Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - Drive to Work #157 - SDCC

Episode Date: September 12, 2014

Mark talks about his history with SDCC and the Magic panel.

I'm pulling out of the driveway. We all know what that means. It's time for another drive to work. Okay, so today I thought I was going to talk about something a little more off the beaten path. Today's topic is San Diego Comic-Con. Okay, so I'm going to start talking a little about my history with San Diego Comic-Con and then how it got involved with magic and the magic panel and all that. Comic-Con, and then how it got involved with magic and the magic panel and all that. Okay, so San Diego Comic-Con, I think, just celebrated, like, its 50th anniversary or something. It goes way, way back.

It's been going on forever. Anyway, I used to live in Los Angeles before I lived here in lovely Seattle, and San Diego's not that far away from Los Angeles, and I love comics. I've been reading comic books since I was a little kid. I'm a huge, for those who don't know, I'm a huge comics fan. So there's a giant, the biggest event, especially in North America, about comics was not far away. I was going. So when I lived in Los Angeles, most summers, I would drive down and go.

Now, you have to remember, back then, getting in wasn't quite as difficult as it currently is. You could actually walk up and buy tickets and go. It wasn't like you had to, you know, nine months ahead of time, been on the computer fast enough to get your ticket, you know. You literally could just go, oh, I want to go and walk in. The other thing that turned out was, at some point, they have what's called a professional badge, and working in the game industry, qualified. And so there was a period where I was a freelancer for Wizards, and I qualified. I was doing enough game-related things that I qualified. But anyway, so I used to go down to Comic-Con. Now, it's interesting as far as how Comic-Con interacts with magic.

It was at 93 at Comic-Con. Now, I talked about how I'd worked in a game store, and people would come in asking about magic. That's how I first heard about it. But I'd never seen the cards. So when I was at Comic-Con that summer, 93, I mentioned to somebody something about Comic-Con. I heard someone talk about magic or something, and I said to somebody, oh, do you have magic? They're like, oh, yeah, I mentioned to somebody something about Comic-Con. I heard someone talk about magic or something. And I said to somebody, oh, do you have magic? They're like, oh, yeah, I have a deck.

Or maybe I think I asked if I could buy some. And someone said, oh, I have a deck. I have nothing for sale, but I have a deck. And so I said, well, can I look at it? And that was the first time I ever saw magic cards. It was at San Diego Comic-Con, 1993. And it was amazing. I remember they seemed so awesome.

It's sort of this, I don't know, my memory of it was just like, you know, I was playing in some fun pop 70s song was playing in the background and my eyes opened up. Anyway, so early on, I used to go to Comic-Con. And then in 93, I got to see the cards for the first time. In 94, Wizards of the Coast had a booth at Comic-Con. And I had a chance to meet some people. I had flown to Gen Con in the summer of 94. So I think when I went to Comic-Con, that was later that summer.

So I already met some of the people from Wizards, but I had a chance to see them again. One of the things that happened is, when I flew to GemCon, I convinced the editor of the Duelist, a woman named Catherine Haynes, to... I'd already been doing puzzles, but she allowed me to start writing articles for the Duelist. And through that, I started picking up other jobs, doing other freelance work, mostly all writing, but for different sections of the company. started picking up other jobs, doing other freelance work, mostly all writing, but for different sections of the company. So anyway, I was slowly becoming friends with people, but seeing them at Comic-Con, getting face-to-face to talk to more people, I also ended up volunteering at the booth. So I definitely, that was my first interaction where I was sort of actively trying to help them. I mean, I had done some stuff at Gen Con that year, and then I volunteered

at the booth. So I was slowly making myself known to the people of Wizards. And so both in 94 and 95, I definitely intermingled with the booth. Although at 95, I was already in the process of getting a job. So when I was talking to them then, it was more like, I'm going to be coming to work for Wizards soon. But anyway,

once I went to Wizards, I think I might have gone to Gen Con, not Gen Con, sorry, to Comic Con the way it worked was back in the day, Wizards used to go to about every convention you could imagine. When I first started at Wizards, Peter Atkinson

was the president of the company, and he really believed like, we gotta get the word out, you know, we want people to know about magic, we're just going everywhere and so, in fact, I used to go to a convention in Los Angeles. In fact, there was three conventions in Los Angeles. They had different names, but they were at the same hotel every year. There was, like, one in the fall and one in the spring and one in the winter, I think.

