Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Magi-Nation Duel Storyline Events History



Magi-Nation Duel was a trading card game that came at the right time (just around the start of Pokemon, the official launch date to stores was October 17th, 2000), but had trouble keeping up with the larger more well funded card games.  It was based around a storyline, of a fantastical people living on the moon of the planet El, who could summon creatures from their dreams.  




One of the larger appeals for Magi-Nation Duel was that the company, Interactive Imagination, hosted large events called “Storyline Tournaments”, which would track winners across the globe, and affect the lore behind the cards (and even change and create cards!) based on the outcomes of these events.  
Before you is a history of the game- a list of all the information still available about the storyline tournaments, and how they affected the game.  Linked also are their short stories, to give you a taste of the fiction that inspired the game.  

The game was originally revealed and released at GenCon 2000, with a storewide release on Oct 17th, 2000!


May 2001: Awakening Expansion was released. 
 










July 2001:  “Fools Rush In” – 1st storyline tournament, Naroom was the winner of this event across the average of the world, with Cald close behind.  Tryn and Barak entered the Naroom shadow geyser because of these results. 

Fools Rush In was a worldwide storyline tournament, following along simultaneously to the story of the Game Boy Color game.  Only Awakening was released at the time (1st expansion), so the game did not have many regions at this point.  








"Redemption of Ogar/Corruption of Ulk" Storyline Event Tournament (Midnight Magi Madness) – July 5-8th, 2001 hosted at Origins Game Fair - A tournament to see if Ogar would be redeemed to the light, or Ulk would be drawn to the shadows. 

Rich Riley won this event with his Underneath deck.  He held the title, “Redeemer of Ogar” online, and the story: “The Call of Nightmares” was written for it, as Ogar, the Underneath shadow Magi, was redeemed to her home region.  Rich used an Underneath deck with Korrits, Parmalags, (of course Ormagons and Thunderquake), and Tunneler’s boots to be an endurance deck. 

The card: Sorrowing Ogar was made for this victory. 


GenCon Storyline Tournament (Aug 2-5th 2001) – Paul Heaver won this event, to create the card Woot!   He piloted a Naroom deck to victory, with the Magi: Wence, Tryn, and Eidon.

The first world championship was held at this GenCon 2001 along side these events.
Ron Padgett was the first world champion. 

November 2001: Dream's End expansion released, showcasing the Weave and Kybar's Teeth regions.


 








“When a Tree Falls” – October 19th-21st 2001, This was a worldwide store event, showing The Fall of Naroom to the Shadow Magi attacking after the defeat of Agram.  Hrada and Warrada, the Dark Twins, were the ones who attacked, leading the other shadow Magi.
 We're still looking for information on which region did the best, but it's suspected that the Core was the overall victor here, as the Shadow Magi took over Naroom.



April 2002: The expansion, Nightmare's Dawn was released, introducing Paradwyn and Bograth regions.



“Fists of Rayje” – May 3rd-5th 2002- The legendary Magi, Rayje returning, in order to settle conflicts between the regions.  Where he went first bringing aid was determined by the storyline event. This was a worldwide storyline event, showcasing Rayje's (pronounced "Rage") help across the moonlands around the time of the Great Relic Robbery.  

The card: Sinder, Apprentice was made for this storyline tournament result, as Cald was the most successful. 



“The Great Relic Robbery” – July 5th 2002, 
Origins Storyline tournament.  Bria's theft of the Scroll of Fire, and the attempt of the Cald Warriors to raid the Great Vault of Knowledge in Orothe and get it back.   Hosted at Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio, July 5th 2002.  From the Grand Magi Council newsletter #5- Chris Jilot apparently took 1st place in this event, earning himself two round byes for the Gen Con Storyline tournament.  

The card: The Last Words, (and alternate version) were made to showcase this storyline event, where Orothe stole the Scroll of Fire, and the Calders attempted to get it back.   

"League for a Day” – June 2002, Origins League for a Day, Creation of Tuku, the dream warrior.  Fans were curious of the monkey dream creature pictured with Tuku, so the “Tuku’s Hapu” story was created! 

