The Napkin #1: This is Only a Test

As a writer, you never know when inspiration will strike. Sometimes it’s on the bus, sometimes it’s in class, and quite often it will be at a restaurant. If you’re anything like me, your pockets are full of scraps of paper with notes scribbled on them: receipts, shreds of notebooks, and yes, napkins. I’ve even written down a deck list on a napkin with a Denny’s crayon. Hence the name of this blog. I just got a new laptop, and now with my electronic napkin in tow, I can take notes, write articles, and write blogs on the go.

I’m writing this right now at my friend’s place while watching "The Moment of Truth," which is the best despicable TV show ever.

Last week, I said "goodbye" to William Spaniel. This week, it’s Jon Loucks. He’s been going through a rough period in terms of his love for the game, and he’s decided to prioritize some other aspects of his life.

I actually remember reading Jon’s first article on the site. He was an enthusiastic kid who clearly loved the game. Over the past year, he’s grown up right before my eyes. And he’s still young enough the love will probably come back. And when it does, I hope he returns to writing as well.

But will there be a game for him to return to, a site for him to write for? While the recent cuts to the Pro Tour and Organized Play have been shocking, it isn’t the end of the game. I’ve heard of people panicking and selling their collections. All I can say is, can I buy it? I lived through Chronicles, a truly atrocious thing for the game. With all of the reprints, prices plummeted for many high-priced cards like Killer Bees. Yes, Killer Bees. They went from $20 to $5 overnight, and my friend was not too pleased to be holding a playset. A lot of people quit because of Chronicles, myself included.

But you know what? Things got better. They learned from their mistake and created the reserve list. The game went on, which was not a sure thing at the time.

The game is much more stable today. It has a worldwide following. As bad as things seem, this isn’t the end. Not even close.

It’s not the end of TCGplayer.com either. Will all due respect to William Spaniel and his following, the site is bigger than any one man, and I say that as a man who has a very high opinion of his own worth. Kuan-Kuan Tian has revolutionized the site both his easy-to-follow pictures and his absolutely unconscious new Extended tech. Zaiem and Robin are starting to hit their stride, and they’re not the last TCGpprentice candidates you’ll be hearing from. I’m not saying that with any kind of insider information; just that we saw too many great talents for them to stay silent.

And every day we get closer to the possibility of TCGpprentice 2, which is pretty much just a matter of me running out of other things to do. I know that there are some more great writers just sitting out there. I don’t want to say names right now in case I end up recruiting them. Wouldn’t want there to be any signs of bias.

So I’ve reached the end of my page, and I’m about to copy and paste this into the blog to see if I can conquer the formatting issues I’ve had in the past. I’m also going to put in a random picture to test that out too.

Hmm... not so good with the picture thing. At least the pictures go from my camera to laptop. Now to figure out how to get them on here. I'm such a techno-noob.

Related to: Magic: the Gathering

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