And Wizards used to have a booth there. They used to go there. In fact, that's where I met Steve Bishop. When I first wanted to do the magic puzzle, he was the person I got introduced to and talked to that gave me Catherine Haynes' name. That's how I ended up contacting Catherine. Anyway, so we used to go... So the first couple years that I worked at Wizards,

I used to go down to Comic-Con. It was one of the conventions that I made sure to get to. But then things happened. There were pro tours and lots of other things. And anyway, eventually I stopped going to Comic-Con. I'm not sure if Wizards, I think Wizards still had a booth. I think I just, I just stopped going for other, I had other things to do. Um, obviously in my life I started dating and then I got married and then I had kids

and eventually just, I moved on and I stopped going to Comic-Con. Although I really, really loved Comic-Con back when I used to go. And then, one year, a good friend of mine, Mike Ryan, the guy who co-created the Weatherlight Saga with me, although at this time, he's way past, he hadn't worked at Wizards for many years, said that the company he had worked for was sending him down to Comic-Con. He goes, you should come with me. And I was like, ah, I don't know. So one of the things that I, one of the deals that my wife and I struck when the kids were

born, when the twins were born, was that I really needed to majorly cut back. When I got married, I cut back my travel some. When I had my first child, Rachel, I cut back my travel even more. When I had my second set of twins, or my first set of twins, but my second and third child, I majorly cut back. And so I was only traveling a couple times a year. In fact, I still only travel a couple times a year. But Michael said, hey, you should come down to Comic-Con. And I said, I don't know. I promised my wife I wouldn't travel too much.

And Laura said, oh, no, no, Mark, that'd be fun. You should go to Comic-Con. Because she knew I used to go all the time and really liked it. And so Michael had a hotel room I could crash in. So I basically just had to cover the airfare and food liked it. And so, Michael had a hotel room I could crash in. So I basically just had a cover of the airfare, you know, and food and such.

And so I went down and I had a blast. Like I said, I used to go all the time. Now, Comic-Con had changed in the, I don't know, the 15-year gap

between going. When I used to go down in the 90s, I mean, it was a big event. It was not like it wasn't a big event, but it was all contained within the convention center. It was still centered on comics.

I mean, there were other elements there back in the 90s. But when I returned, it was a different thing altogether. It had just exploded. And while comics were still there, it had become about much more than just comics. You know, when I went in the 90s, it was like the largest comic convention. When I went there in, you know, the 2000s, it was like this event, this giant thing that had just gotten huge, and it was a blast. It was fun, and so I had a great time. I really had a good time, and so the next year, Michael said, hey, you should come down again, so I had a great time. I really had a good time. And so the next year, Michael said,

hey, you should come down again. So I go, can I go down again? And she's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I started going down every year. And at the time, I was just a fan. I mean, I had a professional badge because I'm a designer in the game industry and I was able to get a professional badge.

But really, I was just going down and having fun. And like I said, I love comics and I love geeky things. And this was a show all about geeky things surrounded by geeky people. And I had a really good time. So one year, I was signing up for my badge. And for the professionals, one of the things they send you is this thing of, oh, are you interested in being in any panels? And there's a thing to say, yes, I'd like to do my own panel.

Or here's things I'm interested in. If other people are doing panels, I'd be a thing to say, yes, I'd like to do my own panel, or here's things I'm interested in. If other people are doing panels, I'd be interested in sitting on them, and I read through it, and I said, oh, I could probably, I mean, magic is, you know, I mean, if you think of sort of the essence of Comic-Con, it's a very geek culture style thing. Magic fits perfectly. I'm like, oh, I go, that would be kind of cool. We probably should have a panel there, so I went, and I talked to Elaine Chase, who's the senior brand manager of Magic, so I said to her, I go, that would be kind of cool. We probably should have a panel there. So I went in and I talked to Elaine Chase, the senior brand manager of Magic. So I said to her, I go, Elaine, would you mind if I signed up to do a panel on Magic?

