As with 'Looking Back Over Magic in 2009', I felt the need to look back over this year and highlight what were, in my opinion, the biggest stories of the year. I polled a number of people about what they thought were the stories of the year, those which stuck out in memory and I got a wide ranging list of ideas. From writers to cards, to decks and bannings, as well as events, amazing plays and even, yes, non-Magic news.

Luis Scott-Vargas Goes Undefeated at Pro Tour San Diego

Though it seems it has been forgotten by many, this year was marked by someone going undefeated during a Pro Tour. Luis Scott-Vargas went into the Top 8 with 48 points, built round by round with 16 match wins. After 12 rounds, he had the option to draw into the Top 8, a 12-0-4 record being more than enough to make it into the Top 8. LSV decided that wasn’t an option; he wanted to go for the record—and he got it. In Round 16, Luis battled Bertil Elfgren amidst a crowd of onlookers. He defeated Elfgren 2-0 to finish his event with a perfect 16-0 record.

Luis Scott-Vargas then entered as the top seed in the Top 8 where he defeated Jeroen Kanis before losing to Simon Gortzen in the semi-finals. Gortzen went on to defeat Kyle Boggemes in the finals of the event. Despite not winning the event, LSV’s accomplishment will still be the shining achievement of Pro Tour San Diego.

Brad Nelson’s Amazing Run

Of all the personalities in Magic, none has been bigger in 2010 than Brad Nelson. This year, Nelson generated a great deal of buzz as writers, fellow pros, and commentators watched in awe of his amazing finishes at five major events just this year. He won Grand Prix DC (Standard), then made the Top 8 of Pro Tour San Juan (ZEN Block Constructed & ROE Booster Draft), continued to Top 8 the Grand Prix Columbus (Legacy), made it to the finals of Pro Tour Amsterdam where he lost to Paul Rietzl (Extended & Booster Draft), and lastly made it to the finals of Grand Prix Toronto (Sealed & Booster draft) before losing to local player Jonathan Smithers.

What can anyone say but “Wow!” That series of top finishes is mind boggling. It isn’t as if this was a single format that Brad had figured out. These events spanned Standard, Limited, Legacy and Extended. Simply stunning. For many pros, this number of Top 8s is more than they will achieve in their career, and he did it within the span of a single year. Chew on that.

But Toronto was hardly the swan song of Nelson’s year. Brad was the favorite for Player of the Year heading into Worlds. But when the World Championships played out, Guillaume Matignon—who won the individual World Championships—ended up tied with Brad for Player of the year. The winner is to be decided by a single match between them at the Magic Weekend of Pro Tour Paris, giving the fans a final cliffhanger to bridge Brad’s amazing year into 2011.

Tomoharu Saito's Rollercoaster Year

As someone who generated a lot of discussion this year, Tomoharu Saito is right there with Brad Nelson. Saito has long been a well-known Pro tour competitor and member of the Magic community. 2010 seemed set to be a banner year for him as he had two Grand Prix Top 8s and one Grand Prix victory (GP Oakland, GP Madrid, and a win at GP Columbus). And after the Hall of Fame voting had been counted, it was announced that he would be one of the members of the 2010 Hall of Fame class—but that’s when it all started to fall apart for Saito.

It happened with enough speed to take your breath away. Disqualified from Grand Prix Florence for stalling, then suspended for 18 months by the DCI, and just like that, he was removed from the Hall of Fame class.

A player with a spotty past, but who seemed to be reformed and now a pillar of the community, was poised to be enshrined among the greatest who had played the game, only to fall short and have his name forever tarnished. In 2012, when he inevitably returns to the game’s competitive scene, he will have to work to overcome this latest transgression as well as earn his way back onto the Pro Tour.

More Big Competition Than Ever Before

2010 was the year of competitive Magic, furthered by the rise of the secondary tournament series’ run by StarCityGames.com, ChannelFireball.com, TCGPlayer.com Opens, and series like the Midwest Masters. We’ve already seen a number of top players from these tournaments break through to become notable writers as well as up-and-coming competitors on the Pro Tour stage.

The importance of the Pro Tour to the success of Magic cannot be overstated, as it provided a major draw and motivation for people to play this game beyond the kitchen table. Turning it from a mildly successful enterprise to one of Hasbro’s marquee brands (through Wizards of the Coast, obviously), the Pro Tour and Grand Prix circuits are now bolstered by these tournament series’.

We already know that StarCityGames is planning big things for 2011’s tournaments, from a double season year to internalizing the live coverage previously done by GG’s Live to the recent introduction of their player’s club. It will be exciting to see what comes next!

