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Episode 160: The Grandfather... ermmmmmm Godfather of EDH
372 Plays2 years ago
Hello, Podwalkers, and welcome back to another episode of the Goblin Lore Podcast! We wanted to let everyone know that September is Suicide Awareness/Prevention Month. As promised, we keep Mental Health Links available every episode. But For general Mental Health the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has great resources for people struggling with mental health concerns as well as their families. We also want to draw attention to this article on stigma from NAMI's site.
On today's episode Hobbes is joined by Sheldon Menery the Godfather of EDH. As many may know Sheldon has been in a battle with cancer for going on 6 years. Hobbes and Sheldon discuss how this can affect his ability to engage in Magic, any changes in his relationship with the game and the community as well as the concept of legacy. We discuss acceptance and the concept of intentionality and engagement. Finally Sheldon encourages people to come to the RC Discord, the best place to find him these days.
Again we would like to state that Black Lives Matter
We also are proud to have partnered with Grinding Coffee Co a black, LGBT+ affiliated and owned, coffee business that is aimed at providing coffee to gamers. You can read more about their mission here. You can use our partner code for discounted coffee!
We also finally have a Linktree with all of our discounts/resources including the fact that Hobbes is now a Brand Amabassador for Quiver
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If you’re thinking about suicide or just need someone to talk to right now, you can get support from any of the resources below.
- National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988
- Veteran's can Press 1 at anytime to be taken to the Veteran's Line
- Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741-741
- International suicide hotlines: A comprehensive resource list for people outside the US.
- IMAlive: Click Chat Now to access a live online network of volunteers through instant messaging.
- TrevorLifeline, TrevorChat, and TrevorText (LGBTQ+ crisis support): 1-866-488-7386, or text “Trevor” to 1-202-304-1200
- Trans Lifeline (US): (877) 565-8860
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You can find the hosts on Twitter: Hobbes Q. at@HobbesQ, and Alex Newman at @Mel_Chronicler. Send questions, comments, thoughts, hopes, and dreams to @GoblinLorePod on Twitter
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Transcript
Introduction & Context
00:00:29
Speaker
Hello Podwalkers and welcome back to another episode of the Goblin Lore podcast. This is Hobbs Kew. Alex will not be joining us this week. He is actually out of town and he was away at a D&D weekend with some friends. So I have asked a guest to come on and kind of join us. Before we do that, I want to acknowledge that this episode is likely coming out at the last week of August, probably around the 31st or the first week of September.
00:00:57
Speaker
September is kind of the other main month that we in the past have focused on mental health in part because it is suicide prevention month and I'm not sure if our topics are going to fully cover that area just because of past recordings that we have done and just stuff that we already had planned ahead for once but I wanted to acknowledge that September is suicide prevention month and it's also a good time to just let people know if they didn't that
00:01:23
Speaker
The main line, so the main crisis line nationally has changed to 988. The reason that this is kind of hopefully going to be a good change is it's less digits that people have to remember because the other one was a full 1-800 number. And it is simply just 988 if you're a veteran or somebody that is military related listening to this show.
00:01:47
Speaker
You may know that with the old line, you just pressed one and you could get straight to the Veterans Crisis Line. This 988, same thing, you just pressed one. So I wanted to acknowledge that as we are going into September.
The Godfather of EDH: Sheldon Menery
00:01:59
Speaker
So today, we wanted to just give a shout out before we begin to the Grinding Coffee Company. They are a LGBT minority owned coffee brewer and, well, roaster. And they are people that really support gamers and they've really supported our charity work that we've been doing.
00:02:16
Speaker
want to give them a shout out and then today i just want to stop by introducing our host so we have with us if well i guess if you're new to the show my name is hobs cue i can be found on twitter at hobs cue and my pronouns are he him
00:02:31
Speaker
Today we have with us the Godfather of EDH. And I always think that it's really nice that people call you the Godfather and not the grandfather. So I think that is a really nice thing. And that is somebody that I'm also fortunate enough to call a friend, and that's Sheldon Menary. So welcome to the show. Thanks for having me. Yeah, I'm happy people use Godfather instead as well. For more of a movie perspective, or just that that doesn't make you feel quite as old?
00:03:02
Speaker
Um, well, you know, it's a, it's a term of respect and, uh, we live in a world where we could use more terms of respect. Okay. I appreciate it. And we know Cranko, you know, Cranko is basically a godfather. So, you know, that's, that's, that's, that's good company to be in.
00:03:24
Speaker
Well, then this is gonna be a horrible episode So yeah, so so Sheldon welcome to the show We normally do kind of an intro question and I just decide to ask you simply point blank What's your favorite goblin in magic? And if you even like goblins, I don't know if people know I mean I'm certainly not the goblin fan that you are I
00:03:50
Speaker
That leaves a big chasm, though, between... I'm fairly neutral on goblins, but my favorite goblin in all of Magic, you know, it's easy to go with your Kiki-Jikis or your Squeeze, who, by the way, my friend Dan Sheehan wrote a very, very good story about all the other ship, so go check that out.
