First things first: if you don't care about the Hall of Fame and don't understand that there are those of us who care, that's cool, but no reason to post in this thread about it
Apparently the ballots have been sent out to those who are lucky enough to have votes. I don't suspect that many here have a vote, but it's nonetheless fun to talk about what our ballot would have been if we did have one.
The 2014 Hall of Fame class will be announced at Pro Tour Portland on August 1.
Right now I think I would have voted for the following:
Guillaume Wafo-Tapa
Makihito Mihara
Justin Gary
Paul Rietzl
No fifth for me - those are the ones I think deserve to get in right now. I don't think Wafo's leaking of cards should disqualify him from entering the HoF, and Justin Gary having twenty top 32 finishes in 44 attempts is just highly impressive to me. Paul Rietzl gets the nod over Mark Herberholz due to more GP top 8s and more PT top 16s and top 32s. I have also played against Rietzl on a few occasions, and he's a very pleasant & respectful guy that I think is good for the game. Makihito Mihara is the no-brainer this time around, as far as I'm concerned.
Wafo should be a no-brainer. Despite the leaks, which he and Matignon both felt terrible about, he's had a stellar career. I agree on Mihara being a no-brainer; five top 8s including a win should always be enough to get you in if you've never been suspended. I think Marijn Lybaert also deserves a nod because while his results might not be enough to get him in, they're at least solid, and he's done so much for the Belgian Magic community that I think he gets in on contributions to the game. Heezy gets the nod over Gary IMO because of the huge impact he had on Magic the year that he won the PT. Rietzl is my final choice for the same reasons you mentioned.
Utter-Leyton would be a no-brainer if he was on the ballot, but I guess he fell off, unless I'm misremembering and he wasn't actually on it last year.
I would say
Makahito Mihara
Tomoharu Saito
Gerard Fabiano
Guillaume Wafo-Tapa
Still torn on Paul Rietzl and Gerry Thompson
There are many others who I believe will be there some day (Tom Martell, ....)
This is just based on how many times I've heard or seen their names + I looked at their stats for some confirmation.
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Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
Gerry T would be a good candidate, but he only has one top 8. Same with Fabiano. Generally a player won't get many votes unless they have at least three top 8s. Saito will likely never be voted in again as he was suspended due to an incident at a GP (though he was on his way to the HoF before the incident, so results-wise, he would be a shoo-in).
Wafo Tapa is a no brainer to me. Hes probably the best control player in the world and has major achievements in every level of competition. I would also give a nod to Makahito Mihara as hes just a phenomenal player as well.
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Modern
Jeskai Control
Jeskai Midrange
Affinity
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Justin Gary
Shouta Yasooka
Makihito Mihara
Paul Rietzl
Martin Juza
No Mori and Saito as they had both been banned by the DCI for play infractions (Mori for accumulation of warnings, Saito for bribery and slow play). Wafo-Tapa doesn't get a vote (well, theoretical vote) because of the Godbook incident and subsequent suspension.
For those who look lightly on Wafo-Tapa's suspension, having unauthorized access to, and then distributing, a Godbook prior to a set's release is nothing short of cheating. You, and those who you share it with, have weeks of preparation with the new cards of a set, giving you an unfair advantage over other players. Had he not disseminated it, I might not be as heavy handed, but by distributing it, Wafo-Tapa knew what he had and that it would give him and his teammates an unfair advantage. IMHO, he only came clean when it became apparent that Matignon gave it to him, in which case coming clean would help mitigate the suspension.
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For those who look lightly on Wafo-Tapa's suspension, having unauthorized access to, and then distributing, a Godbook prior to a set's release is nothing short of cheating. You, and those who you share it with, have weeks of preparation with the new cards of a set, giving you an unfair advantage over other players. Had he not disseminated it, I might not be as heavy handed, but by distributing it, Wafo-Tapa knew what he had and that it would give him and his teammates an unfair advantage. IMHO, he only came clean when it became apparent that Matignon gave it to him, in which case coming clean would help mitigate the suspension.
