The Burn Notice (Gatecrash Spoilers)

What better time to talk about what Gatecrash cards have been spoiled than a week and a half before the pre-release?  So far the second set in the Return to Ravnica block is shaping up to be quite the set stuffed with great editions to Standard, EDH, and even Modern.  Being a player who leans on red quite heavily, lets start talking about some cards I can’t wait to include in my seventy-five.

Let’s talk about Firefist Striker:

If there’s one thing I like when I play red, it’s getting my creatures through my opponents blockers, and this guy does exactly that.  Its competition is Ash Zealot, Gore-House Chainwalker, and Lightning Mauler.  While I’d take Ash Zealot over this any day, it’s something I’d want to try out over Chainwalker.  Making a creature not be able to block might be worth the loss of power and toughness.  Not to mention Firefist Striker can block in a pinch.

The next card I’m defiantly adding to my Standard and Modern deck is this upgraded Flames of the Blood Hand:

Okay, so, there’s this little green creature called Thragtusk, that can really ruin a Red Mage’s day.  The two scoops of three-toughness creatures isn’t necessarily the issue.  The problem is gaining back a fourth of their starting life.  Five.  Life.  In most cases, that’s either two burn spells, or a burn spell and a creature getting in, or even losing a creature so you can activate Brimstone Volley’s Morbid ability.  But Skullcrack…  Skullcrack stops all those shenanigans.  When your opponent plays Thragtusk and you play Skullcrack in response, Skullcrack might as well say “Deal 8 damage to target opponent who played Thragtusk this turn.”  Or what about that Sphinx’s Revelation card?  Sure, they draw a eight cards, but they didn’t gain eight life.  And in Modern, this just replaced the much more expensive Flames of the Blood Hand.  Yeah, Flames does four damage, but it costs a whole 1 more mana.  That might not sound like a lot, but for a deck that doesn’t want to see turn five, three mana is a lot to sink into a spell, especially considering in Modern you have a plethora of spells that deal three damage at the third of the cost.

Speaking about Modern Burn decks, I want to diverge to a card that isn’t exclusively red, but when I look at it, red’s the only color I see:

I’ll be honest.  The first time I read this cards first ability, I said to myself, “I don’t even care what the other abilities do.”  I read the rest anyways, and they’re good, and this is easily the best of the Charm cycle from Gatecrash and possibly from the entire block itself.  And in Modern, where you have access to Arid Mesa and Scalding Tarn to get to a Sacred Foundry, this is entirely splash-able in Modern Burn, making it the first outright ‘Deal four damage’ spell in the deck.  With most decks also splashing black for Deathrite Shaman, AKA the best card in Magic right now, it’ll make Burn a force to be reckoned with and a deck everyone should watch out for.

Back to strictly red cards.  Raging Goblin is a card I would run in Mono-Red Aggro right now, because sometimes getting in that point of damage can matter.  How about a Raging Goblin that does…  well…  Anything other than attacking the turn you play him?

This is a pretty straightforward card.  In my mind, this would have been so much better in the previous meta game, where you sighed every time your opponent played Timely Reinforcements.  This card would have made those reinforcements quite untimely.  That’s not to say tokens still don’t muck up a red players day.  Lingering Souls is still a beating sometimes.  Even those pesky beasts Thragtusk leaves behind get in the way.  Not with this goblin out.  Lets live in a little Magical Christmas Land for a second.  You have a Pyreheart Wolf, Firefist Striker, and…  Lets say a Rakdos Cackler that somehow made it to turn six.  Your opponent has a Thragtusk, a Centaur Healer, and just played a Lingering Souls and flashed it back.  Oh man, your opponent’s got quite the phalanx.  This looks terrible.  You untap your mountains, draw your card, then proceed to slam this thing down and attack with everything, making sure Thragtusk can’t block with Firefist Striker and that the tokens can’t block either because of Legion Loyalist.  Sure, you only got in for six damage, but who knows?  Maybe they were at six?  Sure, Magical Christmas Land and that example only yields six damage, but a mage can dream. Oh, and did I mention it gives all of your creatures First Strike and Trample. I didn’t? Oh, it does that too. Best Raging Goblin ever. It’s going straight into my Wort, Boggart Auntie EDH deck.

