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By: Paul Leicht, Paul Emerson Leicht
May 24 2011 12:14pm
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Heath & family
Heath & family at the beach.

Introduction
Welcome to the third in my series of Legendary MTGO Personas interviews. This one is with Heath Newton (wilmheath on Magic Online (MODO here on out) , which incidentally refers to Wilmington North Carolina + Heath's name) I am known as Winter.Wolf on MODO so I will use that here to present my questions. Hopefully our conversations here will help illuminate for you, one of the more interesting people in MODO history.

Background

Heath Newton, is the 30 year old proprietor of the MTGO Traders bot chain and card store (http://mtgotraders.com) and also recently (2009-2010?) opened a store in North Carolina called Cape Fear games (http://www.capefeargames.com/) which is located strangely enough in Cape Fear, NC. Here I had the odd notion that the name was based on some weird tangent with the movie. Heath has a wife (Kendall) and two kids (Zeke, age 4; Ryder, age 1) and lives to surf when he is not purveying our favorite games. And by surf I mean waves not the internet. Yes, people do surf on the East Coast, much to my own shock.

In his own words:
 
  "I started surfing when I moved to Wilmington, NC back in ’99 but didn’t really get into it until probably seven years ago. The waves here aren’t great but for the East Coast the waves are actually pretty decent. You can check the surf daily at http://www.wblivesurf.com.  When I lived in the mountains of NC I always thought surfing looked fun and when I decided to move to the beach I finally got the chance to try it and once you get up on your first wave and go down the line there is nothing else like it.  The problem with surfing is you cannot just go when it is convenient as the waves here on the East Coast can be bad for a week and then be great for a 5 hour period in which you have to drop whatever you’re doing and go.  This is due to the type of swell we get here and the sandbars on the East Coast.  I have been surfing in NC, California, Florida, Costa Rica, Peru, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic.  The dream of every surfer is to go to Indonesia but the trip is expensive and it is a very long flight but I hope to one day go there before I get too old to take on the waves there."

Heath hitting the waves.
Heath catching some waves!


Heath grew up in North Carolina (Hendersonville to be exact), is also an avid board gamer (see the pictures below) and also plays Disk Golf (a game of varying sizes of Frisbees played like golf), Croquet and volunteers at his local church leading a group of high school guys.

Agricola at the end of a game. 7 Wonders mid game
Two of Heath's favorite boardgames (Agricola (l) and 7 Wonders (r) (Photos Courtesy of Boardgamegeek.com)

The Interview
Heath has been a force to be reckoned with on the games forums/boards and on the client for a long while now and is well known for his trendsetting bots. In addition he is the owner of this site (puremtgo.com) and pays for it entirely out of pocket. Here is how our interview turned out:

Magic the Gathering

Winter.Wolf: How'd you get into magic? 
Heath: I had some friends back in high school that were into it and taught me how to play back in ’94.

Winter.Wolf: Were you interested in other games before M:TG? 
Heath: Other than video games no.

Winter.Wolf: I assume you still play M:TG; What's your favorite part of the game?
Heath: I’ve always enjoyed fantasy games and strategy games so MTG was a great fit.  I enjoy friendly competition in general so it appealed to me in that sense.

Winter.Wolf: What is your favorite color (typical question I know :))
Heath: When I first started playing it was probably green like everyone else since I was a timmy then.  Now I would have a hard time picking one color since it changes with each new set.

Winter.Wolf: What kind of decks do you enjoy? Not enjoy? 
Heath: I enjoy playing control decks the most and hate playing against control decks or LD, etc though I never quit a game just because someone is playing a deck I do not like. I typically like various / control decks but used to highly enjoy playing rock when it was popular.


The mighty Shivan ruled the skies at one time.


Winter.Wolf: Favorite Card?
Heath: Favorite card ever would probably be Shivan Dragon because it was epic when I was a kid (WW: age 13 for those keeping count).  Now it is totally worthless and unplayable in tourney decks.

