Written by Mike Frantz… Monday January 27th, 2020
Glorycon started with 3 things that I thought could be improved in an old school tournament: being crammed for space, being hungry, and being in a big city. This didn’t mean I needed to reinvent an old school tournament but rather take the templates of other great old school tournaments and putting my own spin on things. It’s like taking a known deck arch type and tweaking it to suit your style of play. Taking UR counter burn and replacing the counters for falcons for example. “Falcon Lightning Punch” as Jared Doucette called it.
Glorycon has been in the think tank for 6 months. I bounced ideas off a lot of people. I think the key for planning an event is to think big but find a way to scale it down. Then as your numbers grow do more things. We originally thought that having 20 people would be an exciting number to get to. Right about the same time when we hit the 20-person number, Dave Firth Bard played match maker with Jeff A. Menges and I. What a fantastic match that was. Jeff and I didn’t know what we were going to do when we first talked but we both had lots of fragments of ideas Neither one of us knew where this was going to go but we both knew it was going to go somewhere.
The snowball was now heading down the hill. I probably went too far promoting Glorycon but, when you believe something is going to be great, and the charity is something so close to your heart. You just jump in the deep end and go for it all. Like buying a civil war uniform and wearing it at Eternal Weekend handing out business cards.
Speaking of the charity: “The Charity will be something very close to my heart. I am an avid volunteer scouter, the Cubmaster for Lake Meade Cub Scout Pack 88, and Assistant Scoutmaster for Lake Meade Scouts BSA Troop 88. We are not donating to these units but rather to a fund that we have created within them. It is called the Sunshine Fund. This fund is donation driven and its only purpose is to send scouts to summer camp whose families cannot afford it. This past summer over $1300.00 was used to help scouts go to camp. I firmly believe that every kid deserves to go to camp. This Sunshine fund makes it happen.”
I really do believe energy and excitement is contagious. A real hot spark hit when Mark Jonovitch out of the blue donated a super sweet item to the tournament. A revised Savannah altered with an amazing Gettysburg theme done by Mitchell Wayne known as MG Alters on Facebook. (Mitchell has already done my Chaos Orb and my Library of Alexandria to an amazing level. I can’t recommend him enough. Check him out.) The donations started to roll in after that. Playmats, cards, altered cards, magazines, and sealed product. I couldn’t believe the generosity of the community. Thank you all.
With every post, more ticket sales and so more swag was in order. It wasn’t until December that Jeff and I finally came up with an idea that we both were excited to see come together. One thing I didn’t want to do is make another playmat. While playmats are amazing examples of art, we all don’t need another playmat. We do however have a cardboard addiction that cannot be satisfied. The final product is a reimagined Swords to Plowshares with a Gettysburg theme. A Union soldier standing on the battlefield. Behind him is the venue of the tournament, The Dobbin House and another iconic Gettysburg building, Gettysburg Lincoln Railroad Station. Jeff then put this image on cardboard and after the second printing, we got the thickness and size just right to match an actual sleevable card to play in a deck unmarked. The back of the card has an image from the 1963 US Gettysburg Stamp. The 100th anniversary of the battle. Jeff then put all the event info on the back and hand numbered them 1 to 100. All of the first printing and all extras have been destroyed. There are only 100 of these. Each person at Glorycon received one.
Another project I put together was an event patch. This patch emulates a council strip patch that every scout has worn on the shoulder for many years. Just like a council patch, they can be very intricate and tell a story. This patch does both. It has the Old Order Demonic Tutor (for our group), Consecrate Land (Jeff’s art and Lincoln referred to Consecrating the ground in the Gettysburg address), and the Blaze of Glory (the card we played to win). These patches were sold for $10 each and all the money went right to the charity.
Enough about the swag lets get into the weekend. Friday evening meetup at The Upper Crust just doors down from Gettysburg square was our first stop. 21 people came out including Jeff to drink, eat wood fired pizza, and drink some more. We met new friends, played magic, freed trapped keys, and closed the bar down. Everyone there received a stamped beta Raised Dead.
Saturday. The main event is here. A few Old Order arrive early to help unload and setup Jeff A. Menges and our vendor, Jason Koresko of Deal Me In Games of Boyerstown, fellow Old Order member. Jan and Hilda of The Dobbin House staff were there early as well getting ready. They were amazing and stayed with us from start to finish. We setup the registration table at the door with the swag hand out, 2 signature cards, and 4 thank you cards so everyone hit them up as they walked in. We had 55 players from 9 different states make it in. After a quick welcome, round 1 pairings went up 1 minute early and we were off to the races.
