Monday, February 4, 2013

Web Hopping with The Cardboard Witch

Well folks, as promised I've been working my little butt off writing about Magic on the inter-webs over at Mana Deprived and Legit MtG .

It's not easy, but so far I'm doing a pretty good job of keeping up with the pace of writing for growing Magic websites with large readerships. The people I work with at both sites are pretty amazing and in particular to thank Dave Mantel, Justin Duewel-Zahniser and Heather Meek for making my job so much easier. Of course it's also great to be working with Jon Medin and KYT; both of these guys work tirelessly to make Magic a better place and I'm proud to be a part of helping their websites grow.

Unfortunately I don't have a lot of news for you folks except to say that I've published a few articles and I appeared on Episode 14 of the MtG Podcast: Heavy Meta with regular hosts @MattyStudios and @KevyMetall with special guest @MTGOFerret. Check out the links below:

A Triggered Response: The Woman in the Mirror. - A personal response to the second round of trigger rules in competitive Magic (since changed a 3rd time).

Chasing the White Whale - over on Legit MtG.com we take a look at Duskmantle Seer, a new card from Gatecrash with amazing potential that might struggle to find a home in Standard.

Heavy Meta Episode 14 - The Ferrett, the Witch and the Bottle! - my aforementioned first every appearance on a Podcast. We talk about the Gatecrash Pre-Release, the banning of Bloodbraid Elf in Modern, Financal Advice with the MtGO Ferret and some long winded shoutouts. I had a blast and the boys said I did a good job but you be the judge.

Tha Crossroads: The Passing and (Potential) Rebirth of Jund in Modern - This is a more detailed look at what the Banning of Bloodbraid Elf means for Jund in Modern. Hint, it's not good.

Well folks, until next time thanks for reading and I hope to see you again real soon. Keep it weird.

-nina



Monday, January 14, 2013

A Long Expected Journey

"There are downsides to everything; there are unintended consequences to everything." - Steve Jobs

Hello folks, long time no see huh? I'm sorry about that guys, it's pretty much (entirely) my fault. To be completely honest with you I've been avoiding the act of writing this post because somewhere inside, I knew it was going to hurt. While I won't proclaim this blog as some sort of writing masterpiece, I'd like to think I was always took a very "honest" approach to my work here. Whether you loved it or hated it I wanted to promise readers that they'd always get my real thoughts, opinions and sometimes even emotions here at The Cardboard Witch. The downside (or upside, depending on your perspective) is that writing for this blog has become a very tangible part of who I am; both as a Magic player and a writer. I've poured a little bit of myself into every one of these posts and so the idea of leaving them behind is legitimately scary. I feel a profound sense of loss every time I think about writing this letter and as a result I've been too chickenshit to do so. I'm sorry about that. Unfortunately however the show must go on; even if I'm feeling a little Misty about the closing act.

To be completely fair, I am not closing The Cardboard Witch. I don't see any reason to take down the work that's already posted here and it's not like someone is offering me big money for the rights to this website. Unfortunately, my writing has progressed to a point that it's worth sharing on a larger stage and I've recently started writing regularly for two websites in particular:


First and foremost I'd like to say that I am incredibly happy that both of these websites have given me an opportunity to showcase my work. While I consider both KYT and Jon Medina to be personal friends I'm also really excited about being a part of the excellent content these guys deliver to the Magic community on an almost daily basis. It's really a win/win situation for me as a writer with the possible exception of this letter. Both of my new "bosses" have been kind enough to let me work without deadlines but even when I'm "on" it's going to be hard to come up with 2-3 articles a month for both sites and still maintain this blog. Barring the ability to clone myself something has to suffer and sadly for the last 3 months it's been the Cardboard Witch.

At this point all I can really promise is that the occasional article will appear here from time to time and I promise to link to them on Twitter/Facebook when they do. I assume there will be times where the editors at the sites I'm writing for don't want a particular article and occasionally I may need to share something too personal for mass consumption. This essentially relegates The Cardboard Witch to "LiveJournal" status so I feel it's only fair to warn you. The truth is that "The Cardboard Witch" has always been me, rather than this blog and when I move on to other sites I'd like to think she comes with me.

Finally I'd like to thank everyone who came here to read my ramblings over the past 3 years. Knowing that someone was out there reading got me through a lot of long nights and gave me the confidence to chase my dreams. I can't thank you guys enough for that.

If anyone is interested or hasn't already read there here's a few links to the work I've produced while I was away:


I also contributed a paragraph or so to Heather Meek's year end round up:


Well folks, this isn't goodbye but it is "see you later and probably a little less often". I'm all teary now so let's just get it over with shall we? Keep it weird and thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

-nina