Family Tradition Ended by WOTC Buy-a-Box Promo Decision

November 28, 2025 / Jerome / Leave a comment

A family tradition is about to end for us! This sounds dramatic but it’s not quite as momentous as you might think. So, what happened?

WOTC this week announced that it is ending its Buy-a-Box program in early 2026. They announced their decision rather quietly in a Wizards Play Network (WPN) post a few days back. Based on “careful review,” they plan to sunset the program with Lorwyn Eclipsed, the first set to come out next year.

The Buy-a-Box program provided a bonus card with each booster box purchased at an LGS. The cards offered were not always spectacular but there some some pretty desirable ones as well. Both Nexus of Fate and Kenrith, The Returned King spring to mind as good examples of some great card to come through the program.

The program ran for 17 years, longer than the family has been playing Magic. No reason was provided for the decision but WOTC does promise new future promotional initiatives:

We remain focused on investing in promotional programs and incentives that drive long-term growth and repeat play in stores. You will continue to see strong in-store support through initiatives that reward player engagement, spotlight new releases, and help you activate your local audience through in-store experiences. We will also continue testing new event structures, support, and promotions to identify and expand your store’s experiences.

So, how does this announcement end a family tradition? Anyone following our adventures knows that we buy a box with every set. Well, almost every set as we put an end to that tradition with The Last Avatar given our lack of interest in the set.

We gather together at our gaming table and crack open the box. We then go around, one at a time, picking up a pack until the box is empty. The real fun then follows. We all together crack a pack and go through our cards. We reveal the Rare and Mythic pulls. We then repeat until we have gone through all the packs. Surrounded by the empty booster wrappers, the final part of the tradition is to give the Buy-a-Box promo card to the person who pulled the least Mythics. While most of these have little value, it was the consolation prize (and it did work out in a few cases!). Some even became favourites. I’m fond of Firesong and Sunspeaker (despite the fact that Noah has it). And Noah built a cats and dogs deck with Rin and Seri, Inseparable. And while we were not playing when Surgical Extraction was the promo, it might have been a nice card to end the opening tradition with.

It is rare for whatever reason that we end up with equal number of Mythics. There is typically one person who does really well while there is also someone disappointed with their pulls (the trial and tribulations of opening booster packs). Sliding the BaB promo over to that person was essentially with some light-hearted teasing.

With Lorwyn Eclipsed coming up next, the boys and I had already talked about resuming the tradition. We are still discussing the timing given that Noah is now out of the province for university but we are looking forward to the new set. Unfortunately, we’ll have to see if we can come up with an alternative tradition for the compensation prize.

Wow and thank you!

June 1, 2025May 31, 2025 / Jerome / Leave a comment

I launched this site in July 2021 with the intention to post about my Magic TCG adventures with my two sons. There was no in-store play in Canada at the time as we were still dealing with Covid but the boys and I continued to play at home. I have a memory like a sieve and this was my way to start (however late) to document our Magic journey, mostly so that I could at any time I wanted, scroll down memory lane. There was no intention for this site to be more than that. Yet, somehow, traffic slowly grew. And more recently, not so slowly!

It suddenly jumped early this year with January seeing the highest traffic to date – A nearly 50% jump over the previous best month back in December 2022. I thought that it was a blip but traffic every month since then has either met or topped that 2022 peak. May in particular marked another major jump, exceeding January’s traffic by more than 50%. The growth has been such that 2025 traffic has already exceeded my former best ever entire year and we are not even half way through the year! Wow!

Much of the traffic driving this growth is coming from the Magic TCG: Set Names and Symbols page. I originally put it together to help me remember all the sets but it’s clear that others are finding it useful as well. I will continue to maintain it and backfill the older information to make it even more useful.

Another popular page has been the one about my building a mustelids deck. Who knew? The page bout all the sets makes sense but this one surprised me. I wrote it while Bloomburrow was still in the preview phase. I saw back then that many of these could go into a promising Izzet Prowess deck. I followed it up with one for an Izzet Otter Typal deck for Arena S01 but that one is not getting as much attention. To be fair, the deck needs more than otters!

It is still pretty cool to see that Izzet Prowess is currently one of the decks dominating Standard despite lack of focus on otters. Maybe an otter deck might work better in a different format. Maybe I should try to build a mustelid Brawl deck!

