We have already come to it. Another one for the books. This time on of those years that will probably prompt a lot of books. Damn, a lot has happened since my last New Year post! Maybe not in my magical sphere, but in the world surrounding it. Again: Damn!
But all that crap is no reason to forego the traditional Happy New Year post.
Because even though I – as per tradition – has not done all I wanted to this year. And even though the year has gone so fast, that I am a bit in doubt, whether it has actually been even faster than the fastest recorded year in (my) history, 2021. I still managed to do some things. And I did manage to acquire some very sexy new cardboard. So here goes; Emil’s magical year 2022 revisited…
Gotta catch ‘em all 2022
Okay, sorry, but my six-year-old son has an insane Pokémon craze at the time. I like it a lot, and of course I both endorse and encourage his collecting and playing a trading card game. Remember: That way he will never be able to afford drugs, alcohol and easy women. Perfect. The game, Pokémon, though, seems rather uninteresting and without any of the really deep strategies, lore and stories of Magic. But again, I am not that interested in creatures and combat, so the game is probably not so much for me anyway. And I guess every generation must decide on their own vices.
Okay. That may have sidetracked a bit. On to the cards I have bought or traded for this year. It has been a total of four maildays posts in 2022. I won’t share all the loot from the posts again here (you can find the posts by clicking the hyperlink above, or right here: LINK. )
But some pictures are of course in order…
The biggest hitters of this year was by far these:
Starting the year (or actually ending 2021) I was rather certain, that I would never be able to save enough money to ever buy a couple of Candelabras. But I was. Fortunately. I really love the cards. They have been a lot of fun to play and brew with.
Oh yeah, then the Lich. Again: I would never have imagined acquiring two Beta Lich. Why? Because it is rather insane. But I managed to trade for them, and that simply made my day/week/month. As mentioned elsewhere, 2023 will probably be Year of the Lich around these parts!
I also somehow managed to ensure seven more Unlimited Duals. These are just great. I have been playing the shit out of the Bayous, and as soon as I get my hands on the fourth Badlands, I have several brews waiting.
And then these. A whole lot of different goodies. Not the most expensive cards, but just all in all very delicious cards, that I wanted for a lot of different brews.
And finally just a clumsy picture of more or less “the rest” of my Old School additions of the year… Please direct your attention to the lovely tokens on the left!
Besides this rather big chunk of Old School staples, I have also been directing some attention towards Canadian Highlander, but none of you want to look at those pieces of cardboard again…
2022 was also the first year, where I started out with a plan for what to get my hands on throughout the year. And even though some crackpot Russian idiot destroyed the economy, and with it some of my funny-money, I still – almost – managed to get there. I still need to find that fourth Badlands, and my Tetravus kann fliegen… Still…
On the other hand, I did get two Beta Lich, some Unlimited Forks and a whole host of other really great cards, that I enjoy playing, so even though I didn’t exactly only buy according to plan, I am very satisfied.
For 2023, I hope to acquire yet another card I had written off as way too expensive: Diamond Valley. The plan is as follows:
One Badlands
Two Diamond Valley
One Mirror Universe
Four Tetravus
And a whole lot of other smaller cards (Kobolds and Rukh Eggs first and foremost – we are going into a brewing spectacle of a year, I can assure you!). There will be a lot to save money for in 2023 too! I guess it is part of the charm…
Attending the wizarding career
Another year, another string of missed opportunities! Unfortunately 2022 was yet another year of me not attending exactly as many Old School tournaments, as I had hoped for. I had set my nose for three to four major tournaments, I managed two.
But what a couple of days those two tournaments were!
The first one was the epic gathering on the Jutland Ridge. The infamous, the one-and-only, At the Mountains of Madness IV!
What a day that was! Even though my playing results were by all standards abysmal, it was by far the best tournament experience I have had to date. So once again thank you to all the participants, to Jonas for hosting and not least to Lise for being there making sure everyone had a great time. As I mentioned in the report: “Every tournament should have its own Lise!”
And then a month and a half ago, I went to Jutland once again. This time to the legendary, much alcohol-infused craziness they call LIC! Specifically LIC4.0. I can only recommend the greatness that is LIC. This was another one of those days that simply raced to the top of magical days to remember. Thanks should therefore be roundly handed out to the organizers; the brothers Fryland, Allan, Esben and not least Peter! What a man Peter was to attend the kitchen the entire day! I am very uncertain if there is actually enough kudos around, to give the man, what he deserves. Send some his way!
Besides the major tournaments, I have also been blessed with the Wednesday wizards. I have both been to Teis’ l’Orangerie (not slang), Thomas’ bohéme loft (again, not slang) and even Peters kitchen! As I have mentioned elsewhere, tournaments are great, but a playgroup of people who are more and more becoming close friends, is sheer and pure luxury.
And speaking of close friends. 2022 was also the year were I was visited by my old friend Mathias who is living in Malaysia. He swung by with his beautiful family for a couple of days, to beat my Canadian Highlander decks to pulp.
And then Robin moved back to Denmark from Scotland. Yes! Fyn-Fyn-Fyn-Fyn-Fyn! He now lives close enough to actually sometimes come around and beat me to a pulp in Canadian Highlander. Great times!
The writing on the wall
Yeah, well. I may not have produced as much content, as I would have liked, but I am satisfied. My goals is about one larger piece a month.
I have had more focus on Canadian Highlander this year than usual – due to Robins great move – but I have also made a couple of posts about life as an Old School Magic player in general.
I always get a lot of very nice feedback from all of you on the different forums, and when I meet you in real life, so thank you for that. It means a lot, and I am happy that I am able to produce something worth reading. At least sometimes.
Next year will probably be somewhat deck-techy, but I also want to explore the collecting a bit. And then I hope to maybe do a couple of interviews of some of the prominent Danish Old School players. But let’s see where we go.
Thank you so much for reading my blog, and I wish you a very happy New Year!
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