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Doug, thank you. So many of my favorite Daily MTG articles were your Savor the Flavor and I am going to miss my weekly shot of mothership Vorthosianism. I definitely know the feeling of deciding you need to step away from a project you've dedicated so much of yourself to for the sake of that very project (and your own!). Looking forward to your furtrher work with Wizards, especially M13 and dem Avacyn Restored articles! Take care, and Vorthos Forever.

I hope Wizards of the Coast sees the contradiction in putting the last weekly flavor column "on hiatus" at the same time that, as Doug rightly points out, the storyline and flavor are more important than ever before.

Best of luck to Doug in the future.

I hope Wizards of the Coast doesn't come to regret this.       

If they wanted a good writer, they could find one easily enough - me, for example.  But they don't want (or at least don't just want) someone who writes well - they want someone who writes what they're told, writes glad-handing syrupy stuff that will drive sales and further the The Company Cannot Fail image they are determined to create.  They will never hire me again because I am not an obedient corporate shill.  They don't lack for good writers; they lack for obedient corporate shills.

Doug,

Thank you for all you've given us for so many years. Your STF columns have been a highlight of my week. We all know your passion for the game and how you've helped to enrich and deepen it.

I remember when I first saw friends playing in high school. The art captivated me and so did the whole idea of the many colors of magic. I remember looking at and reading the cards and feeling transported -- staring at the marbled border of an old-school Blue card and almost feeling I could hear the ocean. Becoming a Magic player was like having somewhere else, somewhere special, to go.

I've played the game for a long time now. And that enthrallment to flavor didn't die, but it lessened as I came to care about other things. I'm not completely a Spike, but I lean in that direction, and I remember one day many years later looking at the cards and feeling almost sad. Not because I don't still love to win or didn't from the beginning (one of my favorite moments was the day I'd become good enough to gun down the bully of the lunch table, who lorded over all of us with a mono-Black horror we'd all deemed unbeatable (he owned multiple Nevinyrral's Disks! What were lowly we to do?!?! Well, after months of determination, I figured something out ;-)) but because those quiet moments of just holding a square of cardboard in my hand and murmuring "wow" seemed to be... gone.

Your stories and your commitment to the richness of the worlds of this game... well. I can't say they rekindled exactly the same feeling. My feeling now is still very different. Everything changes. But that awe, that excitement, that joy that a game could be so beautiful, in so many different ways... that's back. And that's something I've loved having one small part of my week devoted to, and I thank you very much for all you've given us. And all you'll continue to give us, even if you're not excitedly telling us about it every week.

So thank you. So very much. :-) Please do what you need to do, and I wish you joy and peace and some well-earned rest.

Love and respect,

Alexa