I keep putting Magic: the Gathering in my mood because that is the game I know and love, the game I write about, and yet my blog is more about writing. I couldn't find the writing mood though. I suppose lonely comes closest. Frownasaurus.
I finally abbreviated the blog title. Now future blog readers can sit and wonder what the heck BTK stands for. Probably Blametongue Kavu.
Somewhere out there in blogsville, Bill Stark wrote a nice one challenging writers to play at big events and win. Let me find it real quick...
Not...
so...
quick...
There are so many blogs now. Navigating through them all is becoming quite a hassle, which is a pretty good thing if you're the big boss of all of this. Better off with too many bloggers than none at all. Luckily for me, I've snagged Mr. Stark as one of my friends (HL!) So here it is. It's short enough that you can take a quick detour and read it:
http://my.tcgplayer.com/blog/view/id_326/
Back already? I didn't even have enough time to finish making my sandwich. I like a lot of what he says, but you just know that I can't leave this statement alone:
"Nothing builds credibility like doing well at events..."
because I believe that nothing builds credibility like credible writing. Yes, Bill managed a nice finish at GP: Colum-Flash, but he was credible to me way before then. I remember being quite impressed with his article on Counter-Top (I think this was even in Standard). I always wanted him to write more. Colum-Flash didn't really change my opinion of him.
I do see where he is coming from though. It's really more of a "for the masses" message, and it just shows that I've never been a masses type of guy. If I win a GP will more people read and respect me? Yes. Are those the people whose readership and respect I seek? Not really.
Think about it in terms of sports; aren't those the type of people you would call fair weather fans? Don't "real" sports fans mock them? Like I said, a lonely road I'm on in this field because I actively shun the nice and easy path. What I mean is--and this goes back to the cryptic title of the blog--the Lorwyn prerelease is going to signal the final end of Riki Hayashi the Magic player. It's possible that I will play in FNMs and maybe some 2HG fun times with the right second head. But for any regular event or higher, it will be white (and black) stripes for me all the time.
If Toby Elliott, newly minted Lv5 judge will let me, I'm going to test for Lv2. Yeah, I'll still need my DCI# to judge. Fine. You got me. Obviously, I've been carving out a new niche for myself in the writing field in anticipation of this. Less emphasis on decks, and hence the innovation that Bill deems so important. I've rambled on and around this subject in the past, but I feel like my place will be to innovate people's minds and the way they think about the game.
I really enjoyed the discussion about white that my article spawned. Clearly a lot of what I said was provacative rhetoric, but it wasn't so far off as to be ridiculous (or was it?), and some of the responses to my position really made me think--maybe even change my mind on a few points. I'm really happy that I wrote that article and we had that huge discussion in "the dog days of August" when other writers have little to nothing to talk about (two articles about Type 4 on the same day?)
So don't cry for Riki Hayashi the Magic player. He had fun, but Riki Hayashi the judge is much better at what he does. And Riki Hayashi the writer still has a few tricks up his sleeve to stir the pot with nary a deck list.
The TCGpprentice is right around the corner. Actually, the candidates are in the midst of duking it out to make it to the final (/beginning) eight as we type and read. I think we'll kick things off with a bang on Monday, Sept 24th with an introductory piece on those same eight. I have to watch some episodes of the Apprentice to channel my inner Trump.
Next Monday, I have two articles in a race to get done. One is on Tarmogoyf and the other Platinum Angel. I like the way Plats is working out better right now. It has a bit more of a storytelling feel to it, while the Goyf article currently reads like a rules primer, aka boring. I like telling stories; my first passion in writing was fiction. Maybe if I tell some stories I can get on the Invitational ballot next year.
The Platy Angel article is kind of a test of applying fiction writing skills to a Magic article. If it works ok then I can green light my second big project, which pretty obviously has something with a fictional angle to it.
Actually, after the TCGpprentice and the newly-named fiction-related Project K, I have a third huge Magic-related project in the works. I can't even give you a hint because it isn't solely mine. Stay tuned.
Sleep? No thanks. Seems like a waste of time.
