… Who’s the Beatdown.

But the process by which we’ve made it official-official is quite interesting if I do say so myself.

Last week I polled ten luminaries of the game and Magic media online and asked them all the following email:

Hello beloved person reading this email.

BDM and I are doing an experiment. Please give me five minutes of your time. Don’t just shotgun an answer back (I assume you want to participate because you are a good person). Think a sec.

What in your opinion are the five most significant Magic: The Gathering articles ever?

You can include tournament reports, strategy articles, primers, whatever you want. You can define significant however you want. But keep it to five nominees.

We are polling 10 knowledgeable people on this. We are going to tally up the votes, then send the same question out tomorrow or so to you same people, but with the numbers attached. Then we want you to look at the responses and answer the same question again. All very scientific, I know.

Remember - I was an English major.

Thanks in advance.

–m

My initial lineup included myself, but as I my initial internal monologue ballots all included four or so Flores articles, I elected to recuse myself and invite basically the most popular Magic media person of the present day — misterorange Evan Erwin — into my spot in the ten judges. Those judges were / are (in no particular order):

• Brian David-Marshall: Pro Tour Historian; Top8Magic; Dave Price Fan Club; reporter
• Bill Stark: The Starkington Post; everywhere editor, intern, reporter, and networker
• Aaron Forsythe: Magic R&D; former editor magicthegathering.com
• Scott Johns: former editor TCGPlayer.com; producer magicthegathering.com, Pro Tour Champion
• Randy Buehler: former grand poohbah of Magic R&D; Pro Tour Champion; Hall of Fame
• Zvi Mowshowitz: fomer columnist EVERYWHERE (The Dojo, New Wave, TCGPlayer, Star City); Pro Tour Champion; Hall of Fame
• Jonathan Becker: former voice of the Pro Tour; Tongo Nation
• Rich Hagon: present voice of the Pro Tour; Mox Radio
• Teddy Knutson: former Managing Editor Star City Games; former editor magicthegathering.com; avid networker, reporter, and student of Magic media
• Evan Erwin: beloved Storyteller; The Magic Show

I wanted a couple of things out of my ballot-casters (Bill is going to follow up with a poll of current Star City writers for The Starkington Post for a different perspective):

1. I wanted only those who are “students of the game” in the online publishing sense, that is, people who love the writing as much as the game, editors, and those who have probably read the important articles (that eliminated otherwise potentially deserving candidates like The Ferrett or Eric Taylor who have large gaps in their knowledge base or activity)
2. I wanted “my” group of core coverage to be represented - namely me, Teddy K, BDM, and Becker, of which only BDM is still active. Our late nights convinced me that these were the people with the best opinions and if you check Becker’s revision to my own ballot, you’ll see what I mean; and yes, I realize the irony of recusing myself.
3. I wanted a mix of authority from different rich perspectives: writers, players, editors, reporters all; you’ll notice that every person on this ballot fills at least two sets of shoes; Bill holds a Grand Prix Top 8 as well as a publishing background nearly as diverse as my own, and even Evan (whom you might consider one-dimensional) is both an Invitationalist and a top content contributor as well as being as or more beloved by the community as anyone else on the list.

My initial ballot (recused, remember) was in no particular order:

Who’s the Beatdown
Silver Bullets [sorry, gotta buy Deckade :)]
Clear the Land and the Fundamental Turn
Schools of Magic
Sligh decks (History and Theory)

However after speaking with Jonathan Becker (remember my ballot is recused!) I refined my five articles to be -1 Flores, +1 Mowshowitz; to wit:

Who’s the Beatdown
Who’s the Beatdown II: Multitasking [sorry, gotta buy Zvi's book(s)]
Clear the Land and the Fundamental Turn
Schools of Magic
Sligh decks (History and Theory)

This, by the way, is the exact ballot cast by Zvi Mowshowitz.

We will examine other individual ballots in future episodes this week, but for now, the top 5* most significant Magic articles of all time:

Who’s the Beatdown, Mike Flores (10 votes)
The New Pool Halls, Gambling and Magic - Brian Hacker; Clear the Land and the Fundamental Turn - Zvi Mowshowitz; Schools of Magic, Robert Hahn
And in a three-way tie for fifth place: Tournament Reports - Jamie Wakefield; Stuck in the Middle with Bruce - John Rizzo; and Who’s the Beatdown II: Multitasking - Zvi Mowshowitz

* Okay, okay - Top 4-7! Remember what I said about being an English major!

Keep in mind three things:

1) Bill Stark refused to cast more than three votes.
2) We designed this poll specifically for revision; the same judges will be asked again based on this week’s blog posts.
3) If my ballot counted, Who’s the Beatdown II: Multitasking would have been Top 5. I’m guessing it will be on the re-polling anyway.

More to come,

LOVE
MIKE

PS - by writer:
Flores 13
Mowshowitz 6
Wakefield 4
Hacker 3
Hahn 3
Price 2
Rizzo 2
Taylor 2
Chapin 1
Ellis 1
Erwin 1
Finkel 1
Forsythe 1
Hill 1
Johns 1
Knutson 1
Kusumoto 1
McKeown 1
Rosewater 1
Weil 1
Weissman 1