Magic Player Receives Lifetime Ban

Banned for life...

Magic Pro Tour competitor Lucas Florent of France has received a lifetime ban from playing in DCI Sanctioned events, including Worlds, Grand Prix’s and even smaller Wizards Play Network events for allegedly threatening a specific WotC employee via a forum post, claiming that he would rape her at Worlds in San Francisco.

Apparently, posts on the MTGFrance.com forums are what lead to the decision, by user “Mazz.” You can read the forum itself, here.

This user, “Mazz,” posted the following:

I made a joke on the french forum, i said i was going to rape helene bergeot at worlds, after the announcent, i personally know helene and i sait right after it that i was gonna have a talk with her about the meaning of the announcments, and know i receive this.

Lifetime Suspension / Revocation Worlds 2011 Invitation
Hello Lucas Florent,

This message is to inform you of the result of an investigation stemming from threats of personal physical violence made in an Internet forum against a specific Wizards of the Coast tournament official on November 2nd, 2011. While dissent, feedback, and opinions on the game of Magic and Wizards’ Organized Play strategy are welcome, threats of personal violence are not tolerated.

Your DCI membership is suspended permanently. Your invitation to Worlds 2011 in San Francisco November 17-20 is revoked. You are not eligible to participate in DCI-Sanctioned events. You are not permitted to enter the venue of any Grand Prix, Nationals, Pro Tour, or Worlds event locations. Violation of this prohibition may result in further action including that of local law enforcement and other legal action. You are not permitted to participate in WPN/DCI events under this suspension in any fashion. All future prizes, byes, invitations, or other benefits of your members are also forfeit.

If you have questions regarding the above, or wish to add to the investigation’s evidence by further statement, please reply.

Andrew Heckt
Wizards of the Coast

Discuss, have fun.

Florent has enjoyed recent success on the Pro Tour and is a writer for Blackboarder.com, though he hasn’t published anything since last July.

Source: GatheringMagic.com

 

 

Hasbro Say Magic Doubled Since 2008

Popular collectible card game Magic: The Gathering, produced and designed by Wizards of the Coast,  has doubled in volume since 2008, according to Hasbro Chief Marketing Officer John Frascotti said at Hasbro’s annual Investor Day at its Pawtucket, Rhode Island headquarters on Wednesday, and shows no signs of slowing down.  That growth has come in two ways: the player base has grown by over 80% during that period, and per player spending has grown by 16%.

In addition, Frascotti also talked about the unique nature of the Magic consumer.  The typical Magic player is a male high school or college student, although the full age range is 16 to 35.  He’s a technology early adopter, and engages with the game in multiple ways: online and on console at home, in store, or at competitive events.

WotC  has clearly woven the CCG and digital forms of the game closely together over recent years, and Frascotti talked about how that process has worked from Hasbro’s point of view.  “For the more than 12 million players around the world, Magic is more than just a product and more than just a game, it’s a lifestyle,” he said.  “The average tenure of the Magic consumer is over eight years.  And the more engaged the Magic consumer becomes in brand the more value they are to us as a business, as we migrate them toward successively deeper levels of engagement with complementary analog and digital experiences.”

Source: ICv2.com

OPINION:

What seems odd to me is, if Magic is performing so well and growing so much, why is WotC cutting back – drastically so – on it’s organized play programs? Clearly, Magic is growing and OP is a huge part of that. Simply seems to me  that if there are more people playing Magic than ever, there’s no need to kill the World Championships as we know it, take away a pro tour, or destroy the Pro Player Club. Moreover, didn’t WotC even promise us that they would revisit putting back a Pro Tour, years ago? I think Mr. Frascotti from Hasbro says it all above: “For the more than 12 million players around the world, Magic is more than just a product and more than just a game, it’s a lifestyle,” he said.  “The average tenure of the Magic consumer is over eight years.  And the more engaged the Magic consumer becomes in brand the more value they are to us as a business, as we migrate them toward successively deeper levels of engagement with complementary analog and digital experiences.” That’s all the proof I would need.

Upset about the changes to the OP program? Join the Begging WotC to Reconsider Worlds group on Facebook and get heard!

Magic Grand Prix San Diego Coverage – UPDATE

After nine rounds of swiss, Owen Turtenwald has done it again, posting an amazing 9-0 record on day one of Grand Prix San Diego 2011, along with Martin Berlin, Michael Bond, Jason Schein, and Corbett Gary. Owen has really proven he deserves the nickname “X and Owen.”

Stay tuned and follow all of the day two action here and cheer on your friends, family and/or favorite competitive player. You can also stream featured matches live by visiting GGs Live.

Please stay tuned! I will update this as more information becomes available.

First Friday Night Magic in Kentucky

Ah, my very first Friday Night Magic (FNM) in Kentucky. After five days of hearing how the locals are a joke and I likely could, “play with a ham sandwich instead of cards and still crush,” I was pretty pumped. I took apart my Blue/Black Draw-Go deck expecting a field of random aggressive strategies that I planned to beat into the ground with Blade Splicer‘s, Mirran Crusaders and Sword of Feast & Famine.

Boy was I wrong.

I went to Top Shelf Games in downtown Corbin. Small store. Nothing to right home about. Not a deep inventory and not much to sell. But there’s certainly potential and it seems to me the local crew of players is pretty cool. 13 players, four rounds of swiss with a cut to a top four play off. Seems fine.

I only managed a 2-2 record. It’s not a losing record, per se, but for someone like myself, it is. There was only one aggressive deck in the room! The rest was mid-range decks and control decks. Needless to day, I was not prepared. One opponent, in fact, played a full set of Dissipate, Cancel AND Mana Leak! Had I just been playing Blue/Black, I would have crushed him with Nephalia Drownyard. Sigh.

Oh well. There’s always next week. Let that be a lesson to me to stick with what I’m comfortable with and know how to play well. I should have listened to my gut. In the end, now that I know what the local metagame is like, I’ll be prepared for next time.

Cryptozonic Plans New Card Game

Cryptozoic will release a new game, Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards: Duel at Mt. Skullzfyre, in Q1. The new game utilizes humorous spell creation cards that can be used in hundreds of different combinations in the quest to become the greatest Battle Wizard that ever lived.

Simple rules also offer deep-level strategic gameplay.

Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards: Duel at Mt. Skullzfyre is a quick play for three to six players. It will feature over 185 game cards; MSRP will be $30.

Source: ICv2.com

Pathfinder New Release – “Isles of the Shackles”

Paizo Publishing has announced the up-coming release of a new Pathfinder Campaign Setting book, Isles of the Shackles, on March 21s, according t0 ICv2.com.  This 64-page full-color trade paperback emerses the players into the pirate islands known as the Shackles, the setting for the Skull and Shackles Adventure Path, which will be in the second of six volumes in due out in March.

In addition to  fearsome pirates, the Shackles are also home to horrific monsters and savage beasts, and some have ancient cyclopean ruins and lost treasures.  Isles of the Shackles includes dozens of sites for adventures and a large bestiary with numerous beasts and pirate villains.

The current campaign sourcebook for which this setting can be used, Inner World Sea Guide, has over 50,000 copies in print.

MSRP will be $19.99.

Enjoy!