Say what you want about Wizards of the Coast, but its commitment to charity initiatives this year has been commendable. The Sheldon’s Spellbook Secret Lair drop back in February raised over $2 million for the American Cancer Society alone. On top of that, the Extra Life Secret Lair and merchandise range released in October likely pulled in a ton for the titular charity, too.
Charitable ventures like this from a company like Wizards are great to see, but now the MTG community itself is getting involved. Earlier this week, the Extra Life Player Auction 2024 officially began. This event gives players the chance to meet and play with their MTG heroes, and raise money for a great cause at the same time!
Extra Life Player Auction 2024
The Extra Life Player Auction is a now-annual event, organised by members of the MTG community. This year prolific streamer MTGNerdGirl has taken the reins, assembling an all-star cast for the festivities. In total 14 familiar faces are taking part in the 2024 event, giving players plenty of choice when it comes time to place their bids.
The premise of the Extra Life Player Auction is rather simple. The personalities involved each offer up some of their time for a particular MTG activity. These range from simple games on Arena to full-on coaching sessions. Players then bid on these activities, with the winner getting to participate in the activity with the personality in question. All winning bids are paid as donations to Extra Life, so all the proceeds of this event go directly to charity.
Bids for this year’s event started on Monday, December 2nd, at 12PM PST. They’ll be open for another 11 days, with bids closing at 11:59 PM PST on Monday, December 16th. Winners will then be notified, and put in contact with their chosen personalities to schedule the activity they won. Though the event does use a bid system, it’s not a traditional auction house setup. Instead, each player will submit their bid blind, with no knowledge of how high others are going. This was confirmed by MTGNerdGirl in the comments of the event post.
If you’re a fan of any of the personalities involved, this event is a great opportunity to have some fun and meet a personal hero at the same time, all while supporting Extra Life. You can place a bid yourself via this link.
Good Times For A Good Cause
So the Extra Life Player Auction 2024 is great conceptually, that much is clear. Where it really lives or dies depends on the personalities involved, however. Thankfully, there’s a stellar lineup this year, featuring well-known faces from all corners of the MTG ecosystem.
There are some serious heavy hitters here. Melissa DeTora, ex-pro player and current Senior Game Designer at WotC, is definitely a highlight. Put in a bid and you could end up facing her in Arena or diving deep in a Q&A session. Also up for grabs is competitive legend Jim Davis, bringing years of major event finishes and experience to the event. He’s available for Arena games too, but, more excitingly, he’s also offering up coaching sessions. It’s hard to think of a better teacher for the intricacies of competitive Magic than Jim Davis, so this bid in particular will likely be hotly contested.
There are plenty of other big names involved too. Shivam Bhatt, ex-Commander Advisory Group member and now member of Wizards’ new CAG equivalent, is available for Spelltable games. Facing off against one of the icons of the format in a game of Commander will undoubtedly be a great experience. On top of that, there are plenty of big content creators, including MTGNerdGirl herself, Joe Johnson, Dana Fischer, and MaldHound.
Whatever kind of Magic player you are, and however invested you are in the community, this event is a great thing. The sessions on offer are a great combination of good fun and genuinely valuable stuff, and with 100% of proceeds going to charity, it’s really hard to find a flaw. Events like these remind us of what makes Magic so special: not just the cards we collect, but the people we collect them with.