Pauper 2hg event last night (Friday) - thank you Lathspel!

Lathspel saved the day and became the defacto volunteer host for Pauper 2hg. It was quite fun and even my friend JD joined in. The qualifiers started out as FFA matches. That was fine as I beat down the guy across from me to under 10. Even had a x/x Timberwatch boost from another player (NE of me on the game grid). It was funny until all 3 took swings at me. I died first. Then my target died. Top2 from each FFA table played in the 2hg finale.

Pauper 2hg is just as fun if not more exciting than 2hg regular. I hope to see everyone out in /join pdc, casual room, Anything Goes, Multiplayer and more!

Rock on

MPDC STD Pauper event today - it was great!

First of all big thanks to ZeroFusion for hosting MPDC - it was a BLAST. I recommend new players start out in Standard PDC to get used to things. Futex and Classic can be *quite* rough if your new.

While I did not make it to the top4 - I did place 7th with my 2-1 record. In the first round I lost to a clanmate friend hokusai22! It was close and it went to the 3rd game of that match. RedDeckWins in pauper can be tough!

Down 0-1, I then went on and faced a really cool B/W deck from gershon. He had a suprises. I had to flip and get creative with my Blk/Fly-HybridLife deck. I won 2 games but they were hard fought.

tied 1-1 going into round 3 - I faced off against dyagos. He had a very creative U/R deck. Cinder Pyromancer, Grinning Ignus and the Banneret can make it for a plink war. To add to it he splashed blue and topped off with Grapeshot swarms. It went 3 tough games but I swung with a 10/10 flyer to finish off the last game (B/W Mimic with two hybrid enchants).

I didn't top4 - I placed 7th but I was 1 game away from going 3-0/top4. In any event - hope to see y'all in MTGO and especially in /join pdc!

It gets crazy with these LRW/MOR/SHAD/EVE hybrids and mechanics. I do like it in Pauper Standard.

Check the forums at - http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1097805 for info on this week's MPDC final standings and the top4 decks!

Weekend Pauper Events Fri/Sat FPDC and Classic PDC

I had fun at the FPDC. It starts at 10am Pacific for signups and 1030am Pacific to start the event. See PDCMAGIC for more details (or on the MTGO forums at wizards.com).
Great host and good fun to be had. It's the FUTEX format (Think paper Extended, sans IPA/OTJ).

Classic PDC is a 730am Saturday gaming event. Really cool host and fun stuff to play. The classic format is one of the most diverse metagames you'll see in PDC (or in general MTGO matches for that matter). Lots of fun and Lulthyme keeps everyone smiling.

Every day there's something happening in PDC within MTGO. Free events, great prizes and good folks to play against. They are friendly, intelligent and it will not be boring.

And when's the last time a Magic player couldn't afford commons? Come out and join the fun!

10 days in MTGO v3 ... and overall...

I am truly suprised but I like it. Its lag and crash free for me. The gameplay for 1v1 gaming is smooth and relatively easy to use. While it takes a bit getting used to from 1.x/2.x - its pretty nifty in the smoothness of gameplay. Also if you switch to another window - it will warn you via sound bells when its your turn to play etc.

PROS:
Stable (I haven't seen the system crash at all)
Lagfree (I'd like to see 3000-5000 in casual gaming and see how it holds up)
Generally Clean Look

CONS:
Trading Interface different (has problems if you switch scenes at 2nd confirm)
Card viewing is a pain (the card display is detachable/adjustable - but bad fit
OVERALL UI needs tweaking/improvement - chat UI is decent but could be better.



I am glad to see the /join pdc room doing healthy. It is sad to see the decline of /join bbs but as more folks return and MTGO gameplay increases (*cough* bring Leagues and Multiplayer on by 3.1/end of this year please!) - more folks may return to /join bbs.

I'm really liking Pauper Standard (PDC STD) format right now. KithkinPauperArmy is still my favorite in Standard but GreenFastSwing is now a close second. I have a GreenFastSwing deck that seems to be fun to play. I do need to implement some more control into it. It can kill by T5-T7 if not controlled. Some token generation, slippery creatures with Persist/nontargetting and interesting conspire effects.

Sometime I'll have to test out KPA versus GFS. For now - I'll fine tune them in the Casual gaming room and in some PDC PRE(Player Run Events).

I look forward to some fun PDC events this month!

Rock on!
-tw

Very exciting times upcoming - visit PDCMAGIC.com

Lots of pauper events and great info at pdcmagic.com! They really have some terrific information and the gatherling player ranking tool is very cool. With Shards coming out soon and ME2 just released - more fun to be had with commons in MTGO.

Long live PDC and lets have fun this fall. I hope to see y'all in MTGO V3 as its been live for over 100 days now.

Rock on!
-tw

Paupers/PDC getting an official nod from Wizards of the Coast

On January 3rd, 2009 - PDC will have a Wizards of the Coast sponsored event in MTGO. This is a tremendous boost for the Pauper/PDC community. After 4.5 years of Pauper gaming within MTGO and over 1,000 Player-Run-Event tournaments - Wizards is stepping up to acknowledge PDC in a serious way.

