Hi! I’m Mike Robles; you may remember me as the former community manager for Wizard of the Coast and Magic: The Gathering. You may be wondering what I am doing here today. You might think to yourself, “What could Mike Robles possibly have to talk about?” I know there are a ton of articles talking about what decks are taking down events, the latest Dragon’s Maze previews, and how to play against R/U/G, B/U/G, Jund, Thragtusk, Eggs, or whatever. That’s not what I’m here to discuss. I am here to talk about the things I love talking about: bringing you the coolest treasures from the Internet. I did it for Wizards, and now I’m doing it for GatheringMagic. So, let’s dive in; shall we? Below are some of the coolest treasures I found (this week).

Quinton Hoover (1964–2013)

I have been playing Magic: The Gathering since Alpha. One of the reasons I love old cards is the artwork because of the nostalgia factor. It reminds me of playing during lunch with some of my best high school friends. Quinton Hoover had a unique style, and I remember cracking packs and seeing his artwork. His son posted a message on Quinton’s Facebook about his father’s passing. He was definitely an influential artist back in the day, and this is some sad news.

From Twitter, here are some responses to his death:

3 for 3

Inkwell Looter is a great creative contributor to the Magic community. When you’re at events, if someone is playing a tokens deck, you’re bound to see some of Inkwell Looter’s work engaged in combat on the battlefield. He recently celebrated his third anniversary of his first public post. To commemorate his three-year anniversary, he’s made three different tokens: Human, Soldier, and Knight. These adorable characters are awesome—just like everything he does. They’re all available to download for free at his Tumblr. I can’t wait to see what he does for his fourth anniversary!

The Fate of Ravnica

When she’s not putting googly eyes on Magic cards, Amanda Casperson spends her time putting out some amazing artwork. This piece hit Twitter with the question, “How will the fate of Ravnica be decided?” I like the idea of an arm-wrestling match between Aurelia and Ral Zarek. My money is on Aurelia. Hey, Amanda, if you’re taking requests, can we see old-school Nicol Bolas versus Niv-Mizzet in an epic battle chess match?

Tesya, Tesya all Day

Cosplayer CSprankleRun was given an early sneak peek at Tesya for Dragon’s Maze. Since then, she’s been hard at work putting together a costume for her local Dragon’s Maze prerelease so she can pull up to battles in style. She’s always updating her progress on Tumblr, and the community is anxiously awaiting the final product. Only a few weeks left until we get to see it!

This Is How a Game Saved My Life

I’m a fan of any game helping someone overcome any sort of difficulty. As I read through this inspiring post, I was reminded of the countless tweets I would receive from people thanking Wizards for making the game. Couples who met playing Magic. Soldiers who would draft in their downtime while overseas. Magic is a game that brings people together, and Magic is a game made stronger by its community. I’m glad that Imgur user Videllex has found such a welcoming place to introduce her to our community.

Magic Briefcase

Have you ever wanted to walk into Friday Night Magic and feel like a total badass? Have you ever considered yourself the James Bond of your friendly local gaming store (FLGS)? With hidden pockets, room for six decks and four dice cubes, and a side pocket to hold your trade binder, this briefcase has you covered. If I had this thing, I would walk into Friday Night Magic every week with a black suit, sunglasses, and this case handcuffed to my wrist. To add some more flair to it, I would label all my decks to sounds like missions. This week, I’m playtesting deck Alpha Echo Zero.

Floop the Pig

Adventure Time might just be my favorite show on television right now. They manage to make references to modern tropes while keeping everything playful and innocent. Imagine the joy Magic players felt when Jake asked Finn to play one of his favorite games: Card Wars. Now, imagine even greater joy as Finn learned the rules and began to “floop the pig.” Magic players everywhere could do nothing but talk about how awesome Card Wars was and looked for every MTG reference that was in the game. Over on Reddit, user illbehereallweek showed off this totally mathematical play mat that his significant other made for him. It’s tops blooby.

Strip Search and Chandra (Strip Search SPOILERS Ahead!)

First of all, if you’re not watching Penny Arcade’s reality show Strip Search, stop what you’re doing and go catch up. Seriously. All caught up? Good. On April 9th, the artists met with Magic: The Gathering Brand Director Elaine Chase and Brand Manager of Promotions Michael Gills. Elaine and Michael informed the artists that Magic: The Gathering was, once again, sponsoring The Vans Warped Tour and that the artist would be designing a custom skateboard deck that highlighted the feature character of Magic 2014: Chandra Nalaar. Also, they only had ninety minutes.

In ninety minutes, the artists all produced some of the most amazing pieces of artwork I’ve ever seen. If you want to see some hi-res scans of the art, head over to this article on DailyMTG. You may notice that the art I’ve featured here wasn’t seen anywhere in the episode. That’s because Lexxy (by this point) had already been eliminated by Gabe and Tycho. After the episode aired, Lexxy set up a stream and gave herself the same ninety-minute timeframe to design a custom piece of art that could be featured on a skateboard.

If Lexxy had still been in the competition by this point and turned this piece in, I’m fairly confident that this piece would have won. She didn’t have the style guide or markers that the other artists used, but she did hear the feedback from the Magic Brand Team. Her piece encompasses Chandra’s coy attitude, and the way the flames rise up shows a bit of Chandra’s playful side. It’s a fantastic piece, and I hope the Magic Brand Team has taken notice of it.

Top Tweets (This Week)

Conversations come and go on Twitter, so I’ve collected some awesome tweets that I’ve seen this week. Enjoy!

This first one is a bit of a two-parter. Michael Jacobs claimed this Magic Online deck went 3–0 in a Draft.

Which prompted Matt Sperling to craft a pretty amazing response.

LSV and Justin Treadway chime in on Wizard’s employees being stuck in an elevator.

Thanks for letting me show you some of the coolest stuff I found (this week). I can’t be on all the sites all the time, but I’m always looking out for awesome MTG . . . anything. If it’s awesome and it’s Magic: The Gathering, send a tweet my way and see if it makes the list next week! Until then, this is Mike Robles saying, Don’t forget: