Okay, so this week we have the North American vote. On the ballot from StarCityGames.com, we have the following players. As usual, all biographies come from MagictheGathering.com:
“One of the best writers to ever tackle the subject of Magic: The Gathering, Canada’s Jeff Cunningham is also a great player who continually resides high in the standings. He had two Top 32 finishes and another top 64 last year in addition to mentoring Murray the Mauler to his Top 8s in Nagoya and Worlds 2004. Mike Flores recently pointed out that the talented Cunningham produced three of the best articles in 2005 despite only producing three articles”
Examples of Jeff’s work:
Jeff Cunningham “Untold Legends Of The Million Dollar Magic The Gathering™ Pro Tour”
Jeff Cunningham “Untold Legends Of The Million Dollar Magic The Gathering™ Pro Tour” Vol. 2
“The amount of time Canadian Rich Hoaen spends drafting online is legendary and he was recently rewarded with a victory at Grand Prix-Richmond. Rich is consistently in the money at any Limited Pro Tour with a Top 16 and a Top 24 to show for the 2005 season. He has started to post Constructed results as well with a Top 64 finish at Pro Tour Philadelphia but draft remains his first love. It is entirely unclear which came first: the Hoaen or the Magic Online draft queue. But it is equally unclear if either could exist without the other.”
Examples of Rich’s work:
Ravnica Limited: Drafting All The Colors
Winning it All – A Grand Prix Richmond Report *1st*
“Gadiel Szleifer had the best year of any North American Pro with a seventh place finish in the Player of the Year race. He was the first player to appear on that list not from Japan or France. His position on that list was boosted by his Finals win in Philadelphia over Player of the Year Kenji Tsumura and his Top 8 in Columbus to start the season. In the Grand Prix column of the ledger he had multiple high finishes that included a Top 8 in Mexico City and a win in Chicago as a member of :B.”
Examples of Gadiel’s work:
To Be Young and Awesome – GP: Chicago *Winner*
Not A Feature Match: A Grand Prix Richmond Report *9th*
Good luck, gentlemen!
…
My vote? Geez, now you’re asking… All three are deserving, but I think I’ll go for ffeJ. Very close call, though.