Welcome to the 2014 edition of the MTGS Cube Forum Secret Santa! This is usually a popular initiative within our little Cube community, so let's try to make it as awesome as possible! (Past years' editions: 201320122011)
Before we start, I would kindly ask you to only sign up if you fully intend to participate. We had some unfortunate situations last year with people not sending their gifts and not answering messages - so please let's make sure that that does not happen this year!
edit: After conferring with the Mods, I will exclude anyone that's not an MTGS member for at least 6 months.
Let's start with a small FAQ, courtesy of Humpty_Dumpty and MagnetMan. If you have any additional questions, please let me know.
Secret Santa is a Western Christmas tradition in which members of a group or community are randomly assigned a person to whom they anonymously give a gift. Often practiced in workplaces or amongst large families, participation in it is usually voluntary. It offers a way for many people to give and receive a gift at low cost, since the alternative gift tradition is for each person to buy gifts for every other person. In this way, the Secret Santa tradition also encourages gift exchange groups whose members are not close enough to participate in the alternative tradition of giving presents to everyone else. (from Wikipedia)
Like the definition said, it's a way to give/receive gifts from people you wouldn't normally have that kind of interaction with. It's always fun to get things in the mail that aren't bills or junk; it's also a lot of fun to send something that isn't a bill payment or similar.
Don't worry, you're just picking out a gift for a fellow forum member, not a fiance. From similar events, I've found that something in the $10-$15 range is average. Factor in shipping and you can easily make someone's day for under $20.
There is a real mix of people on this thread, from impoverished students to relatively well paid professionals. Other people may have artistic talents, and a few alters were sent last years. Participants should understand that this is quite different from a trade, and give what they can afford.
Once I've got a list of everyone who wants to sign up, I'll shuffle up the names and randomly "hand them out" to another person.
Luckily, we all share one very common interest =P To make things a bit easier, I'm gonna ask that everyone participating send me a "wishlist" of any length along with the rest of their info. This way, no one should draw a complete blank when coming up with ideas.
Of course not! Be creative! That's what makes this fun. The wishlist idea is just something I thought of to make things a bit easier. Remember that the bigger the wishlist, the easier you make things for your Santa.
First thing's first, post in this thread, then send me a PM. In your PM, please include:
-Name
-Address
-A wishlist of any number of Magic related items you may like
I'll keep an updated list of everyone participating at the bottom of this post. I'll wait about a week or so before I close off entry and start handing out names.
As soon as possible! Since we all live in a wide variety of cities, states, countries and even continents, the actual date we all receive our gifts is going to vary. Don't rush out and grab the first thing you see, but do your best so that your recipient gets their gift before the end of January.
One cool thing I've seen done is a gift reveal thread after the exchange. So once you get your gift, take a picture with/of it! Once the presents start rolling in, I'll start up another thread so we can show off our shiny presents and thank our fellow cubists =D
Like last year, we can probably just keep this thread going to show off the shiny presents.
I'll close the list of participants after a week, more or less - the tentative deadline is December 8th (Monday), 12PM UTC. That way, some of us can still get their goodies in time! I will also keep this post updated with the list of participants.
Final list of participants:
6jerfz
Ausschliessi
Cipz
hardb0dy
Juju
MagnetMan
Mister Lamp
mrbrightside
sacknase
Sparki
Spike Rogue
War Dachshund
winterlude
withwarrior
Total side note but I like how people are discussing running this over itself.
Well, it has to be said that Kolaghan is clearly better than Kolaghan. Considering what BR decks usually want and how stiff the competition in this guild is, there is no way that I would run Kolaghan over Kolaghan! Kolaghan might make it in as the sixth guild card or so. Kolaghan on the other hand ranks several places below that.
It was so funny to me when they described this as a downgrade to the original Zurgo during the Pax East panel. I was thinking if this is a downgrade, they should really "downgrade" all legendary creatures. Haha.
My deck designing is quite concise at this point:
1. Come up with deck idea
2. Realize this idea is somehow fundamentally similar to another deck I have or that is commonly played in my group
3. Decide I don't want to disassemble one of my existing decks
4. Give up and do nothing
I don't see the point of this new shroud mechanic. It's strictly worse than Hexproof. Threshold is pretty bad too, Delirium is a much better mechanic and probably easier to activate.
