In the not so distant future my time with GatheringMagic will come to an end. I’ll be on the road driving across America, seeing the sites memorialized in 'America the Beautiful,' as I roll thirteen of our contiguous 48 states. Before I ride off into the sunset I have some unfinished business to attend to.

When I made the announcement about my pending departure, we also opened the door for anyone interested in taking over as Content Manager for GatheringMagic.com. In less than five days we received more than 30 applicants, all eager for the job. Within 24 hours I began correspondence, setting up interviews. We chose a handful to talk to via phone. After a few days of phone calls we reached a decision.

I'll be passing the baton to Adam Styborski!

Adam writes on DailyMTG for the Serious Fun column, he’s been a writer for GatheringMagic for over a year, and he’s previously worked as an editor for QuietSpeculation. I’m overjoyed that he’s agreed to come on and take over GatheringMagic.com.

One thing to note is that he will not be “working full time” on GatheringMagic. He and his wife are expecting their first child next year, and a move to a new state for a completely new job are less than ideal.

For those who may be concerned by the fact he’s not working full time let me explain. There is a misconception that every Magic site has to have a full time site runner / content manager to be good. GatheringMagic has an amazing support staff who have helped me immensely over the past, from Debbie as editor, to Greg, Logan, and MJ. With their help I not only managed my day to day tasks for GM, but also devoted time to CoolStuffInc, programming, and more.

Those "other things" are not responsibilities being passed on to Adam. He has only to concern himself with the day to day and the long term vision for the site, which can be managed in a part time capacity with ease.

You’ll also see him around, travelling to events, doing coverage, interviews, and much more. I expect great things from him!

To all of you who applied but did not get in, I emailed each of you and want to reiterate that I deeply appreciated your time and effort. I’m sorry you were not chosen, but from the people I talked to and the resumes I read you are all exquisite, and intelligent, people. I’m excited to see what you do next too.

I can honestly say I’m very excited and I cannot wait to see what the future holds, for Adam and for GatheringMagic.com.

-- Trick