Subject: [ISSUE] A corollary to Overseas MTG 0819 by K. Dürotin Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1998 01:34:12 -0500 From: "George Macoukji" To: I am writing this because the article by K. Durotin got me thinking about support (or the lack thereof) for Magic in countries where it is not well established. I’m hoping that some of you who have already found a way to introduce and expand Magic in your region can help me to bring stuff like rules-lawyering, Sligh vs. Necro, marked cards, Unglued, and all the other joys of introducing Magic to a virgin country. :-) First, I’d like to introduce myself, as this is the first time I send a message to the Dojo. My name is George Macoukji, and I am a Level 2 judge and tournament organizer living in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. (For those whose geographical skills are lacking, that’s a little country somewhat south-southeast of Kuwait, to the east of Saudi Arabia, on the coast of the Arabian Peninsula.) I am attending college there at the moment, and have every intention of seeing Magic well-established before I graduate in two more years. :-) In most of the world, the Magic community has strong support (or at least, *some* support) from local distributors, contractors, retailers, or what have you. However, Magic is new in the Middle East (ME), so there is no support network in place at all. (Since it is well-nigh impossible for people to travel between Israel and the rest of the ME, I won't count it as part of the ME for the purposes of this article.) Aspiring players have to purchase or trade for cards from more experienced players, or those with access to the "outside world" and the purchasing power to buy cards by the caseload. (I freely admit that I am one of the latter, but I sell all my packs at cost.) At any rate, I first thought that I had the unenviable task of single-handedly introducing the whole ME to Magic, but I soon discovered that niche clubs had already formed at some of the Western-oriented schools. So I have players interested in playing Magic, but a lack of cards, and to some extent, a lack of motivation. Recently, I started organizing tournaments, with modest (by US/European) prizes. I was shocked to discover that a starter and a few boosters (low to average first-place prizes for Western tournaments) were considered a windfall in the ME! Anyway, my tournaments are growing, and I expect about 40 active players in each tournament by year’s end. I find myself in an awkward situation -- I have the task of being the only active Magic judge (that I know of) in the whole Middle East! The net effect is that I have to single-handedly judge any Magic tournaments that come up. I’m working on my Level 3, and hope to achieve it around February, but in the meantime, I’m the only one who can judge tournaments. I’m also working on getting Nationals and pre-releases for our region. The reason I’m writing is to ask for help from those who’ve lived through what I’m going through now. If you’ve experienced the growing pains of Magic and Magic tournaments, I’d appreciate any advice on what you found useful and effective in spreading Magic. How do you deal with issues like language barriers, cultural misconceptions, and sheer lack of cards and judging staff? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for any and all who help. Feel free to contact me directly at macoukji@wt.net to discuss these or any other Magic topics; or reply through the Dojo. -- George "Oukji-Son" Macoukji Nova Captain Adrian Spoint on Rec.Games.Mecha Arena and DCI Level II Judge for Magic: the Gathering ---------------------------------------------------------------- The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door ... -- Fredrick Brown -------------------------------------------------------------------- Name: smime.p7s Part 1.2 Type: application/x-pkcs7-signature Encoding: base64