Hello? Anybody out there? It's been a quiet week in the Magic: The Gathering community. Is everyone still recovering from the biggest event in Magic's history? Or is everyone too busy playing Magic 2014 – Duels of the Planeswalkers? That's it, you are all resting and playing video games. Slackers. That doesn't mean I couldn't find anything for you this week. What kind of a treasure hunter would that make me? Let's see what I found.
Mad Magic
Alex Kessler is no stranger to the Magic scene. Last year, he created one of my favorite web shows called Top Decking: a show about a group of Magic: The Gathering players and their local game store. If you haven't seen it, give it a watch. While season two of Top Decking is still in development, Alex has been busy with Mad Magic. Mad Magic is a finance-focused show, similar to the popular Mad Money. Alex's fast-talking, fact-spitting show gives you the quick and dirty of cards in the secondary market, all while having a ticker at the bottom for other prices. Combine that with his predictions of cards and short run time, and you have yourself an instant hit. I look forward to not only seeing more of Top Decking, but of Mad Magic as well. Keep up the good work, Alex; I still owe you a Draft next time we're back in Los Angeles.
Magic Woodstock
Grand Prix Las Vegas wasn't only about cracking a 'Goyf and dropping. It was about connecting, meeting your Twitter followers, friends, and fans, and hanging out. Heather Dawn from LegitMTG has compiled a series of photo journals that gives us a more personal look from Grand Prix Las Vegas. You can see photos from the event, side events, house parties, and more. It's a really great look at how GPs have been growing from just tournament play to fully functioning social gatherings reminiscent of a convention. Are we just a few years away from MagicCon? MagiCon? Magic . . . the Conventioning . . . You get what I'm saying.
Custom Play Mats
I don't even know what's going on here. Tim Jordan sent me a tweet and let me know that his girlfriend made these play mats for him and a friend. These play mats look freaking sweet. You got some kind of gangster, furry fiend firing bullets on one and an ocean-winged water dragon on the other. Excellent detail and wonderful coloring make these custom play mats a great addition to Tim's collection of Magic swag.
Plain Nails
Newly Obsession is a blog that showcases one woman's journey through her nail-art addiction. As you can see, she has paid tribute to Magic artist and known Redditor Noah Bradley. If you take a good look, you can see the attention to detail. Her thumb has the birds from the lower-left side of the card! Check out her blog, and look for other Magic: The Gathering nails—she did a tribute to the John Avon Forest!
Warped Tour
While searching through Instragram, I came upon this awesome site. The band Loved and Lost consists of huge Magic fans who seem to be showing their love on Instagram. For the second year in a row, Magic: The Gathering and the Vans Warped Tour have teamed up to bring music lovers and Magic lovers together. You can check out the website to see if the tour is stopping by your area anytime soon!
Chandra Audition
Wizards has really been hitting it out of the park with their video content. Friday Nights and Walking the Planes give some fantastic insights to the pro, pro-hopeful, and casual communities. This latest commercial for Chandra Auditions keeps on that style of humor that we've come to love and expect from Wizards. Not to mention the cameos! Watch for Kathleen from Loading Ready Run, Michelle Boyd from Team Unicorn, and Chandra herself (I'm not spoiling the ending—watch it for yourself to see who stars as Chandra). Give the video a watch, and let me know what you think—although, to be honest, I'd still like to know what Bob from accounting has been up to.
#Magic2014
The latest version of Duels of the Planeswalkers hit the Internet last week, and everyone is playing wherever they can! Xbox Live, Playstation Network, iPads, and Android tablets are all a go! Here are some tweets from initial impressions, feedback, and more about Magic 2014 – Duels of the Planeswalkers.
I killed one of my Innistrad opponents, taking it -30 life on Magic 2014 last night. Who can top that? #ImSureSomeoneCan #BigBeatsStories
— Trick Jarrett (@TrickMTG) June 26, 2013
Downloading Magic 2014.
— Roman (@OriginalBrian) June 26, 2013
I'm not sure I did the 10th #Magic2014 challenge right, considering I used no Sliver creatures in combat, nor the unicorn pictured.But I won
— Tym Kaywork (@vttym) June 26, 2013
@PlayXBLA It is going to be a busy week. Going to play Magic 2014, which I MUST HAVE, and Spartacus (FREE ANYONE?). #XBLAtweet
— Garrett Lundgren (@xtowers) June 26, 2013
Dammit, now I HAVE to get Xbox Live because #Magic2014
— Unleash Your Soul (@Aggro_Adam) June 26, 2013
Well I was going to get on with some work, but then #Magic2014 happned :/
— Adam Silk (@McSilkyPants) June 26, 2013
On credits for #Magic2014 at least 3 times! Brand management, flavor text, and play testing!
— Tifa Meyen (@TifaMeyen) June 27, 2013
Magic 2014 has me impressed. It's spruced up. Very spruced up. Like, rave-at-Bedlam spruced up.
— Chris (@Damnation72) June 26, 2013
#Magic2014 is out on #Steam now. My life is complete.
— Jacob Maharg (@jacobmaharg) June 26, 2013
What's that? I can't hear you over the sound of how much I love playing Magic 2014.
— Thomas Noppers (@ThomasNoppers) June 26, 2013
Excited to see #Magic2014's Duels of the Planeswalkers is out! I designed one of the challenges - you'll probably know it when you see it...
— Gavin Verhey (@GavinVerhey) June 27, 2013
And with that, we are done! I hope you enjoyed this week's hunt. Be sure to let me know of any awesome Magic: The Gathering items you find. If you find something, tweet me! I'm on Twitter like . . . all the time. In fact, I'm on it right now. Go, look! Until next week, this is Mike Robles saying: