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State of the Union Revisited

So, I mentioned in the last article that I would be posing some questions to some Sydney Magic players to gauge their reactions - mostly to do with drafting/limited/general Magic stuff. Then I was to compile these responses into a brilliant and thought-provoking article.

What follows is not that article.

I will do that, eventually, but another topic has come to mind. It sort of relates to a past article I did on Magic communities (State of the Union). I mentioned in that article how I used to play Magic at a place back in Aberdeen, South Dakota, USA and it was a generally warm, comfortable sort of atmosphere, that was more than just people playing Magic as individuals.

I also talked a bit about the Sydney Magic community - or lack thereof, and why perhaps Sydney Magic was in a state of decline. I read that article again and it's a bit depressing - especially considering the state of things today.

I was at K-Mart yesterday, in Burwood, doing some shopping. (Bloody hell this is an exciting article). It took me about fifteen minutes to finally find a Combination Lock, which I bought. Fast-forward twenty minutes, and, after trading in an assortment of unneeded Magic cards, I had "purchased" a one year lease on my very own locker at the Sydney Games Centre.

This might seem to be quite a trivial thing, and in fact even the lead up to it seemed largely a matter of course to me. Yet once I put that lock on that locker and claimed that space as my own space, the community feeling really hit home. It's like your locker was/is at school - a small sanctuary of your own personal stuff that is for you and only you.

I then had a bit of a think about it, and the Sydney Magic scene (and gaming scene in general) has really come together in the past nine months - due largely to the existence of the Sydney Games Centre. Unfortunately I can't write this article without it seeming like somewhat of an advertisement for the Sydney Games Centre (SGC). So be it - I'm sure Chris and Kieren don't mind. And if you read this article and it makes you want to come by SGC, well, the more the merrier - there is plenty of room.

A Bit of History

Flashback to July of last year and most of the Sydney Magic scene (or at least the one that I was part of) had a usual Thursday night thing at a game shop in the city. This was a fairly sterile environment (not to mention crowded, hot, and often containing rather unpleasant odours) that was open till 9 on Thursdays only - time for one draft before being herded out into the street and towards one of the various café's/restaurants/take-away shops to continue the chatter, if not the game. It served the purpose and the alternative was basically not playing Magic, so the people that went there put up with it. Somewhere in June/July, the shop instigated a policy whereby even if you brought your own draft set, you still had to pay $5 to draft (with no prize support). This didn't really go down well with the average cheap ass gamer who wanted to use the packs they won at Sunday's tournament to draft, and really was probably the nail in the coffin there. No love lost.

The Magic scene at that time was largely disparate - and generally seemed to be shrinking. Many of the old-school players had stopped playing for various reasons. There was nowhere in all of Sydney where you could reliably go to get singles, or to play/trade casually outside of a tournament format on a regular basis. Sure, most of the shops have a singles folder of sorts - but if it was Saturday and you needed 4 Call of the Herd and 4 Grim Lavamancers for Sunday's tournament, you might as well give up.

There was a big hole in the Sydney Magic and gaming scene - Thursday night in the city, Saturday afternoon tournaments in Eastwood, and then the random Sunday tournament - whether premier (PTQ, Prerelease) or otherwise. Campbelltown and Blacktown had their things, but those places were too far away to realistically travel to on a daily or semi-weekly basis for the majority of gamers.

But there was a vision

August came and the SGC opened its doors in Burwood. While at a less desirable location than the shop in the city, people immediately started going there in lieu of the original place. This was not much of a surprise given that the SGC had a much larger play area, air conditioning, Coke, and, oddly enough, management/owners that actually knew how to play Magic. And if you brought your own packs, you could draft for free.

I have the distinct pleasure of being the first person to ever play Magic at SGC - one on one draft against Ben Seck - and the first patron of the store - a bag of chips I believe (the first of many, to be sure). It started small. A single half-bookshelf of the current block boosters and one singles folder that pretty much constituted the entirety of Chris and Kieren's personal collections. Add a bar fridge and an Invasion booster display box that doubled as a cash register, and a store was born.

Nine months ago - even with the benefit of the doubt, I would have been hard-pressed to say that they would still be around today. It just seemed that the location was bad - it was on top of another shop, so the walk-by traffic would be nearly non-existent, and their main source of revenue was to be the 100 or so regular Magic players in Sydney - many of which do not have a standard source of income.

But it grew. Slowly, to be sure. Thursday night drafts went from 6-10pm to later, and later, and then earlier. Now if you rock up at 3pm you may well miss the first one, and if you don't get there till 10, you may still be able to get one. And then there was Friday Night Magic - actually on a Friday. And Saturday started Arena league and Extended/T1 tournaments. And Sunday was some sort of large tournament. And then Tuesday's had the occasional draft and stayed open late.

I believe the dream of SGC was to have a place where Magic players and gamers could come and play any time in a comfortable environment - a Sydney version of a Neutral Ground.

And people came because their friend from school saw a link on MTGParadise. And some guy from Japan came over and found SGC before he found accommodation. And one guy rang and asked if they had 4 Skull of Orms, which they did, and he came. And then some Clix players found out that other Clix players played at SGC. And then some school kids discovered they could buy singles from SGC and beat all their friends. And people started coming to hang out even when there were no scheduled events because, chances were, there would be people around to hang out with. So by word of mouth and no small effort, SGC has grown to become a place where Magic players can gravitate to on a daily basis to do what Magic players do.

And then there were other games! - Heroclix and Lord of the Rings and Settlers of Cataan and Carcasonne, and L5R, Star Wars, Star Trek. DBZ, Scrabble, Chess, Mech Warrior, D&D. The "What's happening at SGC Newsletter" went from one page to six. Last weekend was the Continental Championships for Lord of the Rings. A week or two before that saw the L5R National Championships. There are now 3 major Sydney Magic tournaments a year scheduled - The Easter Cup, the SGC Pot O' Gold, and the Sydney 500 - with over $2,500 worth of total prizes between the three. Heroclix Marquee's, DBZ prereleases - you name it. Sure, all games are not for everyone. But that really is kind of the point. I can look at Star Wars and ask myself why the hell anyone would ever want to play this game. But then I see Kieren and Dave Cornford play and amidst the shouting and merrymaking, it seems the game couldn't be all that bad, could it? Seems like a lot of dice. How do you play it? Hmm...

So, bring your cards, your games, your decks and your trades and come by for a game of something - doesn't really matter what. There is always someone willing to learn a new game or teach an old one. There is always someone willing to one-on-one draft, and getting an 8 man is usually not too hard. Kieren is always ready with a Rings deck or the infamous Crystal Golem deck (This shouldn't take long!). Chris will have some cheesy Clix or Mechwarrior team ready to go. Rumor has it; he may even have a kick-ass Wyvern deck.

Ben Seck will probably be around arguing or selling cards. If there's a draft, I'll be there. Monty will be sorting land or trying to bash Aaron with his Angels. Those "old" guys will be there on Saturday playing every board game under the sun. Adrian will be there to shake your hand and kick your ass at Carcasonne. There will invariably be a group of school kids looking for treasures in the 5-cent commons boxes. Ray and Tyng will sort you out from a Rings perspective. Thursday's are a veritable who's who of the Sydney Magic scene (if there is such a thing as a Who's who of the Sydney Magic scene) Luke will devastate with his all Cop Clix army. Lindsay may be there with his 5-color deck and someone may well be channel-fireballing someone else in the back corner. If you ring any of the local delivery shops and they ask for an address, just say "The Games Shop", and they will know where to go. Steve will be there. Steve has every game ever printed. Seriously. On Sunday morning there may be 30 people waiting outside in the street for the store to open and the tournament to begin. Tony will ask you every day if you have a foil sac land. There is a couch and a coffee table and music and bathrooms and chocolate and really you could just about live there, except that Mark Leyba pretty much does and that would get annoying (jokes). You need some cards to finish your deck? Well that lone singles folder has turned into 10 (20?), and the counter is piled high with 10,000 count boxes of commons and uncommons. You have an extra stack of old crap rares that you don't need anymore? Well, they'll offer up 10 cents for any rare, no matter how crap. It's cool - I've traded in at least 1,000. What's that? You're a Hercules: The Legendary Journeys CCG collector - well you are in luck, because for some strange and very complex reason, they have that too. This is really at the heart of what makes a community a community. This is a place you can turn up to with a bit of a sigh and a "Norm!" and feel like you are home.

The Sydney Magic community has really come together over the last nine months. The quality and frequency of Magic played has increased dramatically, and undoubtedly helped at least one Sydney player win a bit of cash at the last Pro Tour. Many SGC regulars draft upwards of 3 to 4 times a week and our results on Day 1 of Nationals can attest to that, with lots of 4-2, 5-1, and 6-0 results - I expect even better results next year. I also expect to not randomly lose 75 limited points the week before queuing cutoffs and actually be able to be one of those players, but that's another whinge. Heh, whinge is apparently not a word according to Microsoft Word. How very un-Australian. In any case...

I made reference above to SGC being the Sydney version of Neutral Ground - which would usually be followed by a chuckle, and the thought "yeah, right". Nine months ago, I couldn't really see that happening. Today it seems like it is.

Nowadays, if you happened to come out to the shop at 8PM on a Monday night, you might actually find something quite strange - SGC closed.

And for some reason if you happen to be reading this article 6 months from now from the archives, that might not even be true anymore.

Scott Hunstad

--The Sydney Games Centre in no way asked or encouraged me to write this. I am of course, somewhat self-interested in that I spend a great deal of time there, and have a desire to see SGC continue and grow. So, feel free to take the above with a grain of salt. And if you fancy getting smashed in the head by some vicious Crystal Golems, feel free to stop by SGC at 195A Burwood Rd, Burwood, above Snap printing. It really is the place to play.

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