October has been a month of surprises, between Field of the Dead getting banned in Standard and every card in our inventory magically turning into a 3/3 Elk. But for the entire team here at Card Kingdom, it’s been a moment to reflect and celebrate our 20th anniversary!
We want to thank the entire Magic: The Gathering community for coming along on this journey with us, both in October and for the past 20 years. As we’re sure you’ve seen on our Twitter and Twitch accounts, we’ve been giving away sealed boxes of War of the Spark, those snazzy CK letterman jackets, and other fun goodies all month. We want to wish a huge congratulations to each of our winners and thank everyone who entered. It was also quite fun to see the excitement for our foil squirrel tokens!
Last weekend, we capped off this month of giving with our charity Magic tournament, The Chalice. Sixteen prominent members of the Magic community came together to fundraise for SeriousFun Children’s Network. With the players’ hard work, the efforts of the team here at Card Kingdom, and your truly awe-inspiring generosity, we raised more than $61,000 for SeriousFun – over $20,000 beyond our goal!
The Chalice fundraising campaign culminated in a day of gathering and giving at Mox Boarding House Bellevue, when all sixteen players came together and battled for the Chalice trophy. The event consisted of three rounds of Standard and four rounds of Magic Block Party, our own original format using the Modern banned list. Check out the video on our YouTube channel, and see what our players brewed up for both Standard and for the Block Party below.
| Standard | Block Party |
| April King – Esper Stax | April King – Turbo Fog |
| Ashlen Rose – Lake of Secrets | Ashlen Rose – Bigfoot has Tentacles |
| AsianAvenger – Grixis Adventure | AsianAvenger – Esper Control |
| Brad Nelson – Selesnya Adventure | Brad Nelson – Copy Cat Combo |
| Brian Braun-Duin – Sultai Food | Brian Braun-Duin – Bant Elks |
| Chris VanMeter – Mono-Black Aristocrats | Chris VanMeter – White Tokens |
| Dana Fischer – Golgari Adventure | Dana Fischer – 40 Elves |
| Graham Stark – Simic Food | Graham Stark – Bant Blink and You’re Dead |
| Matt Anders – Simic Food | Matt Anders – Kiki-Jiki’s Delivery Service |
| Meghan Wolff – Jeskai Fires | Meghan Wolff – Mono Blue Devotion |
| Melissa DeTora – Esper Dance | Melissa DeTora – Tempered Steel Aggro |
| Michelle Rapp – Golgari Adventures | Michelle Rapp – Ramunap Red-ish? |
| MTGNerdGirl – Mono-Red Cavalcade | MTGNerdGirl – Artifact Aggro |
| Ryan Spain – Simic Flash | Ryan Spain – UW Superfriends |
| Tappy Toe Claws – 5 Color Fires | Tappy Toe Claws – Dino Crisis (Of Faith) |
| The Professor – Rakdos Aggro | The Professor – Boros Burn |
After the final spell had been cast, the MPL’s Brad Nelson hoisted the Chalice trophy. Huge congratulations to Brad for taking down the tournament, but also to all our players for their hard work and dedication in cultivating such wonderful communities. A special thank you to Lyla Ross and the Engage committee for coordinating this wonderful event; you make us so proud and are such an important part of the fabric of our company!
But this month was more than giveaways and charity events. So much work went into special events like our CK Founder AMA, the Local Game Show, and our Collector Booster giveaway stream with Wizards’ Gavin Verhey. We’ve had an absolute blast this month, but we’re not done yet. This was the 20th anniversary, we have so much planned for the future of Card Kingdom.
Here’s to everyone who has helped get Card Kingdom to where we are today, and here’s to everyone who will help us thrive for the next 20 years and beyond.