You know, I go to panels all the time. I go, look, I could easily go and do a question and answer thing. And, you know, I could entertain people for an hour. It wouldn't be nice to have a magic panel at Comic-Con. And Elaine goes, oh, yeah, that sounds fine. So I sign up to get a magic panel. Now, my intent at the time was it would be me in a room with a bunch of people, and I'd be answering questions. And, you know, mostly it would be just sort of talking about magic, you know, making magic.

I wasn't at the time thinking that I would be spoiling anything. I just felt like I'd be talking about magic and answering questions about magic. And like, you know, I'm one of those folks, people of magic. I figured like, you know, that having a chance to come talk to me would be pretty cool.

Most people, I mean, I have a blog, but this would kind of be like a live action blog where you could come in person, ask me questions. And then Elaine writes me an email, goes, come on and talk to me. So she's like, you know, we probably should do this. I mean, like, what were you planning to do for the panel? I'm like, oh, I just, ask me questions. And then Elaine writes me an email and goes, come on up and talk to me. So she's like, you know, we probably should do this.

What were you planning to do for the panel? I'm like, oh, I was going to sit there and answer questions. She goes, well, we probably should do something a little bigger than that. She goes, probably we should send some people down. I go, oh, okay, sure. And so we decided that not only was I going to do the panel, but Aaron Forsythe, who's my boss and the director of Magic R&D, Mark Purvis, a brand manager, one of Elaine's brand managers,

or brand director, sorry. And then Scott Larrabee, who was the tournament organizer, one of the guys that runs the Pro Tour. And then Matt Cavada. Matt Cavada, at the time, he used to be on the creative team. Now he's in charge of sort of look and feel magic. If you see packaging you love, Matt's got his hand in that. Anyway, so they sent down the five of us, and I believe the set that was upcoming was Innistrad.

And so we said, okay, well, why don't, it turns out that middle of the summer is actually a pretty good time to start teasing the fall set. Now, we do a big thing at PAX, which is in August, end of August, in which we give away cards and mechanics where we sort of actually, it's right before preview start where we start previewing things. But we figured out that, you know, the summer was a pretty good time to just tease a little bit, talk about what the set's about. You know, don't give away mechanics, but give a general sense of what you expect. What we had been doing is, in the spring, we've been releasing the name with a picture, what we call the key art.

So Innishrod had come out. It was called Innishrod. It had a logo, and it had a picture of Liliana sitting on a throne, holding something, and somebody's body you know, a body by her side that looks like she probably just did them in. And it gave a little bit of mood and tone, but it didn't say quite what it was. And so we're like, okay, well, at this convention,

at the panel, you guys could tell them about Innistrad for the first time. And so I, because it was the thing I was running, I ended up emceeing it, and I made the slides. And so we sat down, we figured out what pictures we could show, and I was really excited, and I put together a slideshow. So we decided that not only would we talk about the upcoming fall set, but we'd talk about all the sets that were coming up that year.

And so usually there's a From the Vault, there's a Dual Deck. Now there's Commander. Sometimes there's other products that happen. And so we would's a From the Vault, there's a Duel Deck, now there's Commander, sometimes there's other products that happen. And so we would just sort of talk about it. And for the first time, we could show them a few cards from From the Vault, or we could show them the packaging or something, talk about Duel Decks. We could show some stuff from the upcoming sets. And then, if there's time, pretty much what I did is I modeled our panel after the comic panels that I used to always go see. And the way the comic panels work is they sit down, they show you some slides, they introduce the people, they talk a little bit about upcoming stuff, they tease some upcoming stuff,

and then they open the floor and let people ask questions. I'm like, okay, I mean, that model seemed perfectly fine. I made a little slideshow, and I introduced everybody, and then I did little pictures of things. And we had some preview stuff we hadn't seen before, and we showed off some cards from from the vault, and maybe a card from Duel Deck, and but anyway, so, and it was Innishrod, so I got to do the big, like, it's

Gothic Horror, and the way I did it, I remember is, I showed a picture, I got the best picture I could of a werewolf, of a vampire, and of a zombie, and so the first picture was werewolves. There was a werewolf. It was werewolves.

