Mirromancy Giveaway: Congratulations to Our Winner!
We’ve randomly drawn the name of the winner of the Ertai’s Lament Mirromancy giveaway, and the lucky and proud owner of this superb intro pack is none other than lightside.
Thanks to all who participated, making this contest our most exciting yet! We have another giveaway on the horizon (that’s right, before the next set releases), and another long-running contest soon to wrap up, so watch this space!
Win the ‘Mirromancy’ Mirrodin Besieged Intro Pack!
In celebration of the prerelease this weekend, we’re giving away an intro pack from the new Mirrodin Besieged expansion to one lucky Lament reader! Mirromancy is one of the set’s two Mirran decks, and as you’ll see in the upcoming review this Wednesday, it’s a rather unusual departure from the norm!
To score a copy of Mirromancy, all you have to do is leave a comment below answering the following question: who will win the war on Mirrodin, and why?
It doesn’t need to be the Great American Novel, of course- but let us know where you think the block is going, and what clues you might have seen to support it. The winner will be chosen at random amongst all eligible comments on Friday, 04 February. One entry per person, please, though feel free to enjoy the discussion as well!
And Now… Our Pack to Fortune Winner!
- A Smile to Greet the New Year!
Our Pack to Fortune New Year’s Eve activity was a delightful success, and gave us lots of amusement to read. As promised, we are giving away one draft set (three boosters) of Scars of Mirrodin to one lucky participant chosen at random, and that winner is Ninja!
Ninja, please check your email. Thanks to all those who posted and those who read- we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!
New Year’s Eve: Pack to Fortune!
Happy New Year, everyone! For all those wanting to participate in this evening’s Pack to Fortune, here’s the place to do it. Let us know what booster you picked up and what cards- or, for the truly creative, use the fortune-telling system in the original thread to weave a tale of how you see your 2011 shaping up! The contest will be open this weekend, and close Sunday evening.
From all of us here at Ertai’s Lament, we wish you a wonderful (and safe) New Year’s Eve!
New Year’s Eve Giveaway: Pack to Fortune!
Want to know how the coming year is going to shake out for you? Curious as to whether or not the signs are right for you to make your leap onto the Pro Tour? Tired of the fuss and muss involved with more traditional auguries like tea leaves and animal entrails? Then do we have the divination for you!
Inspired by friend of the site web8970, and with apologies to Jon Medina (@mtgmetagame) for the title nod, we’re delighted to present an activity for the community for this coming New Year’s Eve: Pack to Fortune! Here’s how it works.
1. Buy a booster pack of Magic: the Gathering cards, from any set you like. The more the set ‘resonates’ with you, the more accurate your reading will be! For reasons that will fast become obvious, we recommend going with 15-card packs rather than those from, say, Fallen Empires or Homelands… but go where the spirit takes you!
2. On New Year’s Eve, crack open your pack and take a look through the cards. You can open them at any time of your convenience, but similarly the closer you can hold off until midnight, the more accurate your reading will be.
3. Divine your fortune from the cards within. It works like this:
Common cards are your routine, run-of-the-mill cards, which represent minor events or periods of interest in the coming year ahead. You might ace a term paper, find a fascinating book and spend a memorable weekend reading it, or achieve success at your local FNM.
Uncommons, of course, are more powerful than commons. Think back on some of the important themes of your last year that you might not be so quick to recollect in five or ten-year’s time. Those are represented by your uncommons- noteworthy, but not major. You might make some new aquaintances, find recognition and an award at work, or catch the flu.
Your Rare reflects the major theme that will come to define your 2011. Perhaps you’ll meet “the one,” or achieve some remarkable success (or failure) that will have considerable impact on your life going forward.
And if something truly spectacular awaits you, a once-in-a-decade major milestone in the book that is your life, perhaps you’ll open a Mythic Rare!