00:04:15
Speaker
And stick around as he will be on Goblin Lore podcast. Very short to talk about that very story. But I would say my favorite goblin is Grungully the Generous. That's a good choice. Because Grungully is nice. Grungully just likes to give stuff away. Yep. To fellow non-humans. You don't even need to care about goblins in general and you get to play green. Yeah.
00:04:45
Speaker
Okay. That's fair.
Goblins and Tribal Strategies in Magic
00:04:47
Speaker
That's fair. So why only neutral or, or I guess if neutral on goblins are, are creature based strategies of creature type, something that you are neutral on in general, or is there just other creature groups that you would prefer to? Yeah. Um, as a, not from a, from a game mechanic point. Um, I think goblins are just,
00:05:14
Speaker
Easy. Yep. And for a veteran player, for veteran player, they're difficult. It's difficult to explore compelling strategies with them because they do a thing. They do an extreme thing, extremely well. Um, but you know, I've been watching goblins do the same thing in magic for 30 years now. I guess you're saying turn sideways and just hit things over the head. Yeah. Okay.
00:05:44
Speaker
and make more goblins. And make more goblins. So, yeah, I'm just, from a mechanical standpoint, I'm just, I'm kind of on goblins. But creature-based and tribal strategies are fine with me. I, you know, I have a number of tribal decks, you know, I've got a cat deck, I have a dog and cat deck, I have an elemental deck, so, you know,
00:06:13
Speaker
The idea of tribal is fine with me. And of course, I'm a big fan of creature-based strategy. In fact, of my 62 decks, I'm not sure that there's one that I wouldn't call a creature-based strategy. See, I would contend that goblins have moved into the realm that the difference being the new thing that you can do is they have become a combo deck. I mean, there is legitimate combos to play with them.
00:06:42
Speaker
thanks to Conspicuous Snoop really allowing us to kind of do shenanigans off the top of the library with Kiki Chiki and the like. But there's ways to combo and turn them into a combo deck, but I would agree with you that they do what they do. And I would say most of the main tribes in Magic do those things. I mean, the ones that you listed are not necessarily what I would think of as kind of being the prototypical. They are definitely more on the fringe.
00:07:12
Speaker
Yeah, I'm also very shoulder-struggy on elves and on vampires and just on all those tribes that had been done to death. Yeah. That's right. I certainly don't want a yuckly yum of anybody who loves those tribes. They're just not necessarily for me.
Health Struggles and Impact on Hobbies
00:07:38
Speaker
Well, we brought you in knowing that Commander is going to come up in different ways. But I've just been interested to see. So the idea for this episode, why I approached Sheldon. As people may know, I don't like to make assumptions, but Sheldon is a pretty well-known and pretty vocal and open figure in our community. He's had some struggles with health over the past
00:08:08
Speaker
I don't actually know how many years at this point. I'm trying to look back almost six years. OK, that. Yeah, I was really thinking the last four and so. So that's that's about kind of where I'm at. But I mean, this was prompted after after Richmond in particular that I kind of because you weren't able to go. Right. Like if people don't know, Sheldon had kind of a health scare right before Richmond.
00:08:35
Speaker
To say the least. Just to say the least. And like I said, and one of the things I appreciated was that when you were able to, you were just very open about what had happened, right? And one of the things that you've been doing lately is, you know, I see you, you're traveling to events, which is fantastic. It's great to see. One of the reasons I wanted to personally go to Richmond was to get to see you. You know,
00:09:01
Speaker
On top of the pandemic, I have not seen you in a very, very long time, and it was kind of an opportunity. Yeah, it certainly has been a number of years. Yeah. So one of the things is, my thought is, knowing your battle with cancer in particular, and just thinking, knowing in the Goblin Lord discord, this is something that has come up a lot, is
00:09:25
Speaker
how chronic health conditions affect people's ability to engage with their hobby or even change their relationship with their hobby. And that was kind of the kicking off point of this, realizing, you know, you missed what, you know, Richmond in some ways for, for, I would say a good portion of the community was like, there had been Vegas, but this was kind of the, the kickoff of the new command fest. I agree with that. And, you know, there, there was a lot of just going into that, you know, wanting to come see the creators and I
00:09:55
Speaker
that alone, this idea of going to an event to see the creators is fantastic. It's something that I am very excited to see. It's new. And so it was something that you weren't able to travel to specifically because of this, the health concerns, because of the effects of the cancer. Yeah, I mean, it was, it was an event that I agree was the kickoff of the new sort of the
00:10:26
Speaker
the post-pandemic 1.5 season, and I was looking forward to getting together with a lot of people and reconnecting after, you know, it's been two years and change, right? Since we've seen each other at events. So, missing that hurt, right? It was...
