Secret Lair: [REDACTED] presents not a Magic: The Gathering event with Mark Rosewater
We are excited to bring [NON-MAGIC REDACTED*] to MagicCon: Las Vegas, available exclusively via Secret Lair. This is an event you won’t want to miss. Try out this new game featuring [NON-MAGIC REDACTED*] from Mark Rosewater who you may remember from such sets as Urza's Saga. Players will [INFORMATION REDACTED] battling with [INFORMATION REDACTED] in a fast, experimental play experience. Why show up without knowing exactly what it is? Because it’s something entirely new, created by the renowned Mark Rosewater, and you could even walk away with a [REDACTED]!
*An entirely new card game created by Wizards of the Coast
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The above is an event being run at Las Vegas MagicCon in May, hosted by me. The event runs each day Friday (5:00pm - 9:00pm), Saturday (12:30 pm to 4:30 pm) and Sunday (12:30 pm - 4:30 pm). If you are coming to the event, I strongly urge you to join me on one of the sessions. Note it is a new game, designed by me, and is not Magic.
I got the lovely Charles Edwards to sign my copy of May We Be Spared To Meet On Earth 🥰 He was very interested in it and said he had not read it yet so obviously I mentioned that there are two letters from Dr McDonald in it and that he should pick it up if he gets the chance.
I also got to ask him some The Terror-related questions during the Meet & Greet today. He said that when he saw McDonald's portrait at the National Maritime Museum, he was struck by how young he looked (and that he didn’treally fit the part). He also mentioned the lack of promotion for the show and that he's glad that it's now finally getting the recognition it deserves. We talked a bit about the show in general (he found it odd that the second season has nothing to do with the first) and how much of it is based on reality. Here he mentioned Little's final scene with the chains on his face which made me as a Ned Little fan particularly happy.
I also asked him about his death in the show since Alistair Petrie said at Terror Camp a few years ago that Charles was somewhat jealous of Stanley's death. Charles told us that his death scene was scheduled for the end of the day and he had to catch a flight to Australia to start work on My Fair Lady (directed by Julie Andrews, no less). At the time, he had a feeling his death scene would be rushed and he turned out to be right. There was not much time to shoot it, so there was little set up and he basically got told, "Just get stabbed." Lol.
Anyway it was so lovely to meet him. He is as charming in real life as he comes across in interviews and it was wonderful to be able to talk to him.
I loved MagicCon Atlanta, but I have a couple of core complaints (shared with others I've spoken to) that I hope Wizards takes into account in the future. Frankly, I feel that the con was falsely advertised to me with the Edge of Eternities publicity theming, only for me to arrive and see primarily Spiderman.
I will preface this post by saying that though I mention Universes Beyond here and admittedly oppose it, this is not primarily a case against UB; it is about queer representation in Magic, and the importance of visibly committing to it.
I love Edge of Eternities. It's a groundbreaking Magic set with unprecedented levels of openly queer, particularly NB/genderqueer, representation. It proved that MtG can do sci-fi and do it well, incorporating and QUEERING(!!!) tropes without coming off as overly referential or unoriginal. For that reason, I was super excited for MagicCon. I came for a celebration of the set that I love, its flavor and story, just like cons past have done with the likes of All Will Be One or Duskmourn. I wanted to see merch, cosplay, and props about EOE--not a tall order considering precedent.
Instead, when I came in, I was greeted by a massive Furby and Daily Bugle booth. The pillars outside were decorated with Spiderman full-art lands. No Edge scenery in sight. My ticketed merch (for regular weekend, the cheapest and likely most commonly bought badge) was a Spiderman comic, Spiderman and ATLA cards, and two Avacyn's Pilgrims. My friend's Black Lotus badge had not Tezzeret or Sami on it, but a Spiderman character. The ribbons being given away at the info booth were references to either Star Trek or Avatar: the Last Airbender, two of Magic's other collaborations. Unlike past cons, no contracted cosplayers were dressed like EOE characters on the show floor. The photo booth, too, was Spiderman-themed.
This was not the con I'd come to expect after all the space-themed ads and promotion. I was bummed, to say the least.
Only on Day 2 did I learn that there was an EOE area: tucked behind the Daily Bugle, literally facing the wall, a narrow space consisting of two Commander tables, a staff-only supply closet(?), and nothing else. Nearly impossible to find unless one went out of their way to look behind the huge Spiderman exhibit.
There was very little EOE merch at the Marketplace (shoutout to Gatherers' Tavern) and none at the official show store. Granted, this next part may just have been an oversight, but my friends and I scoured the show floor and found official pins (sometimes even multiple!) for every EOE main character except Sami, a protagonist and the Seriema's nonbinary captain.
I signed up for Gavin Verhey's $200 Unknown 2HG event, which usually features Mystery Booster 2 (one of the only places you can play it) and the coveted Unknown playtest cards. When I sat down, I was handed three MB2 packs… and three Spiderman. Not only was I disappointed, I felt ripped off. Those Spiderman packs were not at all what I paid that steep (and recently hiked) price for, and not what precedent had led me to expect. Many of my fellow attendees shared the same sentiment with me.
I have heard so many trans and queer Magic fans speak about how much EOE means to them, and how seen they felt, being finally included in the kinds of stories we grew up thinking would never be for us. Especially in today's political landscape, openly supporting trans people means everything. We were so stoked to see Sami's they/them pronouns on a card: unignorable, open, proud. Only to see the con hide them away, making them as invisible as possible. At risk of sounding dramatic, it felt a little like being pushed back into the closet. We thought we would be celebrated. Instead, we were sidelined at best, and actively buried at worst. It's especially difficult not to notice that this happened with such an overtly queer set, as if the queer representation was put out there so that they could say they'd done it and then immediately smothered with UB being blasted at full volume.
I could make this about UB being excessive, and in part it is, but it's mainly about Magic's queer playerbase. If Wizards truly want to assert that Magic is for everyone, that includes committing to visibly including us in their stories, like EOE--and embracing that at events.
his personal top three projects include: "The Rings of Power", "Holy Flying Circus" and "Strange Interlude"
looks like "Under the Vines" has sadly run its course as - according to Charlie - there won't be a chance for a new season ;(
his dad came to see him in Sydney during "My Fair Lady" and saw him in 5 performances back-to-back
he attributes his exit from "Downton" to the difficult scheduling of his scenes alongside his theatre work, even though he would have very much liked to stay on
Dame Maggie Smith took an instant liking to him when he walked up to her just before filming a dinner scene, introducing himself with "Hi, Dame Maggie, I'm Charlie!" (that's so him :D)
