Wizard Newsletter April 2009

Mac’s Moment’s with KarmaKarma.

Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or Online Wizard card playing. – Carl Jung (with addition from Mactonight).

I admire Wizard Card addicts. In a world where everybody is waiting for some blind, random disaster, the Wizard Card addict has the comfort of knowing what will most likely wait for him down the road. He's taken some control over his ultimate fate, and his addiction keeps the loss of everything from being a total surprise. -Chuck Palahniuk (with additions by Mactonight)

Mactonight – Hey Karmakarma.

Karmakarma – It’s Mactonight.

Mactonight – I have to do this.

Karmakarma – Do what?

Mactonight – Karma karma karma karma karma chameleon.

Karmakarama- What was that?

Mactonight – Boy George? 80’s?

Karmakarma – I always thought you were into cross dressing men.

Mactonight – When did you first join the site?

Karmakarma – It was in 2003.

Mactonight – Why Karmakarma and not just Karma?

Karmakarma – Well if you know me, “Les is more” and would have preferred to just be Karma, but someone had already taken the name.

Mactonight – I’ve never even seen this “Karma” play?

Karmakarma – Ok Ok. You got me. I was the original Karma as well.

Mactonight – You were? I mean, HA! I knew that. Why did you change it?

Karmakarma – I created it to watch Merlin play before I even knew how to play and then when I started playing months later. Well, I forgot the password.

Mactonight – And so you’re-signed in as karmakarama?

Karmakarma – Wow Mac you did that all by yourself, well done.

Mactonight – Did you set up any goals when you first started?

Karmakarma – Yes, I joked with Merlin and Fizzwiz that one day I would catch Denny Crane and Spicy.

Mactonight – You played against Fizzwiz?

Karmakarma – Yes, the greatest online Wizard player of all time. As you like to say.

Mactonight – I so do like to say that.

Karmakarma - You never even saw him play.

Mactonight –The records show you have passed Denny Crane and Spicy.

Karmakarma – I know, but at the time I was literally 300 Master Points behind them and it was a joke. I wasn’t a serious player. I just played for fun.

Mactonight –So did you become addicted to Wizard cards?

Karmakarma – Yes I guess I did.

Mactonight –Was it really bad?

Karamakarma – Well that’s perspective. I was never anywhere near as bad as some players are today. Nonetheless I felt a great need to help players.

Mactonight – Help them how?

Karamakarama – With their addictions. This is why I created WA.

Mactonight –WA?

Karmakarma – Wizard Anonymous.

Mactonight –Seriously? What is Wizard Anonymous?

Karmakarma –It’s a center where people can come and try to deal with their wizard addiction.

Mactonight –Is the game a serious problem for some players?

Karmakarma – Oh yes. Have you not noticed that players are playing over a 100 games each month? Many are playing more. Many use Aliases as well so there are people playing 200 plus games a month.

Mactonight – And that’s bad?

Karmakarma – I’m not here to determine what’s good or bad. I just offer those who feel they need a place to get away from it all, a place to, well, get away from it all.

Mactonight –Do you have group session where people talk about their problems?

Karmakarma – No, we found someone would sneak in a wizard deck and a game would break out.

Mactonight –Can you talk about some of your successes?

Karmakarma – Well, just between you and me.

Mactonight – Of course, no one reads these interviews.

Karmakarma – Well our biggest success is Caye.

Mactonight -Caye? Who’s Caye?

Karmakarma – Exactly he’s a great player, but never plays more then a bunch of games now. He even switches Alias’ when one name gets too close to top 20. He doesn’t have any Master Points because he doesn’t want to feel he has to grow those points because once you get one you need to get more.

Mactonight – This I know. The need to get more and more is so powerful.

Karmakarma – Imagine how far gone those that have attended our institution must be.

Mactonight – Wow, who else is there?

Karmakarma – Well right now we have Nate09 in isolation.

Mactonight – I was wondering where he went.

Karmakarma – His attitude and addiction needed to be corrected right away. AP Sirius grabbed him by the neck and brought him on in.