00:10:56
Speaker
something that I couldn't ignore having to emotionally deal with while I was dealing with the other things. And the short version of what happened to me for those folks who are interested is that the lesion in my throat, where the original cancer was, started to grow again and put me in a fair amount of pain.
00:11:24
Speaker
So my doctor in hopes of dealing with the pain, which was pretty significant. Um, I'm not gonna lie, uh, put me on a relatively heavy dose of fentanyl. Um, which unfortunately, uh, was too heavy of a dose and it suppressed my breathing and, um,
00:11:53
Speaker
systems to the point where the day after I started taking it, my wife found me cyanotic and not breathing. So she did exactly what she was supposed to do, called 911, got me to the hospital, they revived me. And unfortunately, I spent, you know, I spent a couple days there. And then as they made sure I was okay, and
00:12:23
Speaker
got me on the mend. So Richmond was, that was like two weeks before Richmond. So at that point, as a matter of fact, when Richmond happened, I think I had the stamina and strength to go, although I would have been, you know, do a couple of hours at the show, rest for a couple of hours kind of schedule, but I couldn't talk yet.
00:12:52
Speaker
Um, my, I hadn't lost my voice for most of two months until, um, they started giving me treatment, which reduced the size of the lesion, uh, in my throat. Right. And, and I mean, I know that that had come up even, like you said before Richmond, but one of the things that we've been doing during the pandemic is streaming magic and you and the RC have taken kind of, you know, really put yourself out there to be streaming.
Magic as Emotional Outlet
00:13:21
Speaker
multiple days a week and you were having to step back even from that piece with just due to speech. Yeah, I mean, in addition to like the spot growing, the immunotherapy that I'm on also has the occasional side effect of swelling my tongue, which makes talking difficult. But yeah, I had pretty much lost most of my voice
00:13:50
Speaker
even before this incident happened, just because of what was going on in there clinically. And I'm sure most of you can hear it now. Anybody who knows me from the past.
00:14:14
Speaker
I have, there's a kind of resonance to my voice that's still missing these days. And there's a kind of power to my speaking voice that's still kind of missing these days. So Sheldon, we're talking, you know, about Richmond is what kicked off my thought on this topic. But this has not been, you already said this has been six years of really dealing with this. And coming from kind of my background,
00:14:41
Speaker
working with people with mental health, but aging with physical health concerns that then impact mental health because we know there's such a high kind of cross between that mind and the body. One of the things that it really got me thinking about was this kind of like these shifts in narratives or these shifts in our value systems or our relationships with things. The relationships in particular, knowing that magic
00:15:09
Speaker
has been a hobby of yours for most of its history. And you definitely, I would say, there's been a shift that I would say has been noticeable with just seeing your, I guess, public facing just much more of that. I don't know if the pandemic hastened that or changed that at all.
00:15:34
Speaker
or your illness. And I was kind of curious if there's been a change with your relationship with magic due to your health. Well, I think in a practical sense, sure, because you have to go through treatment or you're not feeling well or any of a number of things that the illness brings.
00:15:59
Speaker
And quite honestly, this recent growth is the first time that the illness itself has impacted me in the nearly six years. The rest of it has been the treatment for the disease.
00:16:20
Speaker
rounds of radiation treatment and chemotherapy and immunotherapy and experimental drugs and whatnot. All of those have been the things that have sidelined me. The disease hasn't yet or hadn't yet until this point. So in a practical sense, yes, just dealing with having a disease
00:16:48
Speaker
impacted my relationship with Magic because it meant that I had fewer opportunities to play. The pandemic certainly meant that I didn't have to go anywhere. I could play from home via the web and whatnot. But it just gave me fewer opportunities to play.
00:17:13
Speaker
I think emotionally, mentally, it may have strengthened my relationship with my hobby because it was an outlet. It was a thing that I could do, that I could love, that I could continue doing most of the things that I do for Magic.
