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Sweet Tweets: #GenConIsComing

Reuben Bresler shows you what Magic players been talking about on Twitter lately: Gen Con 2012 and the Return to Ravnica card that was spoiled there.

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Like a cloud of locusts, gamers from across the world will be driving, flying, and riding to "The Best Four Days of Gaming," better known as Gen Con 2012 (@Gen_Con). Every year, Indianapolis, Indiana transforms to accept over 35,000 game enthusiasts for one of the biggest gaming conventions in the country. But it wasn’t always so big…

The convention we now know as Gen Con began in 1967 and was founded by Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax (which was made later) as a casual gathering of wargamers. In 1968, Gygax rented the Lake Geneva Horticultural Hall for $50 to hold the first formal Lake Geneva Convention, also known as the Gen Con gaming convention, in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, near Gary Gygax‘s home.

Since those humble beginnings Gen Con has moved around a lot, but it settled in Indianapolis and never looked back. It’s tough to remember those early days now, with the thousands of booths and tens of thousands of visitors, but this year #GenCon honored their early years with their first ever keynote address, delivered on Thursday by Wizards of the Coast about Dungeons & Dragons (@Wizards_DnD). A fitting tribute for a man who started the convention with around 100 people at an event later referred to as "Gen Con 0."

It’s no wonder that Magic players are so excited to descend on Indy. Brace yourself… #GenConIsComing:

Awww, poor Tommy!

In related news, the Magic community got a nice little surprise when they got to Gen Con on Thursday: a #ReturntoRavnica spoiler! Wizards (@dailymtg) has released to us Deadbridge Goliath, a 5/5 for 2GG that has no abilities while in play. That would have been quite impressive by itself a few years ago (consider Iwamori of the Open Fist or even Durkwood Boars), but that’s not all the Golgari Giant has to offer. ‘Big Green’ also has a new keyword: scavenge. For a cost (in Deadbridge Goliath’s case, 4GG), your creature essentially has a sorcery-speed flashback ability that will put +1/+1 counters on target creature equal to the creature’s power. So for four mana the first time around, you get a 5/5…and then if you so choose, you get five more power after it dies for six mana!

A new ability, a preview card, and lots of Twitter discussion? What’s not to like?

And finally, a quick shout out to my podcast mate Matt Kranstuber (@kstube), who has recently started a new cube themed podcast called The Joy of Cubing. Take a listen to his first episode with guest Eric Klug (@klug_alters) here:

I’ll be your platinum, I’ll be your silver, I’ll be your gold (as long as you Tweet me)!

Reuben Bresler

@MoxReuby

Coverage Coordinator and Twitter Admiral for StarCityGames.com

Listen to the @InContention podcast! It’s the official podcast of the StarCityGames.com Open Series with @kstube, @affinityforblue, and me. Listen in at InContentionMagic.com. Our most recent episode, Guidance Counselor to the Firemind, can be found here.