The location we chose restricted us from doing a raffle due to Pennsylvania laws. So, we did things a bit differently on the honor system. We had door prizes instead. Door prize tickets were 100% free to grab by anyone who wanted them. We stuffed envelopes with 8 tickets each. It was each person’s responsibility to grab an envelope, separate the tickets into the pot, and keep the stubs. We then suggested that if they wanted to donation to the charity, they could use that envelope to throw a $20 in and put it in the donation pot. This worked out extremely well. We raised $920.00 this way. Merle Zimmerman was also challenging all his opponents to a fo-anti games where the loser had to donate the value of the card off the top. The winner could also match this amount. Merle raised $89.40. Patch profit totaling $150.00 so far. A few late donations $145.00. The total to date is $1,304.40. I’m truly blown away. This is amazing. Thank everyone so very much.
After 3 rounds of Magic we turned the show over to The Dobbin House staff where Jan explained the way the meal will be served. Chef Brian then explained everything that he prepared for us. He also was there with a few special meals for those with special dietary requests and any allergy questions. We then had a random set of dinner pairings. The number on the back of your Menges card was randomized and you were given a table number to sit at. The point of coming to an old school event is to talk and make friends. Dinner should be no different. 1 hour later we were back to magic. You could tell there was a relaxed calm in the room after everyone ate and relaxed for a bit.
After round 5 we sat our last 2 undefeated players at table 1 next to the fireplace for a best of 5 match to crown a champion. While they started, we handed out the door prizes. Everything on the door prize table was donated. We had playmats, FBB cards, altered cards, sealed product and more. Then everyone started the final round.
The playing has finished and it was time to hand out prizes. We started by cracking the sealed box of Wyvern Premiere Limited Edition starters (these are the boxes that could contain Fallen Empire commons with Wyvern backs). The bottom 12 each received a deck and last place, Don Perrien received The Dark poster. A special award was then give to Jason Koresko. He had an emergency surgery just 1 week before Glorycon. A beta Uthden Troll signed by everyone as he just finished regenerating. Top 8 spicy each received a place card and a Consecrate Land signed by Jeff. The Spicemaster, Gregg Graham also received a Jeff altered Adun Oakenshield. The Top 8 received the same type of spread and our Champion, Rubens Campana also received the signed Blaze of Glory.
The day was absolutely amazing. It couldn’t have gone smoother and that is in thanks to all of you. Jan and Hilda could not stop raving about how nice everyone in room was. Coming to Gettysburg in January was out of the way for a lot of folks. I also want to thank the many old school groups who sent people such as New England Old School, The Sisters of the Flame, The Dice City Derelors, Iron City Old School, The Felwar Stoners, the newly forming Poconos crew, Philadelphia Old School, and all the ones that I may have missed. I really hope everyone had a good time and was rewarded for your travels.
Special thanks go out to several people. I’m sorry if I missed anyone’s name in this list or mispronounced your name during the day. It definitely wasn’t on purpose. Glorycon would not have been a success without each of the people on this list and beyond: Jason Beaupre, Dave Firth Bard, Christian Reinhard, Levi Baumgardner, John Gehling, James Slowikowski, James Duncan, Mitchell Feeg, Mark Jonovitch, Jason Jaco, Bob Agra, Jason Koresko, Jason Schwartz, Bryan Manolakas, Andrew Callaghan, Nicholas Batista, Mitchell Wayne, Paul DeSilva, Jimmy Cooney, Mark Whitney, Akos Schiberske, Jason Doorman, Jimmy and Jeff Johnson, Taylor Quail, Matt Viau, Mike McLaughlin, Cam Wall, Jared Doucette, Jeremy Smelski. Jeff and Erin at The Upper Crust. Rick, Lauren, Jan, Hilda, and Don at The Dobbin House. A very special thank you to our honored guest Jeff A. Menges.
Thank you to Landon Frantz, my son who is 12, played in his first magic tournament and really loved it. Sharing scouting and magic with my sons is so very special. My youngest son Madden is 9 they went home just before awards and played a few games together when they got home. Maybe one day Madden will also join us for an old school magic tournament. Thank you to all of Landon’s opponents all day. You all were great and he had a blast.
The most important thank you goes to a very special person, my wife Ashley Frantz. She supports everything that I do and everything that I get carried away with. Without her support, her love, and her understanding, nothing I do could be possible. Thank you Ashley. I love you.
It was now time to catch some sleep and head to MFNJ2020 the very next day. The quest for the Doppelganger.
