Welcome to day one of the Hipsters of the Coast 4th Anniversary Celebration Countdown! All week we’ll be counting down the top 25 articles of all time on Hipsters of the Coast. We’ll include some updated commentary where we can so you can relive all of the excitement of the past four years in the Magic community. If you haven’t checked out Chief Hipster Rich Stein’s welcome article for Anniversary Week, make sure you check it out first.
Each day we’ll also highlight more great content. First, prior to the countdown, will be an honorable-mention article. This list was primarily compiled by page views but some of the earliest articles from the site’s history did not have the benefit of the audience size we currently hold. These are still incredibly important articles for Hipsters of the Coast’s history and we want to highlight them. After each day’s countdown checkout a bonus Top 10 countdown list, sans commentary.
Before we get into today’s lists, we want to share some thoughts from Zach Barash, who has been a regular contributor for Hipsters of the Coast since March of 2013:
It’s unbelievable to me how far we’ve come. I remember being absolutely flabbergasted that people I didn’t know were reading my articles. Rich’s, Jess’s, Hunter’s, and Matt’s all had Reddit reach, but mine didn’t. (I was and remain terrible at self-promotion.) Now, we expect to be read by people of all sorts. We’ve gone from being a ragtag gang of an LGS community who wrote about whatever we cared about because barely any people were reading us, to a ragtag gang who write about whatever we care about because we can and other people care.
I never would have guessed that Hipsters would have outlived Twenty Sided’s Magic community. I never would have guessed we’d have so many authors I have yet to meet in person.
Looking forward, I hope that we not only receive the small kinds of recognition, like getting preview cards or featured more often on the mothership, but the more significant kinds of impact, like continuing to work to make the game more inclusive, more diverse, more representative, and more fun for people of all walks of life.
I still feel as though I walk among giants who someone still allow me to creep around in the shadows. It feels good to be constantly challenged to write and be better.
So no, I’m not nostalgic at all.
Day 1 Honorable Mention: Trans, Not Special by Jess Stirba
Commentary by Rich Stein
Jess joined Hipsters of the Coast in December of 2012 and has since written more than 200 articles. For me though, “Trans, Not Special” is the article that shaped the collective consciousness of the site in its nascent stages. I knew Jess from playing at Twenty Sided but having worked with her on Hipsters of the Coast for four years I’ve gotten to know Jess not only as a phenomal writer but also an incredibly wise human being. Since “Trans, Not Special,” Jess has gone on to pen countless works, including one featured in today’s list, that have become the moral compass not just for our own writers but for the wider Magic community. You’ve likely read Jess’s commentary either on Twitter or when it’s been featured on Daily MTG, but today I have the pleasure of sharing with all of you one of the articles that really defined the voice of Hipsters of the Coast in our first few months.
#25 – Fundamentals by Hunter Slaton
Hunter was the first Editor-in-Chief of Hipsters of the Coast so it’s appropriate that he’s the first entry in our Top 25 countdown. “Fundamentals” was published in August 2013 but it’s as relevant as ever. Hunter presented his views on the fundamentals of Magic 2014 drafting alongside a tournament report from Twenty-Sided Store. Make sure you get to the bottom to learn Hunter’s fundamentals. Plus you get to read about Hunter’s and Carrie’s first match!
#24 – Common Tells by Monique Garraud
Back in late 2013, Monique had a series of articles where she polled the local Magic community on social media to tackle interesting topics. The first of her two columns in this series to make our list is on “Common Tells.” Monique had fallen prey to a perfectly played bluff and wanted to find out some more tells to look for or things to avoid, like immediately fanning out your graveyard when you top-deck Snapcaster Mage!
#23 – The DCI vs. Sportsmanship by Gabe Carleton-Barnes
Gabe is a well-known community streamer these days, but back in 2014 he was kind enough to be writing weekly articles for Hipsters of the Coast. In “The DCI vs. Sportsmanship,” Gabe tackled the topic of auto-game-losses for failing to reveal morphs at the end of a match, and specifically how Ari Lax made day two of a Grand Prix off of this rule. The rule was eventually changed, but the controversy was very prevalent among pro players.
#22 – How do you Feel about Women in Magic by Monique Garraud
The second of Monique’s community-questioning articles to be featured on our Top 25 list hit much closer to home. As Monique began, “Two years ago, it wasn’t uncommon for me to be the only woman playing in a 200-person PTQ, but lately this has not been the case.” The topic of Women in Magic has been a recurring theme for Hipsters of the Coast, and Monique’s entry from October 2013 resonated with a lot of people.
#21 – Bathroom Bans by Jess Stirba
We round out our first block of articles with this entry by our own content manager, Jess, who has been a champion of equal rights in the Magic community, especially for the trans community. The events that led to “Bathroom Bans” touched very close to home for Jess and her commentary on the topic was featured across the community including by Wizards of the Coast before they made their own statement on the topic of North Carolina’s controversial and antiquated bathroom laws.
Bonus Countdown: Top 10 Social Media Articles
- King’s Games is the Worst Place to PTQ by Matt Jones
- Convicted Sex Offender Wins Magic the Gathering Pro Tour by Rich Stein
- The View from Here by Kate Donnelly
- Judges, Juries, and Executioners by Rich Stein
- 10 Magic Cheaters who Look Like Cats by Shawn Massak
- Bob Ross Unhinged by Matt Jones
- Bathroom Bans by Jess Stirba
- Why We Can’t Have Nice Things by Rich Stein
- No Reserved List or Let’s Kill Legacy by Kate Donnelly
- On the Events at #SCGPHILLY by Stef Black