00:17:40
Speaker
despite the fact that I was suffering. I could still be the public face of the RC. I could still be a representative of MAGIC. I could still be the advocate for people from marginalized groups. I could do all the things that I do
00:18:07
Speaker
So from an emotional standpoint, I think that things may have changed, but they nonetheless strengthened. And one of the major things here is the support of the Magic community. The Commander community has been amazing through my entire ordeal. And there are days when
00:18:36
Speaker
that support alone has been enough to get me through. So I think that that change has been certainly for the better for the, well, not necessarily for the better, but that change has certainly been positive. Okay. And you were saying, you know, you mentioned kind of the, I know that you had talked before the treatment itself is been kind of what's knocked you on your butt more often than not, you know, the,
00:19:04
Speaker
It sounds like what we know is that it was working, right? Like you've definitely had periods of remission where things have gone, you know, you've had a lot of shrinking. There's been, obviously without those treatment, it's hard to say that that would have happened. So the treatment, without treatment, I wouldn't be here today. So you're, yeah, you're having to choose to do the thing that, like you said, almost the thing that's causing the pain was staying well. Like the cancer itself has not been,
00:19:33
Speaker
what has been the, I guess, the main pain driving force. Correct. Is living with that as a diagnosis that you have been and seeing these with these setbacks been something that, I don't know, has changed anything for you when it comes to just what you're doing at this point, whether it be your own creation, writing? Well, I am proud of the fact that
00:20:02
Speaker
Yeah, like I said, we're going on six years. It was Thanksgiving, so we're, you know, five and three quarters of years or so. Thanksgiving 2016, you have to diagnose this. In that time, I have missed three articles for Star City. I've met every other deadline.
00:20:22
Speaker
That's that's amazing to me. Like I just think of you and just try to meet my own deadlines for this cast and the third the third one The first the first two happened relatively early on as I was sorting sort of getting used to dealing with radiation treatment And I mean it was brutal radiation treatment. It was It was six treatments a week and
00:20:49
Speaker
for a month, for five weeks. It was 33 months. It was a physical beating and you got to kind of get used to that. The first two were early on and then the last one was this trip to the hospital where I miss one. I actually had an episode in the can.
00:21:12
Speaker
from the day before, because it was a Tuesday and my deadline is Monday, and I met my deadline, despite feeling pretty crappy. A year earlier, I also went to the hospital for four or five days, around the same time of the year, in fact, and had once again written one on the day before I went to the hospital.
00:21:40
Speaker
wrote another one when I got out and I hadn't skipped anything. So keeping that connection has been super important to me. Is it giving you a focus in some ways? Well, I mean, my focus is
00:22:03
Speaker
Yeah, it's given me a thing to focus on. The focus has been keeping myself mentally and emotionally healthy. The writing, and to some extent the sort of
00:22:24
Speaker
functioning as a nursing member have been tools that have helped me stay in a good emotional spot, in a good mental spot. They've been part of the thing that I turned to
00:22:40
Speaker
when I needed to get through, you know, on a tough day. There are some days when it's okay. And I really want to say this to anybody who's sort of suffering from any kind of condition, whether it's physical or emotional or mental. There are days when it's okay
00:23:04
Speaker
to not have a combative mindset. There are days when it's okay to just let go and relax and take care of yourself.
00:23:20
Speaker
I think that, I think it's generally unhealthy in the bigger picture to give up, to surrender. But in the onesies and twosies, you know, I feel like crap today. I'm not going to do anything except lay here and watch NYPD Blue reruns. I think that's okay. And a matter of fact, that's probably very healthy for you.
00:23:47
Speaker
It kind of brings up the difference between pain and suffering.
00:23:55
Speaker
concept that kind of work with people on when it comes to talking about acceptance or you know, which is just one philosophy that people do use with kind of mental health and physical health, right? It's not to accept things. Acceptance doesn't mean that you're seeing things as you want them to be or that you're okay with what where they're at, right? You can feel pain. It's the it's when you get to the suffering or the wallowing. So it's not entering a swamp. It's getting midway through the swamp and then just kind of
00:24:25
Speaker
Staying there that becomes more of an issue Pain giving yourself a day off is acknowledgement that you're you are still trying to move forward through it And I think that's something that we don't always give ourself permission for
00:24:40
Speaker
I say this to somebody who, you know, you and I missed our recording last week in part because I had an increase in my own kind of creative symptoms where my creativity was feeling just my depression was kicking my ass.
Mental Health and Kindness to Self
00:24:52
Speaker
Like I was knocked down between family and that. And I felt incredibly guilty, right? Like I still have that mindset of, you know, should statements that can pop up in my head of things I should be doing.
00:25:07
Speaker
Not even feeling that I would be letting you down right? It was just more Well, I did I didn't actually believe that was true But my brain still kind of went there and I think of that idea that like I have to be able to Say that it's okay to have those days as you said that I'm just gonna watch really like reruns or something that are very comforting for me I really appreciate you saying that because I can just have them on and I need that and
00:25:34
Speaker
The intentionality to then choose, though, that I'm going to get an article out, I'm going to get an episode out, gives a little bit better structure, it feels like, to me, to you, for your days. Because for one thing, you're also retired, right? I mean, you're a house husband, correct? Kind of like my goal and my dream in life? That is correct. But I mean, you have free time. And when you have free time coupled with something like a chronic condition,
00:26:04
Speaker
There are a lot of different pathways you can choose to go down. Yes, some of them not good. Yeah, I mean, there are definitely, you have choices to make. And I think that that is one of the things that is really important to me. One of the things that I've seen, I think this has always been part of your hobby and always been part of your love of the game is, like you said, kind of trying to find different voices to prop up.
