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It's almost time to dive into the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender, with prerelease events starting on November 14th and the set releasing in full on November 21st! With these approaching fast, we hope to get you acquainted with the ways of the Avatar ahead of time, and also to share with you what UKMO's been up to recently, and also give you some tips on getting staffed for large events. Read on!
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Avatar: The Last Airbender Release Notes
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As always, we recommend that you go through the release notes for Avatar: The Last Airbender ahead of your prerelease events to familiarise yourselves with the set's mechanics and various individual oddities amongst the cards. The four big new abilities of this set are, as you could probably have guessed knowing nothing about the set, Earthbending, Airbending, Waterbending and Firebending. Earthbending and Airbending are keyword actions, with Earthbending animating your lands and Airbending acting as temporary removal or just-in-time protection. Waterbending, meanwhile, is a cost that can be paid by tapping artifacts and creatures, like convoke and improvise, and Firebending gives you red mana whenever you attack with a Firebending creature. There's a lot of interesting quirks to this- if you're not 100% au fait with the process of casting spells and activating abilities, Waterbending gives you a good reason to learn them now- so make sure to give the notes a read!
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Spotlight Series: Liverpool and the UKMO Booth
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At the beginning of November, you may or may not have seen us at Spotlight Series: Liverpool! We enjoyed ourselves a lot there, and got a lot done while we were at it. As you probably guessed, we administered a fair few certification tests, both for Regular and Competitive REL, but we also got to talk to lots of current and prospective Magic Officials about what they're up to and what we can offer them, and acted as a convenient Judge-friendly location for people to gather at when on their breaks. It was great to see so many of you and we hope to see you again at future events!
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If you'd like to have UKMO come along to your large event, or if there's an event coming up for which you'd be interested in helping staff the UKMO booth, please do drop us a line at executive@magicofficials.uk to tell us!
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Event Judging Tips: Cover Letters
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This article comes to us from Norman Ralph, who some of you may know from his work running large multi-judge events. As someone with a lot of experience picking judge teams, he's got a lot of knowledge on the subject of cover letters for your event applications, and we asked him to share his knowledge with us of what makes for an effective one. Take it away, Norman!
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When applying for event staffing opportunities as a judge, member of the admin team or other role, a well-crafted cover letter can set you apart in a competitive industry. I get to read a lot of cover letters, and the very best ones go beyond listing all the events they have worked and showcase the wider skill set and experiences that the candidate brings to the party.
Covering your key event experience is still a fundamental part of any cover letter, focus on events in which you were selected in the role you are applying for and then the closest in similarity to the event type you are applying for. Finally, include any events that showcase specific skills or experiences that may help you stand out. Examples of this might be where you called a draft, ran a certain type of event or served in another specialised role.
Make sure you include any event-specific needs in your cover letter. This might include minimum number of days, preferences on role and shift assignments as well as any adjustments the organiser may need to make to accommodate you at the event.
Showcase community involvement. Events thrive on local engagement, so emphasize any volunteer work, partnerships, or initiatives you’ve supported. This demonstrates not only your professional experience but also your commitment to fostering meaningful connections.
Conclude with your unique selling point or the thing you want the reader to always remember. This is your chance to wow. This might be a specific skill like languages or first aid, or it might be your ability to bring a room of event staff to tears with your comedy routines.
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Banlist changes
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On November 10th, Wizards of the Coast announced some changes to the banlist for a number of formats. This includes Vivi Ornitier being banned in Standard as well as Entomb being banned in Legacy! The full announcement from Wizards of the Coast can be found here.
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Modern / Vintage / Alchemy / Timeless,
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Vivi Ornitier is banned.
Screaming Nemesis is banned.
Proft's Eidetic Memory is banned.
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Heartfire Hero is banned.
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Entomb is banned.
Nadu, Winged Wisdom is banned.
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Force of Negation is pre-banned.
Frantic Search is pre-banned.
Mystical Tutor is pre-banned.
Entomb is pre-banned.
Dark Depths is pre-banned.
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Strip Mine is banned.
Mana Drain is banned.
Chrome Mox is banned.
Ancient Tomb is banned.
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That's all for our Avatar: The Last Airbender update newsletter. We hope that you found it useful, particularly the guest article from Norman- and if you have something you think would be useful to share with the UKMO community, feel free to approach us in Discord or at executive@magicofficials.uk to talk to us about contributing a guest article yourself to an upcoming newsletter!
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