Mactonight –AP Sirius is just the best.

Karmakarma – Have you seen Ken Mccoy around?

Mactonight –Ken Mccoy, no, but I’ve seen his Alias playing.

Karmakarma – Yes, he was seriously addicted.

Mactonight – But he’s still playing?

Karmakarma – I know, but with Ken Mccoy we had to first show him that his addiction was more to SEE his name on the site than playing. By seeing your name on Chat or on the Top 10 or even answering a poll question you’re feeding the addiction. If you noticed his alias isn’t playing anywhere near as much as when he played as Ken Mccoy.

Mactonight –Are there steps? Like a 12 step program?

Karmakarma – Yes there are, but we only have 6 steps.

Mactonight –What is step one?

Karmakarma – Drop the deck and walk away.

Mactonight – But Wizard Card and the website is about promoting the game, to encourage people to enjoy the game and to play it.

Karmakarma – Yes, but Mac are people really enjoying playing 6 hours of wizard a day? Getting angry because someone screwed up their chances of moving up the top 10 list.

Mactonight –I’ve been that angry.

Karmakarma – So have many others, the race for top 10 is not fun, it’s just competitive and serious.

Mactonight –And so your goal is to get people to reduce how much they play?

Karmakarma – No, my goal is to get people to free themselves of their addiction. It’s not like we say you can’t ever play wizard again. We just try to give the fun of playing back to those players that take it far too seriously.

Mactonight – Why is it that Wizard cards needs a center and not euchre or hearts?

Karmakarma –This is really unknown to me. There’s something about the game that draws people in.

Mactonight – “Every time I think I’m out, they keep pulling me back in.”

Karmakarma- What the heck was that?

Mactonight – Brando? No good?

Karmakarma – I’d say don’t quit your day job but honestly do you really work at all?

Mactonight – Do you think there are players that should join the center?

Karmakarma – Oh yes, Cargobeep and Wizard and Twit Meister and you.

Mactonight – Wait a minute, you already have Ken Mccoy, and the names above are those chasing Merlin for top spot. Aren’t you just trying to help Merlin’s stay near the top?

Karmakarma –I would do no such thing.

Mactonight – Why didn’t you mention Wert or No Nipps or Silent Sam? All who play way more often than those above, but don’t have the same threat to Merlin as the others.

Karmakarma – Oh Mactonight, you’re trying to cause trouble again.

Mactonight –And what happened to FizzWizz, the greatest online player of all time?

Karmakarma –We welcomed him with open arms. I had no idea he would leave the site forever.

Mactonight – I heard differently.

Karmakarma – This should be good. What did you hear?

Mactonight – I heard Merlin used the NY Wiz mafia and put a hit on him, rendering him so scared that he never returned.

Karmakarma – Poppy Penis Mactonight.

Mactonight –Ok – one more question.

Karmakarma – No time Mac, I have to get back to the site. I’m only a few points away from the top 10.

Mactonight –You’re doing what?

Karmakarma – And I’m only 2 games away from the record for the most games played this month. Wish me luck here I go.

Mactonight – HUH? What? Wait? Oh man. I need a drink!

Next month Mactonight does “nothing”.


Wizard Fantasy Deck

Last month I indicated that the figures depicted on the new Fantasy deck were”

Ace Dragon
King King
Queen Queen
Jack Knight
10 Bishop
9. Scholar
8. Bard
7. Merchant
6. Blacksmith
5. Archer
4. Farmer
3. Peasant
2. Beggar

Although there is no indication on the actual cards what specific figures are represented, this month I will provide the names of the characters depicted. This is similar to a regular deck of cards in which the traditional figure represented by the King of Diamonds is Julius Caesar while the King of Clubs represents Alexander the Great. Presently I have only designated specific characters to the Wizards, Jesters, Aces, Kings, Queens and Jacks.

The Characters

Wizards

Merlin
Merlin, was an inspired seer and mystic mage, a wise councilor and faithful friend to three kings. In Arthurian legend he is famous as a magician and as the counselor of King Arthur But for all his wisdom, Merlin was bewitched by the Lady of The Lake who turned his love to her own ends. She sapped his power and plundered his store of secrete knowledge, and when done, she bound him in stone by his own spells.