Not catching on with the world is my ongoing journey to create the ultimate Standard B01 Orzhov Cleric deck. Looks like I may be the only one trying to accomplish this feat! But the spotlight may be about to shine on this deck with Final Fantasy about to come out and featuring what might be the best Cleric card in a long time. Look for my usual post about the clerics in the upcoming set for more information – it’s coming soon.

All this to say hi to everyone dropping in and thank you for making this little site a stop on your Internet journey.

Is Final Fantasy a dud Magic TCG set?

May 24, 2025 / Jerome / Leave a comment

First, my apologies for that complete click bait title! I doubt that anyone will call the upcoming Final Fantasy set for Magic: The Gathering a failure (or they will be very few and far between). It has already become the best-selling Magic set of all times and it is still not out for another couple of weeks! I expect that this alone will be enough for Wizards of the Coast to call it a success.

For anyone living under a rock, Final Fantasy is the first Universes Beyond set that will be Standard legal. It comes with an army of fans that have followed the video game dynasty that goes all the way back to 1987! That interest alone has shone a new light on this family’s favourite game and brought waves of new players.

Add in Commander sets, the “Through the Ages” bonus consisting of 64 reprints that have been given a Final Fantasy treatment (including the return of Dark Confidant to Standard) and a number of Secret Lair sets, and this is shaping up to be a massive release for the game.

So why that title for this post? Simply put, Final Fantasy is not connecting in this family. First, let me set the stage a bit. It starts with the fact that none of us are Final Fantasy fans (please, no hate mail!). I was not a console gamer in my youth and so missed the early games. I remember the hype and noise each time a new installment came out but never played. Similarly, the boys never got into the game despite they growing up with gaming consoles in the house. I’m not sure why but there it is.

Back to why I’m calling it a dud. It starts with my disappointment that Universes Beyond Magic sets are now becoming Standard-legal. I’m just not keen on seeing cards of this set in upcoming Standard games. The boys are equally unimpressed by the set. Like me, they are not familiar with the lore. The art, what initially got Noah into the game so many years ago, is not connecting with him.

The cost is not helping. A Final Fantasy Play Booster box is going for CA$249.99! The Commander decks are selling for CA$549.99 for the set of four and none of them sell for less than CA$120 individually. A single Collector Booster pack is selling for CA$94.99 – That’s over CA$6 a card before taxes! A Collector Booster box is going for CA$1099.99! Note that all prices are from Face to Face as of the day I published this post; 401 Games is slightly cheaper and has a better stock situation at the moment.

Even the pre-release events are more expensive (no surprise given the set prices) than usual. At CA$67.50 per person, this is a more than 30% increase over the recent pre-releases which had cost CA$50 or so. With the tradition that Papa pays for these, this gets to be pretty pricey!

All right, I still have not said why I’m calling the set a dud. Simply because there is no interest in this set in this household. I think I will be the only one going to a pre-release event – I love these events. Noah is emphatically saying no at the moment and Christian is on the fence due to lack of interest and possible work shift conflicts. When was the last time we missed a pre-release out of a lack of interest? Never ever since we started!

Our disinterest is extending to a communal decision not to buy a Play Booster box of the set. This is a long-standing tradition for us and the fact that we are deliberately skipping it is another Has-not-happened-in-a-long-time kind of moment.

And last of all, these Moogles and Chocobos look like they belong in the Pokemon world rather than Magic! And this is from someone who initially thought Bloomburrow might be too cute for Magic!

It is increasingly looking like there will be very little Magic for us this summer (aside from hopefully our regular games). And this is particularly sad because Noah is headed out of province for university at the end of August. It definitely feels like the end of an era! And while I cannot blame Final Fantasy for this, I can certainly blame it for it wiping out one of my favourite family traditions. At least until Edge of Eternities comes out this fall!

Drop us a note and let us know your thoughts!

Pioneer finally coming to MTG Arena

May 8, 2025May 8, 2025 / Jerome / Leave a comment

Wizards of the Coast this week announced what many had expected for some time now: Pioneer is coming to Magic: The Gathering Arena later this week. On Saturday, May 10, the Explorer format will bow out and Pioneer will take its place with the introduction of 11 new cards.

We knew that, one day, we would retire Explorer and replace it with Pioneer, a change we would implement once we got all the relevant cards onto MTG Arena. We have closely watching Pioneer and believe that we have achieved this goal. Out of 411 distinct competitive Magic Online decklists played in March, Explorer was only missing seven cards found in those decklists.