A Wizards.com column "Into the Aether" did an article on PDC back in 2004 (interviewing me about the first 12-14 weeks in PDC season 1) - its nice to see an official tournament event for PDC.

I'm grateful to many folks - all my friends at pdcmagic.com, all the friends in Common Cause and many - MANY more.

Thank you and I hope this continues to grow!

V3 is alive and Tharionwind is back in MTGO

After 90 days at the new job - things have settled down.

I do like most of V3 - but I am concerned I am missing some cards (having Worth and Wizards CS take a look).

It seems rather stable - but I've heard of some post V3 launch bumps (happens with nearly any massive upgrade to an online app/game).

Hope to see you all there!

Its been two weeks -- at My New Job!

I am glad to report that I am wrapping up my second week at my new job. It turns out that my skillsets and 10+ years in IT are in demand. Smiles indeed.

I didnt have to move, still near Tahoe (I love the Lake!) and near family/friends.

I plan on returning to PDC and MTGO in the near future. For now Im winding down my WOW account (freezing it) as I've been VERY MUCH SO ENJOYING AGE OF CONAN!

:)

Regards to everyone in PDC and MTGO.

Rock on,
Tharionwind

A new day and a new dawn.

In this life we breathe. In the sunshine we warm our blood. In the evenings we share a meal or drink with friends and loved ones.

I am forward looking to the freedom I have now.

I am working with professionals and today is the first day of the rest of my life.

I will return to MTGO and bring to PDC new thoughts and my passionate is not gone - just resting as I work with Real Life and what happened to me on 4/22/08.

If anyone needs an IT project manager, Enterprise Storage Administrator or a Computer Consultant in CA, OR, NEV or otherwise - send me a note.

Tough Times never last - but Tough People Do. Pastor Robert Schuller.

Each strike out brings me one step closer to my next home run. --- Babe Ruth

MTGO V3 is up as of 4/16 and my life changed on 4/21

MTGO v3 is finally here, live, working. It seems nice and we'll see how it goes. Optimus Moses Worth is working hard to get this puppy to full growth.

As a side note - I was laid off yesterday after 8 years with a Fortune 100 IT company. Was a total shock. My performance has always been good - just economics have changed and a few hundred of us techs had to be cut from the payroll. I'm already working on 3 interviews and with two IT contracting companies.

Things change. MTGO v3 comes out. I move to a new job (will be shortly). The road of life is full of potholes - just make sure you dont crash into a sinkhole.

I will be around once again. Long live my friends, family and Pauper Countrymen and women.

Rest in Peace Version 2.x MTGO 9am Today

The last card played. The last shuffled curse. The last lag time out. The last draft, trade and grumbling about values.

Yay though I walk through the valley of the shadow of mtgolagdeath, I shall fear no rare nor evil. For thine is the time of the Great Upgrading. From down upon the Hilltop walketh Optimus Moses Worth to tell the masses of the news:

Thou shalt nog lag.
Thou shalt not covet another man's foils.
Thou shalt not put any other MMOs before MTGO V3.
Thou shalt not playeth Leagues nor Multiplayer til deemed appropriate upon Fixeth.
Thou shalt not steal another players fun and glory.
Thou shalt enjoy the newness of something 4 years old.
Thout shalt not ask why God made the Earth and Universe in 6 days and MTGO V3 took over 4 annums.
Thou shalt enjoy the breads of casual play until we deem the wine of drafting is good.
Thou shalt not complain about narrow chatness - for the the Divine Coder deeems it ok.
Thou shalt enjoy thineself within V3 goodness or pull the pin on the prayer grenade.

Be happy or we smite you dead.

Community and what it means to MTGO

MTGO has been around for 5 years, 9 months in live form 1.x or 2.x. Since 6/2002 it has been a strange phenomenon. Digital Objects for trade and sale. Digital objects in games that people "license to use from WOTC/Hasbro" yet in most folks held views they own them.

Its been a rough time since 2003 and the release of 2.x MTGO. MTGO has struggled due to its success with 1.x and also with 1.x flaws in design: hard coding each card's rules and a centralized master server as a bottleneck restricting growth. MTGO's team (post Leaping Lizards) tried to fix some things with 2.0 in 2003 but the crash was so horrid and nasty that they had to roll back. Ever since then 2.x has had its problems and crash/lag instability (past 3,000 or so users online at once).

Flash forward to April 2008. We're nearing the launch of MTGO V3. Its not the prettiest UI (I hate the vertical chat bar) and will launch without Leagues/Multiplayer (unless they fix that at the last minute).

Lets hope with the new 3.x infrastructure (cluster servers, better uniform coding for card rules/cards and expandibility) - we get growth in MTGO again.

What has held us together for the last 5 years of pain? Community. MTGO users on the forums and in MTGO have helped grow the community and keep it cobbled together. Critics and fans of WOTC both help make the MTGO Forums and MTGO itself a better place. I applaud one thing WOTC DOES right: They let us speak our minds on the wizards.com MTGO Forums (within some reason).

Regarding PDCWAR: Rise of Commonaria - we will be launching the Beta 1 Post V3. V3 is so close, I dont want a hangover between the downing of 2.x live and the launch of V3.

More news to come soon on PDC and MTGO!