by Thomas Traplin | Jan 25, 2016 | Articles, Tech, Tools, Tournaments
Streaming is the future If you’ve never heard of Twitch.tv before, you will soon. Twitch.tv essentially allows millions of viewers to watch other people play games live over the internet. It originally focused on PC games like Minecraft and League of Legends but... 
by Thomas Traplin | Jan 25, 2016 | Articles, Mindset, Tom's Blog
This post is a little different from the usual topics I write about on this site but it’s been on my mind recently and I wanted to lay out my thoughts on paper so to speak. Maybe you will gain something from my ramblings, maybe you’ve felt the same way so... 
by Thomas Traplin | Oct 30, 2015 | General Business, Marketing, Podcasts, Sales, Tournaments
The featured guest on today's episode of the Manaverse Podcast is Jay Mason-Grant. Jay is the owner of Black Knight Games in Hamilton, Ontario. Jay has a pretty interesting origin story for how he got into the business, and yet the path he took is often overlooked by... 
by Thomas Traplin | Oct 23, 2015 | Community, Podcasts, Sales
KW Vintage Games - from retro to cardboard Joaquim Mendes is quite the character. Our guest today is the owner of one of the most unique shops in Kitchener, Ontario. Within the walls of his relatively small store is virtually any retro video game or Magic card you... 
by Thomas Traplin | Oct 17, 2015 | Fundamentals, Podcasts
Nerd Haven v2.0 Welcome to a slightly delayed edition of the Manaverse Podcast. Today’s podcast is an update with a previous guest. Roughly six months ago Aaron Tillman started up Nerd Haven with $500 and a laptop. Now, he’s expanded into a location with more than 5... 
by Thomas Traplin | Oct 9, 2015 | Community, Fundamentals, Podcasts
Face to Face Toronto - The Duelist Welcome to part 2 of the Kelly Ackerman/Face To Face Toronto interview. Today Kelly and I talk about the big mistakes, the big wins, and a bunch of tools and resources you can use to build an awesome game store. Get ready to get to... 
by Thomas Traplin | Oct 2, 2015 | Podcasts, Tournaments
Welcome to another episode of the Manaverse Podcast. We’re continuing the Face To Face Games series today, this time we’re back in Toronto with Kelly Ackerman. Kelly is the co-owner of the newest iteration of the Face To Face business, the aptly named Face To Face... 
by Thomas Traplin | Sep 29, 2015 | Articles, Tom's Blog
Like many, many Magic players I attended a Battle For Zendikar prerelease this past weekend. I usually make it a priority to play in prereleases since I don’t have as much opportunity to play organized Magic at the moment (a seven month old son will do that) and... 
by Thomas Traplin | Sep 25, 2015 | Community, Marketing, Podcasts, Tournaments
In this edition of the Manaverse Podcast and over the next few weeks, I am excited feature one of the most well known names in Canadian Magic. This particular episode our guest has competed on the Pro Tour twice, created and built the online home of Canadian Magic,... 
by Thomas Traplin | Sep 18, 2015 | Podcasts, Tech
Welcome to the 30th episode of the Manaverse Podcast. I’ve got a great show for you today, our featured guest is the creative content manager for one of the premier LGSs in North America. Perhaps you’ve heard of them, Card Kingdom and Mox Boarding House. That’s right,...