And the second picture showed a vampire. It was vampires. And the third picture showed zombies. And the fourth slide said, oh, my, and showed the key art with Liliana. And the audience went wild. They were very excited. And then I explained, here's what we're doing. We're doing Gothic Horror. And that's the first time They were very excited. You know, and then I explained,

here's what we're doing. We're doing Gothic Horror. And that's the first time we'd ever said we're doing that. And I said, yeah, there's going to be werewolves and vampires and zombies and all this cool stuff. And Kavada, Matt, Matt talked about the world a little bit. And we sort of showed off. Enough to get a little tease of what was coming

without actually showing any mechanics or anything. Anyway, it went over really, really well. It went over very well. In fact, when we set it up, we weren't sure. I mean, this is Comic-Con. We're like, well, we think this is a good audience. We think there's a lot of overlap between the people that would be at San Diego Comic-Con and our audience.

But we didn't know. And so I was very happy when we sold out the room the first time and when we packed the room. Because I think the first time we got a room, it was a little small, like maybe $250, and we filled it up. I mean, and I just filled it up. I mean, there was lines.

We filled it up. We were very happy. And so we said, okay, let's do this again. This worked really well. So the next year was Return to Ravnica. Now, we at PAX East, we had shown, like we always do, we show the title and we show the key art. Well, when the name is Return to Ravnica, you're giving away a little more than normal. Because Innistrad, what does Innistrad mean?

I mean, people were listening to it and looking at the font of the logo. And, you know, there were people who guessed maybe it was horror. But that's a different thing. And then Return to Ravnica, well, perhaps are you returning to Ravnica? And people were really, really excited we were going back to Ravnica. So that year, we had the same panel again, actually. It was me and Aaron and

Mark and Matt and Scott. And I think that year we were trying to we always mix it up and try to do different things. That was the year we said, oh, maybe we could, when people ask questions, if people ask particular questions, we'll give away special prizes this year. And so that was the year where there was a kid that, oh, no, no, I'm sorry.

That was the very first year. I'm forgetting. The very first year we did the panel, because it was the first year we'd ever done it. We wanted to create a spectacle for very first year I'm forgetting the very first year we did the panel because it was the first year we'd ever done and we wanted to create a spectacle for our first year we were giving away some prizes for people that ask questions

pretty big prizes for example somebody asked about the art and we ended up giving them the original art to

to what's it called the one based on the Jonathan Golden song it's a I hate when I based on the Jonathan Golden song. It's a I hate when I blink on names which I do all the time. You guys know the one I'm talking about.

You see her screaming. It's Creepy Doll. So one of the kids asked about the art of Matt who is an artist and so he won the original art to Creepy Doll. And somebody else asked about the Pro Tour and he got an invite to the Pro Doll. And somebody else asked about the Pro Tour, and he got an invite to the Pro Tour. And somebody else asked about

something, and they got a beta pack. So the second year, we come back, same crew, we were talking about Return to Ravnica. And so we decided that, okay, we can go a little more in depth, and so we talked about the different plans.

So the thing that year was, we had changed up the block structure. So the first time we had done Ravnica, okay, we can go a little more in depth, and so we talked about the different plans. So the thing that year was, we had changed up the block structure. So the first time we had done Ravnica, remember, it was large, small, small, we did 4, 3, 3. And next time we were doing large, large, small, 5, 5, 10. So one of the things that we, usually what happens at Comic-Con is, I get to talk big picture, meaning I'm going to explain sort of what's going on. Not to find my new stuff. Traditionally, we don't show cards or show mechanics. We broke that rule recently. I'll get to that.

But we talk about the essence of what's going on, and I explain the block as a whole. What is coming? And so if there's something interesting with the block structure, I explain that. And so that year, oh, well, instead of 4-3-3, it's 5-5-10. And here's the block structure. I explained that. And so that year, oh, well, instead of 4-3-3, it's 5-5-10. And here's the block structure.

