Locations
From time to time, I come up with great ideas for a theme that will encompass some members of this community and make for a great, cohesive article. Other times, I’ll be having a conversation about Magic with someone, usually Ryan Bushard, and something that person says will click, giving me a great idea out of it, and I’ll get to writing. Still other times, I’ll receive a great suggestion from a reader, and I’ll put together my article based on that.
This week isn’t one of any of those. This week, I was aimlessly durdling on Twitter when it occurred to me that I really wanted to write about Adrian Sullivan for Who to Follow, but I wasn’t sure where to slot him in. While that was occurring to me, I realized I’ve been looking for an excuse to write about Brian Kibler for a while (the reprinting of Armadillo Cloak brought that all home, I guess). I was stuck. I had no idea for a solid thematic umbrella, and it was getting to be time to start writing something. This is GatheringMagic, folks. Ain’t no partial credit here—you go hard or go home. It’s serious business (although Adam Styborski would probably say it’s serious fun, not serious business.) Regardless, I decided to throw a Hail Mary pass and see if any of my Twitter followers could come up with a way to thematically unite Brian Kibler and Adrian Sullivan.
I want an excuse to write a "Who to follow" about @bmkibler and @adrianlsullivan . Someone connect these two thematically and I'll <3 u
— Jason Alt (@JasonEAlt) April 23, 2013
I didn’t know whether to be delighted at my good fortune or disappointed at my followers when literally the only two people who responded were Adrian Sullivan . . .
@jasonealt Well, we're both old-school, and have been called dapper. But @bmkibler is prettier and more successful at the Magics. :)
— Adrian Sullivan (@AdrianLSullivan) April 23, 2013
. . . and Brian Kibler.
@jasonealt @adrianlsullivan just "old school players" is a fine connection.We first met via Usenet BBS :P
— Brian Kibler (@bmkibler) April 23, 2013
No longer discouraged with my inability to come up with a better way to connect the two than “people who are good at Magic whom I also like,” I accepted the Dragonmaster’s blessing and decided to run with it. Subsequent tweets implicated Sheldon Menery—someone I had been “sitting on”—fully intending to have him be the star of my next Who to Follow – Judges Edition, but seeing Adrian and Sheldon become nostalgic for the good old days of Usenet Magic groups for sharing tech (the answer to the question of what people did before Twitter) made me realize there was actually a stronger connection here, and I wasn’t, in fact, lazy as hell for trying to haphazardly jam a hodgepodge of people I liked following into an article and calling it a day. These three guys met back during the infancy of both competitive Magic and the Internet, and they clearly have a shared history. I had accidentally uncovered something pretty amazing, and while I don’t have the time, word space, or inclination to delve into the intricacies of the history of Usenet as a vehicle for Magic tech development (easily its own small book, I imagine, when all the interviews had been conducted), what I would like to do is introduce you to several gentlemen who helped make this game what it is. Also, if I didn’t follow these guys, I wouldn’t have had a single idea for an article this week, so there’s that. Without further ado—
Adrian Sullivan
Where You Know Him From: Writing on MagicTheGathering.com, SCG Commentary Current Title: StarCityGames writer, commentator Social Media: Twitter Facebook Fan Page StarCityGames Archives DailyMTG Archives Not that it will probably apply to your life, but “Adrian Sullivan Magic” is a terrible disambiguation for Internet searches—there is apparently a magician and sleight-of-hand artist named Adrian Sullivan whose YouTube demonstration videos show up in such an Internet query, and those videos may distract you for about half an hour when you have an article due. I realize that’s oddly specific and may apply to some more than others. What can you say about Adrian Sullivan that can’t be better said by the fact that a hundred percent of you know who he is? He’s been playing so long that in an Extended event, I opted not to Thoughtseize him turn one of the first game because I knew I’d find a hand full of Lightning Bolts, and I didn’t want to start the game at 15 (fetch land into a shock land. What am I, Conley Woods?) One of the game’s oldest theorists and the inventor of decks like Ponza and Eminent Domain, Adrian was playing Legacy on camera in Milwaukee the other week, and I thought to myself, “I bet he’s been using that same play set of Chain Lightning since 1995.” Using Chain Lightning to transform a Delver is a relatively recent development, but he may be the color red’s best ambassador to the game. In fact, he’s probably in general the best ambassador to the game because I am not sure I’ve encountered many people of his stature in the community that are as affable or approachable. His Twitter feed is a great mix of random interesting stuff, some of it stuff we’ll all recognize . . .
Glenn Godard wrote a quite moving memorial on Quinton Hoover, that pulls no punches. Check it out. fb.me/2BmQtnOvL
— Adrian Sullivan (@AdrianLSullivan) April 23, 2013
. . . and some of it is just general amusement.