Almost done, just two cards left, courtesy of the Gruul Clans.  First comes Burning-Tree Emissary:

Thinking back to Urza’s block, free spells worked out pretty well, albeit broken.  While those spells untapped lands, this card simply adds mana to your mana pool.  In terms of Mono-Red Aggro, sure, you only get one red mana, but think of how many two mana spells you have that only needs red mana.  If you play a Rakdos Cackler on turn one and unleash it, and then follow it up with this, using that mana to play a Lightning Mauler, giving the Emissary haste, then swinging into the red zone for six?  On turn two?  Amazing.  Even if you don’t have a Mauler, you can still Searing Spear them.  A card to consider for sure.

Last up, we have some competition for the four drops in Mono-Red.  Check out Rubblebelt Raiders:

Okay, I know what you’re going to say.  “Aaron, this is no Hellrider.  Why would Mono-Red want this over Hellrider?”  And to that I say, “You’re absolutely right.”  Why would you play this over Hellrider?  While this isn’t exactly Hellrider’s replacement, it’s at least another option for Mono-Red players.  Since Hellrider’s price spiked a bit, I could see budget red players including this in their list.  And for the sake of argument, lets say you have two Mono-Red players playing each other.  One has Rubbleback Raiders, and one doesn’t.  Once Rubbleback Raiders attacks and is allowed to gain counters, it’s already out of burn range, and already an unstoppable force against red decks.  This card is defiantly more for the multicolor aggro decks, like Naya or perhaps a new Gruul Aggro deck.  Who knows?

So those are the red cards that I can’t wait to play with once Gatcrash comes out.  I hope I get some early during the pre-release.  Speaking about that, TJ’s Collectibles is doing pre-registration for the Gatecrash pre-release.  If you want to make sure you get to play with your favorite guild, make sure you sign up before they’re all gone!

M13 Prereleases Coming Soon!

It’s getting close to the M 13 Prerelease weekend, and we’ve got a whole schedule of M 13 fun lined up here at TJ’s. Check it out!

M13 Prerelease Schedule

July 7, 2012 – MIDNIGHT Madness – 12:00 am Saturday – Sealed Deck
July 7, 2012 – 11:00 am Saturday – Sealed Deck
July 7, 2012 – 4:00 pm Saturday – Sealed Deck
July 7, 2012 – 9:00 pm Saturday – Sealed Deck

July 8, 2012 – Retail Store opens at 10:00 am
July 8, 2012 – 11:00 am Sunday – Sealed Deck
July 8, 2012 – 4:00 pm Sunday – Sealed Deck

Join us for the exciting release of Magic’s new Core Set! We’ll kick off the Magic 2013 Prerelease Weekend with our ever-popular Midnight Madness event and keep it going all weekend long! We’ve got lots of Magic fun, so bring your friends and come on down.

Entry fee is $25.00 per player.

Our fully stocked retail store will be open for all your gaming needs!

 

Wait- There’s MORE! We can’t stop there!

We’re having a Launch party for M13! For each Prerelease that you play in here at TJ’s, you’ll get one draft entry FREE on Launch Day (July 14 only). Play in all 6 of TJ’s prereleases, and earn 6 FREE booster drafts! Come and join us!

Yes, we’ll be having a Draft Day/Launch Patrty too! Come and join in the fun when the new set goes on sale! We’ll be having 8-player, single elimination drafts all day, so bring your friends and join us!

We’ll see you there!

Grand Prix Boston-Worcester Public Events Schedule

Join us at the DCU Center on August 24th through August 26th for Grand Prix Boston-Worcester! We’ve got a full schedule of public events in addition to the M13 Sealed Deck Main Event. See the posted schedule below, and follow us on Facebook for more updates as the event draws near.