What happened was, as far as I can tell:
1. Matignon had the godbook so that he could write an article about the new set for the French magazine Lotus Noir (this being a paper magazine, I suppose the logic was that they'd need the info in advance in order to print relevant info in time).
2. Matignon couldn't help it but share what he had with his best friend, Wafo-Tapa.
3. Wafo-Tapa did the same with a third friend.
4. The third friend spoils it all over the internet.
Matignon and Wafo-Tapa didn't distribute it, but they did display very poor judgment by showing it to a friend, and they got suspended for a long time for it. But it was not a deliberate action, and the two confessed when they saw what happened.
Also, as for extra preparation, yeah, that is definitely unfair (though they claim that they didn't use the info for tournament preparation, which you can choose whether to believe or not), but that's honestly on Wizards - they should never have been sending them these in the first place. Besides, 1) back then Pro Tours didn't take place so soon after the release of a new set, so the advantage was less than it would have been today, 2) Wafo-Tapa has, after he came back, put up another PT top 8, and was very close to getting yet another at the last PT (he lost 3 straight win-and-ins and ended up in the top 25), which goes to show that he's a pretty remarkable player whose results would not have been much different even if he didn't have access to the whole spoiler early on X number of occasions.
If people with a vote decide against Wafo-Tapa because of his sloppiness and poor judgment resulting in New Phyrexian being spoiled early, that's totally understandable, but from what I could understand from reading a number of articles on the subject, Matignon and Wafo-Tapa were not the ones who actually distributed it on the internet.
Edit: apparently it was a friend of the third friend who was responsible for the distribution.
No love for Chris Pikula? Not surprising given how numbers-oriented most votes are. Also not surprising given that his day in the sun was long before we even had FNMs.
His early contributions to the game have had a greater impact than most people realize, but many Pros have written about Chris, so they're out there if you want to read them. Plus Meddling Mage is sweet. It's a shame that he's not in the HoF, as he's said it would give him the freedom to attend more events with the HoF perks (he just doesn't have the time to grind PTQs these days). I can remember watching Chris, Kai Budde, and Finkel on ESPN 2 at 11:30 at night - they used to show Magic tournaments in between bowling and pool back in the day. It was the first time I realized just how big Magic could be. Maybe it's just childhood nostaliga talking.
Pikula isn't eligible. Threshold was raised to 150 pro points.
Oh, well that's lame, and it probably locks him out of ever getting there unless his schedule permits him to start playing full time again. It's a real shame.
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Apparently the ballots have been sent out to those who are lucky enough to have votes. I don't suspect that many here have a vote, but it's nonetheless fun to talk about what our ballot would have been if we did have one.
Some information:
Who would you have voted for?
Wafo should be a no-brainer. Despite the leaks, which he and Matignon both felt terrible about, he's had a stellar career. I agree on Mihara being a no-brainer; five top 8s including a win should always be enough to get you in if you've never been suspended. I think Marijn Lybaert also deserves a nod because while his results might not be enough to get him in, they're at least solid, and he's done so much for the Belgian Magic community that I think he gets in on contributions to the game. Heezy gets the nod over Gary IMO because of the huge impact he had on Magic the year that he won the PT. Rietzl is my final choice for the same reasons you mentioned.
Utter-Leyton would be a no-brainer if he was on the ballot, but I guess he fell off, unless I'm misremembering and he wasn't actually on it last year.
Makahito Mihara
Tomoharu Saito
Gerard Fabiano
Guillaume Wafo-Tapa
Still torn on Paul Rietzl and Gerry Thompson
There are many others who I believe will be there some day (Tom Martell, ....)