Here's how it's going to work. You're going to draft Return of Ravnica all by itself. Then you're going to draft Gatecrash all by itself. Then, when Dragon's Maze comes out, you're going to draft them all together. Which was very different. We'd never done anything like that. We'd never had a large second set. We'd never had you stop drafting the first set

with the second set. We never had a set go away and come back. It was very, very different. Likewise, anyway, obviously people were quite excited by Return to Ravnica. I just don't know the details was cool to them. Okay, so that was year two. So year three, which was last year, we were introducing Theros. So I think either the second or the third year, we got upgraded from 250 to 500 person room.

And we filled that up to capacity. In fact, we have every single year filled our room to capacity. So if you ever come to San Diego Comic-Con and really want to go to the Magic Panel, definitely get there early because there's a lot of people who come. And if you don't know anything about San Diego Comic-Con,

there's a lot of waiting in line. The way it works is, the rules of San Diego Comic-Con is that you can wait in line. Once you're in a room, they will never kick it out. They don't clean the room out. So if you want to see a panel and you think it's going to be busy, oftentimes you will sit through earlier panels to see it.

So, for example, I like Joss Whedon if you don't know that. So last year, Joss Whedon was introducing his new TV show, Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. And I really wanted to see it. So, you know, for example, I like Joss Whedon, if you don't know that. So last year, Joss Whedon was introducing his new TV show, Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. And I really wanted to see it. I was excited for Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I really liked to see Joss Whedon. And it was like 12 o'clock in the afternoon. So I showed up many, many hours earlier. And there were panels before that I was interested in.

But I'm going to sit through a bunch of panels just to make sure I'm there so I can see Joss Whedon. And I did. and sit through a bunch of panels just to make sure I'm there so I can see Joss Whedon. And I did. But anyway, so the Magic fans will come early

and they'll sit through multiple panels ahead of us. So that year, last year, in fact, the panel before us was Monster High. See if you know what Monster High is.

So there are a bunch of Barbie dolls, I mean, not literal Barbie dolls, but like Barbie dolls, that are themed, the characters in it all go to this high school, and they're all monsters. It's like, you know, the daughter of Dracula, and the daughter of the Wolfman, and the daughter of Frankenstein.

And anyway, they're very, very popular. But they're very popular with girls. So when I would come to see our line, because normally I get there early. I like to what they call walk the line, because people have been waiting for a while. And I'd chance to say hello and, you know, sign autographs or take pictures or answer questions. And I like to what they call walk the line, because people have been waiting for a while, and I tend to say hello and sign autographs or take pictures or answer questions. And I like to walk the line. And last year, I get in the line,

and it's a bunch of Magic players intermingled with little girls. So it was a very bizarre... Like I said, I could tell who was there for the Monster High panel. Okay, so last year, we talked about Theros. And the panel was myself, Mark Purvis again. In fact, Mark and I had been the one constant all four years. And then we had Jenna Helland, who had done the creative work for Theros. She had been on the design team and was the person who oversaw the world development of Theros

and did a lot of the creative work, the card concept and stuff. And then the last person was a guy named Dave Guskin. So Dave Guskin is what we call an experience designer. So if you guys are things like the Hell Vault or like the Hero's Journey, things in which there's things built around the play of a pre-release or of a game day or of a launch party or any of those things, Dave and other people like him do that. And so last year we were talking

about Theros. The audience knew the name Theros and they had had the key art. I think that the key art teased Greek mythology. I think it was, I believe it was Elisabeth standing over Hydra. So like it kind of teased it a little bit, but you didn't definitively know. And so I got to come and say, yeah, we're doing Greek mythology, and they were very excited. And Jenna talked all about the world, and Dave talked about the experience

that was going to be built into it, and we really sort of did a lot of things. And then we also talked about some of the upcoming products. Once again, filled the room. People were real happy and quite excited. Then this year, it was time to introduce

the world to Khans of Tarkir. And so, this year, Mark Purvis and I came. The creative person, instead of being Jenna, was Doug Byer, because Doug was the person who oversaw the creative world for this year. And then, for experience design, Dave Guskin has gone on to other things.