Pioneer launched back in late 2019, about a year after MTG Arena launched in beta. Whereas the Modern format includes cards from Eighth Edition onwards, Pioneer limits itself to sets released since Return to Ravnica. Wizards launched Explorer in 2022 as a digital-only format that was very similar to Pioneer but lacked many of the key cards of the latter format. The gap narrowed gradually with new set releases, including the recent Pioneer Masters.

To be accurate, it should be noted that Arena’s Pioneer format does not include all Pioneer-standard cards – There are a number missing (about 2,000 in fact) but none of these appear in more competitive decks. According to WOTC, they did ask their Arena Championship players about any missing cards and were told by most that there were no “major misses.”

The new cards to be launched to turn Explorer into Pioneer are:

Battle at the Bridge
Borborygmos Enraged
Encroaching Wastes
Kazuul’s Toll Collector
Magmatic Insight
Nissa’s Defeat
Rakdos Charm
Roast
Sanctum of Ugin
Triton Shorestalker
Warping Wail

I’m all for this move. It eliminates a digital-only format and improves parity between digital and physical formats. While the absence of some 2,000 cards is bound to upset some deck brewers,

I don’t play a lot of Explorer on MTG Arena but have been steadily playing more and do have a ~~Explorer~~Pioneer version of my Orzhov Cleric deck in Arena. There are about 40 Cleric cards in those cards still missing in Arena but I’m not sure that they would materially impact my deck.

Spider-Man Through the Omenpaths

April 26, 2025April 27, 2025 / Jerome / Leave a comment

Another decision by the company behind Magic: The Gathering had me scratching my head this week.

Wizards of the Coast this week announced that its Marvel’s Spider-Man Universes Beyond set will not be available on Magic: The Gathering Arena or Magic: The Gathering Online when it launches in September. The company went on to say that it will instead launch its “first Through the Omenpaths set” on September 23rd (a few days ahead of Spider-Man’s official release).

Say what? Are we really getting two sets in September? Well, yes and no. Here is how Wizards explained it in a short announcement:

“Through the Omenpaths releases will be digital sets that are Universes Within versions of Universes Beyond sets that otherwise wouldn’t be coming to digital Magic platforms.”

So, yes, we will get two completely new sets in September. But they will be mechanically identical. The only difference will be that the Through the Omenpaths sets will feature different card names and art – And it will only be available digitally. Meanwhile, the Spider-Man set will only exist in a paper version.

To be fair, there is already a bit of a precedent for this. Wizards has duplicated cards in at least two scenarios I can think of. Ikoria: Lair of the Behemoths came with a set of Godzilla cards that were re-branded versions of existing cards. Here are two examples:

Second, The Secret Lair: The Walking Dead cards received a similar treatment. Wizards released Universes Within equivalents some time after the original cards came out.

What is new here is the distinction between paper and digital sets. Building a deck that spans both will require you to match the paper version of the card to its digital equivalent, a differently named card.

Despite my persistent reservations about Universes Beyond, particularly given that new sets will be Standard-legal, I am excited about the upcoming Marvel sets (I grew up on comics and Spider-Man is still one of my favourite superheroes). I still don’t see myself building a deck that will mix these with Universes Within cards but I do see myself building Marvel-only decks. Now comes the extra wrinkle: Converting such decks to Arena will be a bit of a pain as I will need to match each card to a new set of corresponding cards. As they say, this is a first-world problem.

The reverse is the more frustrating scenario. I can imagine a scenario where I will build a digital deck and find myself wanting to build it in paper for an in-person event. I already know that I will get annoyed when I find a Universes Within card that translates to a Spider-Man card in real life. What then? Knowing myself, I expect that I will not build that paper deck and throw shade at Wizards for what is in my mind a terrible decision. Along with confusing and frustrating players, this is driving a further wedge between paper and digital play (another being Alchemy cards).

There is another wrinkle in this story. Not all Universes Beyond sets will receive a digital-only Through the Omenpaths equivalent. Wizards has confirmed that both Final Fantasy and Avatar: The Last Airbender are coming to MTG Arena and Magic Online.

Wizards provides no explanation as to why the Spider-Man set is so far the only one in getting this treatment. But my guess is that it is related to licensing limitations either imposed by Marvel (to perhaps avoid confusion with its Marvel Snap digital game) or because the two companies could not come to commercial (likely monetary) terms on digital rights.

I fully recognize that not everyone feels the same way I do about Universes Beyond sets. Noah for example has no problem with building decks that mix all these universes together because, in his mind, the game transcends the visual and narrative. But I see an ongoing slippery slope of short-sighted decisions that continue to erode what Magic is and its distinctive voice.