Malagigi
Sometime in the 8th Century, a Wizard called Malagigi was appointed Court Wizard and Advisor to the legendary Charlemagne, Carolus Magnus, the King of the Franks. Malagigi was one of the most powerful wizards of his time and could also perform non magical feats with his superior knowledge of powders and chemicals.

Archelaus
The enchanter Archelaus was a cunning and truly magnificent villain who was the mortal enemy of Amadis of Gaul and his kindred. He gained power through an alliance with griffons but was eventually slain by Amadis in the Fire Castle where he held the Princess Oriana prisoner.

Clinschor
Clinschor was an evil sorcerer who held good will toward no one. He knew the art of necromancy so that he could bind men and women with his spells. Clinschor built the “Castle of Wonders” in which he imprisoned many beautiful ladies. The knight Gawan eventually freed the maidens from Clinschor’s power.


Jesters

Dagonet
Sir Dagonet was King Arthur's well-beloved jester. He saw himself as a courageous warrior and would present himself as such. Yet, in reality, he would flee at the slightest provocation. He often battered his own shield so that it appeared that he had been in a fight - telling all that he emerged victorious of course.

Hop Frog
Hop Frog, a dwarf, was the unofficial advisor to the King. Due to his deformed legs he relied largely on his prodigious arm strength for locomotion. His movement was achieved by sequential hops, hence his name. It is not known from what country Hop-Frog originally came but it was from some barbarous region, that no person ever heard of--a vast distance from the court of the king. Hop-Frog was so inventive in the way of getting up pageants, suggesting novel characters, and arranging costumes, for masked balls, that nothing could be done, it seems, without his assistance.

Touchstone
Touchstone in Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” performed the classic jester role. A touchstone was a stone used to test the purity of gold and silver. In the same way, Touchstone the jester tested the wits of his aristocratic masters.
“The fool doth think himself wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”

Taillefer
Taillefer was William the Conqueror's jester, and the first man to be killed in the Battle of Hastings in 1066, when the Normans conquered England. A jongleur, he rode out in front of the line, tossing his sword in the air and juggling it until an Englishman was provoked and killed him. When William the Conqueror learned of the death of Taillefer he cried: "Drink to Taillefer all; his heirs shall have a whole country fee, simple deeded and a motto: “Consequitur Quodcumque Petit.” (He accomplishes what he undertakes)


Dragons (The Ace Cards)

Caoranach
Caoranach was a female dragon that lived in Donegal during the time of St. Patrick. Aside from the usual terrorizing of the inhabitants, Caoránach's young were thought to be devils. St. Patrick sent her to the bottom of Lough Derg until Judgement Day.

Tarasque

The Tarasque was a huge blue water dragon that lived in a lake in the south of France. The local population was terrorized by the presence of the monster, which would emerge from the lake from time to time to devour a virgin. The beautiful St. Martha happened to pass by one day and the villagers begged her to help them. In return for her help she only asked them to pray to God for three days. Even though he was ferocious Tarasque was a music lover and when St. Martha began to sing he emerged from the lake and lay down at her feet, completely docile. She then put a belt around his neck and led him into town where he was easily killed. The region where the Tarasque lived was then called Tarascon, in memory of the feat.

Fafnir

Fafnir began his life as a dwarf, but he slowly transformed into a dragon which guarded a great treasure of gold. Siegfried dug a deep pit beside the path to the river, where the dragon crawled each day to drink at dawn and hid in it. When Fafnir passed over the top of the hole, Siegfried stuck his sword, “Gram”, into Fafnir's belly, killing him. Siegfried ate the dragon's heart and became the wisest of men.

Ladon
Ladon, a monstrous dragon with a hundred heads, guarded the “golden apples” which grew on a legendary tree on the slopes of Mount Atlas. One of the tasks of Hercules was to steal the golden apples from the tree which Gaia (Mother Earth) had given to Hera, Queen of the Heavens, at her wedding to Zeus. Hercules killed the dragon with arrows poisoned with the blood of the Hydra, and with the aid of Atlas, made off with the apples. After the loss of the apples, Hera placed the dragon into the sky as the constellation, Draco.



