As you guys all know from my little post here, I’m participating in the Magic: the Gathering Online Community Cup Challenge at the Wizards of the Coast headquarters in Renton, Washington. I’ve been really nervous and really excited about this from the moment I was asked if I wanted to go for GamingAngels. I’ve since learned that not only am I the youngest competitor on both teams, the second youngest having 4 years on me, but I’m the only female on the community team. There are three amazing women on the opposing team that I’m really looking forward to meeting.

I’ve been doing a lot of prepping to get ready for this. Yes, I’m just playing a card game that I know and love, but it’s online. I’ve never played online Magic before, but I’ve been playing a lot so I can learn everything needed. I’ve looked at so many cards online it’s not even funny anymore. After years of paper Magic, it’s a huge change. Decks have been made by and for us to practice with and eventually playing with in the actual tournaments. We’ve been doing draft practice daily to get used to that format.

Drafting is a lot of fun, to be honest. A lot of people don’t get it. You get three packs of cards and 7 other people. Each person opens a pack, picks a card, and then passes it until all the cards are used up. Rinse and repeat for the other two packs. Then you take the cards you chose and make a deck with them. It’s a lot of luck and a lot of challenge. With a limited resource, you really need a good knowledge about what each card does.

Not only have I been prepping in practice, but I’ve been mentally preparing. It’s really intense knowing that the 8 of us are representing the Magic Online community and our respective sites. I’m playing for all of us Angels, not myself. It’s a really weird feeling. Yes, I want to do my best for myself, but I’m playing for a much bigger community. It’s actually kind of stressful.

I’m nervous, excited, and a little scared… and I need as much support as I can get. Leave me comments, and I’ll get them. I’ll be tweeting as I can (RenoChan) and I’ll have a lot of awesome stories by the time I come home! Go go Power Rangers… er… Community Team!