In just a few short weeks 9 members of the MTGO community will be traveling to Renton, WA to challenge Wizards of the Coast in the 2nd annual Community Cup Challenge. If you haven't met this years participants I strongly urge you to make you way over to several links provided and wish them luck. This year the team of 9 will be participating in standard and commander.
Last year I was one of the participants in the first Community Cup Challenge.
So what does this years alumni have in store? There really is not a single word in the english dictionary that can provide anyone with a fair comparison to the experience I had there when I visited Wizards of the Coast's home office.
WotC's geniune hospitality was absolutely top notch. I met SO many amazing behind the scenes people but I wanted to share with each of you some of my thoughts, impressions and experiences with each of them.
Randy Buehler sat a couple of chairs beside me during our first night's dinner. I was such in awe I kept on thinking in my head "This is Randy Buehler coming to you live from the tournament center" over and over and over. I was absolutely star struck. He helped me through what I thought was going to be my worse event the IPA draft.
Aaron Forsythe who greeted all of us on the first morning of the tournament. In fact I got to sit right beside him as he drafted. This guys uber smart and it exhumes from him but not in an intimidating way.
Mike Gills IS an amazing community host. He made sure that all of us were well fed, slightly rested and that we knew we were losing, lol. No no I kid. I'm sure the haunting echo's of MULTIBALL can still be heard throughout the office. I know WotC is feeling the sting of their generosity. In fact, sadly to say, if it weren't for the offerings of MULTIBALL, the community would have in fact lost that tournament. But, Mike Gills has a soft spot for the MTGO community. He's the one who came up with MULTIBALL idea. Thanks to incredible clutch play from Bubba0077 who had to endure a gauntlet of 3 sealed format's, MULTIBALL helped us win 398-341.
Lee Sharpe is a sneaky little guy lemme tell ya. I had a plan formulated where I was gonna ask, beg, plead and bribe my way to getting some of the vast knowledge of data that WotC has at their finger tips. Funny story about Lee though. His picture on Twitter looks NOTHING LIKE HIM.
Here I was talking to this guy (I didn't catch his name but he told me he was in "accounting"). So I started talking to him about my plan to come up with this data system where I could publish tournament results and tie those results into players profiles on MTGO. It was only a few hours before the end of the first game day of events that the guy I told this plan to turned out to be, yep you guessed it, LEE SHARPE. That little booger, I swear. I fell for it hook line and sinker let me tell you. But Lee was absolutely awesome. In fact he was so awesome that he took that idea and ran with it. Now the entire MTGO community has our own Event Coverage. Good idea, wasn't it :)
Tolena Thorburn and Eric Sorensen, for me, were like my sister and brother there; I was clearly the middle child though. Little Syster and Big Brotha were a formidal team combination that was unstoppable in the razz-a-ma-tazz department. They kept the team energized with their quick-whit comments and their unique 2hg 1v1 play style.
Alexis Janson... OK first, do you know who this chick is? If you don't.. you should read this first. That's right... she's the one that won the dream job as a card designer back in 2006's Great Designer Search. Needless to say she is absolutely ruthless and is INSANELY amazing at this game. Want proof?
Yes, that's her smashing MY face with a 28/28 Baloth Woodcrasher
Mike Turian has got to be one of the NICEST guys I've ever met. He has this amazing smile and presence about him. In fact it was both Randy Buehler, who helped me with my IPA draft picks and his playing skills that allowed me to beat both Alexis and Lee in the IPA draft. He even took time out of his busy schedule for me to show him this sites deck database which he said was "absolutely awesome" and patted me on the back. <tear drop>
Matt Tabak has a secret weapon. This dude is freakishly hillarious. He had me cracking up non stop. It got to the point where when he entered the room you just started laughing and he'd be all like, "What I didn't say anything". So make sure you guys pack your funny bone and a few tissues.
So I say to the Class of 2010, I wish each and every one of you the best of luck. If you've never been to WotC HQ before, you're in for the experience of a lifetime. But remember, you're there to WIN WIN WIN. Do the community proud and keep us undefeated!!
Tweaker