Kings

King Arthur
Arthur was the illegitimate son of Uther Pendragon, king of Britain, and Igraine, the wife of Gorlois of Cornwall. After the death of Uther, Arthur, who had been reared in secrecy, won acknowledgment as king of Britain by successfully withdrawing a sword from a stone. Merlin, the court magician, then revealed the new king's parentage. Arthur, reigning in his court at Camelot, proved to be a noble king and a mighty warrior. He was the possessor of the miraculous sword Excalibur, given to him by the mysterious Lady of the Lake.


Priam

Priam was the son of the king of Troy. He became king after his father Laomedon and all of his brothers were killed by Heracles in the first sack of Troy. Priam himself was the father, of fifty sons and many daughters, including Hector, Paris and Cassandra. Priam unsuccessfully defended his city during the Trojan War, at the end of which Troy was sacked a second time and was finally destroyed.


Minos

Minos was the legendary king of Crete. King Minos ordered Daedalus to construct a palace to hide the Minotaur, and Daedalus built the Labyrinth. Because of his meddling Minos imprisoned Daedalus and his son Icarus inside a tower. They escaped by making wings from wax and feathers, but Icarus was killed when he flew too close to the sun. After his death Priam was made the supreme judge of the lower world, before whom all the dead appeared to give an account and to receive the rewards of their deeds.


Charlemagne
Charlemagne ruled over most of western Europe and was noted as a lawgiver, administrator, protector of the Church and promoter of education. We are told he was 8 feet tall and of enormous strength and could bend 3 horseshoes at once in his hands. He was buried at Aix-la-Chapelle but according to legend he waits, crowned and armed for the day when the Antichrist shall appear; he will then go forth to battle and rescue Christendom.


Queens

Guinevere

Guinevere was the wife of King Arthur. Unfortunately for him, she also loved Sir Lancelot, the king's best friend and most loyal knight. Accused of adultery, she would have been killed if Lancelot had not fought to prove her innocence. When Arthur discovered their love he banished Lancelot from the Table Round and Guinevere was sent to a convent.


Makeda
Makeda, Queen of Sheba, was known to be beautiful, intelligent, understanding, resourceful, and adventurous. A gracious queen, she had a melodious voice and was an eloquent speaker. Excelling in public relations and international diplomacy, she was a also competent ruler. The historian Josephus said of her, “she was inquisitive into philosophy and on that and on other accounts also was to be admired.”(6)
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Queen of France and England. Her marriage to Louis VII of France was annulled in 1152, and shortly afterward she married Henry II of England. Her ten children included the monarchs Richard I (Richard the Lionheart) and John, whose accession she strove to secure. Eleanor's court at Poitiers was the scene of much artistic activity and was noted for its cultivation of courtly manners and the concept of courtly love. The patroness of many literary figures, she was an able and strong-minded woman.

Penthesilea
Penthesilea, Queen of the Amazons, was known for her wisdom, bravery and skill in weapons. She and her army of warrior women fought many battles not just to protect their own cities, but as allies in defence of others and it was answering the loyal call of one such alliance that cost Queen Penthesilea her life. She fought for Troy and was slain by Achilles who speared Penthisilea and dragged her from her saddle by the hair.


Knights (The Jacks)

Lancelot
Sir Lancelot was the most famous of the Arthurian knights. He was an excellent swordsman and both fearless and invincible on the battlefield. He was a very charming and courteous knight, always aiding those in need. Lancelot was King Arthur's Champion and his most trusted knight. He served his King with undying loyalty and went on many quests but betrayed Arthur by having a secret affair with Queen Guinevere.

Lohengrin

Lohengrin was Parzival’s son. He had to keep his identity and history a secret. His wife, the Princess of Brabant, insisted on questioning him and broke the spell and Lohengrin was borne away by a great swan. In Richard Wagner's opera, it is explained that the Grail gives its guardians magical powers that depend upon them maintaining their anonymity.