Now, if card commonality determines potency, the card colour will determine your direction:
White cards symbolise serenity, justice, or even spirituality. Depending on the commonality, this could represent anything from a resolution to go back to church regularly, to finding inner peace and forgiveness after a personal trauma.
Blue represents contemplation and thought. Perhaps after a period of introspection, you discover some deep and fundamental truths about yourself. Maybe you solve that Rubik’s Cube that’s taunted you for years, or beat your father at chess.
Black is the colour of change and transition. Obviously, these aren’t always good- but they’re not always bad either. Such transitions, though, often come at some personal cost. Perhaps you lose your job, or give birth to your first child.
Red represents upheaval and disorder. There’s a thematic difference here, where this is more indicative of external forces tossing you about, demanding that you endure them. Perhaps your coworker quits and dumps their workload on you, or your car suffers a fatal breakdown.
Green symbolises growth and development. Maybe this is the year that you’ll enroll into college, or take a backpacking trip abroad. This isn’t always easy- perhaps you outgrow your significant other, who decides that they want to still live the wild life while you start to see things a bit differently.
Now, you may well find that some of your cards don’t fit into these categories! Colourless cards represent a period in which several outcomes are possible- be extra cautious around life’s ambiguities! In some cases, they may show a leaning in one direction. For example, if you open a Soliton, you may have some Blue influence there- but nothing is certain! Hybrid cards will tend to highlight an upcoming fork in the road, and could go either way. Multicoloured cards will bring to light complicated circumstances which have multiple signs blended together. Say you open a Wrexial, the Risen Deep from a pack of Worldwake. Perhaps you should be prepared for a seismic event in the year ahead that will fundamentally change the way you think! Finally, Land cards are dependant on the type of mana they can produce, and can act as either hybrid or multicoloured- a true wild card!
So hurry out and buy yourself a booster pack for Friday! We’ll put up a post early in the day (for our friends abroad), so you can come back and post what you opened- and how you think your 2011 is going to shape up. And for one fortunate soul who posts their Pack to Fortune drawn at random the next day, a draft set (three booster packs) of Scars of Mirrodin will kick off your New Year with an extra treat!
Contest: Ertai’s Meddling for Scars of Mirrodin!
As you’ll see below, today we’ve begun rolling out the Ertai’s Meddlings for the Scars of Mirrodin preconstructed decks! For those newer to the site, Meddlings are occasional features begun during M11, where after thoroughly reviewing a deck, we then look to build upon it and improve it with other cards. Having fast become one of our most popular features, we thought we’d go ahead and thank our readers by holding another giveaway.
Like past contests, we’ll be using the ‘raffle’ system to determine our winner, but unlike past contests there’s only one way to get your name in the hat: comments on each of the five Ertai’s Meddling for Scars decks. For each comment left, you’ll be entered to win. As always, comments don’t need to be the great American novel, but should at least show you’ve read the piece or are adding to any discussion around it. We’re quite lenient at what qualifies, but what we want to avoid is a post of “Looks great, I agree” and nothing more, just for the sake of entering.
And the prize? We’re glad you asked, because we’ve got a little twist there as well.
The lucky winner, drawn at random at the close of the contest, will recieve one Scars of Mirrodin Intro Pack of their choice. In addition, they will also get all of the singles needed to convert their deck into either one of the two Meddling decks featured in each article. If we add it to either version, you’ll win it.
We don’t have a close date yet as the Meddling articles are still in production, but we’ll set the deadline as three days after the final of the five SOM Meddlings is posted. Good luck to everyone, and thanks for all your enthusiasm around the Meddlings!
Announcing Our Contest Winners!
First of all, let me thank everyone who participated- it was a lot of fun, and there were an impressive number of chits in the hat to draw from once we were ready. We’ve had a lot of great comments which I hope continue, and a lot of interest in what the site’s about!
For those that didn’t win, don’t worry- we’ll be having a Scars of Mirrodin Intro Pack giveaway just around the corner. But today belongs to those lucky three that did, and without further ado, here they are!