If there is a positive in this news, it is that I will hopefully run into fewer Universes Beyond cards when I’m playing digitally. Too bad it could not be the other way around.

Feel free to drop a comment below and share your own thoughts on this.

The future of Magic with Universes Beyond

October 26, 2024 / Jerome / Leave a comment

With Wizards’ announcement this week that Universes Beyond sets would be Standard Legal starting in 2025, I give you a glimpse at the future of Magic (courtesy of the very funny @Cardboard_Crack):

This little strip captures everything that I think is wrong with this move and does a much better job of explaining exactly why than I ever could.

Wizards did add that the change only applies to sets releasing in 2025 and later. This means that existing sets, including the recent The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth and Assassin’s Creed will not become legal for Standard. In the grand scheme of things, this is completely irrelevant and does little to change what I think is an extremely disappointing development.

Source: @Cardboard_Crack

Spider-Man and More: Upcoming Marvel Sets in Magic: The Gathering (And my thoughts)

October 19, 2024October 25, 2024 / Jerome / Leave a comment

We’ve known for nearly a year that Marvel superheroes and supervillains were coming to Magic: The Gathering. The partnership between Marvel and Wizards of the Coast was first announced on October 23rd 2023. While there has been sporadic information since then, this week, the taps started to open in a more meaningful way with two major announcements.

First up is a number of new Secret Lair sets collectively announced as the Marvel Superdrop. Five sets were announced, each around a specific superhero: Black Panther, Captain America, Iron Man, Storm, and Wolverine. Each of the sets features one superhero card (a legendary creature), and four spells. There are some great reprints, including a few pricey ones Commander’s Plate in the Iron Man set, Ice Storm in the Storm one, and The Ozolith in the Wolverine set.

For example, the Marvel’s Captain America set comes with the following:

One more – Here is what you’ll find in the Marvel’s Wolverine set:

Wizards has also revealed that the first Marvel set will be focused on Spider-Man. The release date is sometime in 2025. No word yet on exactly when but I’m wondering if it could come out in the summer around the same time as Core sets used to come out. Or could it be in the tail-end of the year, just in time for the holidays? Maybe we’ll find out at MagicCon: Las Vegas at the end of the month.

As you probably know by now, I’m not a fan of Universes Beyond (and don’t get me started on Secret Lair sets). It fundamentally feels weird to me to have a deck where the cards are so thematically different. I cannot see Wolverine lining up next to Ajani or Ruhan. It will always feel strange to me. Granted that Magic sets have ranged quite a bit in this space but they have almost always felt inter-connected into one larger world or universe, especially with Planeswalkers and the stories behind them.

I think that my fundamental issue is with slamming together disparate established universes. It harkens back to cross-overs in comics. Most of these, going as far back as when I was an avid collector, was just how forced some of these were. Anyone remember DC vs. Marvel in the 1990s where they went as far as blending characters (Dark Claw was a blend of Batman and Wolverine for example)? Or Aliens vs Predator or Star Trek and Green Lantern? Some worked but more were just painful in my opinion.

Talking to the boys yesterday as well as in the past, they don’t have the same hang up as I do. Christian actually pointed out something that really made sense: “People don’t like Universes Beyond until there is a set that they like.” And I will confess that Marvel coming to Magic does have me more excited than any other such set before. Count me in for Spider-Man!

Maybe we need a couple of new formats to address this. The first would be inclusive of Universes Beyond sets and the second would focus exclusively on cards not in Universes Beyond. The first would allow you to throw everything in while the second would provide an answer to the purists among us. There will still be sets that will invite debate. For example, where does The Lord of the Rings sets fit? It is one of those sets that thematically slots into Magic better than some other sets we have seen (eg, the recent Outlaws of Thunder Junction). I know that this will be something that will be discussed around our game table.

As always, I invite everyone to chime in with their thoughts.

Value Boosters: Another Booster Type is born

July 13, 2024July 14, 2024 / Jerome / Leave a comment

Previews kicked off in earnest earlier this week for the upcoming Bloomburrow set. Better yet, the first hints of Magic’s first Mustelid typal deck came to light. But not all was good news; Wizards also introduced Value Boosters in a relatively terse announcement. Billed as “smaller, lighter booster that contain a handful of new cards any fan can enjoy,” they come with seven cards and presumably (but not confirmed yet) a lower price.

