Gates play a central role in Dragon’s Maze, and in Return to Ravnica block as a whole in both in game play and in flavor. In actual game play the ten Guildgates not only fix mana as enters-the-battlefield-tapped lands of old like Coastal Tower, the new subtype ‘Gate’ allows for design space to extend to new mechanics and abilities, such as those that enable Ogre Jailbreaker and Smelt-Ward Gatekeepers.
In terms of flavor, though, the importance of the Gates increases tenfold! The entire storyline of Dragon’s Maze revolves around completing the Implicit Maze, which involves traveling through all ten Guildgates in a specific order and manner and finally ending up at Maze’s End. Those who manage to survive and finish the Maze first will be awarded power and knowledge previously unheard of on Ravnica. That’s quite the prize, for ten common lands!
This brings us quite nicely to one of the great Gates of America: The Gateway to the West, St. Louis! This weekend, our journey takes the Open Series to St. Louis, home of the Gateway Arch and where everyone tries to finish first. Our exact location is to be the Gateway Center in Collinsville, Illinois, across the mighty Mississippi in the suburbs of St. Louis:
Followers and participants of the Open Series will know the Gateway Center well, and it holds fond memories for me as the location of my very first Open Series as Event Coverage Coordinator! And while I have some sentimental ties to this venue, that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. Food, for example, is relatively far away so lunch breaks might be difficult. I will note that the last few times we’ve been to this event site the snack bar inside the hall was more than fairly priced and decently stocked with better-than-average convention fair. The also have a video menu board that, last we visited, was Magic card themed! So they have that going for them as well.
St. Louis is named for Louis IX, a French king in the thirteenth century. King Louie (as he is referred to in the Jungle Book, of course!) was a great lover of the arts, and his patronage drove much of the early Gothic art and architecture of the day. So I imagine he’d be pleased to find that we have three talented Magic card alterists joining us in the city that bears his name!
Eric Claar brings his unique style of alters to the StarCityGames.com Open Series. Known for his minimalist ‘blueprint’ style as well as full art pieces, you can check out his work on Facebook (www.facebook.com/claarbar) and Deviant Art (claarbar.deviantart.com/).
Based out of Atlanta, Georgia, Leif Paulson (also known as Evil Nerd INC) works as a professional freelance artist. You can visit his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/evilnerdinc to view samples of his Magic card alterations.
Open Series stalwart Lindsay Burley will be selling and creating her unique brand of 3-D cards and tokens as well as custom playmats! Check out her work here:www.3dalters.weebly.com then stop by and check out these awesome cards! For special commissions before the event you can contact Lindsay at [email protected]. And be sure to ask her to tell the story about how she came to be the owner of the original art of Hurly-Burly!
Bringing you all of the action and excitement of the Open Series this weekend through the gateway of our collective voice via @SCGLive will be newly-minted FNM Hero and three-time StarCityGames.com Invitational top 8 competitor Adam Prosak, celebrated podcast host and Magic broadcasting star Joey Pasco, and talented and handsome writer of the words you are actually reading right now Reuben Bresler! The hashtag for this weekend is #SCGSTL, and be sure to follow @SCGOpenPairings to stay on top of the latest pairings, results, and standings. Our Facebook will also be active with photos from the weekend, so log on there as well!
Good luck, have fun, and may you always have a gateway to entry!
@MoxReuby
Video and Coverage Content Associate and Social Media Archmage for StarCityGames.com
Listen to the @InContention podcast! It’s the official podcast of the StarCityGames.com Open Series with @kstube, @affinityforblue, and myself. Our most recent episode, Scars & Stripes Forever, can be found here.