Emma Handy’s time with Star City Games has come to an end.
From an East Coast grinder gaining traction on the SCG Tour during the rise of grass-roots teams to a member of the Rivals League, Handy made her mark on Magic in many ways, eventually leading to a position on the play design team for the game itself. Handy started making a name for herself in 2016 with a ninth-place finish at SCG Atlanta at the start of the year and a Top 8 at SCG Knoxville in November after starting as a writer for Star City Games in July.
As her writing and play continued to grow over the years, she landed a role as a commentator on the SCG Tour in 2019, allowing her to expand her theory and understanding of the game beyond articles. She parlayed years of content creation from writing, commentating, podcasting, and more into a slot in the Magic Rivals League in 2020. In a year mostly of digital play, Handy found her biggest finishes, tallying a ninth-place finish at the 2020 Mythic Invitational in September and a Top 8 in the Grand Finals in October.
Magic Esports announced an update to the Rivals League roster last month noting the departure of Handy, due to her taking a job at Wizards of the Coast (WotC) as part of the play design team. On top of leaving Rivals, Handy will also be stepping away from writing strategy content for Star City Games with roughly 200 by-lines to her name, appearances on VS Live!, and a double-digit number of events cast as a commentator ranging from paper events to the SCG Tour Online.
Read her farewell article in her own words here.
Star City Games thanks Emma Handy for all her contributions to both the company and the Magic: the Gathering community and wishes her nothing but the best in her future endeavors.