Grand Prix Boston-Worcester Schedule of Events

Friday, Aug 24th, 2012
Noon – Hall opens to the public
Noon – 8:00 pm – Last Chance Grand Prix Trials – Sealed Deck – $25.00 per player

Noon – 8:00 pm – Commander, 8 Player Public Events, and Two-Headed Giant Drafts
2:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Grand Prix Boston Worcester Registration – $40.00 per player
4:00 pm – Standard Constructed TCGPlayer Gold Qualifier Registration – $20.00 per player

5:00 pm – Standard Constructed TCGPlayer Gold Qualifier- $500 in Prize Money
7:00 pm – Sealed Deck “Chase The Promos” $25.00 per player

9:00 pm – Last 8 Player Single Elimination Events Begin

 

Saturday, August 25th, 2012
8:00 am – Hall opens to the public
8:00 am to 9:45 am – Grand Prix Boston Worcester Registration – $40.00 per player
10:00 am Main Event Day 1 M13 Sealed Deck – Deck registration, deck construction
11:00 am to 8:00 pm – Commander, Two-Headed Giant, & 8 Player Single Elimination Events
12:45 Sleep-In Special players check in

1:00 Sleep-In Special players deck build
2:00 pm – Saturday Twisted Booster Draft – $20.00 per player
3:00 pm – Standard Constructed TCGPlayer Bronze Qualifier – $15.00 per player

4:00 pm – Saturday Twisted Booster Draft – $20.00 per player
5:00 pm – Legacy TCGPlayer Bronze Qualifier – $15.00 per player

6:00 pm – Team Mini-Master – $20.00 per team- limit 64 teams-Win From the Vault: Relics

9:00 pm – Last 8 Player Single Elimination Events Begin

Sunday, August 26th, 2012
8:00 am – Hall opens to public
9:00 am to 7:00 pm – Commander, 8 Player Public Events, and Two Headed Giant Events
9:00 am – Main Event Day 2 M13 Booster Draft
9:00 am to 9:45 am– Registration Sealed TCGPlayer Platinum Qualifier – $30.00 per player
10:00 am – Sealed TCGPlayer Platinum Qualifier- $1000 in Prize Money
10:00 am to 10:45 am- Legacy TCGPlayer Platinum Qualifier Registration- $20.00 per player

11:00 am – Legacy TCG Player Platinum Qualifier- $1000 in Prize Money
12:00 pm – Registration TCGPlayer Silver Qualifier- $25.00 per Player

1:00 pm – Standard  TCGPlayer Silver Qualifier- $200 in Prize Money
3:00 pm – Twisted Booster Draft – $20.00 per player

5:00 pm- Twisted Booster Draft – $20.00 per player

6:00 pm- Last 8 Player Single Elimination Events Begin

Sleep-In Special!

Players with 3 byes may register for Grand Prix Boston-Worcester and select the Sleep-In Special.  Players eligible for this option must select the Sleep-In Special when they register for the Grand Prix, and the total cost is $60.00 for the GP instead of $40.00.

Players who select the Sleep-In Special won’t have to wake up early and register their card pool! A pre-registered card pool will be provided by our Grand Prix staff.

Players will check in at the side event area at 12:45 pm. All players participating in the Sleep-In Special will receive their a card pool preregistered by a  judge assigned to the Sleep In Special program. At 1:00 pm, players will receive their   card pool and have 30 minutes to complete the deck construction process. Players will build their deck only at their assigned seats in the designated area, and will do so under the supervision of these judges.

There will be no spectators allowed in the deck building area. There will be no refunds for any reason.

We are offering this exciting new service for our players to enhance their Grand Prix Boston-Worcester experience. You asked for it, now you have it- the Sleep In special!

Public Event Descriptions

Friday, August 24 – 12:00 pm until 8:00 pm – Last Chance Grand Prix Trials – M13 Sealed
Entry Fee: $25

Format: M13 Sealed Deck

32-Player Single Elimination
A new event will start every time we get 32 players!
1st place wins a 3-round bye to Grand Prix Boston-Worcester and 18 boosters
2nd place wins 18 boosters
3rd/4th win 9 boosters

4-Person Commander
Entry Fee: $8.00 per player

Prize Payout: Receive 2 boosters for each player you eliminate.

