who is your favorite professional magic player?

Killer Joe

Killer Joe

New member
Mike Long is not banned from the pro-tour, is he?

I onced played against Randy Behuler in a very small local shop tournament right after he won PT:Chicago back in '98? Of course, I lost.

Pittsburgh used to be chalk-full of pro-tour types (some are still here):
Nick Eisel
Aaron Forsythe
Randy Beuhler
Mike Patnik
Nate Heiss
Eric Taylor (edt)
Mike Turian
Johnny "Friggin" Rizzo (not a pro-tour guy, but funny as hell)
Team CMU members that I can't remember their names....
 
N

Notepad

Guest
East coasters are fortunate in that they have dense urban centers of population. Out in the dusty west here, cities tend to be spread apart. Following that, the stores have the same situation: While the east coast was a prospering source of pro players, the west coadt only had a few isolated pods.

Lucky bass turds!!! ;)
 
S

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Yeah, but you'd think some places in California, like Los Angelos or San Francisco, might give up a few. When the Duelist had a section spotlighting different Magic areas around the country, California was the first place profiled...
 
O

orgg

Guest
Actually, the WOTC game center Wal-Martted the local game shops, and then Hasbro effectivly killed all Magic around WOTC headquarters.

You'd think somene at WOTC would get a second job as a cardshop owner and simply not sell single cards(which I think is in violation of company polocy).
 
N

Notepad

Guest
The problem with the power bases on the West Coast is that they're just too far spread out. Pros in San Fran (which is really based in the town of Mountain View, some 30 or so miles south of SF) can't just up and intermix with pros in Los Angeles, or else they incur a four-hour drive through hellish traffic (the Highway 101 Corridor...ONLY real route). If either of these would like to mix with Seattle's pros, they have to go on a 13-20 hour drive up Interstate 5 (again, the only real route). Not conducive to a prospering community. Things get stagnant.

Players on the East coast have long drives, but nothing quite to prohibiting. While Los Angeles stares at Las Vegas or Seattle or Phoenix and twiddle their thumbs, bored pros in Boston could go to NYC or Pittsburgh with much less effort. Things remain fresh and exciting.

I've been watching a lot of Old West stuff lately (like the new series Deadwood) and it makes me think--the West Coast still suffers from that spread-out frontier type of thing. Just look at a national highway map for proof. East=Clusters of black dots and millions of little highway marks. West=A few black dots connected by long strands of only a few highways. I really think this has had an effect on MTG playing.
 
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Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Yeah, but it seems "strange" (not really, but I can't think of a better term) from Killer Joe's post that a good 3 or 4 current WOTC employees are from Pittsburg. While they may have played in other venues to hone their skills and the distance is easier on the East than West, they'll still all from one place. So any big Magic group on the West could conceivably have the same thing - plus, there's always the Net :)
 
Killer Joe

Killer Joe

New member
Okay Spidey-Boy, missing the "H" once is excuseable, but continuance of that habit is grounds for WAR!!!!!! :mad:

j/k ;)

Pittsburg"h" - The only Pittsburgh in the country with an "H" at the end.

I don't think all of the people I listed are actually from Pittsburgh, it's just that many of them attended Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and are known in the world of Magic as being from the 'Burgh.
 
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Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Did you mean that they're all from the same playgroup? Or did they just happen to run into each other (and you) as they traveled around playing Magic, like under SeFRo's scenario? I was envisioning the former...
 
Killer Joe

Killer Joe

New member
The SAME play group! It's quite an elite group of dudes. I was once offered to come and play with them and if I recall correctly the "buy-in" to play with them is an unopened box of a main set ie Onslaught, Mirrodin, etc... whatever is current. I never went so I don't know how TRUE that is or ever was.

They play at a greasy restaurant in the "Cultural/College District"of town called The "O" (The Original Hotdog). It's where the University of Pittsburgh (PITT) and CMU collide.
 
N

Notepad

Guest
You're right, Spidey, in that the West Coast can get folks into WotC. Matter of fact, we here on the Pacific Rim were the ones fortunate enough to see the foundation of the company. Beat that, you Eastern punks! :cool:
 
S

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
I'm not sure how I'm "right" - I mean, I'm sure some West Coast guys have gotten into WOTC, but from the names Killer Joe listed, it's like a relatively high number got in from one particular play group.
 
N

Notepad

Guest
I'd like to change my ballot to name Cathy Nikoloff (can never remember how to spell her name). I just remembered she has breasts...um, I mean, she's real hot...err--I mean, she's a FEMALE PRO PLAYER. :D :cool: :eek:

If she sees I voted for her maybe her boobs will go out with me...er--maybe she will go out with me. Yeah, that's right.

*slick, and cool as a 70s tv show*
 
N

Notepad

Guest
Are you kidding? I'm not gonna stand up in this condition--er, forget what I said.
 
Killer Joe

Killer Joe

New member
Cathy Nicholoff and I think she is FRENCH! She used to host the magic website: Meridian Magic along with Aaron Forsythe.

I think she's also the creator or made the deck famous called: Five-Color Green or 5CG.
BoP's
Arcane Denial
Armageddon
Incinerate
Derelor
etc...
 
T

train

Guest
KJ - you've just added to the file created by SeFRo so he can soon begin stalking her...

"No more feeding the stalker...":eek:

:p
 
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