Winter.Wolf : Yeah I had a signed Unlimited Shivan back in the day. Sold it for quite a bit to a neighbor who really wanted it. Definitely enjoyed it a lot before bigger, better and cheaper guys came along.

Winter.Wolf: You said you enjoy friendly competition. You ever consider playing Commander in multiplayer? 
Heath: Yeah I play Elder Dragon Highlander (Commander) sometimes at the store but have yet to play it online.  I highly enjoy EDH but do not have my own deck yet.  I typically just borrow someone else’s deck at the shop.  Capefeargames manager Andrew has a really fun equipment EDH deck.

Magic Online (MODO)

Winter.Wolf: How did you get involved in MTGO? 
Heath: The same friend that introduced me to MTG introduced me to MTGO.  His name is Gok Khen, and I quit MTG around ’97 when I realized that I cared more about being cool than enjoying a fun hobby.  In college (when you realize how pointless being cool is again) my friend invited me to check out MTGO.

Winter.Wolf: Were you involved in the initial Beta?
Heath: No.

Winter.Wolf: What was the forums situation like in the old days of BBS?
Heath: Gosh there are a lot of things I really miss about the old days such as the tight group of people that were heavily involved in MTGO.  We had a lot of very crazy characters and some guys that were over the top passionate about the game.  It made for a lot of fun conversations.

Winter.Wolf: You are known to be outspoken on issues on MTGO, how'd that come about? 
Heath: The more I got involved in MTGO the more things I saw that I thought needed to be changed.  The WOTC team does a great job overall but man have there been a lot of extremely frustrating moments.

Winter.Wolf:  Any particularly funny or deep anecdotes?
Heath: There are a lot I can think of but most of them would make the other person involve look bad.  There were some moments during the whole gleemax phase that I wanted to drive down to the WOTC office to see if there really were monkeys running the place.

Winter.Wolf: What kind of things changing for the better did you get behind and push for?
Heath: One of the top things that I still think needs to be fixed is the community.  After (version) 2.5 we have been torn apart by horrible chat support, poor clan support and the even the forums have taken a huge hit.  The MTGO community is a great group of individuals and I feel like WOTC made it a heck of a lot harder for us to communicate in all aspects of MTGO post 2.5.

Winter.Wolf: What did you think of v2, v3?
Heath: I feel like MTGO is always 5-8 years behind the rest of the world.

Winter.Wolf: Anyone gone now from WOTC staff you wish were still around?
Heath: Micheal Fueller aka “Elf”.  I loved that guy and he got taken down during the whole gleemax debacle.  He was one of the best guys at WOTC and they were very stupid to let him go.

Winter.Wolf: Elf is a great person so I have to agree with that. WOTC's biggest loss there. Really too bad because I bet he would have stopped a lot of the nonsense with v3 if they used him properly.
Heath: He was a very straight forward guy and didn’t put up with the higher-ups' bull but that ended up putting a big target on his back for standing up for what he believe was right.
Winter.Wolf: An unfortunate truth that.

Winter.Wolf: Anyone in particular you admire on the WOTC staff?
Heath: Worth (Wollpert) and Chris (Kiritz, Wotc_K on the forums, etc) are really the only two I have any sort of contact with these days.  I think they both do a wonderful job and Worth especially has been a huge asset to WOTC.

Player Run Events
Winter.Wolf: Tell me about the Player Run Events. How did you get started doing this?
Heath: Since I was a very poor player for a long time I love the idea of player run events.  They allow players with a limited budget to compete for prizes.   The pre organizers do an amazing job and I appreciate everything they do.  They have amazing patience as there are always a few players that can be difficult to deal with. (Winter.Wolf: Such as me... :p)

Winter.Wolf: Anything you would like to see changed about them?
Heath: I would love it for WOTC to allow us to create PRE events within the system.
Winter.Wolf: OK so how would that work? Any technical suggestions?
Heath: If they could allow us to create a tournament just like a clan for instance and then the creator could right click on a user’s name and then “invite them to tournament”.  It would work just like the DCI reporter.

