Writers

Abe Sargent has been playing Magic since The Dark, and regularly can be found shuffling his two-thousand-card-plus Highlander deck, Abe’s Deck of Happiness and Joy. He has written a number of Magic articles for StarCityGames, Scrye, pojo.com, and Beckett Magic magazines. He currently works at Wayne State University, where he runs a freshman dorm.

Andrew Sitte started playing Magic in 1994, but took a long break before Magic Online lured him back into the game during Onslaught. After failed attempts at cutting up cards on MTGO, he switched to cutting up paper cards instead, and has been making 3D altered cards since 2008.

My name is Benjamin McDole and I’m a level 3 judge from Tampa, Florida. When I’m not teaching math at a local college I’m usually playing Commander at Armada Games, or running some events. My long term goal is to make sure everyone enjoys Magic, and especially Commander, as much as I do. I’m a member of a few organizations: Team Lives in the Red Zone, and the American Association for the Advancement of Pie (I’m the only member)!

Brandon Isleib comes to Gathering Magic from Muse Vessel, a casual Magic content site which he co-founded in 2011. From 2008 until 2010 he wrote about baseball for The Hardball Times, and he continues to write for its annual book. He's also a married, new-to-Seattle lawyer who enjoys British panel/sketch shows, cryptic crosswords, DOS-era gaming, and producing/consuming music.

Brendan loves traveling, having lived in multiple countries across three continents. He has played Magic in all of them. Combining this with his love of stories, he often writes about events that happen wherever he is currently living. Sometimes they include Magic. He can also be found writing the Issar Roon column. Feel free to contact him at @bweisko.

If you seek limited or constructed tournament knowledge, wrapped up with excellent comedic writing, you are in the wrong place. Planted firmly at the kitchen table, Bruce is all things casual, focusing primarily on strategies for multiplayer games wrapped up with horrific, train wreck attempts at humour. Bruce is married to an extremely tolerant woman and has three children who will not go near him in public. In real life Bruce works as an attorney and lives just outside Boston.

Chingsung Chang is a PTQ grinder from Boston, MA. He has been playing since 4th edition, and got more serious around Time Spiral. He has a very large interest in Magic theory, history, and deck design.

CMDR Decks is produced, edited, and (mostly) filmed by Uriah Oxford. He has been playing EDH/CMDR since 2008, and is a casual player at heart. Uriah lives in Colorado and travels around to larger tournaments when time allows. He does not live in a fortified compound in the mountains of Aspen.

Dan is a High School Teacher who does everything he can to squeeze Magic into his schedule. Between being a Father, Husband, and Coach it’s pretty hard. Articles by Dan focus on tips and lessons for beginners that he has learned while teaching his students how to play their best. As a player Dan has a propensity to go Crazy For Combos so occasionally these articles happen as well.

Daniel Pham is a Canadian Magic player from Toronto currently living and studying in Japan. He got top 16 at Grand Prix Barcelona and top 8 at Grand Prix Shanghai.

Darwin Kastle is a Hall of Famer and Invitational winner (depicted on Avalanche Riders). He built his reputation on playing Limited formats and then went on to win multiple Constructed events. As a game designer and avid Magic player, his input and wisdom is valuable to all.

Casual to the core, Daryl Bockett has been playing multiplayer Magic, and building casual decks, since the day after his local game store sold out of Legends. After winning accolades (but no actual money) during the SCG Talent Search in 2010, he joined with Bruce Richard and Brandon Isleib to form the Muse Vessel. His background is in International Relations, which is why his writing focuses on theoretical and strategic issues as they apply to multiplayer. A New Zealander, he has lived in Tokyo since 2001, and will soon move to Seoul, where he doesn’t know anyone.

Eric Klug does card alterations full-time out of Silver Spring, Maryland. You can contact him for commissions at eaklug@gmail.com. Also, check out his blog at klugalters.blogspot.com.

Erik is a voracious reader who enjoys keeping up with the massive amount of Magic-related content around the Web. His feature, “This Week in Magic,” is dedicated to providing readers with a concise collection of the very best in Magic news, theory, and technology every Friday morning. By day, he is a teacher, director, playwright, and motorcycle enthusiast.

Inside the Deck is a weekly video series produced by Richard Castle. Its signature is extremely high-quality production values mixed with sharp editing of interviews in a documentary style.

Issar Roon is a historian on Dominaria; friends with numerous planeswalkers, he collects and catalogs the stories of the ages. He’s very old, occasionally grumpy, but sharp as a sword in battle.

