WIZARD NEWSLETTER 2016

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 3

This edition of the newsletter is brought to you by Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In this new movie, everything old is new again, and it seems like the Wizard world is following in those footsteps.

It started with the newsletter being rebooted and republished in an attempt to keep players informed of all the goings on in the Wizard World. In January it was announced that the old and abandoned "Web Based Version" of Wizard Card was being rebooted as well. Our old friend Victor, aka Darth Victory, has been commissioned to build another Death Star….I mean update the Web based platform to give it "a more friendly interface." (Why Ken didn’t just write "friendlier" interface is between him and his diction dictionary). Like most of you, I am looking forward to seeing the results.

In January, some of the old Jedis returned to the top 10 as well. Trapizod, Brian W, Ap Sirus all returned after a hiatus from the Wizard world, and did very well in cleaning up in the standings. Abacus and Magician111 also returned to play at least 40 games. Some other familiar players also returned to play a few games, including Rub and Nola, and even 2013 Wizard Fest Champion Spicy got in a few games. It’s great to see players returning and coming back. "Me sa liking dis!"
Finally, not necessarily old, but old news... The Facebook interface is crumbling like every Death Star before it. The latest information: We have had 3 programmers evaluate the current source code, and all have determined a re-write may be required. We're having one more look with another programmer to see if it can be salvaged, but it seems likely that we will need to start with a clean slate. We're going to set ourselves a deadline for resolving this, and we'll arrive at one of two outcomes:
- A. We inject further investment into product development, or
- B. We work out a refund to reimburse you for the incomplete work.


Unlike the old, a few new things were also tried in January. A Fantasy League was introduced, where players were allowed to create a four player team. Whoever’s team got the most master points in a month would be rewarded as the winner. The first month had 10 participants. I talked to a few players about this new idea, and unfortunately, most of the feedback was very negative. Unlike most Fantasy leagues, where the players can pick players and have no influence on the outcome, the biggest complaint seems to be that this gave too much power to the individual to influence the outcome. The Fantasy League lasted one month. The opportunity was there for players to participate in a second month, but it resulted in zero participants, which leads me to this issue’s rant.

I have always found people to be the most interesting study in the world. Is it not true that the Fantasy League ideally needed 10 participants to continue? (In case you don’t know the answer, the answer is YES). Is it not also true that an invitation was issued to allow anyone who was INTERESTED in continuing the Fantasy League to sign up for another go at it before February 15? (Again the answer is YES) The result, as I have already indicated, was zero, Here is the result of a poll asking if players are interested in continuing the Fantasy League……

10 yes, 13 no. (I know this is not much of a rant, and I know that those who have to put up with me know that I can lay it on very thick, but hang in there….)

Do you see what I’m getting here? Yes, admittedly more people were uninterested in playing in the Fantasy league (and I was one of them. I didn’t feel a Dream Team was something I wanted to do going forward), BUT IDEALLY WE WANTED 10 PLAYERS AND 10 PEOPLE SAID YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why, oh why would you VOTE to continue something and then NOT ACTUALLY SUBMIT A TEAM???
IF everyone who voted YES submitted a team……..we’d have a second round of Dream team Fantasy League, which would have given us a chance to tweak it, maybe make it better, and then be able to run it with prizes in March. Someone, anyone, please, I’m begging you, here is my email address (markosapiano@teksavvy.com), explain to me why you voted to continue something and then didn’t submit a team….I need to understand…I want to understand, please, please, please help me understand. And why would you, yes you the evil empire of people who vote to quit something, why did you feel allowing someone else to submit a dream team would somehow stop you, the non-participate, from enjoying your wizard experience?


We have tried to make an effort this month and hope to continue through-out the year to add all upcoming Online Tournaments to be played in each month to the Wizard News and Notes sections. I volunteered XAriesgirlX and Wert to host tournaments, and we are trying to space them so that there is a tournament every week. The top 10 is an invitational tournament for those who qualified by placing in the top 20 for the previous month. To qualify, you have to play at least 40 games and earn enough points to land in the top 20 players for that month (we invite the top 25 in case someone from the top 20 doesn’t show up). Wert will be running a regular bid tournament, and XAriesgirlX will run a hidden bid tournament. I am going to tackle the Mixed Bid tournament, and this year, I am changing the order. Round one will be Regular bid, round two will be Hidden bid and round three will be Delayed Revealed. The logic here is that we have a tournament where the final game is regular bid, and another where the final game is going to be Hidden bid, so it just makes sense that the Mixed Bid tournament should end with Delayed Reveal.

Speaking of tournaments, the annual Live Wizard Tournament in Toronto is starting to roll. The hope is to hold it in either late July or early August. More details to follow.

I leave you with a new feature called – Messages in my U2U. For those of you who may not know, the U2U messages system in the Wizard site is working again, and I got a message that I would like to share with you. And since this newsletter has a Star Wars theme to it, I have invited none other than Kylo Ren to read it out. Thanks for coming in Kylo Ren.

Kylo Ren: Mactonight, I have been waiting for this day for a long time

Mactonight: Don’t you want to take off your mask?

Kylo Ren: What do you think you’ll see if I do? Give me the email

(I hand him the email)

Kylo Ren: Mactonight, I have never attacked you personally in a game unless it was to catch you, so to me that was a personal attack, just remember we reap what we sow….

He then reached for the lightsaber at his belt, activated the weapon, and raised the intense red band high. Expecting a swift judgment, Mactonight closed his eyes. Ren was slashing at the console nearby, at the walls, at the deck, rending and ripping, slashing long lines of bleeding metal into the very fabric of the ship. His rage was terrible to behold. Mactonight strove to remain perfectly still, to control his breathing, to become as invisible as possible lest he become nothing more than an inadvertent recipient of Ren’s fury……Maybe I shouldn’t read U2U messages from other players…….