He left Wizards, but doing good work elsewhere. Gavin Verhey, who also does experience design, came to be the experience design person this year. So this year, we did something a little different. We had never previously given away a card from the fall set before. Traditionally, what we do is we talk about themes and show off the world, but we normally wait to pack to actually show cards. But there was

a card, the face of Duel Decks, which is what's his name? Helm Smasher. Zerog Helm Smasher. And we said, you know what? The thing about the card was it didn't give away any mechanics. It was a standalone card. It was a cool card that flavorfully fit the Mardu clan, but it didn't give away any of the mechanics from the set. So we said, okay, let's just

show this off. And then we figured out that before PAX was going to happen, because of the way the Zulidex worked, that Morph was going to end up being a known thing before PAX. And, like, there wasn't something we could surprise people with PAX. Like, oh, well, why don't we surprise it here? And so we actually, at the end of it, we did a little thing borrowed from Steve Jobs of one more thing. One little thing we want to talk about. And we talked about Morph was coming back.

And so this year, we... So we did a little more than we had in previous years. We showed a card want to talk about. And we talked about Morphos coming back. And so this year, we did a little more than we had in previous years. We showed a card. We talked about mechanic. And once again, we showed off the world. I explained the design. Because the block structure, which is, I mean, by this point, I assume, since I'm recording this,

I'm way ahead of my podcast. So probably you all have read all about it. I'm not hiding secrets from you. You know all about it, and I'm not hiding any secrets from you. You know all about how the block works and what's going on. But anyway, it was something where it was a very unique thing that we built the entire block around, and I was able to explain that. So once again, we had our normal room. I think we've been in the same room for the last two or three years, maybe three years.

Like I said, it holds about 500 people, I think. We show it up every year. We always ask, people always ask, why don't you get a bigger room? We ask for a bigger room. But one of the things that's going on is there's just only so many rooms of such size. And that, you know, hey, we're a big property. There's a lot of big properties. I mean, we are a small property combined to some of the properties that are there.

There's a lot of big properties. You know, a lot. I mean, we are a small property combined to some of the properties that are there. You know, there's some, you know, mega giant TV shows and things. And anyway, every year we always let them know that we fill up the room and that if they want to give us a bigger room,

we'd be more than happy. But, hey, we're just happy to be there. And so, let me talk a little bit about just some of the things about the Magic Panel. So, if you've never been to San Diego Comic-Con, so let me walk you through exactly what happens. Okay, so first of all, you get in line, you get there early.

Usually, if you're there early enough, you end up going in a panel, one or two panels before us. If not, then you go, we seat you. So you get seated. So the panel's actually 50 minutes long, even though each one's scheduled for an hour, you have to finish 10 minutes at the 50 on the hour.

So we started this year at noon. We had to finish at 12.50. And the reason is they want 10 minutes to clear the room and to let the next people in. So they can clear the room, let the next batch of people in, so that they can start right on time. So really you have 50 minutes. And so what we try to do is we try to give enough information and leave some time for

questions. This year, actually, we had so much information to give that we went a little long. And normally, so what happens is you'll walk in, you'll find your seat, then we have a panel up on the screen. I'm at a podium and there's other people sitting down with little placards with their name in front of them. It's very fun. In the back of the placard, they have placards with your name. There's little rules saying

remember this is a family for the audience and try not to swear and it tells you things just to remember. So what happens is I always run the panel off of either my iPad or my iPhone. This year I've run it off my iPhone because my iPhone is faster than my iPad now because I have a newer iPhone. And so what happens is we come, we hook everything up, and then we get going. And we will show you different things.

And the thing that's great about this is I think there's something about being live and being surrounded by people that share your passion that just gets people extra, extra excited. And one of the reasons I love doing the panel. And it's funny because I, one of the things that's great about Comic-Con is I used to go to Comic-Con for fun, just on my own free will, just because I think Comic-Con is fun. And now I get to go to Comic-Con running the panel. And like, it's funny. I love, I love, I love Comic-Con.