Jarvis Yu has been playing Magic off and on since Revised. In 2006 he started to play Magic Online consistently, then went on to 9-0 and 8-1 at 2008 GPs Denver and Philadelphia, respectively. He also qualified for two Pro Tours in 2011, as well as for Pro Tour Honolulu in 2012. He spends considerable time building and tuning decks for many formats.

Jay Kirkman started playing with Alpha, but has taken significant pauses from the game. During his most recent return, he turned to preconstructed decks to catch up where fell. in love with them and has never looked back. He runs the precon review site Ertai’s Lament, and lives in Kentucky with his wonderful wife and kids. An analyst by day, when not playing Magic he’s going stark raving bonkers over Glasgow Celtic football.

Jeremy Froggatt is a Magic enthusiast hailing from the great white north (Canada). Magic has been a part of his life since Revised was released, when a Lightning Bolt would result in your Kird Ape being literally lit on fire. He wrote an article for 60cards.com before finishing in the top three of the StarCityGames talent search, where he continued to share card alteration articles. He’s a husband, father of three (All daughters!), and an avid soccer hooligan. His personal website, www.mtgalters.com, shares much of his past work.

Jesse Mason plays Magic from time to time. He made Top Eight at his first PTQ, marking the high point of a tournament career that will never get off the ground. Now he writes about people writing about Magic.

Jon started playing Magic at the tender age of eleven. Eleven years later, he has a handful of FNM wins to his name. He enjoys playing Magic and having his heart ravaged by the Buffalo Bills every fall, and he hates doing dishes.

Jules Robins is a physics student who hails from Los Angeles, and has played Magic since Odyssey. He's since discovered that Llanowar Elves does not, in fact, search your library for a Forest and put it onto the battlefield, and this past season he started chasing the Pro Tour dream. Any time he's not doing school work, you can find him preparing for that weekend's events... or, more likely than not, he'll be brewing up a fresh Commander deck. He also works on amateur card designs with the cast of characters who call goblinartisans.blogspot.com their home. Whatever it is, you can be sure that Jules is looking to make the game as much fun as possible for everyone involved.

Justin is a Level 3 Magic judge who has been judging since February 28, 2010. He has one son, a beautiful wife, another baby on the way, and loves being a father/husband and hanging out with his “Little Man.” He has been playing Magic since Ice Age. He lives in Florida, and you’ll find him at any Florida PTQ!

Melissa "Missy" DeTora is a Pro Competitor having competed at numerous events including a Top 4 at GP Santiago.

Mike Cannon is a longtime member of GatheringMagic, and an ardent casual player. Check out his articles for building on a budget and exploring kitchen-table Magic.

Artist, writer, wife and mother, MJ Scott has been playing Magic since Conflux and is always busy on current adventures or looking for new ones. She has a BA in English, a Certificate of Accountancy, and professional experience as an actress and copywriter/editor. A Vorthos advocate and lifetime fantasy enthusiast, MJ's heart's desire is to entertain, enrich and inspire to keep our spirits high and our Planeswalker sparks burning brightly.

Hailing from Parts Unknown, Canada, Nassim has long been a PTQ grinder. First bursting on the scene with the infamous Iggy Pop deck at GP: Philly, and most recently with a Top 32 at PT: Nagoya, Nassim is a former stock broker and an economics student at the University of Western Ontario.

Natasha Lewis Harrington is a L1 judge who likes reading and writing about social justice, participating in pioneering the field of Geek Studies, and building Commander decks that make an unnatural number of tokens. In her free time she works toward her doctorate in psychology, and sees clients at a local psychiatric hospital.

Nathan Weizenbaum is a programmer at Google’s Seattle office. He’s played Magic on and off since Urza Block, and is particularly fond of Limited formats and Magic puzzles of all sorts.

Robby Rothe Jr., the blogger behind the Magic design/culture/humor blog http://www.mtgcolorpie.com, has been playing since Revised. As an advocate of Commander, he’s always carrying around decks of his favorite format. He was one of the GDS2 101.

PTQ-grinder-turned-trader and financial writer, Ryan has been playing Magic since Antiquities. A regular face at major events, he can usually be found on the trade floor or watching the top tables for the latest tech.

Tapped is a weekly webcomic drawn by Andre Garcia publishing on Fridays, sharing the adventure of its heros as they battle an unknown evil.

Titus started playing Magic to get out of the rain at high school. It was the tail end of Revised. He has since then rarely threatened the Pro Tour, but enjoys playing Commander and Vintage (badly) whenever possible. He is a journalist by trade and writes and broadcasts from Berlin, Germany.