A tribute to the International “Suit Up”-Day

From Completely Casual online.

I laughed out loud when I read this. I'm a big fan of How I Met Your Mother, and especially Barney Stinson, and this post perfectly defines a new segment I'd like to start, which celebrates the most obscure of holidays in the only way I know how: by linking them somehow to Magic. Enjoy, Hayden.

Might it be time to finally “Magic-Suit Up”?

What better time is there to talk about this topic, than the International “Suit Up Day”, happening every 13. October.
In America, they still sit down with their shorts and reverse baseball caps to play Magic: the Gathering.  The most “Suited Up” it gets in the American Magic community is when some girl puts on a Magic card dress at PAX – and is later denounced as a marketing scheme.  Instead of mocking her, I believe it is rather time for the all-White-foils prom gown to go with her date’s tuxedo.

Here in Europe, the Frenchman and long time Magic Professional, Raphael Levy, already showed us how that works.  In 2008, at Pro Tour Berlin, Germany, he got 80 of the 454 participants to show up dressed in suits.  Some even went all-in with neck tie and black shoes, as Wizard stated in their recap of the events.  Raphael Levy explained his motivation to organize this “Suit Up” initiative in an interview with Brian David Marshal: “I can’t remember seeing a pro chess player wearing a baseball cap.  I believe Magic needs a new face, and that could help.  And it would indeed be awesome!”
Because Magic got more and more players over the last half decade and still is not losing its growth in popularity, it is starting to raise attention in the mainstream.  Do Magic players really want to be seen as those geeky guys who still live in their moms garage?  I say: “Hell no!”  Because it is not true.  Rather, we are sophisticated guys, who will later become Hedge Fund Managers, like our icon Jon Finkel did, or will have, models as girlfriends, like former Magic player David Williams does (though David Williams got disqualified for cheating and went on to play poker instead.  Not implying that cheating in Magic is actually a good thing).  It has to be admitted that Finkel is not dating models, but rather a tech blog intern he met on a dating site, as we recently discovered.

Raphael Levy explained his affinity for suits in the above mentioned interview: “The game suddenly looks more serious and professional when you sit down at the table and take off your jacket.  Players look like gentlemen and not like kids anymore.  Players in suits always have this kind of awe around them.”  Even when playing in dart tournaments nowadays, you have to wear black long trousers and a jacket – a game normally played by fat dudes wearing sweat pants, after drinking a pitcher of beer at their local bar.
I beg you, Wizards: It really is time to make the Pro Tour a black shoes and tie-only event. It is about time to “Suit Up!” Magic has become too popular not to (and to keep the geeky-ness, make an exception for cosplayers. We wouldn’t wanna miss the one guy playing at the local Modern Grand Prix dressed up as Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Better keeping the card banned instead of him).
Even if Wizards, as a company, does not force us to play better dressed in fear of driving people from attending, it is your responsibility as casual and competitive players to finally “Suit Up!” You do not have to show up in a tuxedo with a bow tie, but a shirt instead of the stained baby blue Jace T-shirt you got at the Worldwake pre-release. If you want to go a little fancier, while still wearing your fan shirt, you might find that it looks quite slick if you just put a jacket over it. Suddenly you evolve fashion wise from Lvl 1 Magic nerd to a Lvl 7 guy who wears a funky T-shirt for fun under his jacket. Regarding his intent to repeat future “Suit Up”-Pro Tours, Raphael Levy stated: “I have had that in mind, but let us first see what the ‘Private Pro Tours’ look like. Maybe they can be a good opportunity to do it again.” As Wizards had announced for 2012, Pro Tours will stop being open conventions for everyone and will start to become “Private”. What exactly that means, was not revealed until now. But it might be a good opportunity to become more “grown up” for Magic tournaments.

I am hoping Levy makes his promise come true. Now as Hipsters all around the globe are adapting the “Nerd Style”, with these black horn-rimmed spectacles and those checkered sweaters combined with Chucks, I believe it is time for us Nerds to move on. Who wants to be identified as a hipster? – I’d rather dodge that.

Find the original post here.