The Havenwood Battle: Organizer’s Report

The Havenwood Battle, a one-day webcam Old School Magic tournament, was held on Saturday, May 16, 2020. A total of 96 players representing at least ten or eleven different countries and more than two dozen U.S. states participated. The structure of the event was straight Swiss pairings, 50-minute rounds, just as one might expect at a “real-life” paper tournament. All of the matches for the event were played using Whereby, one of the video chat platforms of choice for the 93/94 webcam scene.

Jeff Grasso swings for 28 with Clockwork Beast.

Andy’s very sad Assassins.

The Old Older crew chugging hard cider in between rounds.

The Havenwood Battle was the latest in a trend of “same day” webcam events for the international Old School Magic scene, a tournament structure that has been enabled, sort of as a silver lining, by widespread self-isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Players carved out a full eight hours from their lives at home on that Saturday to take part in seven rounds of 93/94 webcam action. The event was promoted among the OLD SCHOOL 93-94 MTG Webcam Player Community, along with the Old School Discord and the New England Old School Facebook group.

CHARITABLE ACTIVITY

Giving back to our community remains a focus for New England Old School and the Old School webcam community, and charitable contribution is part-and-parcel of the Old School Magic experience. Our designated non-profit beneficiary for the Havenwood Battle was the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. Food banks have been hit hard by the COVID-19 crisis, and with hot spots all over New England, including in the Providence area, where this food bank has been distributing food and supplies at a 42% higher volume than normal due to increased needs in the community.

Through the entry fees paid by the players, along with some extra raised by Rich Bourque during his stream of the event, I’m thrilled to share that we raised $1,090 for the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, which was donated to the charity on May 18th. To everyone who participated in our event and made this possible: thank you!