Friday, August 24 – 7:00 pm – Chase the Promos
Format: Sealed Deck
Entry Fee: $25 per player
Structure: Four (4) Rounds of Swiss
Prizes:
4-0: Seven (7) packs of Magic 2013 and Four (4) Premium Foils
3-0-1: Five (5) packs of Magic 2013 and Three (3) Premium Foils
3-1: Three (3) packs of Magic 2013   and Two (2) Premium Foils
2 wins: One (1) pack of Magic 2013  and One (1) Premium Foil

Twisted Booster Draft
Format: Booster Draft
Entry Fee: $20.00 per player
Structure: 8 Man, Single Elimination
Players will randomly choose 3 booster packs from the Mystery Box and draft at 8 man tables. Who knows what will come out? You’ll have an excellent chance of pulling some out-of-print product from the Twisted Mystery Box! Have some twisted fun drafting and see what happens when you combine sets from all across Magic’s history in the same draft!

Team Mini-Master

Each two-player team starts with 4 boosters and basic land to build 2 decks. After each round, winning teams receive 2 additional boosters to add to their decks.

1^st place team members each receive a From the Vault: Relics box set.

 

TCGPlayer MaxPoint Series- Bronze Qualifier

TCGplayer.com MaxPoint Championship Qualifiers (TCQs) are local events offering players the opportunity to qualify for the $50,000 TCGplayer.com MaxPoint Championship.

Entry Fee: $15.00 per player

Tournament Format: Swiss rounds only

Prize Payout: 1st Place – Playmat + 10 Points, 2nd Place – Playmat + 5 Points, 3rd/4th Place- Playmat + 2 Points, 5th-8th Place – 2 Points

TCGPlayer MaxPoint Series- Silver  Qualifier- $200 in Cash Prizes

TCGplayer.com MaxPoint Championship Qualifiers (TCQs) are local events offering players the opportunity to qualify for the $50,000 TCGplayer.com MaxPoint Championship.

Entry Fee: $20.00

Tournament Format: Swiss rounds only

Prize Payout: 1st Place – $100, Playmat + 20 Points, 2nd Place – $50, Playmat + 10 Points, 3rd/4th Place – $25, Playmat + 5 Points, 5th-8th Place – Playmat + 3 Points, 9th-16th Place – 2 Points

TCGPlayer MaxPoint Series- Gold Qualifier – $500 in Cash Prizes

TCGplayer.com MaxPoint Championship Qualifiers (TCQs) are local events offering players the opportunity to qualify for the $50,000 TCGplayer.com MaxPoint Championship.

Entry Fee: $20.00

Tournament Format: Swiss rounds, top 8 cut

Prize Payout: 1st Place: $200, Playmat + 30 Points, 2nd Place: $100, Playmat + 20 Points, 3rd/4th Place : $50, Playmat + 10 Points, 5th-8th Place: $25, Playmat + 5 Points, 9th-16th Place: Playmat + 3 Points, 17th-32nd Place : 2 Points

TCGPlayer MaxPoint Series- Platinum Qualifier – $1000 in Cash Prizes

TCGplayer.com MaxPoint Championship Qualifiers (TCQs) are local events offering players the opportunity to qualify for the $50,000 TCGplayer.com MaxPoint Championship.

Entry Fee: $25.00 per player- Constructed, $30.00 Sealed Deck

Tournament Format: Swiss rounds, Top 8 cut

Prize Payout: 1st Place: $400, Playmat + 60 Points, 2nd Place: $200, Playmat + 40 Points, 3rd/4th Place: $100, Playmat + 30 Points, 5th-8th Place: $50, Playmat + 20 Points, 9th-16th Place: Playmat + 20 Points, 17th-32nd Place: Playmat + 10 Points, 33rd-64th Place: 5 Points, 65th-128th Place: 2 Points

Two-Headed Giant Booster Draft

Format: M13 Booster Draft- 6 boosters per team

Tournament Structure: Single Elimination

Entry Fee: $35.00 per team

Prize Payout: 1st: 6 boosters 2nd: 4 boosters 3rd-4th: 1 booster

8-Player Single Elimination Events

8-Player Go Infinite Booster Drafts
Entry Fee: $15

Prize Payout: 1st Prize – 6 boosters & free entry into another booster draft at GP Boston-Worcester

2nd Prize – 4 boosters

3^rd/4^th Prize – 1 booster

8-Player Win-a-Box or LOOT!