It was less than a year ago that Wizards announced that it was doing away with both Set and the venerable Draft boosters in favour of a single Play booster meant to offer the best of both worlds. Part of the reason for the decision was to eliminate the confusion between the two types of boosters. According to Mark Rosewater, offering two caused friction and upset players when they felt that they got the “wrong kind” of booster. He specifically excluded the much more expensive Collector Booster from the discussion because “players who buy Collector Boosters enjoy them.” We were left with one booster type geared more at play and another at collecting.

Not long after, Wizards decided to bring back booster confusion when it unveiled March of the Machine: Aftermath and its five card Epilogue Boosters. The set did not sell well (for a number of reasons) and the company quickly killed its latest booster type, rolling up a planned second set into Outlaws of Thunder Junction as The Big Score bonus cards. But it was not done with its experimenting. Earlier this month, it released the Universes Beyond: Assassin’s Creed set with new Beyond boosters. These feature seven cards, three Uncommons, one Land or Scene card, one Rare or Mythic, and a “Booster Fun” card. A pack sells for just under CA$8 at LGS around me.

And now, here come Value Boosters. So what do you get in one of these? It will contain 3 Commons, 2 Uncommons, 1 Wildcard of any rarity, and 1 card that may be a land, a traditional foil, or a Special Guests card. Seven cards and no guarantee that you will even find a rare card. Is that value? They will presumably sell for less than Beyond boosters but I’ll let you decide for yourself if they’re for you.

Value Boosters will launch alongside the upcoming Bloomburrow set at “select retailers.” No details have yet been provided as to who these retailers will be and what the price of a pack will be.

It remains to be seen who is the audience for Value Boosters. Maybe they will end up at big box stores alongside other TCGs such as Pokemon. My guess is that this is a way to offer a lower cost alternative to other boosters as prices continue to tick up (inflation and the lack of MSRP to help regulate). One thing is for sure, I cannot see any collectors picking them up. And a second thing, I have no plans to pick any of these packs up.

Hopefully the booster experiments will come to an end soon.

Goodbye stickers and Attractions from Unfinity!

May 25, 2024May 26, 2024 / Jerome / Leave a comment

It’s not often that entire mechanics get banned but that’s exactly what happened with the latest banned and restricted announcement. Before revealing which mechanics, yes, not one but two, will no longer be able to grace your pauper, legacy and vintage decks, let me just say that I am not sorry to see them go. So, without further ado and assuming that you came here to get your banned and restricted announcement rather than from more official channels, gone are Attractions and stickers, both from the Unfinity set that came out in October 2022.

If there ever was a time that Maro was right when he said that “This product is not for you,” this was it. Insert whatever product you want in that sentence and there will always be some things that are not for you. The Magic ‘un’ sets are such a product for me. And the latest one, Unfinity, was even less of one than previous ones. I simply did not like the mechanics and concepts it introduced.

Forcing unsets into legal formats with the retirement of silver borders was a poor decision in my mind. Right out of the gate, it introduced unnecessary complexity with the new acorn and non-acorn cards. Acorn cards were not legal in Constructed formats unless specifically allowed (so, no easily discernible border and a bunch of exceptions on top of that). Magic is already a complicated game; there is no need to introduce more especially when it is so haphazard.

And even more of a head-scratcher were stickers. We (okay, I) spend all this time making sure our (my) cards remain in pristine order and now Magic wanted to stick things on them. Say what? Hard pass, even in the name of silly fun (call me a humbug, my kids already do!). Stick them on the sleeves instead, you say. Yeah, that could work but still annoying. Your cards end up looking garish! And if there is one thing I don’t like, it’s garishness (is that even a word?).

Unfinity also came with Attractions. These were a new type of card that did not go into your main deck but into a different one called the Attraction deck. They did not even have normal Magic backs. They were artifacts but without a mana cost. And no, you did not cast them but relied instead on other cards to bring them into play. They also had lights numbered 1 through 6 in the lower right corner used to decide if an action triggered based on die roll. Just writing all this made my head hurt!

I had no interest in such mechanics. The boys were equally unimpressed and we simply skipped the set. As Maro had said, this was not a product for us. But with the new rules that some of these cards could make it into “traditional” formats, there was the chance that you could run into some of these cards in a regular game. Kind of like now when you run into a Dr. Who or Warhammer 40K card in a Commander game (Still feels odd to me but that’s a topic for another day).

The set also came with other mechanics. If you want to read more about them, check out the original article outlining all the Unfinity mechanics.