Tuku and Hapu cards were made for the popularity of this event and character. 

Gen Con 2002 "Create a Card" Storyline Tournament (T'Dek, created by winner Matt Loomis) and the 2nd World Championship (Matt Loomis won this also):  August 8-11th, 2002.

November 2002: Voice of the Storms expansion released, featuring the final two regions: Nar and The Sands of d'Resh.





“Gift of the Monarch Hyren” – December 12th-29th, 2002: A worldwide storyline tournament determining which region the Monarch Hyren would aid.  Arderial was the winner of-this event by a majority and received the gift of the Monarch Hyren, in the form of the card:  Rainbow Hyren.  The Rainbow Hyren in Traitor's Reach was made for the success of Arderial.

This was the last worldwide storyline tournament for Magi-Nation Duel, and it displayed the strength of Hyren (Dragons in the Moonlands), and their progenitor.


"The Dream Cannon” – June 28th 2003, Origins Game Fair storyline tournament.  The start of the Invaders from El storyline.  "This story was affected by the storyline tournaments that took place at Origins, Columbus, OH June 28th, 2003."


“War of the Twins” – July 2003 Gen Con storyline World Championship tournament – Gen Con again decided a pivotal storyline moment with the world championship.  This tournament decided which region had a traitor for the Core, and Kybar’s teeth was invaded by the Dark Twins.

 Quote from the Magi-Nation website about this event:

    This story was affected by the Worlds storyline tournament that took place at GenCon, Indianapolis, IN July 26th, 2003.  World Championship (132 player max)

    Each player must bring a standard Magi-Nation deck, containing 40 cards and three Magi. All current rulings and errata will be in effect. The winner of this event will be the 2003 Magi-Nation World Champion. If you can only attend one Magi-Nation event at GenCon this year, this is the one to play in. Read the storyline for this event, to be affected by match results.

This event was won by Bart Robinson, using Bograth!

There was also a follow up Create a Card Gen Con Tournament:
Create a Card (72 player max)
Each player must bring a standard Magi-Nation deck, containing 40 cards and three Magi. All current rulings and errata will be in effect. The winner of this event will be allowed to create a card, which will appear in a future Magi-Nation expansion.

This event was won by Joe Montalbano, using Arderial!  He submitted the design for a card called "Legatus", which was supposed to be in Daybreak!

We're still looking for information from this event, to determine who won each, and which decks they used.

August 2003: The Restricted Format is introduced by Interactive Imagination.

Late 2003: Traitor's Reach expansion completed, but never released to print.

"Mission of a Dream Warrior" - November 16th, 2003. This event was an individual store Storyline Tournament, held at Game Preserve (store) in Greenwood, IN. 

Event Details:

This is the Official Mission of a Dream Warrior Storyline Event that will determine what region, and who, gets the Ancient's Puzzlebox. All recent errata and MRPs etc. will be in effect. A standard 40 card deck is needed to play. Registration begins at Noon, and the tournament starts PROMPTLY at 1. Swiss Format followed by a Top single elimination section of the tournament is to be expected. This tournament is being sponsored by The Game Preserve, Interactive Imagination, and The Fusion Magi (www.fusionmagi.proboards19.com) This is a ONE SHOT STORYLINE. You will not be able to play in this story line anywhere else!!! Any questions? Contact MW.

This event was won by Gavin "G-Unit" Montgomery. 

September 2007: Magi-Nation TV show Season 1 airs.  

January 2010: Season 2 of the Magi-Nation TV show airs.


And that was all.  Magi-Nation Duel did not continue successfully, and their final expansion was never released.  A animated TV show aimed at kids was only marginally successful, and ran for two seasons, based on the events of the moonlands and Tony Jones arriving there.  The rest may be lost to history.

In the next Magi-Nation themed article, we're going to cover the Magi nation Leagues, fan based MND events, and the current things fans are still doing to keep the game they love alive.  You can find them on the main MND page