Legacy and Community Impact
00:26:31
Speaker
It does seem like
00:26:32
Speaker
there's been, and I could be wrong, it could be my just optics of it, that there's been more intentionality for how you as an RC member and you as a straight white male are doing that. I think it's been more coincidental than anything. Maybe I've had the time to have a little more reflection and say,
00:27:00
Speaker
You know, what am I doing with my time? And, you know, facing your own mortality will tell you a thing or two about, not just tell you about yourself, but tell you about the things that you want. You know, the things that you both want.
00:27:20
Speaker
out of the world and the things that you want to do. I'm a big believer actually in being a person that doesn't focus on what they do, but who focuses on who they are. And then the things that you do will naturally follow from that.
00:27:39
Speaker
Um, but you know, it, it makes you think about the, it makes you think about the world that you're in. And, um, and to some extent, it makes you think about, it makes you think about your legacy. And, um, you know, I, it's my full intention to one, be around for a long time, but two, when I do leave, to leave this place better than I found it.
00:28:07
Speaker
And I think using the megaphone that I have for positive things and to lift up the other part of the community is a responsibility. I think the real thing that it comes down to is
00:28:31
Speaker
I think that those of us who are capable and whatever you take capable to mean, whether it's resource capable or personality capable or whatever, or privilege capable, those of us who are capable have the responsibility to lift up everyone around us. And I will say there was a sort of
00:29:02
Speaker
moment where I was like, this is what I'm going to do with my time. I wouldn't call it epiphanous because it's not like I changed my belief system in any way. It was that I changed how I was spending some of my time. It changed how I was going to use the privileges that I have.
00:29:28
Speaker
for the benefit of our community. And the big thing to me is in that you also have to be very, very careful because I never want anything that I do to be misinterpreted as shining a spotlight on myself.
00:29:48
Speaker
Well, anything that I do in this regard. This is not an exercise. If we were talking pairing wines, you're allowed to do it, right? I'll give you that permission or you know, there's there's other elements in your life that you are happy to do that with. Right. I never want this to be about look at me how woke I am. So it's I think there you really have to find a a delicate balance of
00:30:19
Speaker
speaking up when you need to, and shutting up most of the rest of the time. And letting letting the people whose voices need to be amplified, get amplified, let them do the talking, just perform provide the provide the martial stack for them to do it on. You know, you brought up facing your own mortality. And that was one of those topics that to me is
00:30:49
Speaker
We use that a lot of times for people when trying to figure out if they struggle to know what their value system is, to almost ask, what would you want to be your legacy? What would you want to be on your headstone? It's a way to make it feel real to people if they're trying to look at, what does it mean? What is my legacy? What am I leaving if and when I do leave?
00:31:13
Speaker
Because unfortunately so far in my understanding of how humanity works is we don't get out of here alive. My goal may be to live forever and I'm doing so far so good, but I also anticipate that that may not be the case.
00:31:32
Speaker
Bringing up mortality is not a comfortable thing to do, right? Like I was even thinking in my mind, okay, like, is there an element to that? And so I'm glad that you at least open the door for me to walk through a little bit. I mean, you've talked about it did mean contemplating it. Is that mean that it's been something that is a constant contemplation or just this brought it a little bit more to the forefront than maybe it was for you previously?
00:31:59
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I definitely wouldn't call it a constant contemplation, but it informs thought processes.
Facing Mortality with Hope
00:32:08
Speaker
You have to be constantly aware that it's there. And you're right that everybody's condition is terminal. Some of us may just be on an accelerated timeline or
00:32:27
Speaker
You know, for those of us who believe in medical science, maybe not. You know, I still believe that my job is to survive until the next breakthrough that might find a cure and then survive to the next breakthrough that might find a cure and survive and survive and survive. You know, that's my job. The other part will take care of itself.
00:33:00
Speaker
I'm sure it's a line from a country song somewhere, but the dying is easy, though. It's the living that's hard. So you have to understand it. You have to let it be what it's going to be. And then like most bags of bricks that we carry around with ourselves, put it down.
00:33:27
Speaker
Right? Sometimes you just got to let it go. And it was about a year and a half ago. Obviously, when you first get diagnosed, that's all you can think about.
00:33:45
Speaker
But eventually, with help from friends and mental health professionals and family and loved ones and spectacular partners, it's not all we think about. We think about the living. We focus on enjoying the things that we have.
00:34:06
Speaker
to enjoy. But about a year and a half ago, Gretchen, my wife, put in some paperwork for her company, who is great. They have a family caretaker to leave program.