Announcement of ‘Double Standard’ Extended

Magic players—players of one of the most rapidly changing games ever—are surprisingly resistant to change when it comes to changes that affect the game which originate outside the actual cards. For this year, there were two major format changes of note: Extended, which changed dramatically in form; and Elder Dragon Highlander (EDH), which became Commander.

Extended has always been a format that lived in a tough place, between Standard and Legacy. It lived in a space that was expanding like Legacy and proved to be nearly as intimidating for new players to get into. As a result, Wizards decided to make a sweeping change to the format by cutting it down to what players called ‘Double Standard.’ It covers the last four years of Magic; every set released in the four years is in the format.

This change came along with the rumor of a new Legacy-esque format, named by the players to be ‘Super Extended.’ It would be like a Legacy format, cutting off at the Masques block (where the reprint policy ended), and basically created a legacy format that is much more accessible to new players. The format has never been announced, but that doesn't mean it won't ever be.

EDH Becomes Commander

In the last few years, one format had risen to the top of the casual formats, initially driven largely by the judging community which loved it—Elder Dragon Highlander was the unquestionable king of casual Magic. It seemed to be propelled even further this past year as more and more players turned to it for something unique and different.

On December 2^nd, fans were thrilled when Wizards announced not only that EDH was to be renamed to Commander, but also that Wizards would be releasing a set of pre-constructed decks for the format in 2011, and the already on MTGO Commander format would be brought into line with the current paper Commander rules.

Wizards Files Lawsuit Over Fabrication of Tournaments

It was in April when Wizards filed their lawsuit in Washington against four defendants who were defrauding the company by filing fabricated tournaments to collect promos for both the event and the fictitious persons participating in the events.

To some, it seems like just a bunch of cards, how could it be worth a case in court? But when you review the documents and read what exactly went on, for how long, and to what extent; it becomes clear that Wizards is talking about sums upwards of $75,000 for fraud over the course of nearly 10 years.

The case is of little direct importance to most Magic players both casual and competitive. But the fact that it was soon followed by dramatic changes to the WPN, and the termination of the Player Rewards program seem, at least on the surface, to be directly tied to this court case makes it one of the top stories of 2010.

Overhaul of Wizards Play Network

Wizards announced a major change to the Wizards Play Network (WPN) in terms of how Tourney Organizers operate within the system. The nature of the changes relate to a major change of direction as Wizards required registered tournament organizers to be associated with brick and mortar stores and not simply work independently.

It is believed the basis of this change is due to the abuse effected by a group of individuals through fictitious players and events, so that they could sell the numerous cards they received either as tournament promos (such as for FNM) as well as the player reward promos.

This change was especially upsetting as many felt that the purpose of the WPN was to allow these independent tournament organizers to coordinate events and to make it easier for them to further the game.

The Rise of Independent Magic Sites and Podcasts

This year also marked a surge in independent Magic sites, some of which were launched during this year, others which may have been around longer but only really found their groove in 2010. Perhaps the largest up and comer was the short-lived DoublingSeason.com which spurred the surge of financial writing when suddenly the site was reverted to QuietSpeculation.com when one of the key members, Jon Medina (ex-ManaNation writer), joined the ranks of StarCityGames.com. QuietSpeculation.com has continued on and has grown steadily since then and expanded beyond financial news.

There are other sites which came out during the year: 60cards.com, ManaDeprived.com, 02drop.com, and numerous others waiting in the wings to be an up and coming player in the world of Magic coverage and writing. Among the podcasts that really took off this year are Yo MTG Taps (a clever play on the old MTV show, “Yo MTV Raps”) and The Eh Team (a play on the hit TV show and movie “The A-Team”.) There are countless other podcasts and shows out there, but these two are the most notable among the year’s new shows.

Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Planeswalkers were originally introduced in Lorwyn block and, after their initial splash, they became just part of the game. Sure, they still proved powerful and were seeing a fair amount of play, but Wizards wanted a marquee Planeswalker and they got more than they bargained for in Jace 2.0. His potency has diminished slightly since his initial introduction, but he still is unquestionably bad assed. I informally polled my twitter followers about what the card of the year was: without question the answer was Jace 2.0. In this past year, he has become almost the face of Magic. That qualifies him for card of the year, doesn’t it?

***

It’s been quite a year! One filled with excitement and joy, as well as anger, frustration and sadness. Epic stories by players, events, formats and cards to be remembered as time goes on. So many excellent stories, thank you to those who helped me review this year, suggested stories.

Looking back over this list makes me amazed at how this game is progressing. I am amazed by the stories that have come out of just one year! I can't help but ask myself:

What will 2011 hold?