Unleash This! #5, What are you thankful for?

With yesterday's street release of MEV, thousands of pack wrappers have already hit the dumpster (none by me yet, I'm stopping by a shop on my way home for thanksgiving later today). Good times, right?
Well, I'm not going to say one word about what's really on my mind, other than it evokes fear, potential depression, maybe down the line loss of self identity. But for right now, we still have vs.


I just watched a movie last week, you may have seen it; The Peaceful Warrior.
Soc and Dan say in the movie that this moment, right now, is what matters. Not fearing for the future, not thinking about mistakes past. I can learn from that, and will apply this message to the rest of this entry for your reading and visual pleasure.

I'm going to tell of the things I am thankful for in VS from the past year in chronological order (as close as I can), feel free to comment with what you are thankful for as well.

1. I'm thankful to UDE for them keeping the game going thusfar after the Pro Circuit died.

2. I'm thankful to a couple of my local friends who I played with for the last time when MVL and DCL came out for what they've given me in the duration that I've known them. This is inclusive to Mike "Aceswolf" Healey and Rich "pseudophonic" Latour. The latter showed me how to play competitively and inteligently, the former showed me how to be caring for the community.

3. I'm thankful for the subsets UDE made to accompany the marquee events for the drought between DCL and MUN.

4. I'm thankful for UDE/TBS giving bloggers the opportunity to preview MUN. I think that move made our community grow, if only for the reason that the set becomes more "personal."

5. I'm thankful for I'm_All_Noobish putting all of the MUN images on his photobucket. I used those pictures for the MUN OCTGN patch, which has been tweaked a bit with some help from flashback81.

6. I'm thankful for UDE running 4 megaweekends since the Pro Circuit died, when they originally said they would run 3.

7. I am very thankful to Ken (Kariggi) and his Christine (American Maid) for allowing me to stay with them, Patrick, Roger, Bacon and Noobish for MWNY.

8. I am thankful for having the chance to meet a ton of realmers at MWNY, including Ralph/Blues, Cliff and his sidekick Benny.

9. I am thankful to my parents for buying me a flight to origins for my birthday so I could compete at worlds.

10. I am thankful to Quackers and Jimmy for allowing me to room with them.

11. I am thankful again to meet many players at origins, including Aaron Mead and his crew, Cool Kurt and his crew (again), MSU Hitman, and others.

12. I am thankful for TBS's efforts at Worlds, congrats for his performance in the bounty hunt events, and for him placing higher than everyone resulting in him passing his packs down and enabling me to get a pack, which I got him to sign.

13. I am thankful for, in addition to meeting people for the first time, seeing familiar faces from MWNY and my local scene at Worlds. It made me feel more connected to the event.

14. I am thankful for the kindness of the vs system community, letting me borrow stuff as I struggled to get my Illuminati deck complete in time for round 1 parings (which I did, with like 5 seconds to spare). Especially Aaron, giving me a Dr. Strange secret avenger. I got my 5th copy recently and was able to give him one at the Battle of the Border to complete his playset.

15. I am thankful that my online trades and purchases this summer went well and without a hitch. Walter Soback's lot has been put to good use.

16. I am thankful to Darrius for his help and company as we treked to Cliff's for MW Indy

17. I am thankful to Cliff for driving us down and being so hospitable.

18. I am thankful to the Ring Has Chosen guys for having me on the show.

19. I am thankful for meeting Mr. Awesome, LizzardLightning, Fatalsync, Spooky and others.

20. I am thankful for Steak & Shake. They have like the best mocha milkshake ever, and they have my coffee shop in there too. like woah.

21. this one should've been mentioned much earlier, but thank you vsrealms and stu for your votes and support in the stuvivor challenge and thank you gday for being a great opponent in literature.

22. I am thankful to Jetpack Comics and Your Move Games for their marquee events and support.

23. I am thankful to TBS for granting me not one but two previews for MEV in the forms of Ice-Man and One Man Army.

24. I am thankful to Lost Hemisphere for the Summer of Love

25. I am thankful to Ralph at Jetpack Comics, casanovapooh at Nested Egg, Hills Wholesale, to Gdaybloke and the rest of Lost Hemisphere, to Cliff, The Governor's Inn and to John for your help in making the Battle of the Border what it could.

26. I am thankful to Aron's crew, Phou's crew, Ryan, Spud, Pablo, gday, Cliff, everyone for making the event festive. I will cherish this event for the rest of my life.

27. I am thankful to UDE for printing MEV. Even if it's not in Europe and Australia yet, as long as it exists then hope remains.

28. I am thankful to all who were inspired by the results of the Battle of the Border. Chawie is working hard on getting Battle of the Border: Texas Edittion ready and I hope the best for him and for my financial situation to hopefully be able to go down there. D-Block and Blues mentioned the possibility of there being a Battle of the Border: South Jersey vs North Jersey too. I'd love for the Battle of the Border to become a series of fan-made events, and for all of you who want to do something like this or have any questions, feel free to ask.

29. I'm thankful to have a couple other players on campus where I live

30. I am thankful to be a member of vsrealms.com

so, that's 30 things I'm thankful for VS System-wise. How 'bout you?
- Alex "OSM" Lloyd