Winter.Wolf: If I were a potential Tournament Organizer proposing a new PRE to you, what are the qualities are most important for me to present to you? What are the pit falls I should avoid if possible? Any message you wish to give the community regarding PREs in general?
Heath: I typically only sponsor events that are already running on their own.  That way I know that the organizer is good and has good intentions.  I would tell them that if you play in a PRE that is sponsored to please tell your sponsor thank you and support their shop/bot.

On Trading On Modo
Winter.Wolf: How did you come up with MTGO Traders?
Heath: Honestly? I think my business name is horrible.  I wish I could change it but it is a well-known brand now and it would be a horrible idea to change it this late in the game.  The good thing about the name is it says exactly what we do and helps out with google ranking.  I always thought the name Manaburst was very cool and that was the name of the biggest site back when I first came on MTGO.

Winter.Wolf: Considering the high risk, high level of investment, why did you even consider starting this? 
Heath: I just kind of fell into it.  I took out a $2,000 student loan in college to start the business with.  I had no money to my name when I started it. I started buying sets on MTGO with tickets and then redeeming them and selling them on ebay.  At the time there was a huge difference in the price of a MTGO set and a MTG set so it was very easy to do.  Eventually I started buying collections which left me with a lot of extra singles.  My business partner and I decided to open a website up to sell those singles on, which is how mtgotraders.com came to be.  Here is how our site looked in ’05 which was a lot better than it looked back in ’03 but I cannot find an old screenshot of it back then. http://web.archive.org/web/20050901114611/http://www.mtgotraders.com/catalog

I worked 80 hours a week and lived off as little as $300/month for probably 2 years.  Eventually I ended up buying out my business partner in around ‘06 which is when the business really started to grow because I had a lot more drive since I could do anything I wanted with the business now and all of the profits were no longer split in half.  The past 5 years the business has grown substantially which enabled me to open up a game store here in town which has been something I always wanted to do. 

Winter.Wolf: Do you support your family off of this business?
Heath: Yes my wife stays at home with the kids and we are very blessed to have her here spending time with them.

Winter.Wolf: Now you have 1 buy bot and 6 sell bots. How do you deal with competitors biting on your name? (Tip: I search for 'Official' in classifieds to reduce the list to just your bots and one from mtgoacademy who also uses that term in their ad.) If you search under mtgotradersbot dozens and dozens show up. Does this irk you as much as it does me? 
Heath: I think the bots that do that are very sketchy and it is not the way an honest business should be run.  I have contacted them all and asked them politely to stop but that is all I can really do about it.

People enjoying a day at the store.
People enjoying a day at the store.


Winter.Wolf: I know you recently opened a store (Cape Fear Games in North Carolina to be more specific).
Heath: The store is going well and we are hitting around 35 players for every FNM now. Having a retail store is a lot more headache than I imagined but we have great staff that helps things run smoothly.

Winter.Wolf: Trading on mtgo is so bizarre compared to paper. How does a prospective trader know what to do? 
Heath: The funny thing is I think trading in paper is so bizarre now that I have a store.  It is a 100x harder for me than running mtgotraders so I guess it just depends on your perspective.  Margins on MTGO have tightened up tremendously since I first joined.  A lot of the dealers then were making over 50% margins which has dropped to around 15% now.  The only way to survive on MTGO is to have very high volume and very low overhead.


Not so easy to obtain...

Winter.Wolf: As a player I find interpersonal trading difficult. Do you think there is a good approach to trading online other than using bots? 
Heath: It all depends on how you value  your time.  The amount you can save by shopping around is typically very small unless you’re looking for a foil Force of Will or something of very high value.  If you're one of those guys that just has to get the best deal even if it means wasting an hour of your free time then sure you can put up buy ads in the classifieds that are a tad higher than the dealer’s buy prices but lower than their sell prices.  Bots are great but a lot of people do not realize that if you order on a site like mine for instance that accepts paypal you can save 8% by buying directly through the site.  That savings is pretty substantial and makes it much cheaper than the bots overall.

