DALLAS, February 8, 2002 - Starting March 1, 2002 at all Blockbuster Video retail locations, customers will have the opportunity to receive a free promotional Magic: the Gathering card with every rental. The card, Avalanche Riders, is the creation of Magic: the Gathering Duelist Invitational winner and Blockbuster employee Darwin Kastle.

As with all other Invitational winners, Kastle was awarded the opportunity to create a concept for a Magic card and have his likeness portrayed in the card's illustration. For this special promotional release, the Avalanche Riders illustration has been altered to reflect Kastle's current employment in the Blockbuster corporation. In addition, the card features a silver Blockbuster expansion symbol to indicate its exclusivity to Blockbuster Video.


Darwin Kastle, due to his newly earned position in the Blockbuster corporation, has been unable to attend recent Magic: the Gathering professional events, including Grand Prix Houston. His current role as store manager for a Blockbuster retail location near you has given him a greater duty--that of Blockbuster Achievement. While Darwin Kastle's absence from recent Magic: the Gathering events is a loss for the Magic community, his new family at Blockbuster is certainly glad to have him as a member.

"Kastle's professional attitude has been a significant boon for our company. When we learned that he was a champion in another field, we knew we had to exploit that," says William Ableton, Vice President of Retail Operations. "Fortunately, Wizards of the Coast was generous enough to cooperate on this venture and quickly supplied us with enough Avalanche Riders cards for a nationwide promotion." As a gesture of good will, several high-ranking members of WotC have been presented Blockbuster Video lifetime free rental passes.

The Magic: The Gathering Tradable Card Game, invented by Richard Garfield and first released in 1993, is the most widely played TCG, with an active base of more than six million players in 52 countries, nearly six million of which have no chance to earn any money in the game. The Magic: The Gathering TCG is available in nine languages, including Latin, Greek, Arabic, and Russian. There are approximately 85,000 Magic tournaments hosted annually by the DCI players' organization, the governing authority for all officially sanctioned Magic tournaments.

Wizards of the Coast is the globally dominating market share leader in the TCG and tabletop roleplaying game categories. A leading developer and publisher of game-based entertainment products, as well as the owner and operator of one of the nation's largest specialty game retail chains, the company holds an exclusive patent on the play mechanic of TCGs, and generally behaves just as one would expect such a monopoly to act. Headquartered near Seattle, Washington, Wizards of the Coast has international offices in Antwerp, Paris, Milan, London, Beijing, Sydney, and some random Mexican city. For more information on Wizards of the Coast, visit the company's website and electronic retail store at wizards.com.

Blockbuster Inc. is a publicly traded subsidiary of Viacom Inc. and is the world’s leading renter of videos, DVDs, video games, and microwave popcorn with nearly 7,900 stores throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia. The company may be accessed internationally at blockbuster.com. Viacom is the No. 1 platform in the world for advertisers, with preeminent positions in broadcast and cable television, radio, outdoor advertising, online, and former Magic: the Gathering pro player acquisitions.

Discuss this article in the Magic: the Gathering Forums!

DALLAS, February 8, 2002 - Starting March 1, 2002 at all Blockbuster Video retail locations, customers will have the opportunity to receive a free promotional Magic: the Gathering card with every rental. The card, Avalanche Riders, is the creation of Magic: the Gathering Duelist Invitational winner and Blockbuster employee Darwin Kastle.

As with all other Invitational winners, Kastle was awarded the opportunity to create a concept for a Magic card and have his likeness portrayed in the card's illustration. For this special promotional release, the Avalanche Riders illustration has been altered to reflect Kastle's current employment in the Blockbuster corporation. In addition, the card features a silver Blockbuster expansion symbol to indicate its exclusivity to Blockbuster Video.


Darwin Kastle, due to his newly earned position in the Blockbuster corporation, has been unable to attend recent Magic: the Gathering professional events, including Grand Prix Houston. His current role as store manager for a Blockbuster retail location near you has given him a greater duty--that of Blockbuster Achievement. While Darwin Kastle's absence from recent Magic: the Gathering events is a loss for the Magic community, his new family at Blockbuster is certainly glad to have him as a member.

"Kastle's professional attitude has been a significant boon for our company. When we learned that he was a champion in another field, we knew we had to exploit that," says William Ableton, Vice President of Retail Operations. "Fortunately, Wizards of the Coast was generous enough to cooperate on this venture and quickly supplied us with enough Avalanche Riders cards for a nationwide promotion." As a gesture of good will, several high-ranking members of WotC have been presented Blockbuster Video lifetime free rental passes.

The Magic: The Gathering Tradable Card Game, invented by Richard Garfield and first released in 1993, is the most widely played TCG, with an active base of more than six million players in 52 countries, nearly six million of which have no chance to earn any money in the game. The Magic: The Gathering TCG is available in nine languages, including Latin, Greek, Arabic, and Russian. There are approximately 85,000 Magic tournaments hosted annually by the DCI players' organization, the governing authority for all officially sanctioned Magic tournaments.

Wizards of the Coast is the globally dominating market share leader in the TCG and tabletop roleplaying game categories. A leading developer and publisher of game-based entertainment products, as well as the owner and operator of one of the nation's largest specialty game retail chains, the company holds an exclusive patent on the play mechanic of TCGs, and generally behaves just as one would expect such a monopoly to act. Headquartered near Seattle, Washington, Wizards of the Coast has international offices in Antwerp, Paris, Milan, London, Beijing, Sydney, and some random Mexican city. For more information on Wizards of the Coast, visit the company's website and electronic retail store at wizards.com.

Blockbuster Inc. is a publicly traded subsidiary of Viacom Inc. and is the world’s leading renter of videos, DVDs, video games, and microwave popcorn with nearly 7,900 stores throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia. The company may be accessed internationally at blockbuster.com. Viacom is the No. 1 platform in the world for advertisers, with preeminent positions in broadcast and cable television, radio, outdoor advertising, online, and former Magic: the Gathering pro player acquisitions.

Discuss this article in the Magic: the Gathering Forums!