This week in Magic: Happy Birthdays!

Thursday, May 28th, 2015

g

Welcome to another “This week in Magic.” As some of you may already know, today was my birthday. As I turn another year older I couldn’t help but reflect upon my life and the gaming side of things.

I often joke with some of my friends about when to call it quits when it comes to Magic. I mean, I know I can’t play this game forever. There have been plenty of times where I’ve “quit” the game. The real question though is when will I really quit the game permanently. Also, what am I going to do if and when this happens?

When is enough – enough?

If I remember correctly, the first time I really quit the game was in college. I didn’t really quit the game, per say, but I took time away from it to get things in order. My Freshman year in college I played a lot of Magic. I was part of the Magic club (yes, we had a club) and went to tons of events (States, Regionals, FNMs, etc). I even remember on the last day I was on campus I still found time to squeeze a game in at the community center. That summer I got my fair share of gaming in, but once school came around things slowed down. Interestingly enough, my roommate and I, even though we were heavily involved with the Magic club slowed down in the amount of gaming we participated in. Eventually, the train came to a halt.

When I got off the train my time was spent taking care of my school work, becoming more social with people outside of the game, and stepping outside. School eventually came to an end and I was stuck looking for something to do again. The fall that I graduated I got a job working in Finance and somehow found time again to play Magic. Soon enough, I was hooked. My weekdays were for working hard and my weekends were for playing competitive Magic. For two years I played hard, reaching personal bests – and then one day it all came crashing down. Things were happening personally and during a major tournament I could see myself throwing my deck across the room. After shaking my opponent’s hand I de-sleeved my deck and sold it all to a vendor in the room.

Last night I turned 31. It’s been almost six years since the last time I “quit” the game. The funny thing is I should have had this conversation with myself last year. If I were to quit right now, I wouldn’t have anything as a back up, and I don’t know what I would do with myself. Until then, I’m just going to keep enjoying the game and the people that come with it.

Considering how that past has gone for me, I should be on track for another “meltdown,” but so far I haven’t come close to any of those feelings (knocks on wood) and I hope they don’t come any time soon. There are definitely parts of my life that I know need to change, but this isn’t one of them. If I can keep gaming and get everything else in order, then I’ll be pretty happy with myself.

So what’s next? What happens when I turn 32? Luckily I’m not there yet, but when the time comes I’ll think about how 31 was for me and re-evaluate things. For now, I’ll just keep gaming.

Other Magic news

In other Magic news this week, thousands of people have finally made their way to their respective playing areas to take part in what will be the biggest card tournament ever. The last time I had heard numbers regarding attendance, ChannelFireball was reporting somewhere over 7000 pre-registrations for the tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada. An even more incredible figure is that they were expecting another 1000 more to register the day before. Just in case you didn’t know before, the other two events will held in Chiba (located in Japan) and Utrecht (located in the Netherlands).

As far as numbers go for Chiba and Utrecth, Chiba is expecting 4000 to make the journey, and Utrecht is reporting 3400 pre-registered players. That’s a lot of Modern Masters 2015 packs that will be opened this weekend. Let’s hope that Tarmogoyf get’s opened enough to drop the price into the double digits.

Quite a few of Battleground Games & Hobbies players have made the trip to Las Vegas to take part in the tournament. Those who will be there include Jason Mong, Neil Dahill, Phillip Chieng, Micah Greenbaum, and Ken Briscoe. Go give them a follow on Twitter, and then do me a favor and tweet at them, “Good luck! Sims sent me!”

About the author

Simeon is now the Community Manager for Battleground Games & Hobbies. If you have any questions or inquiries, then you can reach him at Sims@battlegroundgames.com. He is also an avid gamer who loves to play board games and video games. He graduated college with a degree in Political Science, and now serves the public by writing about games. You can check that out here. Don’t forget to “like” him on Facebook as well. It’ll update you on all of his newest content. Best of all, you can follow Simeon on Twitter (@SimeonCortezano) for some real time hilarity. Thanks for reading!

The Extra Life 2015 campaign is underway. Donate today!

Join the Battleground Games & Hobbies community forums!

Please don’t forget to check us out on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @battleground_gh!

Tags: Magic the Gathering, moder masters 2015, MTG, Simeon Cortezano
Posted in Blog, Card Games, Featured Author, Featured Post, Magic: The Gathering, Popular Posts | No Comments »