Winter.Wolf: Are there things players can do to make trading better for themselves and others? 
Heath: Watching which cards are undervalued and stocking up on a few.  I do not condone “speculating” that involves hoarding but buying up a playset or two of a card you suspect if undervalued is a smart move a lot of times.  The best way to find those is watch things like John Medina or Kelly Reid on twitter or watch my hotlist.  www.mtgotraders.com/hotlist/

Puremtgo.com
Winter.Wolf: What made you decide to do this? It seems like every week you are giving out hundreds of credits for people to write content to the site. Doesn't it cost more than it benefits you?
Heath: There was not a single site dedicated only to MTGO articles that was also updated daily and I thought that there should be.  It is very expensive and it does not pay for itself but I enjoy providing the articles to the readers and I think it helps MTGO as a whole.  I have been looking to hire a new designer for the site as it is long overdue for a full overhaul.  Also we have been trying to figure out a way to have more “premier” writers while still allowing new writers to write for us.  We have a ton of great writers and the only one I would single out would be Erik Friborg as I greatly miss him.

Winter.Wolf: Any advice for would-be writers here?
Heath: I’ve had a pretty hard time with puremtgo over the past year as I want to give anyone the freedom to write articles for us but I feel as if some people are abusing that right and we have been posting too many low quality articles. In the near future we are going to reorganize the site where we have featured writers who have been with us for a while and have a good following. We will pay these writers more and pay the other writers less per article.  Once the new writers get a good following they will be able to move up to a featured writer spot also.  The amount we pay out per month on puremtgo is more than most people probably realize and I feel we are not using it as wisely as we could

Winter.Wolf: Who works for you?
Heath: Joshua Claytor is the content manager and Jamuraa does a lot of the website work.  At traders the employees are Gustavo, Josh, Dave, Chad, Greg and Arian.  I still work 3 shifts from 9am-4pm M, Th, Fri and work Tue, Wed at the shop.

The Erik "Hamtastic" Friborg Community Cup
Winter.Wolf: So I voted for you (again, along with Josh and AJ and others) to compete in the CCC. Think you have a shot?
Heath: If WOTC will allow a “dealer” then I think so.  I guess we will have to wait and find out.

Winter.Wolf: Would you go? 
Heath: If I was invited I would not be able to go because I already have a trip planned to Costa Rica to go surfing.
Winter.Wolf: Well I guess that makes the prior question moot then. :p

Winter.Wolf: What do you think of the cup renaming thing?
Heath: I love it.  Was a great move by WOTC.

Winter.Wolf: Speaking of our dear departed friend, you have an article on this site for people to contribute to Tami and Bruce Friborg's financial wellbeing. I hope that is very successful. As you mentioned earlier, you miss him, so do I, and Im sure so do a lot of his fans, friends and community compatriots. It would be nice to see his wife & son get some of that love back.

Contact
Winter.Wolf: If people want to contact you, is it OK for them to email you? do you prefer in game chats? 
Heath: Either way is totally fine.  I love chatting with players in game.

Winter.Wolf: You can contact Heath in game on his own account occasionally, also on MTGO Traders at regular intervals. And you can email him at mtgo AT mtgotraders DOT com.

Wrap up
And that concludes our discussion. I hope this helped shed some light on a well known MODO figure whom we often speak about and interact with on the forums and in client. Thanks, Heath for giving us some of your time and thought processes away from what I know is a busy schedule. And thanks again for puremtgo and the PRE sponsorships and keeping trading online at least somewhat sane.

Until next time,

Magically,
Paul Emerson Leicht aka Winter.Wolf on MODO. You can email me at paul.emerson.leicht AT gmail DOT com.

18 Comments

love me some disc golf! if by whiffy at Tue, 05/24/2011 - 12:23
whiffy's picture

love me some disc golf!

if you ever get the chance heath, i suggest playing in the sothern part of the big island in hawaii.

nothing like playing disc golf on the edge of the world!

Puremtgo remains the best by this isnt the n... at Tue, 05/24/2011 - 15:38
this isnt the name i chose's picture

Puremtgo remains the best site for mtgo articles and mtgotraders the best/cheapest way to get singles.
Thanks!

