For three years, the Bolas Club Philippines, a group of friends who are of fans of the game Magic: the Gathering, members of which varies from players, store owners and judges. Currently, two judges are members of the group L1 judge Danica Daniece Jeune Cervania and L2 judge Felix Ramon M. Capule III, the group has been organizing a charity fundraising event which they call Season’s Beatings. The goal of the event is to raise funds for the kids who call Virlanie Foundation, home. Virlanie Foundation takes care of abandoned kids with special needs.

Last Saturday, November 23, 2019, was the date set for this year’s gathering. The event was hosted by Madcap Gaming Philippines a local game store here in the Philippines, the event was attended by 36 players for a Mult-Commander event, wherein an additional banlist was introduced, with the hopes of toning-down the competitiveness of the format and make it more welcoming to the casual players. With 36 players in attendance, this year’s event marks the highest number of attendance for the event.

Days before the event, the said banlist gained criticism from some of the more “competitive” players of the format. Who questioned why we didn’t just allow other players to use proxies for the event. They were advised as to the reasons why proxies were not allowed and why the additional banlist was introduced.

A few hours before the event, while I was at the closing hours of my shift(yes, I work at graveyard shift), I was actually nervous, not on how we’re going to run the event but more on how would the turnout be like. When I finally reached the local game store, I was overwhelmed by the support shown by the players. One player, Orly Denzon came all the way from Antipolo, Rizal, his travel time would be at least two hours going to the venue.

We enrolled the players, on WER using player list. Then, the pairings were done using a non-traditional way. We used 4 sets of 9 cards, for the initial pairing. Then succeeding rounds were done a bit differently, wherein winners of each pod will be paired with each other. A point system was also applied, everyone gets 1 point for participating(given only once), 5 points for the pod winner, 3 points for eliminating at least one opponent(non-pod winner) and 1 one point each for all surviving players in case there is a draw. 36 players, 4 players per pod, 5 rounds of 75 minutes per round. A casual gathering, filled with fun and laughter all for a good cause.

After a long day of spell-slinging, the event was able to raise 10,000php or 196.96 USD, all of which will be used during our visit at the Virlanie Foundation on December 15, 2019.

Last year, February 28. 2018 I was featured by JOTW and was asked the question “What is the proudest moment of your Judge life?” and my answer to that question remains the same. “My proudest moments would be every “Tournament for a Cause”. Fundraising events such as these are a very rewarding experience, with us judges doing what we do best, making sure that the players are having a great experience and having fun. Utilizing the game that we all love to lend a helping hand to those in need.

After one of the charity events I head judged, one of my early mentors, L1 judge Victor Viguilla has talked to me about Judge Foundation and how we can be of help to the community. I believe that many of us have the same experience and if you haven’t maybe give it a try.

Random Acts of Kindness goes a long way 🙂

and here is the link for some of the video clips of the event

Note:
I would like to do a shout-out to the sponsors of the event:
L2 judge Zie Aun Tan aka Eloneth for the participation tokens.
Ludus Distributors, MAdcap Gaming Philippines, Nissa&Hikaru Hobby Shop, Cedrics BoardGame Cafe of L1 judge Richard So, Pc Butlers of L1 judge Lawrence Camangon and all of the other secret santa who supported the event.