Former StarCityGames.com columnist Richie Proffitt has passed away from an unknown illness. He was 30 years old.
Richie was known as PolarBearGod on various Magic forums and was currently moderating the MTGSalvation Artwork forums. Hello, and welcome to a special edition of Community Profile. Magic the Gathering is going to take a bit of a back seat today, as I want to reflect on one of my friends, Richie Proffitt. Richie was a former columnist at Starcitygames.com, and I was honored to share the site with him when I wrote there. He was a fantastic artist, and moderated the Art Forum at mtgsalvation.com. He was a great person, and in my opinion there is no better compliment.
Richie was a very helpful, cheerful person; and in my mind, he will live on as a larger than life figure. I remember the first time I met Richie as if it were yesterday. It was in 2001 at a PTQ in Nashville. |  |
It was during Invasion Block when I started to play tournament magic seriously. Before this, I had heard of the Pro Tour, and Grand Prix events, and never thought much of them. Regardless, one weekend I decided I wanted to try out one of these Pro Tour Qualifiers. We packed up a car with some other Kentucky mages and made the trip down to Nashville, Tennessee. Two hours later when we showed up at the little Days Inn that the event was being held in I just remember hearing a loud roar.
There was a gathering crowd watching two gentlemen play the game that we have all come to know and love. Richie was one of those people. Man, did he ever have a contagious laugh. I did not really go over and watch, I was not comfortable hanging out with people that I did not know, and really I was nervous. I'd heard of Richie, and recognizied him as a solid player by doing research on DCI ratings. I think at the time of this PTQ, he had one of the highest ratings in the World.
If I remember correctly, Richie was rated as highly as 12th in the World.
A man though, is not his DCI rating.
Anyways, let me get back to this story. The tournament starts, and I'm doing pretty well. In fact it ends up that I have to win my final round to get in to the top eight. I've paired against one of my friends, and by the time we get to game three, we're the only game in the room going on. I end up winning that game, with some tight play of my own and a critical mistake on my friend's part, and when it's over, I shake hands with Barry, and rush out of the hotel room. I was pretty shaken at this point. I was not entirely sure that I would make it in to the elimination rounds. Richie sauntered up to me (Well, sauntered may not be the right word. He was a big guy.) and told me that I played the third game very well, and if I made it in then I deserved to be in.
For someone who had not taken tournament magic seriously, this meant a ton. I mean one of the most recoginized players in the room took time out of his own top eight preperation (And he had a lot of time, as he did not play the final round of the swiss. He was in the top eight regardless of a win, draw or loss, and had made the decision to help out Craig Wescoe qualify for the Pro Tour by scooping to him.) to come over and offer some guy some words of encourgement.
Turns out I would face Richie in the first round of the top eight. It was the Goblin Trenches mirror match, and I tried my very hardest to give the match away. Somehow his deck just did not want to see him move on to the top four. After the match I got a firm handshake from him, and a sincere good luck. This came from a mana screwed opponent, and I am sure he meant what he said.
Richie stayed around to watch the rest of the top eight play out. When I got to finals and lost he was one of the first people to tell me that I could be good at this game.
As the years moved by, my own health issues caused me to travel less and less, but I always looked forward to taking trips to Tennessee. To be honest, the events there were not the best ran, but the people involved were just tops.
The Magic community lost one of its' own this past weekend. Richie was loved by his friends and his family, and by a community that was impacted by his art. He was thirty years old. He was a friend, and I'm going to miss him.
I know I am not the only person that has kind words for him, but I want to thank him.
Richie's writings can be found at starcitygames.com
http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/archive.php?Article=Richie+Proffitt
I recommend reading the powerful "A Little Bit More Thankful"
Richie's art can be found at mtgsalvation.com
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=2881322#post2881322
For more information in regards to potential benefits for the Proffitt family, please visit Starcity and Mtgsalvation.com.
Starcitygames.com Memorial Tournament
http://forums.starcitygames.com/viewtopic.php?t=310569
Mister Waynes' Memorial Tournament
www.mrwaynes.net
Thank you.
9 Comments
I've known you for over 10 years dude. It came as such a shock. Any time you were around you were just infectious, people just thrived of the laughter and joy you brought. You were truly the greatest player I have ever had the honor to play against.
To Shaun, I 'm so sorry man. I can't imagine what you are feeling, I will definately see you Sunday.
Much Love
B. Smith
I've said goodbye to you in a few places now, but I have barely stopped thinking about you since you died, Richie. It's been great serving the community as moderator alongside you and I'll always remember your artwork, your love of the game, your friendly and giving personality, and your enthusiasm for the Rumor Mill. Wherever you are now, if you are anywhere at all, I hope it's awesome and I hope you're playing Magic and drawing. You'll be remembered as long as there's still Magic on Earth, and possibly longer.
rancored_elf
Daron Rutter
This is kind of a shock to me. I was talking about comics with Richie just a month or so ago. I had met him before, but went up with Yoshi to play a tournament early in the year or maybe last year and got to spend some time with him. He called me for tech support (his computer was having problems) and I remember spending a couple of hours helping him out. He's is/was a very nice guy and always had interesting stories to tell. Really going to miss you man.
Yeah, I went X-0 drop after Richie scooped to me in the final round of that PTQ, and I Q'd on rating. It sucks that he was never able to travel to the pro tour due to health issues. I agree with Shaun Mack's assessment of Richie as 'the best player never to have played in a pro tour'. He was a great magic player but more importantly a great person. I remember in between rounds he would always ask people if they wanted to trade and if they declined he would jokingly say "Oh I understand, you don't like trading with fat kids". He was always great times to talk to and someone you couldn't NOT root for to do well in a tournament. I will certainly not forget him, and my sympathies go out to everyone else who is coping with this loss. We all miss you Richie.
Craig
I am sorry I had not read it all :(
Seeing how the MTG community has responded to losing someone like Ritchie kind of puts things into perspective. There's so much more to this than just a game. We're a community in every sense of the word. I remember reading articles by Ritchie as I was just learning about MTG and everyone I've seen mention him has had nothing but good things to say about him. He will truly be missed by many.
My prayers and wishes go out to his family at this time.
dude, i dont know you in any way but ive read some stuff and saw ur art and
man you know, its kinda hard to see stuff like this happen.
you have my respect and deserve to be remembered as a true magic player
may your soul rest in peace
I never met the guy but did exchange some posts with him on mtgsalvation.
All I can say is that he was always friendly and willing to help, a really great community builder.
Gave a lot of his time to helping people better appreciate the game.
Rest In Peace PBG, and to his family and close friends my sincere best wishes.
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