Vote Zherbus for the 2005 Invitational!

[lilmidget]

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/feature/249

Looks like it's almost time for the 2005 Invitational. Last year there was much talk about voting Zherbus into this year's Invitational.

The only thing I see in this is that might pose a problem is that the location of the Invitational is at E3 in Los Angeles and Zherbus lives in New Hampshire.

Slot 9) Resident Genius (Fan Vote)
In the quest to focus on other aspects of the Pro Tour, this category is looking for players that separate themselves from the pack by their intellect. Who revolutionized an environment? Who thought to do something that no other player thought of? Who changed some aspect of the game with an idea? This is the sixth fan vote.

This is probably the category he would most likely be voted into. By hosting TheManaDrain.com, Zherbus has brought together players of Type 1and revolutionized it from a casual format to a highly-competitive, fast growing format. I can think of no one else better suited to be voted in.

[Jacob Orlove]

This has been the topic in IRC for a few days now. When it's time to vote, we'll be ready.

We already help pay for the site--sending Z some money to fly him to wherever shouldn't be a big deal. I don't know if it's even an issue anyway, though, since he has been getting promotions.

[SimpleHiker]

Maybe we can really put the pressure on and win a fan vote but Vintage deserves a rightful slot for the 2004 T1 world champ.
Slot 2 is listed for world champ, why shouldn't the T1 champ be a locked slot?

sh

[The M.E.T.H.O.D]

duh, because wizards doesn't care about t1.

What we have seen them do to "apease" us in the last couple of years is almost nothing for what they do to the "money" formats.

[Dr. Sylvan]

Asking for the winner of a no-qualifiers event which has almost no intercontinental participation to get a slot is ridiculous. We are still a niche. Sometimes you might forget that based on the amount of pagespace we get on SCG, but there is no way our players should reasonably be put in the spotlight just for their play victories. Type One people---in this case, Steve O'Connell aka Zherbus---should get the spotlight for their tremendous community contributions, which is only tangentially related to actually playing the game.

[dandan]

Vintage has undergone revoltionary change over the last 18 months or so, with quality of decks and quality of Wizards support increasing by orders of magnitude. Nobody with any knowledge of Vintage would dispute that The Mana Drain has been a major factor in this and Steve is the TMD man. If you care about Vintage, you should show your appreciation whilst also showing Wizards that there is still much to do, by voting for Zherbus for the Invitational.

The only question is if we should concentrate on one slot or look to capture the votes in several categories in order to increase the chance of Steve going.

Of course if Steve cannot make it, I am sure Wizards would allow us to send a proxy, NOT!

[miki]

I will definitly vote for Zherbus and everybody should , because Vintage was revived by Zherbus (sort of) and he deserves it. If I know correctly , all Invited players get an all expenses payed trip to wherever the Invitational is. Altough it would be sweet if Zherbus wins , cus we will probably get a really Borken card   .

[Zherbus]

I would find a way to make it and I'd drop Vintage to exclusively test the formats involved until the Invitational. I'm honored a lot of you want to elect me, though don't be disappointed since we're up against some people with THOUSANDS more votes than I'll get. My only hope is that everyone who wants to vote for me does and those who want one of the popular pro's get lazy.

[xthexpunisherx]

I would find a way to make it and I'd drop Vintage to exclusively test the formats involved until the Invitational. I'm honored a lot of you want to elect me, though don't be disappointed since we're up against some people with THOUSANDS more votes than I'll get. My only hope is that everyone who wants to vote for me does and those who want one of the popular pro's get lazy.

Now thats what I would like to hear.  Just make sure you don't break vintage with the uber tech of the card you design.

[Machinus]

I would find a way to make it and I'd drop Vintage to exclusively test the formats involved until the Invitational. I'm honored a lot of you want to elect me, though don't be disappointed since we're up against some people with THOUSANDS more votes than I'll get. My only hope is that everyone who wants to vote for me does and those who want one of the popular pro's get lazy.

The other formats might shatter under the power of mighty meandeck. Surely the team will be behind you, Zherbus?

We want a Type 1 player at the tournament. Zherbus just deserves it for this site, but he also has the best chance of getting elected under the new invitational criteria. I know we talked about this last year, and now is the time for everyone to help out. I can't think of a better reason to think about other formats than for the chance for a relevant card to be made.