Available Formats: Standard, Modern, Extended, Legacy, or Vintage!
Entry Fee: $18

Prize Payout: 1st place wins a box OR one Loot Ticket. Loot Tickets can be traded in for items from the Loot Showcase! Items in the Loot Showcase will include boxes and single cards. The more Loot Tickets you win the more valuable the Loot will be!
2nd place wins free entry into another Win-A-Box or Loot tournament

8-Player Mini-Master
Entry Fee: $10

Players each receive two booster packs and as much of each basic land as they need to build a 40-card deck. Players are then randomly paired up against their first opponents. This event is run single elimination, which means that only winners continue on in the event.  The four winners each receive one new booster and rebuild their decks. Players are paired up again for Round Two. After the second round ends, the losers are out and it is time for the finals! Each player gets one more booster to rebuild their deck.
1st place wins 5 boosters, 2nd place wins 3 boosters 3^rd and 4^th place wins 2 boosters each.

TJ Collectibles Celebrates 20 Years

 TJ Collectibles is celebrating 20 years of business, and we’d like to thank YOU, our customers, for giving us the pleasure of serving you for the past 20 years. Please stop in and help us celebrate! The fun begins this Friday, March 16th, at  Friday Night Magic. Come down and play some Magic and share a piece of our 20th anniversary cake! Yes, FREE CAKE! Bring your friends for some good Magic fun!

On Saturday, March 17, we’ve got PTQ Barcelona at 10:00 am to continue the fun! Come and see if you have the skills to win the invite and travel voucher to Pro TOur Barcelona! We’ll also have a FREE Second Chance Event- if your PTQ day isn’t going the way you planned, you can play in a Grand Prix Trial for Grand Prix Salt Lake City. The format for both events is Modern. We’ll also have MORE CAKE! Yes, MORE FREE CAKE!

The fun continues on Sunday, March 18. We’ve got a Platinum TCG Player Qualifier tournament with $1000 in CA$H on the line. Come and win some of Tom Shea’s money!
If comics are your favorite, today’s the day to stop by and meet artist Paul Ryan! He’ll be here at noon to sign autographs and make some sketches.
One more time- you guessed it- FREE CAKE! We’ll have even MORE cake! Come and share some cake and celebrate!

That’s not all! All weekend long, we’ll have a special sale for our comic fans as a big THANK YOU for doing business with us. Check out the deals available all weekend long!

Comic Specials

 

Comic Sets: Buy 1, get one 50% off. Subscribers buy one, get one FREE!

 

New Wall Books: Buy 2, get 1 FREE. Subscriners buy 1, get 1 FREE!

 

Marvel Essentials: Buy 1, get 1 FREE. Subscribers get 50% off!

 

Trade Paperbacks: 30% Off! Subscribers get 40% off!

 

Manga: Buy 1, get 1 FREE. Subscribers get 50% off!

 

Fill a long box for $40.00!

 

Crazy Massive Hardcover Sale~ Titles as low as $5.00 each!

Thank you for a wonderful 20 years! Come celebrate with us!

Grand Prix Baltimore Champion Crowned

Grand Prix Baltimore has come to a close, a winner has been crowned. Congratulations to Matt Costa!

Matt Costa managed to edge out Dave Shiels for the game 3 win to take home the trophy. In case you missed it, all of the GP Baltimore coverage can be found here.

TJ Collectibles would also like to congratulate Adam Snook on his first Grand Prix Top 8 performance! Snook went undefeated on Day 1.

From all of us at TJ Collectibles, congratulations to all of the New England players. Tom Shea would like to offer his personal congrats to the winner and the Top 8 players:

“Congrats to Matt Costa for winning GP Baltimore! The players from New England dominated this event. All of you should be proud of how well you played!”

Well done all! We look forward to seeing you here at TJ’s again soon!

I Want Your Input!