Otherwise this card is a pretty neat guy. Dodges removal and grows into a Primal Huntbeast. 3/5
You can't tell because of the delay, but I actually signed up for this forum when I stumbled upon and older secret santa and thought "I gotta do that next time."
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Rest in RIP My Signature, I guess. 2015-2016, we hardly knew ye.
Total side note but I like how people are discussing running this over itself.
Well, it has to be said that Kolaghan is clearly better than Kolaghan. Considering what BR decks usually want and how stiff the competition in this guild is, there is no way that I would run Kolaghan over Kolaghan! Kolaghan might make it in as the sixth guild card or so. Kolaghan on the other hand ranks several places below that.
It was so funny to me when they described this as a downgrade to the original Zurgo during the Pax East panel. I was thinking if this is a downgrade, they should really "downgrade" all legendary creatures. Haha.
My deck designing is quite concise at this point:
1. Come up with deck idea
2. Realize this idea is somehow fundamentally similar to another deck I have or that is commonly played in my group
3. Decide I don't want to disassemble one of my existing decks
4. Give up and do nothing
I don't see the point of this new shroud mechanic. It's strictly worse than Hexproof. Threshold is pretty bad too, Delirium is a much better mechanic and probably easier to activate.
Otherwise this card is a pretty neat guy. Dodges removal and grows into a Primal Huntbeast. 3/5
i like secret santas, i like magic, when i found one i signed up, problem officer?
Yes, there is a problem. This community is full of awesome people and having that attitude may be perceived as rude. You may want to avoid that kind of attitude in general, but specifically here as well because that response, together with the timing of your signing up to this forum, may be perceived as a bit opportunistic, especially since we had problems in previous years' editions of Secret Santa due to opportunistic people. So you may want to revise that behavior.
I'm in. Give me a day or two to get my wish list together, and I'll send the PM.
Sign-ups close in ~11 hours, and we can't really postpone that deadline if we want that at least some people get their gifts by the end of the year. I'm sorry.
I'm in. Give me a day or two to get my wish list together, and I'll send the PM.
Sign-ups close in ~11 hours, and we can't really postpone that deadline if we want that at least some people get their gifts by the end of the year. I'm sorry.
Understandable, I misread the OP and thought it was midnight tonight, not noon. I missed out then, I can't blame anyone but myself.
I'm in. Give me a day or two to get my wish list together, and I'll send the PM.
Sign-ups close in ~11 hours, and we can't really postpone that deadline if we want that at least some people get their gifts by the end of the year. I'm sorry.
Understandable, I misread the OP and thought it was midnight tonight, not noon. I missed out then, I can't blame anyone but myself.
I did not send the info yet (although I'm about to do that). Can you still send me your stuff in like 30min?
We have 14 Secret Santas this year (you can find their names in the OP). I am sending the lists by PM right now. (Don't hesitate to contact me if you need help, if there's any issue or if you have any questions - anonymously, of course - for the person who's getting your gift!)
EDIT: all lists were sent. Sorry about some small typos in some of the lists - I corrected them as soon as I noticed them for the rest of the lists. (I blame copy-paste, for the record. )
If you're curious about that kind of stuff, I'll share the randomization algorithm:
1. Made a numbered list of all participants, by time order (of signing up).
2. Went to Wolfram Alpha and typed RandomSample[Range[14]] - that generates a random permutation of numbers from 1 to 14. I had to re-draw once (otherwise, some people would be Secret Santas to themselves!), and then I assigned the first number on that random list to the first person on the original list, and so on.
Have fun! Let's hope everyone gets their gift soon and everything goes smoothly!
Popped my present in the post today. It probably won't arrive 'til sometime in January, because of the time of year, and it's international post. I hope my Secret Santee (is that the word?) is happy with what I sent!
Welcome to the 2014 edition of the MTGS Cube Forum Secret Santa! This is usually a popular initiative within our little Cube community, so let's try to make it as awesome as possible! (Past years' editions: 2013 2012 2011)
edit: After conferring with the Mods, I will exclude anyone that's not an MTGS member for at least 6 months.
