As you all witnessed towards the end of 2008 this site fell largely quiet aside from the new episodes. The forums kept on but for the last few months my life was consumed by a new job, personal issues, and other projects.

To you, the fans who remained through it all, I want to say thank you.

We get some very nice and quite humbling feedback and email. I have a number of fans IM me from time to time (AIM: trickjarrett), and I try to chat with them when I can but I'm not always able to due to work or having accidentally remaining logged on when I'm not at the computer. It was the fans who really brought me around and made me realize I've been squandering away some opportunities here.

For ManaNation, I'm returning my focus to it and to have a drive to make it succeed. It still isn't my full time job, though my girlfriend sometimes feels like it is. (I love you K!) With better time management and motivation driving the show once again, let's discuss my goals for ManaNation in 2009.

1. The Triumphant return of Articles.

   It's been over a few months since we last published an article. I've received a few submissions from time to time, but with all due respect to the authors few were worth publishing, others got lost in an ongoing email debacle. I agree with something Adrian Sullivan said in our interview from Hollywood: that too many writers wrote about Magic simply to read their words on the screen, rather than to add to the world of Magic. As such I haven't published much of anything, because I didn't have anything worth publishing.I'm going to start up some new initiatives to drive authors and generate better content. On top of that Lee and I are committing to writing regular, high quality, articles about this game we love.

2. Change Magic Coverage. Again.

   ManaNation's appearance on the Magic scene with the high production values, caused other shows to sit up and take notice. Even the Pro Tour coverage had to up its ante some. And in 2008 I had plans to do something big but I dropped the ball on it. This year though I plan to do it and go bigger than before. Hopefully, you'll all like what you see and make it possible for us to do it again. And again as we continually raise the bar.

3. Live Show.

   Video podcasts have made it a tradition to record live shows at events and such. I want to do this. One idea which we entertained early in the show's beginnings was going to different stores and filming episodes there. We're still working out the logistics though.

4. More Draft Footage.

   One thing which spring-boarded us was our early footage of drafts that we got for the show. Footage of Paulo Vitor Doma da Rosa, Gabriel Nassif, and Mr. Herzog drafting is still among our most downloaded episodes, and this year I want to bring more of that to the fans. The new formats for Pro Tours such that there is drafting at every event will make that much easier and hopefully doable.

5. Site upgrade and Redesign.

   I did the design largely from another theme out there, and I'd like to update and improve on the site's usability. I'm keenly aware of how cluttered I've made the front page and want to find a more streamlined and user friendly design. I'm hoping to debut it in March of this year.

6. Travel more.
   

   I want to go to more events, but due to my life I haven't really been able to. Well this year I'm hoping to make it to more events and meet more fans of the show. We're going to make it to Pro Tour Austin barring any unforeseen circumstances, of course we'll be at Grand Prix Tampa Bay (hosted by our friends Unity Entertainment) but past that nothing is definite. I'm looking at the schedule and trying to see just what we can travel to.

Trick's Five Predictions for Magic in 2009

1. It will not be the best year for Magic. I think that we're going to see a record turnout to one of the European GPs and an overall raised level of status for the game but we'll see a bit of a rough patch in terms of sales and growth.
2. Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon will continue to win. They're both at the top of their game. LSV with his PT and GP wins, Paul with the USA Team win... they're simply going to be behemoths at the table.
3. The New Pro Tour format with both Constructed and Limited is going to be a huge success. Players and fans are going to love the dual nature of the events. Some Pro players will dislike it, but on the whole it will have a much more positive effect.
4. Faeries will continue to dominate standard until it rotates out with the next block 'Live, Long, and Prosper.'
5. And though it's quite quite early to say it, I think Japan will win the Magic the Gathering Team World Championship. They were hungry for it last year and the US beat them in the semi-finals, so this year they're going to devote their entire engine to attaining that goal.