Another one in the books. Another trip around the big Fireball. A year has passed, and it is time to look back and forth and all around and figure out what we did and what to do. Quite a steep hill on this the first day of January. I usually write these things before the turn of the calender sheet, but not this time. I have had way too many awesome guests and too much to do in the days between Christmas and New Years Eve to get to do this.
But now, here we are. The traditional Happy New Years post where I take a look back at my acquisitions of cards, my work on this platform and not least my venturing out into the unknown in participating in tournaments throughout the country. And then a little look forward with regards to the plan for what cards I hope to acquire in 2025.
Let me first say this: 2024 has – much like 2023 before it – been a year that I was actually able to follow. I can still remember 2021 and 2022 that went by in such a hurried breeze it left me completely out of air. I am happy that now, when I look back, I find it difficult to grasp that it was in 2024 I attended the Whisperer in the Darkness tournament for example. February seems to be a long long time ago. Thankfully. I like it more, when I feel I have the time to actually figure out what is going on in my life.
Additions to the pension fund
Right. I set out 2024 with a plan to buy a bunch of specific cards. These:
Three Unlimited Mana Vault
Four Beta Ankh of Mishra
Four Beta Animate Dead
A not-too-unrealistic plan really. Those are expensive and cool cards, but a year worth of Magic-dough should be able to do the trick.
I almost got there. At least I got to get the coolest parts of the plan:
Those are a real beauty and a sight for sore (January 1) eyes.
I have been playing Ankh of Mishra in almost all my tournament decks the last couple of years so I was really happy, when I was able to finish such a cool playset.
The next set is even more insanely hot. I mean almost Japanese-woodworking hot. Almost.
I mean.
What is there really to say? Look at those beauties. I was so happy when I got the opportunity late autumn to get my hands on these four. This is truly, actually pension fund kind of nerdery in the sense that I will probably never let these go again!
I never prioritized to complete a playset of Unlimited Mana Vaults. I have not played the card that much in 2024, and I just never got around to it.
There was just something else that took my attention and my money a lot of the time throughout the year:
Yep. I started to really work on my Vintage Cube in 2024. That took quite the toll. But what an incredible pleasure it is to have such a pile of fun laying around ready for an evening of high stakes Magic with the most power available to any wizard!
The last couple of years I have had this plan for purchases and what I wanted to prioritize. I have made these lists to keep myself on track, because a lot of the cards I long for are rather expensive and requires some saving up.
For 2025 I am not going to make a list like that. I know there are some cards I would like to find. Cards like a set of Swedish blackbordered Llanowar Elves and maybe even a set of Swedish blackbordered Hypnotic Specters. There are also still those three Mana Vaults. And a lot of other cards. But the thing is I have basically all the cards I want to play in Old School so I am diverting even more attention to my Vintage Cube and my Canlander collection.
And, if everything goes to plan, I will also spend some of my Magic-money on hosting a tournament or two in 2025. Time to give back, you know. More on that later!
Going wide and about
2024 was a year of several great opportunities to meet up with and play against a host of awesome people from close and far.
The year began with an epic in-house Geysermeister tournament in January. A gathering that became a tradition on the spot, so we are on it again January 18 2025. Great to have something to look forward to! We have even added a couple of members to the team (or at least a couple of Old Schoolers have moved to Svendborg during 2024) so it will probably be even more of an evening to remember this year!
I attended four bigger, open tournaments in 2024. All of them was decidedly awesome and by all means worth a lot! It has been a great pleasue to play against all of you in the Whisperer in the Darkness in February, at The Mountains of Madness in June, at The Gathering in October and last, but not least, at LIC in November.
My combined record of the four tournaments were 13-14. Last year I had a run of 13-15. An improvement I guess. At least a testament of some card-slinging at a very steady level from my part.
As always, the real record of the tournaments was not really how many games I won or lost, but this:
I played some rather different decks and tried to stay away from the most defined decklists of the format. I played a BW TurboFog Deck with a Lovecraft theme, an Enchantress deck with Serendib Efreets, a Balls to the Walls burn deck and finally a Ball Lightning Unsummon deck.
A real treat! I still can’t believe my own luck, that there are so many so gifted and generous tournament organizers in Denmark. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
2024 was also another year with a lot of great hours spend with the Wednesday Wizards – Team Metageyser. We may not have met as much as some of us wanted, but what to do? Grown-ups with responsibilities and everything.
But we celebrated both Peters and Rasmus’ birthdays in great bravada!
The Blog-o-Sphere
Okay, so as per tradition, this is where things slow down a bit.
I have simply had several months throughout the year where I have had zero motiviation to write anything, and so, of course, these parts have been rather quite for some time.
16 posts including tournament reports and maildays is a bit less than what I want to do in a year, but on the other hand I don’t want to force myself to write. It would be rather counter-productive as the main reason for writing stuff here is for my own enjoyment. If I don’t enjoy it, I won’t do it.
But I as another tradition I have touched upon several different themes again in 2024. In the beginning of the year I pondered a bit about how to develop my collection of cards in the coming years. Prioritize. I then wrote something about the strange pull from the Swedes. Again; Priorities.
I then wondered how I could best cheat in Old School (without actually cheating), and I ended the year trying to figure out what cards are actually my favorites.
I want to thank all of you who read my posts here. You often approach me at tournaments and praise my writings which is a great joy for me. As mentioned, my primary focus with this blog is to enjoy writing, but I am really happy that it seems several of you actually enjoy what I do here. So thank you very much.
And a very happy New Year! I hope to write a bit more en 2025 and attend at least 3-5 major tournaments again. Because there is no doubt that the primary focus for me in Old School is the community. You are awesome!