00:34:22
Speaker
And it gives her X number of days a year to take care of me, whether that is in onesies and twosies, taking little appointments, or in larger chunks, if I need more intense care. She could take a month off or whatever on this program, but she had to file some paperwork.
00:34:49
Speaker
Um, we had to get the doctor's signature on it, you know, what, what's the condition. And, um, when we got the paperwork back in the doctor, it said it there, it said it there in pretty bold letters, stage four terminal throat cancer. And, um, you know, that's the thing that'll make you sit up.
00:35:18
Speaker
And, uh, you know, we both kind of looked at the paper and I think we both kind of had the same thought. And once again, it was, okay, this is a thing. We have to deal with it. We have to, we have to make sure that we, we can't just dismiss it. You have to actively deal with it emotionally, whether, you know, however it is that you deal with it, um, through the help of, again, through the help of a network of people.
00:35:47
Speaker
But then you just have to focus on the things that you want to focus on. And I don't want to ever focus on poor me. If I have a limited amount of time left, I want to spend it doing things I enjoy, not being miserable. So it is a wake up.
00:36:17
Speaker
But to some extent, it's an opportunity. It's an opportunity to see the world that you want to live in and work toward making it so. I mean, I was thinking, before the pandemic at the very least, but even before your diagnosis, how much did you travel for events?
Adapting Magic Participation
00:36:45
Speaker
I mean, I retired from judging in 2011 and I retired from coverage in 2013 to go back to school. So for a few years leading up to, even a few years leading up to the pandemic, I hadn't traveled as much because I was going back to school and, you know, getting a couple of degrees.
00:37:16
Speaker
So my travel had been cut into quite significantly already. But yeah, I mean, for the most part, I spent two decades in magic or a decade and a half of magic doing a hell of a lot of traveling. And, you know, I've seen your name popping up at events, again, right, featured guest, you know, it's been an
00:37:39
Speaker
It appeared to me that part of this is you're trying to find, you want to return to this. And it sounds like, as you're saying, it may mean that it's different in the sense of you may not have the stamina to be on site for 12 hours a day, talking to people and playing games and that. But it sounds like it's important to you to still be seeing at these events, to still be engaging with the community.
00:38:05
Speaker
It's super important because this is a community that I love, and it's a thing that I love to do. So just because I can't do it the way I used to do it doesn't mean I don't want to do it at all. Yeah, I'm not going to go 12 hours straight and maybe skip a meal and spend a lot of it on my feet or anything.
00:38:34
Speaker
But I certainly had the opportunity at the two events that I went to, Command Fest Indianapolis and Orlando, to spend a significant portion of the day in the hall where the organizer
00:38:54
Speaker
wanted me to be when they asked me to be one of the guests. Yeah. I was saying that both Alan Hochman of pastimes and Jerry of Kostoff were great about saying, whatever you need. And there were even a couple of times that Alan in Indianapolis, Alan walked me back to my hotel room just to make sure that I was OK.
00:39:23
Speaker
And so, okay, instead of spending 12 hours in the hall, I spent seven or eight. That's still a full day. And that's still enough time to get in amongst the commander community. And I draw a lot of energy from being amongst those people who are the... Commander community is the best.
00:39:52
Speaker
There's just, I can't put too much of a shine on it because the community is amazing and accepting and loving and supportive. And you just, you just feel like you want to give back. And fortunately I have the opportunity to.
00:40:15
Speaker
Well, I was thinking, you know, so one of the people in the Goblin Lore Discord was talking about, you know, like living in South Dakota, where, you know, it's very much what pandemic kind of mindset and how difficult it's been for, you know, with lack of access. And I know that access has been thankfully something that you do have, right? You know, that, and I think that, as you said, a reason to use what capabilities you have, whether it be privilege or just the fact that you do have access to
00:40:46
Speaker
be talking about these things because I thought about the fact of when you mentioned that you were going to be going to an event and basically just kind of putting it out there of like, if you're approaching me, I want you to have a mask on. Right? I mean, is that played into just any of your decisions for events? Well, I mean, certainly, I'm immunocompromised.
00:41:14
Speaker
to some extent, my immune system is getting a boost because of the immunotherapy that I'm on. But then again, if my immune system worked perfectly, we wouldn't be in the situation, right?
00:41:35
Speaker
It was an easy thing to say, hey, I appreciate any attention, but in order for you to do this, we have to take certain precautions. And that might be the case if we had never been through the pandemic and we were here. I might be limiting handshakes and hugs and whatnot, because
00:42:04
Speaker
even the risks for me are higher.
Online Play and Community Connection
00:42:08
Speaker
Yeah, the reality of that and I think that is something that, you know, is I started looking at just, you know, people with chronic health conditions and magic is that can make it very difficult. I'm thankful for having things
00:42:20
Speaker
Like virtual is somebody who isn't very much. I think I'm an extroverted introvert so that I do need that recooling time. I actually spend a lot, but I do like to be around people. It made a huge difference to me to go to Richmond.
