It's a Party!

by Charlie Plaine, Chairman

6th May 2011

Yesterday, May 5, 2011, was my thirty-second birthday. First, let me thank all of you for your kind posts, PMs, chat room messages, tweets, Google IMs, emails, phone calls, and Facebook posts. It's never nice to get older, but it's nice to have the ability to observe it with dear friends.

I've never been much receiving gifts on my birthday, or being the center of attention; instead, I prefer to celebrate with my friends and share gifts with those that mean the most to me. For example, I've always held a tournament on or near my birthday, and provided extra prizes and/or snacks or treats to the attendees. (Special thanks to Brian Sykes and John Corbett for pitching in for this year's cupcakes!)

As an extension of this tradition, I am proud to offer a pair of gifts to the entire community, in the form of a new card! Surprise Party, available in both First Edition and Second Edition flavors, is the result of a joint effort between our 1E Design Team, lead by Jason Robinette, and our 2E Design Team, lead by Brad DeFruiter. I challenged both Jason and Brad create a "paired promo" that shared similar game play that could be enjoyed by players no matter which edition they played. Surprise Party is the result of that hard work.

These promos are available for immediate download, and will become legal in all formats of play for both First Edition and Second Edition, one week from today on May 13, 2011. But that's not all we've got for you!

Starting in July 2011, our annual and semi-annual Premium Members will enjoy the perks of our new Birthday Club. Every year, near each member's birthday, our paid annual and semi-annual premium members will get a foil copy of both Surprise Parties in the mail, one for First Edition and one for Second Edition - free of charge, with our compliments, as a birthday gift!

If you're interested in joining the Birthday Club, all that you need to do is requisition a semi-annual or annual premium membership via the Promenade. The Birthday Club won't start up until July 2011, so you have plenty of time to sign up for an annual or a semi-annual membership!

In the mean time, start downloading the PDF files for Surprise Party and find a place for them in your decks! And maybe, on your next birthday, you'll be able to use a foil copy instead!