Hey Magic Players,

Every now and again, I get a little stuck with my event scheduling. I want to give you all the best events possible, and I want to give you exactly what you want.

I was looking at the next Magic Prerelease weekend. Avacyn Restored looks like it’s going to be a great set with an awesome prerelease weekend. I want to know what YOU want to see on Prerelease Weekend. I’ll give you a few options:

Alternatively, you can also sound off at my email box. If you’d like to add your thoughts, I can be found at jenn@tjcollect.com

 

November FNM Card Revealed

As part of today’s Magic Arcana on DailyMTG.com, the Friday Night Magic promo card for November has been revealed. Check it out!

Remember, that TJ Collectibles in Milford, MA has a FREE Friday Night Magic starting at 7:00 PM each and every Friday. There is also an optional prize pool available for just $5.00. The more that buy in, the bigger the prizes! The format for the event is the super-popular Standard.

Don’t forget, that TJ’s is running a booster draft at 11:00 PM, too!

Major Changes to 2012 Magic Tournament Structure

Wizards of the Coast announced today major changes to their Pro Play organized play offerings for 2012. This is the third of a series of announcements designed to dramatically modernize and improve their organized play program, starting with the Grand Prix announcement and Planeswalker Points later on. These new changes are aimed at the World Championships, National and Pro Points.

2012 World Championship

From the official announcement:

For the first time since the creation of the Pro Tour, Magic: The Gathering will have a single tournament to determine the best player in the world: the 2012 World Championship.

To accomplish this goal, the World Championship is changing from a Pro Tour-sized event to an exclusive sixteen-person tournament. These sixteen titans of Magic will battle for a $100,000 prize purse at Gen Con 2012 in Indianapolis (August 16-19). The field will be made up of the following players:

• 2011 World Champion
• 2011 Magic Online Champion (determined at the 2011 Magic Online Championship held at Magic Weekend San Francisco)
• Winners of the previous three Pro Tours (Philadelphia, Dark Ascension in Honolulu, and the second Pro Tour in 2012). Pro Tour Philadelphia champion Samuele Estratti is the first invitee to the 2012 World Championship.
• The top-ranked player from each geo-region (Asia Pacific, Europe, Japan, Latin America, and North America) in the Planeswalker Points 2012 Professional Total who are not yet invited based on the above criteria.
• The top-ranked players in the worldwide Planeswalker Points 2012 Professional Total who are not yet invited based on the above criteria sufficient to bring the total number of invited players to the 2012 World Championship to sixteen.

In 2012, a player’s Professional Points total consists of the Planeswalker Points earned at Pro Tours, Grand Prix, and the 2011 World Championships for a twelve-month period (see Premier Event Invite Policy for specific dates), so this will select the players who have done the best against the highest level of competition for an entire year.

“Think of the best Pro Tour Top 8 ever and then double it,” said Aaron Forsythe, Senior Director of Magic R&D. “The live coverage will be awesome as we showcase these players as the masters of the game. The 2010 Player of the Year playoff showed how Magic fans around the world got behind seeing the best play against the best.”

With live video match coverage each round, in-depth player interviews and deck techs, analysis from experts in R&D and the world of Magic, and more opportunities for fans to follow and support their favorite players through social media, the 2012 World Championship promises to be unlike any other Magic tournament ever.

“Under the current system, you can make an argument for several different players being the best in the world,” said Scott Larabee, Magic Organized Play Program Manager. “Is it the Player of the Year, who had the most top finishes but may not have won a major tournament? The World Champion, because that’s what the title suggests? A Pro Tour winner, because Pro Tours probably have the toughest field of players? We wanted a clear answer, and the new World Championship provides that.”

Further details about the format and schedule of the 2012 World Championship will be announced next year.

National Championship

Given the above, there will no longer be a higher level event for the National Championships to feed into, but that doesn’t mean that the National Championships to go away, thankfully. From the official announcement:

National Championships will no longer be feeding a larger global event. With the World Championship moving to its new model, as well as a growing need for individual regions to tailor their organized play offerings, it was necessary to separate Nationals from a larger organized play path. This change helps individual regions develop the right tournaments and events—from Wizards Play Network events up to National Championships—to meet the needs of their region’s player base.

