#mtgbiz

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You may recall the time when you were a kid when you may have decided to make a new path to shortcut across a field with absolute disregard to the convenient path that already existed. You would tramp the grass down, and would wear through several pairs of sneakers by strategically dragging your feet on said new path for days. You then spoke with everyone you knew and begged them to use your new path.

Perhaps not - maybe it was just us.

Anyway, this is somewhat analogous to creating a new hashtag (#___ ) on Twitter. If you are a knuckl-dragger, let us explain. Hashtags help to organize the published updates ("tweets") on Twitter into user-defined groupings around one general topic, making the conversation easy to read and follow.

Recently, a discussion was struck up within the Magic the Gathering Community on Twitter regarding what one would name a restaurant or business using the bastardized name of a Magic card (If there were a Magic themed restaurant what kind of food would it serve? #mtg). Some very witty and waggish names were bandied about until our buddy Trick Jarrett of ManaNation decided to create a new hashtag . . . "#mtgbiz" (Alright, let's hash tag this craziness. Use #mtgbiz for Magic business names.)

Trick did not need to hold the grass down for long for the new path as it were. Soon everyone was partaking in a subject very near and dear to many mtg player's hearts - humour. Let's have a look . . .

The one we created and of course my fav . . .
CopySix #mtgbiz Weird Harvest Produce Company

others -
jm2032 : Hell's Caretaker's Nursing Home.
mihaibirsan : Mind Funeral Services
Pascal3000 : Kitchen Finks' Kitchen Things
Wedgehead123 : Journey to Nowhere Airlines
allanhowls : Mishra's Robotics
burgessm : Ashling's Extinguishers!

Check out the rest of 'em HERE.

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Also of Note . .
It's November the 5th ! Happy Guy Fawkes Day !


It has been a long time since the Gunpowder plot went down back in 1605 but the the Yeomen of the Guard still searches the cellars of the Houses of Parliament before the annual State Opening . . . . w0w - talk about sensitive !

Remember, remember
the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,
t'was his intent
To blow up the King and Parli'ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow . . .

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MTG Twitter Check

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There are a LOT of Magic the Gathering players using Twitter. The list also includes many familiar names at Wizards of the Coast, professional players and casual players like us. One hindrance of many MTG fans using Twitter is the limitation to 140 keystrokes which in our opinion is the main reason why Twitter is as popular as it is - this is a social networking site for people who have real occupations and limited time to read tweets. Those users upset by the limit really should consider moving back to Friendster, MySpace or where ever it is they can fully describe the jelly doughnut they had or the new shoes they are wearing.

Right - back on track.
One issue with almost every group of Magic players yattering about the merits of particular cards, their recent game or the decks which took them to top eight is being able to provide a deck list to whom they are communicating. Many popular forums have this covered with various html templates. Other sites take this further by catering only to posting deck but often lack the ability to provide a space for dialogue which is the main reason for deck sharing - to garner feedback and improve said deck.

Well we think we have a winner with MTGUrl. This project was originally designed by Trick (and others?) over at ManaNation as a Url shortening service and has now evolved as a space to be able to quickly share decklists to Twitter users and others.


We love that the service provides a standardised deck list without html / javascript and also is able to provide a pop-up card image for those like us who may not know some of the less popular cards. One is able to 'tweet' the deck, email it to a friend and also have comments via tweet displayed. The card name also hyperlinks to the CoolStuff Inc. store which in our opinion is a smart business decision to maintain a helpful sponsorship. Our thanks to Trick / ManaNation for one of the more helpful tools we have seen in a while.

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Along with the same Twitter theme, we want to bring to your attention someone we've just started to follow - Mr. 'Doom Blade Guy'. We do occasionally follow non-magic related users such as the very witty CWalken for our LuLz but he had of late not been providing regular updates. Anywho - Doom Blade Guy is now filling that role - it's magic related and funny. Not necessarily high-brow stuff all the time but it works for us. This is our shout out to this guy.