Orlando
Orlando was the most celebrated of Charlemagne’s knights. Medoro, an African Prince, was wounded in battle. His wounds were healed by Angelica, Queen of Cathay, and the two fell in love. Angelica, however, was being courted by the knight Orlando. Orlando, on the loss of Angelica, laid aside his crest and arms, and arrayed himself in a suit of black armor, expressive of his despair. In this guise he carried such slaughter among the ranks of the infidels, that both armies were astonished at the achievements of the stranger knight.

Britomart
Britomart, the daughter of King Ryence of Britain was the female knight of chastity. She fell in love with Artegall whose image she had seen in a magic mirror. Her quest for him involved many adventures which ended in their union. After Britomart slew Radigund and freed Artegall and the other knights, she brought order to the kingdom by restoring power to men's hands. Nevertheless Britomart remained her father's heir and was “destined to rule in her home country”. She remained a powerful woman.


Toronto Wizard Fest & Tournament 2009

The maximum of 60 entrants has been reached. Entrants # 59 and 60 are reserved for the German champions. However they have opted to attend the USA Tournament in August and once they have confirmed the details for that event the 2 spots will become available. DougJ has already registered as standby #1 and will take the #59 spot. So in reality there is 1 spot still available which will go to standby #2 once the Germans withdraw.

Friday Event

Joe Andrews, the creator of the “Grand Prix Card Tournaments” and author of several card-playing books has offered to host a “Demonstration Wizard Tournament” on Friday July 17. The details are available at www.wizardcards.net Entry is optional but the total number of players must be a multiple of 4 so enter early to avoid a possible cut-off. Entry fee is $10 payable at the hotel of Friday, July 17. All cash collected will be returned in the form of cash prizes. To get your name on the list simply e-mail me at kenneth.fisher@sympatico.ca. .Names registered will be posted on the website.


Indianapolis Wizard Tournament 2009 (Saturday August 15)

The USA Wizard Tournament is being held as part of GenCon, a huge annual gaming convention.

Registration is limited to 60 players. We have not received confirmation from GenCon so details will have to wait for now.


BETA for Web-Based Program

1. The new long-awaited web-based program will be introduced on April 1.
2. Feedback is essential. We'd like to hear from Mac users too.
3. Everyone can host.
4. Scores do count because we want to make sure the score-updating system is working properly.
5. Depending on the size of your screen you may want to play "full screen". Either hit F11 or the Full Screen icon on the screen.
6. Once you, "Click Here to View Scores" you may want to keep the scorecard open but minimized then simply refresh it when you want to view it again.
7. Expect to play at least a couple of games before feeling comfortable with the new arrangement.
8. There should be NO dropped games or problems rejoining if you have a computer glitch.
9. Pass your mouse over the small cards to make them bigger.
10. The last card of each hand is played automatically to speed up the game.
11. Because the last card is played automatically and data is updated quickly you may miss the actual play of cards. If so, you can review the play because the last round played is displayed in the upper left corner of the screen.

WE NEED FEEDBACK! Victor has spent many, many hours programming and testing the new system and now we need your help to bring it all to fruition.

SEND Feedback to: vslawson@verizon.net

* Wizard Junior will not be available in the initial offering of the new system.

Inaugural 3-handed Online tournament

If 27 entrants show up the first-ever 3-handed online tournament will take place on Saturday, March 28.

See NEWS on the Wizard site for details.

W.P. (Win Percentage)

We currently have S.R. (Skill Ratio): "Total Points" divided by "Games Played"

I hope to add W.P. (Win Percentage): (Total #1 Wins x 100) divided by "Games Played"

E.g. 11 #1 wins in 41 games = 1100 divided by 41 = 26.83%

This would be added to the data available when you click on: “Get All Scores”

Feedback?

Mac’s Moments to markosapiano@teksavvy.com

Other to kenneth.fisher@sympatico.ca

To Cancel Subscription: E-mail kenneth.fisher@sympatico.caalong with username.