“As the Magic brand grows across the world, Wizards has faced challenges in attempting to apply a one-size-fits-all approach to certain programs, and Nationals was one of those,” said Helene Bergeot, Director of Organized Play Programs and Operations. “It is up to the regional offices to decide on the size and scope of their countries’ National Championships, and we’ve seen that in many of those countries, the pride of being your country’s champion is a primary motivation for players.”

National Championships will be run at a Planeswalker Points multiplier of 8x, the same as Grand Prix. Along with the expanded Grand Prix schedule, Nationals provide a good opportunity for many players around the world to experience a large-scale Magic tournament and earn high amounts of Planeswalker Points in a single event.

Expect to see the complete National Championship schedule by April 2012.

Pro Points & Pro Player’s Club

This is perhaps the most disheartening of the announcement, especially if you identify yourself as a “pro player”:

As previously announced, Wizards of the Coast will be honoring all Pro Players Club travel, invitations, and appearance fee benefits at 2012 Pro Tours, Grand Prix, and National Championships based on a player’s level at the end of the 2011 Pro season. Pro Points will no longer be awarded at events starting in 2012, and the current Pro Players Club will end after the 2012 season (concluding after the last Grand Prix of 2012). Wizards of the Coast plans to replace the Pro Players Club in 2013 with a new system that accomplishes the goal of making sure the most deserving players are recognized through Pro Tour invitations and other rewards.

For 2012, all players qualified for a Pro Tour via Planeswalker Points will earn airfare to that Pro Tour. Players who win Pro Tour Qualifier tournaments will continue to receive invitations and airfare to the Pro Tour.

As with any new system, Wizards of the Coast will be evaluating the effectiveness of the new tournament structure and Planeswalker Points into 2012.

“We are making important changes to our organized play system,” Larabee said. “Planeswalker Points is a major step in this process, and it is important to better understand how the new system will impact the players. That gives us the flexibility to adjust our programs accordingly. While we’re in this transition phase, honoring the 2012 benefits is a priority.”

Added Forsythe, “As we see how the new system works when released into the wild, we’ll be looking at ways to make sure players who represent the game well at the highest level are rewarded for their dedication. The idea behind the Pro Club is sound, but we need to do some amount of reconfiguring.”

The Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards as they currently exist will end with the 2011 season. The 2012 World Champion will replace the function of the Player of the Year award. Wizards of the Coast is investigating a new version of Rookie of the Year award, as well as other new end-of-season awards that are not dependent on the outgoing Pro Points system.

Because the Magic Pro Tour Hall of Fame is tied so closely to Pro Points, Wizards will be adjusting the process by which players become eligible for induction and how the voting committees are determined. More information on the changes to the Pro Tour Hall of Fame eligibility and voting systems will be coming next year as we approach the voting period for the Class of 2012.

You can learn more about these changes, too, from a Q&A with Magic Organized Play Manager Helene Bergeot.

Reaction

It is the opinion of this author that overall, these changes are not good ones – for the community, at least. We do have to bare in mind that at the end of the day, Wizards of the Coast is a for-profit company and they need to do what they feel is best for their bottom line. In a way, this is a good thing: if WotC’s balance sheet is better, it stands to reason that Magic will remain for that much longer.

In the same vane, WotC is a company with a strong, passionate community behind it. If they were to upset that community to much, it certainly is likely they could jump ship if unhappy. Then again, no matter what happens, many people simply continue to play Magic anyway.

That said, these changes seem geared toward the high competitive, more “professional” level players. And yet, what about those folks at home who enjoy reading and watching the coverage; checking up on their friends or their favorite player? Is the new Worlds make up really a good indicator of who the best in the world is? This author is leaning towards not. In addition, a part of what makes Worlds so special is the fan fare it receives between the opening ceremony, the pride of all the National champions, the coverage and more. This seems like a set back. Moreover, cutting the prize purse back from $250,000 to $100,00 is certainly a deterrent. Why would so-called pro players want to play in this event now?

