 keeps dropping connection and keeps me from watching American Dad. 
7.  I have a crush on the mill deck in Innistrad limited. 
8.  I think reiderrabbit and sandydogmtg are going to meet in the finals of the MOCS. 
9.  I really like pad thai. 
10.  I like Devil's Play in the Wolf Run Red deck.  Not sold on Inferno Titan yet, but play seems awesome. 

What to Watch For. 

Friday is limited day for Worlds, and Saturday is Modern.  Team events and the MOCS are ongoing throughout the weekend.  Sunday is the live webcast you should watch it! 

I feel like I have covered a lot of topics this week, and it's after 1am as I am finishing this.  I have class in the morning, and I will be hanging out with Cassius while I have him.  It's been a good week so far, and I hope that everyone has a great weekend!  Before I go next weeks updates will be sporadic during the Thanksgiving time.  I'll be doing family things and want to give thanks with them!  We'll still have content on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but Thursday and Friday will be off days(We will have content, just not as much)!  Thanks for reading!

3 Comments

Ok, I quit playing over a by Alternate at Fri, 11/18/2011 - 17:30
Alternate's picture

Ok, I quit playing over a decade ago before games were put online. Can you just explain what the worlds are and whether or not you can qualify for them on MTGO?

And if you don't play on paper but qualify for a PTQ, how can you play without the cards?

These may seem like stupid questions, but I really have no idea how this works and I just remember when I had a DCI card and that counted towards something when I was winning tournaments but all it got me was some promo cards.

Worlds qualification by pcjr at Mon, 11/21/2011 - 18:25
pcjr's picture

You can qualify for Worlds on MTGO, that's how this year's Worlds winner made it. He had to get/buy/trade for the paper cards in order to play in the constructed portions of the event.

Hey, nice thoughts here! I by CarrilloG at Wed, 05/23/2012 - 09:34
CarrilloG's picture

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