Here are some recent tweets from Doom Blade Guy

#DBGGtZ: Teetering Peaks. I overheard a conversation on the bus this morning "... and then I grabbed hold of her Teetering Peaks."19 minutes ago from web

#DBGGtZ: Grappling Hook. Eight mana is a lot, no matter how much you may love grappling.about 17 hours ago from web

#DBGGtZ: Tanglesap. Appeals to the lesser-known "Sexual Deviant" psychographic. It's not quite Earthbind, but there is a lot more goo.3:06 AM Oct 7th from web

#DBGGtZ: Hellfire Mongrel. Well, it's a giant dog made out of fire, so naturally it is also The Rack.9:22 PM Oct 6th from web

#DBGGtZ: Bog Tatters. Misread this as Bog Taters, figured the 4 power was from swinging a sack of potatoes.4:47 PM Oct 6th from web

#DBGGtZ: Seascape Aerialist. Judging by the art, his low bang-to-buck ratio stems from a bad case of jaundice.12:12 AM Oct 6th from web

#DBGGtZ: Armament Master. Why yes I WOULD like for you to put all your eggs in one basket. Why do you ask?7:12 PM Oct 5th from web

#DBGGtZ: Blazing Torch. If equipped creature is in a horror movie, it gains jumpy. (It turns around randomly and calls out "Who's there?!")5:02 PM Oct 5th from web

#DBGGtZ: Greenweaver Druid. Perpetually broke, overly fond of the Grateful Dead, and prone to use the word "man" as punctuation.10:33 AM Oct 5th from web

#DBGGtZ: Electropotence. The best six-mana shock you'll never play.10:50 PM Oct 4th from web

#DBGGtZ: Vampire Hexmage. First Strike is the new Damage on the Stack.5:17 PM Oct 4th from web

#DBGGtZ: Caller of Gales. On second reading, this card does NOT pay tribute to my drunk-dialing my ex-girlfriends who share a first name.3:35 PM Oct 4th from web

#DBGGtZ: Kor Outfitter. So, would you say you like blades?3:45 PM Oct 3rd from web

#DBGGtZ: Soaring Seacliff. I've sent a few monsters off cliffs. They weren't mine.10:21 PM Oct 2nd from web

#DBGGtZ: Eldrazi Monument. "Gods don't die." We'll just see about that, won't we. (Will we?)9:10 PM Oct 2nd from web

#DBGGtZ: Baloth Cage Trap. Like in old D&D modules, where you enter an ancient, sealed tomb and an assassin has been waiting ALL THIS TIME.4:13 PM Oct 2nd from web

#DBGGtZ: Bladetusk Boar. Currently taking bets on which gets printed first: Doom Tusk or Doom Boar.1:50 PM Oct 2nd from web

#DBGGtZ: Marsh Casualties. I'll see your Conqueror's Pledge, and I'll raise you your self-respect.1:21 AM Oct 2nd from web

See you around Twitter (http://twitter.com/CopySix) . . .

ARB Twitter Spoiler

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Late Friday evening while I was celbrating Good Friday, WoTC henchmen Monty and Kelly spoiled this beautiful card via the MTG Daily Twitter feed.

Sphinx of the Steel Wind, 5WUB
Artifact Creature - Sphinx, Mythic Rare
Flying, First Strike, Vigilance, Lifelink, Protection from Red and from Green
6/6

Kind of an Esper Artifact equivalent to Akroma, Angel of Wrath, which would be immune to such hazards as soon-to-be-reprinted black / red Terminate or the green answer for artifacts, Naturalize.

The only obvious Achilles here may be Blue counterspell and White removal (such as Oblivion Ring / Path to Exile). If you can, get some shroud on this before it gets picked off.


I would suggest trying to sneak this late game Esper finisher with Master Transmuter. However this sees play, I am certain that it will make a splash.

. . . Just awesome - Thanks Kelly and Monty ! !

MTG Caption Kings

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So . . . We are asking you our loyal blog readers to put on your thinking caps and dream up a bunch of witty and waggish captions for this picture.

Yes - This is evil WoTC minion Ken Nagle cleaning up the 'Pit' at the WoTC Renton office as snapped by Kelly Digges. (It was cleaning day I guess . . . something which happens on a randomly selected Tuesday every odd year). <>


Some Captions for your consideration to help 'prime the pumps' as it were.

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'Ken considers a Halloween constume'

'Magic: the Gathering - - a game for Giants'

'Installing new office partions at WoTC'

'This Menger Sponge is gonna be HUGE!'

'Yer gonna need big mits to shuffle that deck bud'

'It's not the size of the card but the quality of the drop'

Anywho, the above image was snagged by Kelly and posted at Twitt-Pic . . . If you want to catch the Twitter craze, you might as well start out with the twitteriffic feed from Daily MTG (http://twitter.com/DailyMTG), or better yet, check out mine at CopySix MTG-Realm (http://twitter.com/CopySix).

. . . high five the internetz ! !