This is just based on how many times I've heard or seen their names + I looked at their stats for some confirmation.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)Gruul Aggro
EDH General:
Sydri, Galvanic Genius
Modern
Jeskai Control
Jeskai Midrange
Affinity
Esper Teachings
Tribal Zoo
Shouta Yasooka
Makihito Mihara
Paul Rietzl
Martin Juza
No Mori and Saito as they had both been banned by the DCI for play infractions (Mori for accumulation of warnings, Saito for bribery and slow play). Wafo-Tapa doesn't get a vote (well, theoretical vote) because of the Godbook incident and subsequent suspension.
For those who look lightly on Wafo-Tapa's suspension, having unauthorized access to, and then distributing, a Godbook prior to a set's release is nothing short of cheating. You, and those who you share it with, have weeks of preparation with the new cards of a set, giving you an unfair advantage over other players. Had he not disseminated it, I might not be as heavy handed, but by distributing it, Wafo-Tapa knew what he had and that it would give him and his teammates an unfair advantage. IMHO, he only came clean when it became apparent that Matignon gave it to him, in which case coming clean would help mitigate the suspension.
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What happened was, as far as I can tell:
1. Matignon had the godbook so that he could write an article about the new set for the French magazine Lotus Noir (this being a paper magazine, I suppose the logic was that they'd need the info in advance in order to print relevant info in time).
2. Matignon couldn't help it but share what he had with his best friend, Wafo-Tapa.
3. Wafo-Tapa did the same with a third friend.
4. The third friend spoils it all over the internet.
Matignon and Wafo-Tapa didn't distribute it, but they did display very poor judgment by showing it to a friend, and they got suspended for a long time for it. But it was not a deliberate action, and the two confessed when they saw what happened.
Also, as for extra preparation, yeah, that is definitely unfair (though they claim that they didn't use the info for tournament preparation, which you can choose whether to believe or not), but that's honestly on Wizards - they should never have been sending them these in the first place. Besides, 1) back then Pro Tours didn't take place so soon after the release of a new set, so the advantage was less than it would have been today, 2) Wafo-Tapa has, after he came back, put up another PT top 8, and was very close to getting yet another at the last PT (he lost 3 straight win-and-ins and ended up in the top 25), which goes to show that he's a pretty remarkable player whose results would not have been much different even if he didn't have access to the whole spoiler early on X number of occasions.
If people with a vote decide against Wafo-Tapa because of his sloppiness and poor judgment resulting in New Phyrexian being spoiled early, that's totally understandable, but from what I could understand from reading a number of articles on the subject, Matignon and Wafo-Tapa were not the ones who actually distributed it on the internet.
Edit: apparently it was a friend of the third friend who was responsible for the distribution.
His early contributions to the game have had a greater impact than most people realize, but many Pros have written about Chris, so they're out there if you want to read them. Plus Meddling Mage is sweet. It's a shame that he's not in the HoF, as he's said it would give him the freedom to attend more events with the HoF perks (he just doesn't have the time to grind PTQs these days). I can remember watching Chris, Kai Budde, and Finkel on ESPN 2 at 11:30 at night - they used to show Magic tournaments in between bowling and pool back in the day. It was the first time I realized just how big Magic could be. Maybe it's just childhood nostaliga talking.
So yea, Chris Pikula - the Meddling Mage himself. That's my vote. Good enough for Finkel (http://www.starcitygames.com/article/26472_Hall-Of-Fame.html), good enough for me.
As for the rest, just go with whoever has the best numbers.
Standard: I, for one, welcome our new rhinoceros overlords
Modern: Pod's dead, Bob's back.
Legacy: Lands, Deathblade, Death and Taxes, Elves, MUD
Retired Legacy: Merfolk, Goblins, Jund, Delver, Reanimator
Oh, well that's lame, and it probably locks him out of ever getting there unless his schedule permits him to start playing full time again. It's a real shame.
Standard: I, for one, welcome our new rhinoceros overlords
Modern: Pod's dead, Bob's back.
Legacy: Lands, Deathblade, Death and Taxes, Elves, MUD
Retired Legacy: Merfolk, Goblins, Jund, Delver, Reanimator