00:42:37
Speaker
Having the options that we had to play online, the fact that I've been able to play with people like you and Scott and people that I had already moved away from in terms of where I lived, even geographically or events I could travel to, seeing people move to that already made things, I think, a lot more accessible for a large amount of people. And this is, I think, something that probably isn't going away. And I think that that's a good thing.
00:43:07
Speaker
I'm wondering how playing online has made a change for you or has been a difference for you. I remember you jumping on it really early. I actually remember I think one of the first times I played with you, I actually got a webcam so I could play out a game with you as you were kind of testing out the waters. And so... Yeah, I mean, I... You were looking even before the pandemic to do this. Yes. Yeah, we were doing this or... I got into doing it relatively early.
00:43:36
Speaker
because the queen of early adopters of the Diego Barre-Hicks was right. And she, you know, she had invited me on. And the other person that was an early adopter that I think doesn't get a lot of credit for it is Jeremy Noll. And he was doing it early and invited me on. So we got in early.
00:44:03
Speaker
and it provided an outlet to play because again, GenCon 2019 was the first time that the four RC members had been in the same room together since 2012.
00:44:28
Speaker
Three of us had been together at numerous times. Obviously, Scott and Toby have visited the house numerous times. Famously, Toby put his life aside for several weeks to come take care of me so that Gretchen can go back to work. And then Scott picked up the next rotation of that.
00:44:57
Speaker
And the two of them had been two events with Gavin, but yeah, the four of us hadn't been in the room together for seven years. And it gave us the opportunity to just play together, to just experience the sort of simple joy of playing together. And it let us play with people that we may not have ever gotten an opportunity to play with or reconnect with people that we hadn't seen in forever.
00:45:27
Speaker
Um, you know, like yourself. And, uh, I think that, I think that during the pandemic, for sure, commander saved magic and spell table saved commander. Yeah.
00:45:48
Speaker
I mean, our initial setups of trying to use Discord, just not having dedicated software. I mean, I remember at one point, Discord did an update fairly early on in the pandemic, and it moved from a four square, right? It moved to like a three and one. Or, you know, you couldn't really do a layout that was conducive to people whose mindsets are playing in a square. Or, you know, just for me, spatially, I always struggled when MTGO moved away from being able to do a two and two.
00:46:18
Speaker
So yeah, Spelltabled, I think, having dedicated software that's only gotten better, it's been for me a way to revitalize. I do think it's changed the way that I play Commander, which is an interesting piece. This is kind of a field from what we were initially discussing. You mean like taking villainous wealth out of your deck, changing how you play?
00:46:47
Speaker
I mean, I definitely am somebody who played a lot of like cloning and steel type effects. And I think that was kind of a way that I like to play. But even just knowing that I don't, I'm not going to get as many games in for me. In the course of, you know, a game
00:47:05
Speaker
I'm not sure the game lengths have lengthened other than the fact that it's being streamed so there is an element of entertainment or an element of interacting that is different than what I would play in a store. But I also am not going to get in four or five games in a night. So if a game falls flat or a deck does something that just didn't feel well, it was very easy for me to just pick up another deck and start a new game. And I find that to be a little bit harder. So I do definitely think it's changed what decks I might play or what cards I may choose.
00:47:34
Speaker
based on the fact that I know that I'm only going to get in one or two games. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I mean, it does take a little longer to play out, I think, but it's better than not playing at all. And that's what I mean, yeah, right? And I've been interested to see how it's affected people's deck building or card selection. I think it's just something that's a very fascinating kind of question.
00:48:00
Speaker
Yeah, it's certainly I've either put placeholder cards in or taken out cards that, to some extent, not completely, that steal things, especially cloning is fine because we have infinitopdins. But especially stealing can get really, really awkward on a spell table board.
00:48:29
Speaker
So. Searching libraries. Searching other people's libraries, you know, it's meant less gonti, Lord of luxury, which is sad for everybody. But the idea, the idea of building decks without those cards is certainly something that's come home. It's like, oh, I'd love to put now let's not do that until
00:48:59
Speaker
I think we're getting into the until times. So that's nice. But yeah, for the, for the most part, uh, it, it changed in that way. I'm not sure it changed significantly in other ways. Okay. That was one of those, right? Like that's not even really related to the topic. I just, it's been on my mind and I have you here. So it's kind of like a captive audience kind of situation. I like to pick brains.