It all felt very forced and the acorn cards felt like an attempt to extend the life of the set by jamming some of the cards into other formats. So, this family let our wallets speak and skipped the set. And frankly never looked back on it until this ban announcement.

WOTC acknowledged that its experiment with unset cards went too far. It also confirmed that we will not see something similar again in the future:

When we released Unfinity, we knew that its partial legality in Magic‘s broader formats was an experiment with risks. The concept of widening a set’s appeal to more players is at its core a good one. Moving forward, we won’t be revisiting this kind of experiment any time soon.

Not all mechanics are great. For every one that enriches the game, there are some that instead take away from the game. It’s good to see that WOTC has finally recognized that Unfinity had no business being legal in regular formats and being anything more than an unset.

All right, enough old man ranting for one day!

North of Exile: When a good LGS closes

March 24, 2024March 26, 2024 / Jerome / Leave a comment

One of my favourite family traditions is the one where we rent a cottage every summer. The family, either just the four of us or with friends or extended family, enjoy some quality time together normally in Ontario but sometimes as far out as New Brunswick or Nova Scotia. It is always a great time.

Back in 2017, we rented a cottage on Georgian Bay. We’ve done so a number of times as we love the area and the awesome beaches (despite it not being seashore – inside joke with my wife). Much as we had done before, have done since and will likely do again, we were in the area that summer for a bit of R&R with toes in the sand and sun on our faces.

On one of our small day trips, we drove by a place called North of Exile on Main Street in Penetanguishene. Bright green sign that could not be missed. Lo and behold, a game store! The boys and I immediately knew that we would be checking it out. And when we did the next day, we found out that they had been open for all of three days (if I recall correctly – certainly less than a week).

As we checked things out, I got talking with Jason, one of the two owners of this new store. Just a general conversation but a pleasant one. We bought a few things, including Magic cards of course, and returned to our vacation. Jason invited us to come back. And did we ever – This was but the first visit in what became an annual stop.

From that point on, every summer, we either stopped in if we were renting in the neighborhood or we planned a trip up at some point to take part in a pre-release or some other event. The highlight was probably our ‘Boys trip’ in 2019 when the boys and I went up for a couple of days, including two nights playing Magic at North of Exile. The boys still talk about that trip! Ask them if they would prefer to stay at the local Super 8 or a fancier hotel elsewhere and the answer might surprise you!

Things began to change after that. First there was COVID. Then, North of Exile moved from Penetanguishene to Midland and a bit later, they got out of running Magic events and selling Magic cards, focusing instead on Genesis and Pokemon. On this side, the boys grew up and there was less time for family Magic (I may need to rename the site). But we still managed at least one trip up every year. We do like our traditions in this family!

When COVID hit, Jason launched a weekly Twitch stream and ran online Magic events through Arena. It was not the same as a visit to the store but gave me a chance to get to know Jason a bit better and continue to play the game I love so much through some challenging times. It gave me a sense of what might have been if North of Exile was not so far away.

Unfortunately, there won’t be a trip North this year (well, not to go play Magic at least); Jason and Janis announced the closure of the store earlier this month:

Every time I visited North of Exile, I told Jason I wished it did not take 2 hours to get there. It was the kind of LGS where I would have spent far more time had I had the chance. I suspect the boys would have also – Maybe one of them would have worked there! It was not too small, not too big and the community they built was a special one. Friendly and supportive. And welcoming of the strangers dropping in once or twice a year.

As much as I love our LGS here in Toronto, it is bigger and feels like less of a community. Maybe I need to spend more time there but North of Exile felt like a place where I belonged from our first visit. It just felt easier to get to know people there (maybe a reflection on Toronto itself?). I think Jason and Janis’ vision fostered that in their community. Being in a small town probably helped but I would like to think it was how they approached what an LGS should be that really enabled this.

Things change; that’s a given. The closure of North of Exile is a marker in time. The boys and I will continue to play Magic, maybe not as much and maybe I will be going to my local LGS alone a bit more, maybe we will pick up other games. One thing is certain: We will always have our memories of our trips to North of Exile.

I hope that there will be chances to reconnect with Jason in the future! And there may even be a day when we will have a chance to resume our trips to North of Exile (when Jason strikes the motherload and decides that running a game store is the best way to enjoy his success)!

In the meantime, I wish Jason and Janis the very best with their future endeavours. I suspect one of those will be Genesis: Battle of Champions. I’ll be rooting for them!

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