Nice Article by NO_Keepshooting at Tue, 05/24/2011 - 22:31
NO_Keepshooting's picture
5

pretty neat interview. Now i am certain mtgotraders isn't ran by super robots from outer space ;p

Thanks Keeps :) Yeah Surfing by Paul Leicht at Wed, 05/25/2011 - 12:32
Paul Leicht's picture

Thanks Keeps :) Yeah Surfing Ninja Monkeys from NC instead :p (The monkey part is fake but the rest is true.)

When you revamp the site, by GainsBanding at Wed, 05/25/2011 - 05:15
GainsBanding's picture

When you revamp the site, make it so we can hover over linked card names and have the card image pop up. That would be so nice!

>I am known as Winter.Wolf on by PiDave at Wed, 05/25/2011 - 10:49
PiDave's picture
5

>I am known as Winter.Wolf on MODO

*sound of sudden epiphany*

Now I get it! :-D

Great interview, by the way.

Hehe yeah I guess I didn't by Paul Leicht at Wed, 05/25/2011 - 12:31
Paul Leicht's picture

Hehe yeah I guess I didn't quite make the connection for you in game. I figured you knew but oh well. :)

Thanks.

And after that comment, I by PiDave at Wed, 05/25/2011 - 13:22
PiDave's picture

And after that comment, I went to your myspace and saw your stage picture and it all came back to me! I have such a lousy memory...and my year long hiatus didn't help at all.

Nice to see another DISC by Scartore at Wed, 05/25/2011 - 12:49
Scartore's picture
4

Nice to see another DISC golfer (not Disk, Paul...Nevinyrral makes those ;) on mtgo!

wow down-rated for a typo? by Paul Leicht at Wed, 05/25/2011 - 12:59
Paul Leicht's picture

wow down-rated for a typo? nice...

How do you know I was gonna by Scartore at Wed, 05/25/2011 - 16:21
Scartore's picture

How do you know I was gonna give you a 5 in the first place... ;) (Mistake on my part actually)

Thanks for sponsoring this by silverwyvern4 at Wed, 05/25/2011 - 13:13
silverwyvern4's picture
5

Thanks for sponsoring this website!

An excellent insight into the by Copperfield at Wed, 05/25/2011 - 15:08
Copperfield's picture
5

An excellent insight into the man behind the curtain here. Thanks for doing this interview!

Thanks by mtgotraders at Wed, 05/25/2011 - 15:28
mtgotraders's picture
5
Thanks for the kind comments everyone. If your ever in town I'm always up for a game of magic, board game, disc golf, croquet, surfing or any other random sport/hobby. I love hobbies that are a bit different from the norm. One that I've been getting into lately is crokinole. It's a dexterity game from Canada.
Crokinole!! by gamemaster32 at Wed, 05/25/2011 - 20:42
gamemaster32's picture

--One that I've been getting into lately is crokinole.

And I thought I couldn't like MTGO traders any more. That game is so much fun. A guy who came into the game store I used to work in brought in a board and we would play that forever!!

yeah by howlett23 at Tue, 06/14/2011 - 12:23
howlett23's picture

but powder or no powder...that is the question!! lol..

What I like most about this by Leviathan at Wed, 05/25/2011 - 18:48
Leviathan's picture

What I like most about this article is that is shows you can make a living around Magic. Of course, it looks like Heath put in years of hard work to get to this point, but it certainly seems to have paid off. Thanks again for hosting this site!

nice by mattlewis at Wed, 05/25/2011 - 22:13
mattlewis's picture

Great article! Thanks to Heath for supporting the MODO community. I was interested to hear Heath's thoughts on puremtgo, and I totally agree that something should be done about the quality of articles. A tiered pay system for writers sounds like a good start! I've only written a couple of times for the site, but putting out quality writing is definitely a labor of love. Encouraging the dedicated writers to keep turning out interesting articles is a great idea. I miss Hamtastic!