00:49:28
Speaker
Here I am. Yeah. So we kind of, I think we've hit on most of the main things that, you know, that I was thinking of. I really wanted to kind of, it was to discuss mainly legacy to discuss really, to me intentionality and decision making that comes along with a diagnosis or a chronic health condition that can really
00:49:50
Speaker
There are choices to be made, as
Intentionality and Legacy Reflection
00:49:52
Speaker
we said, right? Like you have chosen to keep going towards goals and it is very easy to not. I mean, a lot of people don't. A lot of people can end up choosing to shut down.
00:50:05
Speaker
I think hearing about why that is, to me, is an important discussion for us to be having outside of health conditions. But just in general, people to analyze their value system, because events like this, it oftentimes ends up being for some a complete shift in that or a shift in priorities. And in part, it's because they maybe haven't thought about it beforehand.
00:50:28
Speaker
you're a pretty thoughtful person. So it's more been the execution, I think more than anything is what I'm hearing. I don't, I don't think I'm doing anything different. I'm just doing more of some things. Right. I'm not, I'm not doing something that I might not have done previously. It's just that, um, that I've ramped up in certain areas. And, um, and I believe, I believe that
00:50:58
Speaker
Um, again, I, I have, you know, I have a magic legacy and, um, I have a commander legacy and I want, I want to make sure that they, that they're intact. And one of the ways certainly for commander to do that is help find the next generation of people who are going to do what I've been doing. And.
00:51:26
Speaker
Whether, you know, whether I'm gone tomorrow or 20 years from now, I mean, that's, that's something I want to do. Right. I, and I think that the, I think that the appropriate time to legacy shop is when you're on top, not when you're on top, is not when you're on the decline. You don't want to ride this out? Nope. Okay. Nope. I think that, I think that bringing along, I mean,
00:51:54
Speaker
The great thing is I have the luxury of being able to bring along tomorrow's leaders and not necessarily go anyplace myself. It's not like that I'm the NORAD commander and finding my replacement means I got to move along. I can find my replacement and still hang out.
00:52:19
Speaker
Sheldon, I just wanted to say thank you for coming back or for being on the show. This is the first time we've actually ever had you on, which is kind of criminal. But I really appreciate it. One of the things that I love is that one of the things that doing this show has allowed me to do is get to connect with people that mean a lot to me in the community that I have made these friendships with that you were discussing a lot of I think earlier on. With me being kind of a father at this point and
00:52:47
Speaker
being early career in some ways, my ability to travel is kind of almost a little bit of an opposite trend of yours where you've kind of mentioned, I mean, obviously prior to this when your job was magic and you were judging, you were traveling for that. But I mean, traveling for just events is not something that's in my ability to do. So being able to sit down and use my magic time to talk to people like you is just always something that I'm very grateful to have.
00:53:14
Speaker
Yeah, thanks for having me on. I always enjoy your chats. Yeah. So, do you want to let people know where they can find you and the Rules Committee? Yeah, you can find me by my name on Facebook and on Twitter. That's Sheldon Manneri, if it's not in the show notes somewhere. It will be. Yep, there'll be a link.
00:53:38
Speaker
You can find me every Thursday on StarCityGames.com, writing about this year, Commander, the best format in the history of Magic. And you can find me nearly all the time.
00:53:54
Speaker
on the Commander RC Discord. If you go to mtgcommander.net, bottom of the landing page, there's a link to our server. Come on, join the 7,000 friends that we have that talk about magic and other things. We have channels dedicated to
00:54:13
Speaker
high-minded things like the philosophy of the format, and we have off-topic things like TV and film and food and other games. So it's the place in one of those channels on the RC Discord is where you're most likely to find me.
00:54:32
Speaker
I was going to say, I love that discord because of how active it is and the fact that you are in there fighting the good fight. I mean being willing to engage people and I think that is something that we need. I think your willingness to take on that face role and moving that over to something like discord where people have access to you.
00:54:53
Speaker
so that I don't have to look at my local Facebook groups and hear how cards were banned because you were beaten by it in a home game. So it's nice having a Discord server where people can can find you. Where people can get all that directly at me. Yeah, yeah. So yes, because yeah, I'd prefer it that way. And thank you listeners. I am Hobbs Q. I can be found on Twitter at Hobbs Q and then all the links for the Goblin Lore are in our link tree, which are attached to the show notes. So
00:55:24
Speaker
Treat everybody well.
00:55:47
Speaker
If you would like to support your friendly neighborhood gobslugs to our Linktree on our Twitter account and listed in our show notes. This has everything from our discounts for the Grinding Coffee Company to our Patreon.
00:56:00
Speaker
The music for today's show was by Vindergotten, who can be found at Vindergotten at badcamp.com. The art was done by Steven Raphael, who can be found at Steve Raffel on Twitter. Goblin Lore is proud to be presented by Hipsters of the Coast as part of their growing 4thos content. Check them out on Twitter at hipstersmpg or online at hipstersofthecoast.com. Thank you for listening. And remember, goblins like snowflakes are only dangerous in numbers.