We had a fantastic welcome party at the Claim jumper with some of our WotC competition and all of the Community Cup participants that had arrived. Pete Jahn had been scheduled to attend but a double whammy of a delay and a broken plane kept him from joining us.  John (geekdad) is not scheduled to be town until late into day one which left us down a player from the get go.  Luckily enough for us WotC PR has found us an acceptable replacement... I won't spoil the surprise yet, but it's safe to say that we are going to be well covered despite being down a player.  I hope that all works out for Pete and John on their trips, delays are so frustrating.

We had a great time at the Claim Jumper, the food was fantastic, and the WotC folks are terrific hosts so far.  We were all able to hang out, chat, and just get to know each other a bit as this was the first time many of us have met in person.  Walter, Sam, Mike, Alex, Thomas and myself were in attendance along with various WotC competitors such as Marcella, Tolena, and Eric.  We are a bizarre mix of players, but at the end of the day we're all MTG players at heart.  I'm really looking forward to the events today and will keep things updated as we play.

There's a definite 'vibe' throughout the WotC offices about the Community Cup and MTGO in general.  It was hard to go anywhere without seeing screen shots of the new UI, or something MTGO related up on a wall or pinned to a cubicle, etc.  The more I see the dedication and efforts going into MTGO and the new UI and the general feeling of the company towards it I am becoming far more comfortable with the future of our preferred medium. 

Alas, my time is up and I must get ready for breakfast and the first events!