Like a Kamigawa flip card, we're ready to flip this calendar from 2009 to 2010... okay so that was weak sauce, but just under a year ago I wrote about 2009. I listed goals and I made some predictions. I liked that article, and so I'm happy to make this a new tradition. I'm going to look back over my predictions and goals for 2009, then share my goals for 2010 and make some predictions. See how this works?

2009 Predictions:

1. 'It will not be the best year of Magic.' - WRONG - This year rocked in many ways for Magic. From Duels of the Planeswalkers to record GP turnouts to Magic 2010... yeah I screwed that one up.
2. 'LSV and Cheon will continue to win.' - CORR-WRONG! - LSV had a GP win in Los Angeles and remained among the top players though he didn't continue his 2008 domination. Cheon though was not to be seen, he took a job and retired from active competitive play at least temporarily.
3. 'The Pro Tour format will be a success' - CORRECT! - Definitely true. Though some players are not big fans of it, there has been almost no negative response to be seen.
4. 'Faeries domination.' - WRONG - Jund is by far the story of the year. It overtook Faeries even before ZEN knocked Lorwyn out.
5. 'Japan as MTG Team champion.' - WRONG - China took the championship but Japan wasn't even in the top 4 of the team competition. Though Yuuya Watanaba did take Player of the Year.

So I scored 2.5 / 5

2009 Goals:

1. Triumphant Return of Articles - CHECK - I think we can all agree that this one was accomplished. I found a stable of excellent writers who have contributed hundreds of pages of articles over the year and will continue to bring insightful and extraordinary content to ManaNation readers.
2. Change Magic Coverage - FAIL - I didn't get to implement some ideas I had, hopefully they will still come to fruition. So that's two years running that these ideas didn't materialize, without revealing too much - obviously it's big :). 2010? Maybe.
3. Live Show - FAIL - I had planned to a UStream show from Pro Tour Austin but the wireless connection proved troublesome. Still hoping to do it in 2010.
4. More Draft Footage - CHECK - We got multiple draft videos from premier events and I've posted the Brian Kibler draft video, but I still have two more that I haven't posted yet. They're coming though! Martin Juza is in the next week or so.
5. Site Upgrade and Redesign - HALF - I decided not to go with any major redesign, instead performing a metric ton of upgrades and modifications in the background.
6. Travel More - CHECK - While not a marked increase in travel, I did make it to a Pro Tour and Grand Prix this year.

Here I did better, 3.5 out of 6. - I can be pretty happy with this. ManaNation did a lot of great stuff and grew exponentially from 2008.

Things I didn't plan for but made 2009 that much better:

1. Deepening the CoolStuffInc.com relationship - They were our first sponsor and 2009 made it fate that we would strengthen that relationship with my joining their team.
2. Zendikar - H-O-L-Y C-R-A-P. Zendikar was a wild ride. People were like junkies screaming for their next hit. When we debuted the first four Zendikar cards traffic went nuts! Then we got the awesome Vampire Nighthawk spoiler and that was awesome! Then TREASURE! Mind = blown.
3. Web comics - Along with ManaNation the podcast, I had envisioned a web comic to go along with it. We launched not one, but two! T:apped, a webcomic drawn by my buddy Andres Garcia, who is an amazing artist! And XMTG, inspired by the XKCD web comic, it is done by me with my enviable Photoshop skills.

So let's now look at my 2010 Goals:

1. Continue to expand and improve our Articles - I've got some big plans for adding to the writing staff and improving the site experience for you all. Should be exciting!
2. Change Magic Coverage - I'm carrying this one over from 2009, which was carried over from 2008 sort of. I've got to make it happen. I just have to.
3. Live show - I still want to make this happen. Either as a special from location, or as a regular sort of thing. We'll see.
4. Site Redesign - As we have increased articles and Magic news, the site design is no longer quite what we need.
5. Merchandise Returns! - When ManaNation launched I did a limited run of T-shirts, simple, screen printed, and quickly sold out. I've since had many many inquiries about their return. And 2010 is the year. I want to make shirts happen, maybe some other stuff too!

Predictions for 2010!

1. StarCityGames's 10K open Series proves massively successful - While only limited to the US, it is the groundwork for other vendors to begin really pushing tournaments as a way for advertising and additional revenue.
2. Top players of 2010: Kibler, Watanabe, and Conley Woods - Kibler has been doing very well. Watanabe's success can't be questioned. And Conley Woods has been continually rising and pushing his way into the upper echelon of players, I think 2010 we'll see him with a big win.
3. Magic podcasting / blogging continues to explode - 2009 saw a sharp increase in bloggers and podcasters, and I predict it to continue in 2010.
4. A new website will rise to power - I'm not using this as a veiled way of saying ManaNation will dominate. I'm talking about a site, either a small one that will launch into the stratosphere, or a completely new one that we don't know about. I've just got this feeling.
5. Another year of record attendances - I expect GPs to continue to be highly attended.