“If you build it, they will come.”
2023, The first year of dedicated Old School Events in New Jersey has finally come to an end. With The SYLEX SLAM 2024 Championship right around the corner, and the first official New Jersey Old School Champion to be crowned, I’d like to take some time to reflect on the events of this past year. The goal this year was: Make consistent Old School Tournaments Happen in New Jersey, make the events FREE, and bring new players into the format. Each of these goals has been met. There may only be one Champion (and one DEAD LAST), but the impact that each player in these events has had on the community is astronomical. All of you made this possible. Without everyone showing up to these events, and the insane support you have given the community, these events wouldn’t happen. Thank you all so much for this amazing year of
Old School Magic.
#1 May 2023 Meet-Up/Tournament [Atlantic]
1st Place - Benjy
The First event of the year was in May, it's what I would consider a “Proof of Concept” with 8 Players!
1st Place was Benjy, who can forever say he was the first ever New Jersey Old School Tournament Winner!
#2 June 2023 Tournament [X-Point]
1st Place Ty
This was also the first event with a coveted LAST PLACE PRIZE! (Wooden Sphere Plaque)
This was the second event of the year, and 12 players
coming really excited us! I then knew that we could host real OS tournaments and not just meet ups.
Also we had an Orb Flipping Contest!
#3 July 2023 Tournament [Atlantic]
1st Place Brian P
This month was special, as I made some fun packs for everyone! (14 Players!) The Packs had Horror Comic Art basic Lands inside (You might See them around, especially in Tattoo 40) and one pack had the ONLY old school legal foil mountain (Fireball Mountain, Pulled by Li Wang), also the birth of the coveted title of DEAD LAST for last place. This was another great event, tons of fun! New Jersey Old School is officially in full swing!
#4 August 2023 Tournament [Atlantic]
1st Place Baron Nick
Another GREAT event for NJOS! We had 17 Players this time!
Things really did start to heat up! Another Orb Flip-Off Side Event Happened, Jordan won the Best Deck Photo award and
some Pre-modern players showed up to check us out as well!
#5 October 2023 SPOOKTACULAR!
[SPECIAL VANGUARD X ATLANTIC]
1st Li Wang
This was a SPOOKY special event, with special VANGUARD rules
(And a first place MANA DRAIN! Can you tell Halloween is my favorite holiday?) 16 Players came with some wild decks, but Li Wang was able to break the format with... "ANTI-FRANKENSTEIN FRANKENSTEIN" All 5 Vanguards saw play, you can see the
Vanguard cards cards for CLASSIC MONSTER MASH VANGUARD here:
They will come back...they always come back...
#6 December 2023 Christmas Chaos!
[GENTLEMAN'S ATLANTIC]
1st Jason B
This was definitely an interesting event, this time with SURPRISE VANGUARDS! All I asked the 20 Players was "Naughty or Nice?" and for the first round, that sealed your fate (after that the vanguards were only used if both players agreed). Chaotic, High Variance, each game was wildly different, like opening a present. Will it be a Game Boy, or will it be socks? Flavor win, Right? Don't worry, surprise forced Vanguards won't happen again. From now on any VANGUARD shenanigans will be more like the successful October Vanguard event!
We started out this year with a small 8 player meet up, and ended the year with a 20 Player event!
Real Growth!
Thank you all so much for coming out an supporting the events at the store, and a VERY special thanks to Reggie! Reggie has been running Old School FNM every Friday at Time Warp, keeping the format healthy, and giving new players an opportunity to learn about the fun of cardboard older than some of them. I am grateful that we can run proxy-friendly events, as we have had players join us that NEVER would have otherwise had the chance! We hit our goal of expanding Old School in New Jersey, and as a whole! I only hope that 2024 will be another year of growth for the Old School Format, and that I can run more awesome events with awesome people! The OS community is truly the best in all of MTG.
Well, that's enough reminiscing.
SPECIAL THANKS:
Jesus M - Creator of the Youtube Channel
"Road to Old School MTG"
For featuring New Jersey Old School Matches and events!
Maria VZ - The crafter (And first winner of) of the infamous
DEAD LAST trophies! She does an amazing job with her art, and is always supportive of the NJ Old School Community!
Reggie - The Arbiter of Old School at Time Warp Comics.
Without Reggie, there would be no weekly events, and planning upcoming events would be a nightmare.
Jonathan L - Creator of the NJOS Logo!
and EVERYONE who has ever attended an NJOS event!
This could never happen without you!
For the future:
Check out our new format: Micr-OS
... AND SEE YOU ALL AT THE SYLEX SLAM!
Comments
Post a Comment