[Mixing Mike]

Of course if Steve cannot make it, I am sure Wizards would allow us to send a proxy, NOT!

dandan made a funny.

Z has my vote, and then Menendian for writer.

[Zherbus]

I would attempt a card on the same level as Chalice of the Void.

[Mr. Fantazy]

Steve has my vote!

[NCM]

I've extended the movement to the SCG forums.  I know they're not exactly the best (and by that I mean "smartest") people to associate with but extra support never hurts.

Oh, apparently 4 people on there want to bear Zherbus's child.

Tonight I'm going to register and tomorrow I will cast my ballot to vote for Zherbus.  The reason I haven't registered in the past is because nothing important as this has come up yet.

[Nefarias]

Well, I hate to be a killjoy, but the first ballot just went up for the European Fan Choice, but there are only specific choices, and there isn't any write-in space. Unfortunately, this may also be the case when it somes time to vote in a category that The Z is eligible in. Perhaps we should shift our focus to getting him on the ballot, if Wizards/DCI hasn't already decided upon it. E-mails to Wizard guys and posting on Wizard boards may help.

[Magi]

Zherbus you have my vote!!

and anything else you want of me, if you so desire...

[Bram]

Z has my vote, and then Menendian for writer.

Unlass I'm mistaken, that's not the way ot works. the Writer Group simply means that writers get to vote for someone, not that we get to vote for a writer. I think. That means Smmenen gets two votes, I guess.

[Whatever Works]

When does voting starting??? And when it does could we have a link posted to the voting??? The chances of winning are slim since type 2 outnumbers type 1 about 200 to 1 (and closer to 600 to 1 if you go strictly by the # of players who have registered for type 2 to type 1 tourneys though those #'s are incredibly deceptive)...

Smennen might have a better chance than steve, because he is well known for shoving ak engines into good decks to make them better, and manipulating the metagame to do better at Gencon... (im just kidding... kinda), I will give you credit for Workshop Slavery, Doomsday, and bringing back Mono Blue though... which is more then I can say I have done... But If Smennen is on a ballet he is better known to SCG, and has had his incredibly well written articles (year in review for vintage) published on the magic the gathering main website which is huge publicity especially for type 1.

Either way it would be an incredible honor to be able to have either of them represent type 1, and I drool at the thought of meandeck being able to make a card of there choice... I am sure it would have an incredible mechanic that will make the AK engine better... If Zherbus wins it will be control... If Smennen makes it in as writer (which I am assuming will most likely be won by Manual Bevand (Incredible Brainburst writer), Zvi Mowshowitz, or Kai Budde) Smennen will make a combo card that he will design to make the likely loss of dark ritual laughable.

[Mixing Mike]

Z has my vote, and then Menendian for writer.

Unlass I'm mistaken, that's not the way ot works. the Writer Group simply means that writers get to vote for someone, not that we get to vote for a writer. I think. That means Smmenen gets two votes, I guess.

Ahh.....and Bram, there's a space between Mixing and Mike, teehee.

[NCM]

When does voting starting???

From here:

Feb. 3: European Region
Feb. 10: Latin American Region
Feb. 17: North American Region
Feb. 24: APAC (Asia/Pacific) Region
March 3: Rising Star
March 10: Resident Genius
March 17: Road Warrior
March 24: Fan Favorite (2)

And here is the Eurpoean Ballet.  This year you can choose from:

Kai
Nicolai Herzog
Anton Jonsson
Team Von Dutch (Kamiel Cornelissen, Jeroen Remie, and Jelger Weigersma)
and the Super Ruel-io Brothers (Antoine and Olivier)

So, yeah.  It looks like they're just doing this from a pro-points standing and I don't think there will be a write-in until the Fan favorite votes.  I hope I'm wrong about that, but it does seem unlikely that we'll get to submit our votes for Zherbus for a while.

[Dr. Sylvan]

Okay, so the Fan Favorite vote is up.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/mi05/fanfavoriteballot

There is no write-in option.

Now, just to check... there was a write-in option on the old ballot, right? Can someone who actually paid attention to the old system and remembers please make sure so that I don't go on an ill-considered tear misinformed.

[Toad]

You have to vote Antoine Ruel and Raphael Levy anyways