Let's start with a small FAQ, courtesy of Humpty_Dumpty and MagnetMan. If you have any additional questions, please let me know.
There is a real mix of people on this thread, from impoverished students to relatively well paid professionals. Other people may have artistic talents, and a few alters were sent last years. Participants should understand that this is quite different from a trade, and give what they can afford.
-Name
-Address
-A wishlist of any number of Magic related items you may like
I'll keep an updated list of everyone participating at the bottom of this post. I'll wait about a week or so before I close off entry and start handing out names.
Like last year, we can probably just keep this thread going to show off the shiny presents.
I'll close the list of participants after a week, more or less - the tentative deadline is December 8th (Monday), 12PM UTC. That way, some of us can still get their goodies in time! I will also keep this post updated with the list of participants.
Final list of participants:
6jerfz
Ausschliessi
Cipz
hardb0dy
Juju
MagnetMan
Mister Lamp
mrbrightside
sacknase
Sparki
Spike Rogue
War Dachshund
winterlude
withwarrior
Former DCI L2 Judge
My old Cube podcast on ManaDeprived, with Goodking and artbcnco: http://manadeprived.com/podcasts/mtgin3d/
You can find me on Twitter as well.
WGURBLands!WGURB
WGUInfectWGU
Legacy Lands Primer
Top 8 SCG Oakland 2014
Helpdesk
My Cube on CubeTutor
Juju Alters - Altered MTG Cards
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
EDH Decks:
- Reya Dawnbringer // - Mistform Ultimus // - Balthor the Defiled // - Urabrask the Hidden // - Mirri, Cat Warrior
Not just that, but you literally just signed up for the whole site just to take part in a Secret Santa.
Juju Alters - Altered MTG Cards
Yes, there is a problem. This community is full of awesome people and having that attitude may be perceived as rude. You may want to avoid that kind of attitude in general, but specifically here as well because that response, together with the timing of your signing up to this forum, may be perceived as a bit opportunistic, especially since we had problems in previous years' editions of Secret Santa due to opportunistic people. So you may want to revise that behavior.
Former DCI L2 Judge
My old Cube podcast on ManaDeprived, with Goodking and artbcnco: http://manadeprived.com/podcasts/mtgin3d/
You can find me on Twitter as well.
Twitter
Youtube Channel
Cube Podcast
Draft my Cube!
Former DCI L2 Judge
My old Cube podcast on ManaDeprived, with Goodking and artbcnco: http://manadeprived.com/podcasts/mtgin3d/
You can find me on Twitter as well.
Understandable, I misread the OP and thought it was midnight tonight, not noon. I missed out then, I can't blame anyone but myself.
I did not send the info yet (although I'm about to do that). Can you still send me your stuff in like 30min?
Former DCI L2 Judge
My old Cube podcast on ManaDeprived, with Goodking and artbcnco: http://manadeprived.com/podcasts/mtgin3d/
You can find me on Twitter as well.
EDIT: all lists were sent. Sorry about some small typos in some of the lists - I corrected them as soon as I noticed them for the rest of the lists. (I blame copy-paste, for the record. )
If you're curious about that kind of stuff, I'll share the randomization algorithm:
1. Made a numbered list of all participants, by time order (of signing up).
2. Went to Wolfram Alpha and typed RandomSample[Range[14]] - that generates a random permutation of numbers from 1 to 14. I had to re-draw once (otherwise, some people would be Secret Santas to themselves!), and then I assigned the first number on that random list to the first person on the original list, and so on.
Have fun! Let's hope everyone gets their gift soon and everything goes smoothly!
Former DCI L2 Judge
My old Cube podcast on ManaDeprived, with Goodking and artbcnco: http://manadeprived.com/podcasts/mtgin3d/
You can find me on Twitter as well.
Juju Alters - Altered MTG Cards
WGURBLands!WGURB
WGUInfectWGU
Legacy Lands Primer
Top 8 SCG Oakland 2014
Helpdesk
My Cube on CubeTutor