PHOTO GALLERY:
STANDINGS:
SPICY AWARDS:
8th Place – Most Spicy:
* STEPHEN PRESTON *
– Dark Black Deck / Featuring Khabal Ghoul, The Fallen, Worms of the Earth, and the Walking Dead
7th Place – Most Spicy
* JON PATTON *
– Fairie Quake
6th Place – Most Spicy
* NICHOLAS BATISTA *
– Desert Storm / Featuring Ivory Tower, Earthquake, and Iff-Biff Efreet
5th Place – Most Spicy
* MERLE ZIMMERMAN *
– Haiku Story Book / Charity Money Raising / Orc Tribal
4th Place – Most Spicy
* DON PERRIEN *
– Gauntlet of Mighty Hazezon
3RD PLACE – MOST SPICY
* NATHANIEL GATES *
– The Angry Mob / Featuring Cycolpean Tomb and Evil Presence
2ND PLACE – MOST SPICY
* BEN KATZ *
– Whippoorwhill Combo / Flying Pigs / Featuring Flight
1ST PLACE – MOST SPICY – Spicemaster
* GREGG GRAHAM *
– FIX BAYONET’S!
Presenting “Fix Bayonets!” an all in mono green based Eureka deck inspired by the 20th Maine’s defense of Little Round Top.
Jerrard of the Closed Fist represents Lt Col Chamberlain and each of the fatties represents a Union regiment defending the hill:
– Force of Nature = 20th ME
– Craw Giant = 83rd PA
– Erhnam Djinn = 44th NY
– Triskelion = 16th MI
– Cockatrice = Battery D, 5th US Artillery (out of the side as they did not have any real impact on the battle but were brought up as reinforcements)
OVERALL TOURNAMENT WINNERS:
8th Place – Overall
* BEN KATZ *
– Whippoorwill Combo
7th Place – Overall
* PEZ UNHOLY *
6th Place – Overall
* ANDREW CALLAGHAN *
– Dirty Disko
5th Place – Overall
* PAUL DESILVA *
4th Place – Overall
* MARK HORNUNG *
– GloryTog
3RD PLACE – OVERALL
* LEVI BAUMGARDNER *
– Spicy Like Mayonnaise
2ND PLACE – OVERALL
* JASON BEAUPRE *
1ST PLACE – OVERALL
* RUBENS CAMPANA *
DECK LISTS:
Alphabetical by First Name
Name: Abraham Clayman
Title: The St. Lawrence Regiment
Name: Adam Jourdan
Name: Andrew Callaghan
Title: Dirty Disko
6th – Overall
Name: Andrew Newbie
Name: Andrew Williams
Title: Distress
Name: Ben Katz
Title: Whippoorwill Combo
2nd – Spicy Award
8th – Overall
Name: Brian Hirst
Title: American Control
Name: Carlos Eduardo Cardoso Galhardo
Name: Chris Gray
Name: Christopher Zach
Name: Dan Cowling
Title: BEER BRACKET.DECK
Name: Daniel White
Title: Mono White Prison
Name: Don Perrien
Title: Gauntlet of Mighty Hazezon
4th – Spicy Award
Name: Eric Caputi
Name: Gregg Graham
Title: Fix Bayonets!
1st – Spicy Award
Name: Jason Beaupre
2nd – Overall
Name: Jason Dorman
Title: Storm Seeker Burn
Name: Jason Schiffman
Name: Jason Shadish
Name: Jason Williams
Title: Western Mass Battalion
Name: Jelani Johnson
Name: Jeremy Smelski
Name: Jesse Switzer
Name: Jimmy Cooney
Title: Dwarves and Derelors
Name: Joe Reuschel
Title: Mirror Lich
Name: John Gehling
Title: 24 Damage Birds
Name: Jon Patton
Title: Faerie Quake
7th – Spicy Award
Name: Joshua Brooks
Name: Julian Mertz
Name: Landon Frantz
Title: Sideboards are for Pussies
Name: Levi Baumgardner
Title: Spicy Like Mayonnaise
3rd – Overall
Name: Mark Evaldi
Title: Purple Monkey Dishwasher
Name: Mark Hornung
Title: GloryTog
4th – Overall
Name: Mark Jonovitch
Title: 75th Icatia
Name: Merle Zimmerman
Title: Orcish Tribal Deck
5th – Spicy Award
Name: Michael Keller
Name: Michael McLaughlin
Title: Jumbalayav
Name: Michael Scheffenacker
Name: Mike Smith
Name: Mitchell Feeg
Name: Nathaniel Gates
Title: The Angry Mob
3rd – Spicy Award
Name: Nicholas Batista
Title: Operation Desert Storm
6th – Spicy Award
Name: Parker Schaffel
Title: Icy Assassin
Name: Patrick Fockler
Name: Paul DeSilva
5th – Overall
Name: Pez Unholy
7th – Overall
Name: Rich Bourque
Name: Rubens Campana
1st – Overall
Name: Ryan Keach
Title: Candleflare
Name: Stephen Preston
8th – Spicy Award
Name: Warren Connell
Name: Will Magrann
Title: The Plane of the Living and the Dead
Name: Will Parshall
If there are any discrepancies with the list or your name was omitted please send an email to glorycon.mtg@gmail.com. Thanks.
Old Order Old School 