Magi Nation Duel History - Fans and the Future

In the last article on Magi-Nation Duel, we featured the storyline tournament and set release history.  These were gathered from all information still available, showcasing how a card game company can allow its fans to add elements to the story, and make them feel more involved in the lore by directly being able to influence the results.

Yet, like many early 2000s trading card games, Magi-Nation Duel was financially unsuccessful, and Interactive Imagination was unable to continue operation- and so, officially, the game died.

But fans are fans, and events continued on.  There were several events that still host tournaments for the game, and some started with official Interactive Imagination sponsored events, like the League activities.  Check out some of the images below, as we cover the history of fun-based organized play, and a quick list of memories of other events hosted by fans.  The second part of the article will cover what's currently been ongoing in the past few years and now, as the Magi-Nation community goes on in the second decade of the twenty first century.

After organized play and other concerns arose with the game, more fan-initiatives began.  We were able to find a variety of images from events and special hosting activities from the 2000s, but are still working at getting more information!

Snowball's Chance in d'Resh Event (2003)

This fan run named event was run on March 23rd, 2003. 

Event information:

The location is set, Interzone Comics & Cards in Gresham, Oregon.

In Addition to the main tournament we will be hosting:

• Saturday the 22nd at 1PM - League For a DayMissed out on year one? Well here's your chance. When you show up you'll be given a special map. This map will have 3 paths. Tracker, Keeper, and Ringsmith. Tracker is 1 on 1 play. Keeper is helping out the MND community. Ringsmith is group play. There is no Regional Advantage. Each time you complete a path you will get a random sticker from year one. The first person to complete all 3 paths will get a Set of the Year one Promos (1 of each Magi, 3 each of the Creatures, Relics & Spells), Stickers and Posters. Plus they will get a set of the Preview Season Promo Cards. And each player who signs up for the Strategic Magi-Nation (prepaying) and Snowball's Chance in d'Resh (prepaying) will get bonus year one Promos and and bonus points.
  
  
• Saturday the 22nd at 6:30PM - Strategic Magi-Nation FormatAn all new format! This will be played with single duel decks. Each Region is fighting for control of the moonlands, which region will you support? Each region elects a leader, and that leader decides where each of their "generals" attacks! Who will in in this all out war for dominance? Winner, 2nd, 3rd, and Sportsman will get March 2i tournament support and a couple extras.
  
• Based on the format used at the cons last year this promises to be a fun event for the people who don't make the top 16! More info as it is availible. Winner, 2nd, 3rd, and Sportsman will get March 2i tournament support and a couple extras.
  

The winner received custom fan art by Lou Holstein, and fan art by Whyrl.  Posted below.  Prizes included:

• A box of Voice of the Storm boosters
• 1000 Animite
• Prints of Lou Holsten's Magi-Nation Fan Art
• Snowball's Chance Original Pencils by Lou Holsten
• A Custom Piece By Lou Holsten
• A Custom Piece By Katura/Zarin Ficklin
• A sealed copy of the Magi-Nation Game Boy Color game
• Insiider Points
• Insiider RPG "Stuff"
• Approximately 400 Year One League Promos
• 30+ Promo Cards
• 5+ Signed Promo Cards
• A Power of the Creators Signed by Phill Tavel
• A Power of the Creators Signed by Ed Bolme
• 1 Japanese "Smiling" Dan
• 2 Japanese "Smiling" Dan Signed by Dan Tibbles! (Only 3 of these exist according to Tibbles)

I have been offered "Prize Packs" by the following persons:

• Mike Liesik, Mike Neimat & Mike Christopher of 2i.
• 2i Artist Matt Holmberg
• 2i Artist Rich Werner (Who is looking into attending the tournament!)

Title art for this event is missing, and still be searched for.  All of this information was found on the dead website: http://home.attbi.com/~houseflygames/

The Duel in the Desert Tournament (2003)

This was an event hosted by ROMzombie at the Phoenix Arizona Hexacon 13 in 2003.
More information is being sought about this event.  Held Saturday, July 26th, 2003, 12pm

Blue Furok

The website bluefurok.com is a still maintained Magi-Nation fan site, hosting the most reliable access to all card images, as well as having work done to create custom cards to attempt to continue the game. 

User Novelty Nostalgia, or just Novelty - designed and created multiple custom card small sets for the game, and 4 of them are still available on the site!  

Elder's Legacy Released in November 2004

Shadowsfall Released May 2005

Tainted Glimpses Released May 2006

Keeper's Quest Released May 2006

Twilight War Released May 2007

several others were in design, though they seem to be lost to time!

Current Events - Reddit Tournaments (2015-2018)

Once Reddit became a force, a Magi-Nation Duel subreddit appeared, and the fans there began hosting tournaments.  So far, 5 tournaments have been hosted since 2015.  These events are all hosted on Lackey, a system to play CCGs online. 

Inaugural Tournament had 8 players in 2015.  The winner was TechnomagusPrime.

The second event, The Regional Tournament, had a restriction where players could only use cards from the region they drafted.  It had 13 players, and was a swiss style event in 2015.  The winner was Khaotyk aka Daedleus.

The third event, the No Restrictions Tournament, had no regional penalty or restriction.  It allowed players to try a variety of different strategies that aren't normally allowed in Magi Nation Duel.  Seven players participated in 2015, and Khaotyk (Daedleus) again was the winner.

The fourth event, a Standard tournament, followed normal tournament rules, and allowed the cards from the Traitor's Reach expansion- and the previously untested Daybreak expansion, which has all the card text online and available.  The event had 4 players in early 2017, and Hershomc was the final winner.

The most recent event, taking ideas from 2i to make a:

Fan Storyline Tournament: Seeds of Chaos 

It was run and completed in early 2018.  11 players battled for a new story in the moonlands,with the winner being WBSam.  You can see the results and swiss Bracket here.  The fan storyline starts here.  Yaki, picking up where the official storyline left off, uses his corrupted core-sight to start tracking some of the shadow magi's dangerous elements across the moonlands!

More to come, more to see.  The game continues.  Energize your dreams.