With Nationals, it seems like these events will become more like Grand Prix events with little else changing, which is a good thing. However, while the pride of being the National Champion of one’s country is important, there will certainly feel like something is missing when this event doesn’t qualify one for Worlds or any other event, for that matter.

Finally, we have perhaps the biggest blow to the pro player community – the removal of Pro Points and the Pro Player’s Club. It’s good that WotC has decided to honor current commitments. However, the future looks bleak. It is a surprise that Pro Tour Qualifiers – now the best shot at qualifying for the Pro Tour (which there is technically only three per year now!) – will still have the air fare award; and even though WotC claims that they plan to allocate the resources into some other kind of reward program, it will never be the same and it stands to reason that the rewards will not favor the players so much. Again, this begs the question, why aspire for pro play at all anymore? Why not just play in a Grand Prix, win some money and call it a day?

Overall, a sever blow to the pro community the lasting effects of which are, naturally, unknown at this time. In the end, the aspiration aspect of the game of Magic is, in this author’s opinion, a very important aspect to what makes Magic the Gathering so incredibly great and sets it apart from every other collectible card game on the market place. Hopefully, Wizards has not forgotten this.

 

 

 

Martin Juza Takes Down Grand Prix Hiroshima

Magic Grand Prix Hiroshima is now in the books. After 18 rounds of swiss (including the top eight), Czech Martin Juza is the Grand Prix Hiroshima 2011 champion, having bested Kouichi Tanaka, Rin Satou and Takahiro Shiraki in the finals with his Green & White Token-based deck.

Click the links below for the official coverage. Plus, the top eight deck lists!

Day Two Coverage

Day One Coverage

Top 8 Deck Lists

Top 8 Player Profiles

Innistrad Event Decks – Now On Sale

Today is Friday, October 28th – and that means the long awaited Innistrad Event Decks have arrived and are on sale now! Whether you live locally or far away, no problem; both our brick-and-mortar store in Milford, MA and our online store have these awesome new decks in stock and ready to sell/ship! Only $19.95. Domestic ship only.

Each deck is a ready-to-play, 60-card deck complete with a full 15-card sideboard. These are great for anyone looking to supplement their collection with a new deck and/or those who have always wanted to play the popular Standard constructed format, but never had a deck. Moreover, these decks are perfect for casual Friday Night Magic players, making this product perfect for TJ Collectibles‘ FREE Friday Night Magic.

Deathfed is a black-blue-green deck designed to take advantage of the late game with incremental advantages and taking advantage of Innistrad’s graveyard theme with powerful spells.

Main Deck 60 cards
13  Forest 1  Hinterland Harbor 7  Island 3  Swamp 24 lands 2  Acidic Slime 4  Armored Skaab 1  Birds of Paradise 4  Boneyard Wurm 4  Llanowar Elves 2  Merfolk Looter 1  Splinterfright 3  Viridian Emissary 21 creatures	2  Bonehoard 4  Forbidden Alchemy 1  Gnaw to the Bone 1  Green Sun’s Zenith 4  Mulch 1  Ratchet Bomb 2  Spider Spawning 15 other spells Sideboard 4  Flashfreeze 2  Gnaw to the Bone 2  Mind Control 3  Naturalize 4  Negate 15 sideboard cards

 

Hold the Line, on the other hand, is a mono-white aggressive deck designed to lay down the beats and never stop. This deck utilizes cheap, efficient and aggressive creatures to bring the pain to the opponent as quickly as possible.

Main Deck 60 cards
24  Plains 24 lands 4  Accorder Paladin 1  Champion of the Parish 4  Doomed Traveler 1  Elite Inquisitor 2  Elite Vanguard 4  Fiend Hunter 4  Gideon’s Lawkeeper 2  Mirran Crusader 22 creatures	4  Bonds of Faith 2  Butcher’s Cleaver 2  Honor of the Pure 4  Oblivion Ring 2  Silver-Inlaid Dagger 14 other spells Sideboard 4  Celestial Purge 4  Leonin Relic-Warder 1  Nevermore 3  Nihil Spellbomb 3  Suture Priest 15 sideboard cards