For the winners, we’ll be in touch shortly and have your prizes in the post this week.
Thanks again to Moonlight Comics in Frankfort, KY for their generous prize support!
Ertai’s Lament’s Massive Anniversary Giveaway!
Three months ago, we began Ertai’s Lament with little more than passion and drive. Realising that the preconstructed community in Magic was sorely underrepresented in our culture, we felt that there would be a place for a site that specialised in reviewing and discussing Intro Packs, Duel Decks, and any other deck-off-the-shelf product Wizards saw fit to throw at us.
And if page views are any indicator to go by, it seems we were right! At first with a few visits every few days it was a labour of love, but flash forward three months and the site is getting hundreds of visits a day. We’re proud of this accomplishment, and enjoy giving something back to everyone who’s helped keep us going by their shared interest in precons. (We’re also quite proud that we haven’t yet missed a single deadline of one article every 48 hours… knock on wood)
Therefore, with the generous help of our friends at Moonlight Comics in Frankfort, KY we’re thrilled to announce the Ertai’s Lament Anniversary Giveaway! The rules are simple.
The Rules
1. There are a total of three Prize Packages available (contents below), and therefore three winners. The same person can only win one Prize Package
2. It will be a lottery format. Basically, you get your name in the hat for each of the following:
* If you are an existing follower of ours on Twitter, you’re automatically entered for two entries. Thanks for all the support these past three months!
* If you’re not a current follower, and you follow us on Twitter, you’re automatically entered for one entry
* For each comment you leave on one of our articles, you’ll be automatically entered for one entry. Comments can’t be simple ones like “Great post, kthnxbai” but actually have to be reasonable (we’ll be the final judge, but as it’s all in fun we’re fairly liberal on what is ‘resonable’- if your comment shows you read it, you’ll be fine)
* If you retweet one of the contest announcements on Twitter, you’re automatically entered for one entry
3. Contest ends on Sunday, 19 September (two weeks from today). Winners will be notified within a day.
4. At the end of the contest, we’ll pull three names from the hat. First person picked gets first choice, second person gets second choice, and the last name drawn gets the Prize Package remaining
Got it! Now, what can I win?
Now comes the fun part- those Prize Packages!
- The Duel Deck Package
The Duel Deck Package contains 1 new sealed copy of Duel Decks: Elspeth vs Tezzeret, as well as the following foil promotional cards:
Ant Queen (M10 Release)
Dimir Guildmage (Ravnica Release)
Ghost-Lit Raider (Saviors of Kamigawa Release)
Joraga Warcaller (Worldwake Release)
Knight of New Alara (Alara Reborn Release)
Kor Duelist (WPN Foil)
Rampaging Baloths (Zendikar Prerelease)
Storm Entity (Future Sight Release)
Sudden Shock x2 (Time Spiral Release)
Syphon Mind x2 (Multiplayer Foil Promo)
Woolly Thoctar (WPN Foil)
- The Euro Lands Package
A few years ago, Wizards released a promotional series of basic Lands with actual European scenery on them (the location is in small print at the bottom of the card, the top one in the pack above is Schwartzwald, Germany). Hard to find and highly sought after, the unopened pack above contains five of the rare Euro Lands, and goes for about $25 on eBay when we checked. A great find for the collector who likes to pack their EDH or play deck with all sorts of Magic’s hidden gems, the Euro Land Package also includes the following promo cards:
Comet Storm (Worldwake Prerelease)
Genju of the Spires (Arena Foil)
Gruul Guildmage (Guildpact Release)
Kor Duelist x2 (WPN Foil)
Leatherback Baloth (WPN Foil)
Malfegor (Conflux Prerelease)
Pathrazer of Ulamog (WPN Foil)
Sprouting Thrinax (WPN Foil)
Sudden Shock (Time Spiral Release)
Syphon Mind x2 (Multiplayer Foil Promo)
Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle (Zendikar Release)
The Playmat Package
One thing we really enjoy about the site is that we have many readers who still like to play competitively in Standard, which makes for great cross-pollination. The last package features a brand spankin’ new playmat (with the sinister and evocative Infest artwork), a new UltraPro deck box, and a selection of foil promos a bit more geared towards Type II play:
Ancient Hellkite (M11 Release)
Celestial Colonnade (Worldwake Buy-A-Box Promo)
Earwig Squad (Morningtide Release)
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn (Rise of the Eldrazi Prerelease)
Guul Draz Assassin (Rise of the Eldrazi Buy-A-Box Promo)
Kor Duelist (WPN Foil)
Lord of Shatterskull Pass (Rise of the Eldrazi Release)
Obelisk of Alara (Conflux Release)
Pathrazer of Ulamog (WPN Foil)
Sudden Shock (Time Spiral Release)
Sun Titan (M11 Prerelease)
So What Are You Waiting For?
