EDITOR'S NOTE: The posting of this article was delayed a few days due to some technical issues with image processing/posting on our end. The article was submitted earlier in the week but we're just now able to bring it on-line.

Know that: these images are EMBIGGENABLE!!

Hola all. Massawyrm here.

This past weekend the MAGIC: THE GATHERING Pro Tour had its only Continental US stop this year here in Austin and I couldn’t pass up a chance to head down to the convention center and check it out for myself. While there, the lovely Tera - one of Wizards’ reps - was kind enough to give myself and the far-more-talented-than-her-slacker-husband MISSUSWYRM (who took all of the photos in today’s piece) a tour while introducing me to a number of the folks behind the scenes at WotC.

For those unfamiliar with M:TG, it is the world’s most popular collectible card game and just about the biggest tabletop game in the world. Having been around since the early 90’s (back when I started playing it) it has had its ups and downs over the years, including the restriction of cards, unsavory secondary market practices and issues with the DCI – Wizard’s in-house tournament organizer. But it has weathered every storm, from its acquisition by HASBRO to the occasional player revolt, to make it 15 years in the industry. And this past year has been the best yet, with September reportedly showing stronger sales than ever before.

The game involves collecting cards - which are sold randomly and in preassembled decks - and building a deck of your own that you draw from to “cast spells” at your opponent. You each begin with 20 life points and the first to zero loses. Spells include those that summon creatures, do damage, give yourself life, draw more cards or manipulate, enhance or cancel the cards of you and your opponent. A typical game lasts between 20 minutes to an hour – although I once played an epic length, 8 hour game that was the result of a double-forked Shahrazad. Ah…the days of being jobless, broke and flush with free time.

Oh look, a press release! Wizards of the Coast just wrapped up its Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour in Austin, Texas where Carlsbad, California resident Brian Kibler was crowned champion. The Pro Tour drew in 418 participants from more than 50 countries. Nearly 1,500 people attended the festivities throughout the weekend where they participated in public events, challenged Wizards of the Coast R&D teams at Duels of the Planeswalkers on Xbox Live Arcade and mingled with famed Magic artists.

The convention center was packed to the gills. Comically enough, all of the restrooms inside the floor of the gaming area had been recommissioned as men’s rooms, and while there were certainly women around, the general sausage fest nature of the Pro Tour forced them to all have to go out into the lobby area to use the facilities, something MISSUSWYRM frowned upon every time we passed the signs explaining the situation.

Most of the gaming occurred in the cattle call area you see above, with tables stretching out across the convention center and hundreds of games being played at once. There was also a special featured match area called The Arena, which had a number of digital displays so you could watch the action as well as slowly changing video wall displays.

Grats to Brian who was only one of two Americans to place in the top 8 (Japan dominated with three placers).

While wandering around, Tera introduced me to a handful of the R&D guys, one of whom challenged me to a game using two of their new theme decks coming out later this month. The Decks feature new arts and two popular planeswalkers Garruck Wildspeaker and Liliana Vess. Needless to say, I got a wee bit mana screwed and had my ass handed to me in a bad way.

Seriously, where the hell is a Dark Ritual when you need one…or 3? It took all of about 15 minutes to mop me up. The new decks sport 6 new “arts”, 1 each of Vess and Wildspeaker as well as four other cards, all pictured below.

Also around was the new expansion for X-Box Live game Duels of the Planeswalkers, but knowing that Missuswyrm could only tolerate watching me play games for so long, I spent just a few moments watching some 12 year old kids school the crap out of some Adults. You know, as God intended.

All in all, it was a fun jaunt that made me wish I’d signed up for some of the side events and spent the weekend on some caffeine fueled, Hunter S. Thompson like excursion into the depths of a Magic: The Gathering weekend. Come on, admit it. That’s a story you’d want to read. Perhaps next year.

Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.

Massawyrm

Ten bucks says even though I’m writing now that the flag in the below pick was a photoshop joke from Harry, some dickcheese is going to call me out for it anyway.