There are few people who are as large of barbarians in bathrooms than #Magic players. #truefacts
— Adrian Sullivan (@AdrianLSullivan) April 13, 2013
I follow Adrian Sullivan because I want to understand the game better, I like seeing banter between players I admire, he links to interesting articles, and because I hope to be writing about this game for thirteen years the way he has (Sullivan’s Library is on its thirteenth year! Did you even see the game itself lasting that long?). Seems like a no-brainer.
Brian Kibler
Where You Know Him From: Memes and parodies Current Title: His own boss? Brian helped make Ascension. You’re welcome Social Media: Twitter Facebook Fan Page Twitch Recent Finishes StarCityGames Archives He has done enough stuff to necessitate a Wikipedia page I don’t like it, but this has turned inevitably into Who to Follow on Twitter, and I think a lot of factors led here, not the least of which is that the icon for my article on GatheringMagic is the Twitter icon. Obviously, you should follow Brian Kibler on Twitter, but if you don’t take the time to click some of the other links I’ve painstakingly assembled for your perusal (so you know, peruse means “to read or examine something in a careful and thorough way;” you know, the opposite of what everyone thinks it means), you’re doing it wrong. What can’t you learn from Brian Kibler? Besides “how to not be handsome,” I can’t think of anything. If you’re desperate to learn how to not be handsome, I can probably hook you up.
@lsv @theshipitholla @travisdwoo Holy shit a 6 drop on turn five.Broken.
— Brian Kibler (@bmkibler) April 22, 2013
This was my favorite Twitter exchange of the entire week. It gets worse for LSV; find the whole thing, and read on.
His feed is pretty much trolling Magic Pros (I’m listening . . . ), talking about Ascension (solid), talking about how to improve tournament play, and commenting so much on SCG coverage that he’s practically live-tweeting the events. Are you better at Magic than Brian Kibler? Few people are. Then there’s no reason not to follow someone who has something he can teach you—and who is entertaining to boot. At least watch his Twitch stream. I even linked it for you.
Sheldon Menery
Where You Know Him From: Lately? StarCityGames
Current Title: Level. 5. Judge.
Social Media:
Blog – Non-Magic, but don't you dare not at least click this link
So, I am not sure what to call myself when it comes to wine. I honeymooned for a week (okay, we, my wife and I. No one honeymoons alone; there’s not even a word for that) in Traverse City, Michigan, which is Michigan’s largest concentration of vineyards and wineries (not that I’m not spoiled by dozens of great ones in the Southwest). I have spent the last three years trying lots and lots of wine, and I guess I have picked up a few things, and I certainly know by now what I like and don’t like, but I wouldn’t say I know anything about wine. Any time I encounter someone who does know a lot about wine, it makes me realize how little I know and really puts things in perspective. Sheldon is one of those people. Read his blog if you have any inclination toward gourmet food, wine, or wine pairings because he doesn’t just know more about Magic than any of us.
I’m Sheldon’s friend on Facebook. I wouldn’t recommend it—I haven’t won a single game of You Don’t Know Jack since he accepted my invite, and it’s kind of depressing.
Judgecast even got him to come on their cast, which is exciting for me. He’s one of those people who is on my podcast guest wish list—people who know so much about the game from whom it would be impossible not to learn a ton but who aren’t exactly primarily associated with MTG finance.
Am I wrong in thinking that Commander being a thing owes a lot to Sheldon Menery? I could be making that up, but I feel that his StarCityGames column has done more to get people playing that format than any other single thing. And he writes on the free side. You can go read that whenever you want. I don’t know why we’re still talking when you have so much reading to do. If you care about Commander at all, and I’m sure most of my readership does, his weekly column is a can’t-miss. That said, his Twitter has a lot of interesting interactions, including the occasional one with GatheringMagic’s own @CMDRDecks.
So basically, what we have are three legends in the game who continue to contribute to the community. We have three old friends, joined by the common bond of their meeting on old Magic Usenet groups (Adrian kept referencing MTGWacky, which I can only assume is one of the room names), a bond I graciously accepted as a common thread to tie the three together and make this a cohesive theme article, a bond I immediately discarded, failing to find a way to develop it to a greater extent.
You shouldn’t not follow any of these guys, both on Twitter and elsewhere. To a greater extent than any week in the past, this article was born out of me wanting to find a way to impress on all of you how much I’ve gotten out of following all of these gentlemen. They’ll help you improve your game. They’ll help you find new games to play or maybe even new TV shows you might like (Twitter is full of stuff like that; don’t pretend you don’t love it). Maybe they’ll help you if you’re stuck on an article that’s due (experiences may vary). Sheldon can even give you tips on how to be a better restaurant patron—let’s not pretend we couldn’t all use a little help in that area (I’ve seen what you people do to a bathroom, and so has Adrian Sullivan. Let’s not pretend we as a group are better-mannered when dining!).
And to think, this all started with a tweet for help.