Head over to Twitter and follow @ErtaisLament, retweet the contest announcement, or start browsing the articles to leave some selected comments!
Special Thanks
Special thanks go out to Dave at Moonlight Comics in Frankfort, KY for providing so much for this giveaway. It’s our local shop and while it has no online presence, if you happen to find yourself in the neighbourhood, stop in and say hello. They have a great FNM environment as well!
Contest Winner
The Grand Prize winner of our recent giveaway has decided to share his good fortune with the reading public!
Who is that masked man?
Why, it’s Ben, our most prolific commentator. And what did those five packs of treasure contain?
Three rare lands, a Royal Assassin... and a Time Reversal? Lucky git...
Thanks again to all who entered… we’ll be having another before long.
Announcing Our Contest Winners!
At last, the dust has settled and the smoke has cleared, and after a week of furious commenting and following, the Ertai’s Lament Archenemy Contest has drawn to a close.
I’d like to thank everyone who visited and participated- this was a tremendous success, and I’ve really enjoyed seeing all the interest in the preconstructed realm.
But hey, who am I kidding, you’re here to see the winners, so enough outta me.
Were I a betting man, I probably would have bet on our grand prize winner, because there was hardly a post yet he didn’t comment on- both enriching the site, and maximising his chances to win at the same time. Here to present our Grand Prize winner is ErtaisLament’s own Jimi:
For runner-up, we have one of our Twitter followers! Awarding Second Prize are our very own Samantha and Neko (the Orzhov cat):
Congratulations to both! Kindly tweet me your preferred mailing addresses and which prize option you’d like (Grand prize was either 1 Archenemy box or 5 ROE or M11 boosters… Second Prize was an ROE or M11 Intro Pack or a trio of ROE or M11 boosters), and we’ll be underway. I must apologise in advance for a slight unnoticed delay with the holiday weekend, travel and all, but your parcels will be mailed within a week (assuming you didn’t take an M11 option, in which case we’re just waitingfor release). I’ll happily tweet you both once they are out!
By Way of Postscript
Like many players, I do fairly well in maintaining my Magic hobby, but am not so fabulously wealthy that I can afford to preorder a full-set playset every three months (good on ya if you are).
To that end, I’m always on the lookout for contests and giveaways, because unlike that sucker’s bet known as “the lottery,” the odds are pretty good and there’s no cost to enter. And even winning three booster packs is- hey- three more packs than ya had, who could complain?
Starting today, I’ll be keeping track on the blog of any and all contests and giveaways I come across. While that might theoretically lessen my own chances of winning, what’s good for all is good for each, right? Indeed, for your convenience and mine, this information will have its own tab. (It should be noted, though, that I’m just going to edit the page whenever new ones arrive and old ones conclude. Unlike feature articles, I won’t be clogging up your Twitter with updates).
So check back periodically… you never know what might be given away!
And if you happen to run a site that is doing a giveaway, feel free to notify us and we’ll be happy to list it.
Good luck!
Ertai's Lament 