But you know what I also love? I love running the Magic panel. There's, one of the things that's great about working on Magic is just interacting with the public in general is great. People are very excited when you meet them, and hey, I make a product that makes people happy, and so when they meet me,

they are excited to say, I mean, usually, not that I don't get yelled at from time to time, but mostly it's, hey, I'm so excited, this is an awesome game, thank you for making, you know, thank you for being one of the people that make this awesome game, so when you get a panel

of people who are all excited, we have new information and stuff that they want to hear it's the first time they're going to hear about it the energy in the room it's like crackling with energy it is one of the, it's just it is so exciting, I mean, I get excited I know everything, and I get super excited

just because the room gets so excited, and it's just so much fun. And remember, when people ask me, I did a whole podcast on this, my least favorite part of my job is keeping all the secrets and not telling people the awesome things we're doing. So when I finally get to tell people

the awesome things we're doing, and I get to tell it to a group of fans that are just, like, beyond excited, who are just screaming at every possible new thing you can tell them. It is just awesome. It is truly, truly awesome. I mean, the Magic Panel is one of my favorite things of the entire year, because I just, like I said, if you've ever been there, it is, it's electric. It's very, very fun. And I think one of the reasons that we've had such a job and we really love showing lots of things off is it is so much fun.

And every little thing that gets so exciting is so awesome. So anyway, what will happen is we will run through our presentation. And we show lots of pictures. We show art. We show cards. And we show as much stuff as we can. Normally from the fall set, we show more art than we show anything else just because we're not giving away mechanics mostly. We're not giving away cards.

But we do show a lot of art. This year, we talked about the clans, right? And so for each clan, we had four pieces of art for each clan. We showed off sort of the group shot and where they live, and an action shot, and then the con. We showed the picture of the con for each clan.

And it's just fun, because there's something nice about when you do a slideshow that you can get visuals to and when you're talking. Anyway, it's something I've been working something nice about when you do a slideshow that you can get visuals too and when you're talking and anyway it's something I've been working on just trying to make

trying to make the panel and the slides are just better every year and we have a lot of fun sort of you know definitely I think the technology has made it easier this year for the first time

actually we included video and audio which we hadn't done before small hiccup this year I need to take the case off my phone so I can get the audio jack all the way in video and audio, which we hadn't done before. Small hiccup this year. I need to take the case off my phone so I can get the audio jack all the way in. That was a little mishap this year. But anyway, and this year, we often

have a guest. Last year, Felicia Day came up to announce the existence of Spellshapers. Not Spellshapers, sorry. Spellslingers. Spellshapers were from spell shapers, sorry. Spell slingers. Spell shapers were from Mercadian Mass.

And then this year, Joshua Ovenshire came up to talk about season two. We also showed the, not the trailer, but a teaser of the trailer. Normally at PAX, we show the trailer

for the first time, but we got permission this year to show a teaser of the trailer, which showed each of the five cons and then showed Sarkin, which was pretty cool. Anyway, like I said, I'm almost to work.

If you ever get yourself to San Diego Comic-Con, I know these days it's harder and harder to get in the door, but if you happen to be there on the day we're doing our panel, it is well worth your while. Like I said, it just... Oh, so, by the way, San Diego Comic-Con is not just the panel. That's the thing I always focus on.

There always is gaming going on. Usually Tim Shields tends to run it. This year it was in the Marriott on the third floor. Comic-Con's gotten so big that they can't fit everything anymore. It used to be, the gaming used to be inside the convention, but now there's so much going on they can't fit anymore. So now to be, the gaming used to be inside the convention, but now there's so much going on, they can't fit anymore.

So now it's, Comic-Con has exploded, so now events are going on in other hotels around it. And the gaming happens to be usually in the Marriott, which is right next door. Also,

Geek & Sundry, which is our partners, they do Spellflingers with us, has a, they take over a place called Jolt & Joe's, which is a bar slash restaurant, and they do a big party every night.

