Argothian Treehouse

with Andy Van Zandt

Yes. No. Roy.

The internet's an amazing thing, and for competitive magic it has long been
a necessity.  We all mourn the loss of The Dojo,  but the Dojo Effect still
lives on.  And more than just a place to see what decks made top 8 so you
can copy them or tune against them,  the internet provides so much brain
fodder and so many resources for the longest lasting ccg on the market that
everyone from the novice to the casual player to the hard-core pt'er has
something to gain from a subscription to AOL (don't be confused, the point
is that internet magic resources are so good that it's even worth braving
AOL to acquire.  I by no means actually advocate the giving of money to said
internet provider).  Here for you today, I'd like to share some of the more
important links that everyone should know.

http://www.MagicTheGathering.com
A starting point, and an ending point.  This site will teach you the rules,
give you information on tourneys, the ability to purchase packs online,
links to the affiliated functions of wizards of the coast (since it's the
official site, after all), and articles ranging from colorful facts to
semi-serious tournament bits.  From here on I'll categorize a bit.

Tourney Stuff:

http://www.Sideboard.com
One of the aforementioned affiliates,  this has articles and tournament
coverage from all the big happenings (including spiffy pseudo-live coverage
for the addicts), with the writings commissioned by WotC itself.

http://www.StarCityGames.com
With a history of having some of the top web-editors filtering content and
perpetuating articles for general consumption, this online store/magic info
treasure chest is good for everyone, with casual sections and tournament
reports, top 8 decklists and sub-culture commentary.

http://www.Brainburst.com
Originally a lower end site, and then for a while a dead site, when this
place got new management (and a new web content editor) this place joined
the big leagues, with premium articles (which means ya gotta pay for half of
'em) from some of the biggest names in magic.

http://www.Pojo.com
Geared a little more towards giving beginners a "leg-up", you're visiting it
now so you obviously appreciate this site.  Also a good place to transition
from those other ccg's that... ehm... don't have the proven track record
that magic does,  this site covers a lot of the younger pop-culture.

Funny Stuff

http://www.TeamAcademy.com
While this site does have serious stuff too, It's more often referenced for
it's humorous content.

http://www.MiseTings.com
THE magic humour site,  and while it's not exactly in it's heyday, it's
still regularly updated and has material for days and days, and more
importantly has a decent community, chock full of people who are more than
willing to take time out of their busy schedule to ridicule you/successful
magic players/unsuccessful magic players/the lawn mower/kiwi fruits/that guy
over there/etc.

Online Game Stuff

http://www.Wizards.com/default.asp?x=magic/MagicOnline
Another of the official affiliates, this is the hottest thing going at the
moment, despite WotC's repeated attempts to wreak havoc and gouge the
consumers.  You get to buy, sell, trade, and play with virtual cards over
the internet, in tournaments where you can win more packs and occasionally
invites to real life tourneys, and quite a bit more.  And if you get tired
of it, there's certainly a real life money market for your virtual cards,
partially because if you make a complete set of virtual cards you can redeem
it for some cardboard of your own.

http://www.DragonStudios.com/Apprentice
and
http://www.e-league.com
The older brother to Magic Online, this (apprentice) is software that's free
and lets you play magic online with your buddies, build decks with whatever
cards you want, and thanks to e-league, win prizes and something like fame
in tournaments.

Local Stuff

Almost every area has a store or organizer that has a site that is or can be
used for furthering the cause of magic in your region.  Sometimes you have
to do a little looking, sometimes you have to start it up yourself.  Places
like
http://www.NeutralGround.com
and
http://www.TexasMagicLeague.com
are good examples of community-boosting sites with some decent info on the
current metagame.

Dealer Stuff

You want to buy cards?  Well, 90% of the places I've mentioned so far either
sell cards online or irl, or are in cahoots with a site that does.  Failing
that, the sites listed up there certainly have appropriate banner ads for
magic dealers.  But to be thorough, It's only fair to note that you can
always find a wide selection of interesting stuff up for auction at
http://www.ebay.com
or if you'd rather buy stuff outright, there's the much touted
http://www.ShuffleAndCutGames.com/
run by the lovely people who helped put together the magic part of Pojo.

Got any links I should've mentioned but didn't?  Let me know, maybe I'll do
a Part 2 sometime.
 

You can reach Andy at: andyvanzandt@hotmail.com