In March of 2014, and again in 2015, players from all over Texas and beyond assembled to play competitive Magic for money and prizes, but also for something more. The players were also celebrating the life of one of their own who died in 2013. They were remembering the life and good times of Hunter Burton, one of the best Magic players ever to emerge from Texas.
In two years, the Hunter Burton Memorial Magic Open has become a rallying point for the Texas Magic community. Each year, proceeds from this event benefit charity. This year, that charity is the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. You see, as successful as Hunter Burton was in competitive Magic, as loved and respected as he was all across Texas and beyond, he was also a young man dealing with crippling internal struggles. These struggles led to him taking his own life in July 2013. The tenth-leading cause of death in the U.S., suicide touches the lives of everyone associated with the person who dies. There is a stigma associated with death, and even more so with suicide, yet the Magic community in Texas was forced to deal with the issue when Hunter Burton passed away. Creating awareness and understanding of suicide and its causes is one thing that the Hunter Burton Memorial cares deeply about.
Hunter Burton was a small-town kid from Burleson, Texas when he first started playing Magic. Not particularly inspired by high school, Hunter quickly flourished in Magic tournaments. He was nineteen when he qualified for Pro Tour Charleston in 2006. He was hooked. He played in his second professional event only a few months later at Pro Tour Kobe, where reached Day 2.
A year later, he finished in the money at Grand Prix Dallas. The year after that, Hunter reached the Top 8 of Grand Prix Denver and barely missed the Top 8 at Grand Prix Seattle a few months later. In October of 2009, Hunter Burton finished fourth at Pro Tour Austin, losing to Brian Kibler in an exciting semifinals match.
Interviewed before the first day of competition at Pro Tour Austin, Hunter reported that he didn’t really practice much and didn’t know how well he would do. This is the kind of ‘aw shucks’ attitude that Hunter would share with strangers. Friends of Hunter knew that he worked extremely hard at the game, practicing Constructed play as well as Limited every day on Magic Online. After Austin, Hunter continued to compete at the highest levels for a few more years before other issues in his life started to replace the game.
Hunter was a hotshot. He was brash and cocky at times. He also had a magnetic personality and an easy manner with strangers. He was wise beyond his years. As a sixteen-year-old Magic player, he moved in adult circles as though he were thirty.
Unfortunately, none of us got the chance to see what Hunter would be like in his thirties. Hunter’s birthday is in March. He would have turned twenty-nine this year.
Even after he died, Hunter still pulled people together. A hundred Magic-playing friends assembled at his memorial service in 2013. Hunter’s parents, Greg and Dona Burton, approached me with the idea of creating a Magic tournament in their son’s memory. I had been very close to Hunter for years and I thrilled at the idea of creating such an event. That was three years ago.
This year’s Hunter Burton Memorial Magic Open takes place on Saturday, March 26, 2016, at the Arlington Convention Center in Arlington, Texas, just up the street from the ballpark where the Texas Rangers play baseball.
Players from all over the area will compete for a share of a total cash prize of $8500. Along with the big bucks, there are other prizes, including T-shirts, playmats, and special commemorative dice.
From the start of this event two years ago, the concept has been to put on the kind of event that Hunter Burton would have loved to play in. The prize money has increased each year, something Hunter would have approved. Hunter loved big blingy wristwatches, so the Hunter Burton Memorial Magic Open puts just such a watch on the wrist of the champion each year. Hunter’s sister Casey personally shops for the watch, choosing something she knows her brother would have liked.
Hunter was extremely competitive and he liked both Constructed and Limited. Therefore, the Swiss portion of the Hunter Burton Memorial is Standard Constructed, while the Top 8 finishers compete in a Modern Masters Booster Draft. The prizes are structured to discourage prize splits in the Top 8. Hunter didn’t like splitting up prizes; he preferred to let the cards decide.
Finally, there is the trophy. The Hunter Burton Memorial trophy is tall and imposing. The winner ends the day hoisting the big trophy over his or her head and the names of the entire Top 8 are engraved on the side of the award. Sixteen names have been engraved on the trophy so far. Whose names will be added to the trophy this year? We can’t wait to find out.
This year, the Hunter Burton Memorial Magic Open is teaming up with Star City Games to make this year’s tournament a Star City Games Super Invitational Qualifier on top of everything else. That means that the winner of this year’s Open not only wins $1200 cash, a commemorative six-sided die, and a watch worth another thousand dollars, the winner also gets a SCG IQ playmat and pin and is qualified for an upcoming Star City Games Invitational. Texas players have loved Star City Games events for years and now they have extra incentive to attend one of the community’s best-loved tournaments, the 2016 Hunter Burton Memorial Magic Open.
As in past years, it’s all hands on deck for this special event. Our all-star judge staff is led, for the third time, by David Hibbs, a Level 3 DCI judge from Austin with more than fifteen years of experience judging tournaments. Another judge and co-organizer, Joe Klopchic, will fly in from Seattle to help with the event.
These days, Magic tournaments just don’t happen without the support of a solid retail organization behind them. The store that powers our event is Miniature Exchange in Grand Prairie. The owner, Erin Giddings, has been vital in the development of the Hunter Burton Memorial from the very start. His store’s crew has been very important as well. Beyond the direct sponsorship from Miniature Exchange, our event has also received community support from more than a dozen other game stores. Everyone involved in the Hunter Burton Memorial wants to make it the biggest and best community-driven Magic tournament anywhere.
You see things at our event that you just don’t see anywhere else. Two years ago, Hunter’s dad rolled in his Harley-Davidson motorcycle into the event and put it on display. He has had the bike customized to include Magic images that meant a lot to his son. Hunter’s favorite Magic card is Eternal Witness, and images from that card were everywhere at the first tournament in 2014, from Greg Burton’s motorcycle to the Top 8 playmats to some fresh ink of the image on sister Casey Burton’s thigh. In last year’s event, we awarded $100, a commemorative die, and a felt top hat to the winner of what might be the first competitive DC-10 tournament.
It’s all about having fun and remembering our friend and loved one, Hunter Burton. Our event benefits the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Last year, our t-shirts had the slogan “one more day” in big letters on the back. We all would have liked at least one more day with Hunter. It’s also a message for anyone who is struggling with depression and who starts to feel like there’s no reason to keep going on with life. Things could get better if you stick around for just one more day.
We want this year’s event to be bigger and better than before. It’s a fun day to play Magic and maybe do a little bit more.