And usually one night is a magic-sponsored party. So this year it was on Friday. And so in conjunction with Skullshippers, we threw a party. And so I always go to the party, and the funny thing is usually there's a little VIP section, which is like a little area where we get to sit where there's a little velvet rope

but normally there's people that want to say hi so I'm always standing at the rope to say hi to people and I feel like I'm in a museum because like people are walking up and I'm behind this little velvet rope and one of the things

I say this on my Twitter and my blog that if you ever see me at an event especially a magic event you can say hi people seem very intimidated to sometimes come up and say hello to me

and I'm like I'm more than happy to say hi to fans. I love talking with people. I will sign autographs. I will take pictures. You know, I mean, I have this really, I'm in this sweet spot where I'm famous in a very, very, very tiny select way so that it's not like I get bothered when I go shopping or anything or like the paparazzi are following me. But it's kind of nice when I'm at an event. And, you know, Comic-Con, I tend to get noticed more

just because it's more of a kind of event where Magic Players would be. Obviously, I go to a Magic event. People know me. But anyway, people approach me. It's nice. It's fun. It's not like I'm bugged constantly. And I do like meeting Magic Players.

It's always fun. Oh, also this year, by the way, not only did we do the party, we also did an event where there was a tournament. It was actually a free tournament if you signed up, sponsored by Wizards of the Coast

and Geek & Sundry. It was in conjunction with Spellflingers. And so I and some of the cast from Spellflingers, the second season of Spellflingers, I and Doug Byer, along with the cast, we had a little tournament

where we played. You could play us. I actually played three rounds. You got an intro from Magic 2015, and you played, the rounds were one game, they were 20-minute rounds, one game, one match. Or, sorry, one game, the match was one game. And I went one and two,

although the person who lost to me, I didn't play the second time because we had time, and they beat me. So everybody I played beat me. People get very excited when they beat me. They mistakenly believe I'm good at magic. Or it's just fun to say that you beat me. I guess that's probably half of it.

But I had a good time and I got to meet people and signed some cards and took some pictures and played some magic. And that was definitely a lot of fun. Anyway, so I think that my wrap-up here, because I'm moments from work, is that if you want a Magic player and you get yourself to San Diego Comic-Con, definitely check out the gaming. For sure, check out the panel. Wizards does not have a booth anymore. Hasbro has a booth, but we don't have a booth. Oh, I didn't even talk about the... I did not talk about... So, something we started last year

is we started doing a San Diego Comic-Con exclusive. So last year, there were five cards. There were Planeswalker cards with an alt-art treatment. This year, there were six cards with new art and a different treatment, along with a Nerf Axe of Garrix, which was my favorite thing.

And it was quite the talk of the convention. It's hard to get. I know I get a lot of comments on it and that it is... So what happened last year was they sold out super, super fast. So this year we made a lot more of them. We limited them to one per person rather than

two per person. We made sure that there were ones for every single day. Last year they sold out early because I don't think Hasbro, the people at Hasbro booth quite understood what they had on their hands. We had never done a magic item before. And so when everybody started buying the magic item, they were like, ooh, it's

interesting. People seem to like this magic item. But anyway, the thing I always explain is that we are a collectible. We do things like collectible items. We try really like collectible items. We try really hard to make sure that it doesn't impact tournament play. The cards that we are doing,

while they're neat-looking cards, you can get those cards in a Magic 2015 booster pack. And anyway, it is something that causes a lot of excitement. It is neat to just have people... I don't know. I think collectibles can be fun as long as it doesn't get in the way of gameplay. And we work really hard to make sure

that there aren't exclusive cards or things that are, you know, in order to play Magic, I would need to track this down. This is for collectors to collect. It is not for people who need it so they can play with it. You know, you can get those cards elsewhere.

Anyway, I brought up the card. Everything was going fine. I brought up the controversial stuff right at the end but anyway if you're ever at San Diego Comic Con go to the panel you can try to stand

in line and get the collectible you can go play magic there's a maybe come to the Geek and Sundry party all sorts of fun things to do

but anyway that is San Diego Comic Con so I've now parked my car which means it's time for me to be making magic.

I'll talk to you guys next time.