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About Simply Magic
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Simply Magic Premier Events is the premier organized card tournament and event service in and immediately around the state of Indiana. We organize and conduct small and large scale events, primarily centered around the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering by Wizards of the Coast, providing not only operational staff and services but also organizing and implimenting officiating services as needed. Simply Magic Premiere Events is dedicated to running high quality DCI events for Magic: The Gathering. The tournament organizer for all Simply Magic events is Victor Aldridge.
Simply Magic began when George Pratt, noticing a lack of large tournaments in Indiana, organized a Type 2 tournament and spread the word around the state. Held on November 9, 1996, the turnout was beyond his expectations, pulling 64 people into the Omni Hotel in Fishers. Showing he could organize a large event, he successfully petitioned the DCI to allow him to hold a Pro Tour Qualifier tournament, and thus it began on March 8th, 1997 when a Pro Tour Qualifier for Paris was held in the Indiana Convention Center.
The format was what some call "Old Type 2", allowing older sets like Fallen Empires, Ice Age and Fourth Edition. (It was also the last "Type 2" format to have a Restricted list.) 260 people showed up, easily swamping the home-grown staff (many staff members were related to George), but despite two computer crashes (one major), the tournament went off successfully, and Simply Magic began.
That event, and the next one, a Pro Tour Qualifier for New York, which drew 175 people in for a Sealed Deck event, were head judged by Ken Roth, a Level 3 judge from Chicago. The fourth event, the 1997 State Championships, was head judged by none other than Barrett Moy, and the fifth event, also the 1997 State Championships (in 1997, there were seperate Sealed Deck and Standard state championship tournaments) was head judged by Leonard Richardson from Clarksville.
George himself head judged some events, but eventually Mitch Smithson took over as the primary head judge for Simply Magic, obtaining his Level 3 certification at the US Nationals at Origins. Mitch had joined Simply Magic as a judge during PTQ-New York, and had quickly worked his way up, eventually taking over for George Pratt as Tournament Organizer for Indianapolis. George's last event as organizer was the prerelease tournament for Urza's Destiny on May 29th, 1999, with 283 people in attendance, but he was packing up even during PTQ-Memory Jar...er...New York, which drew 200 people on March 6, 1999. Mitch Smithson was named the new Tournament Organizer, and began setting things up.
Mitch started out easy, holding two smaller PTQs in his hometown of Muncie (London on 7/24/99 and Chicago on 9/11/99), but finally returned to Indianapolis with the prerelease for Mercadian Masques on September 25, 1999, drawing 294 people to a hotel in the heart of downtown Indianapolis. Mitch continued the events Simply Magic had come to be known for, running them in a professional and efficient manner.
Mitch held his last event, the Apocolypse prerelease, on May 26, 2001, passing the baton to long-time staff member Vic Aldridge, so he could pursue personal interests. Victor had been with Simply Magic since their first PTQ back in March of '97, and the regular players seemed to think he would be able to continue to keep up Simply Magic's reputation for quality events.
Four years later, the results showed exactly that, as players continued to enjoy quality events in and around Indiana, but all good things must come to an end, and so did Simply Magic. Wizards of the Coast made the decision to cease having Simply Magic host higher-level Premier events for Magic: The Gathering, and the 2004 Pro Tour Qualifier for Philadelphia was their last major event.
So long, and thanks for all the fish!