Cathy Nicoloff
Cathy (Catherine) Nicoloff is a former professional Magic player, deck designer, member of Team Legion, writer for sites such as The Dojo and StarCityGames, as well as the creator and webmaster of Meridian Magic, one of the earliest portal/content aggregator sites for the game.
As a deck designer
| Tournament | Format | Deck | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| PT Paris 1997 | Mirage/Visions Constructed | Black/Red | Both Brian Weissman and Matt Place took this deck to Pro Tour Paris in 1997. Weissman placed in the top 16 (11th) [1]. |
| US Regionals 1997 | Standard (Type II) | Five Color Green (5CG)[2] | Cathy played 5CG to victory in the 1997 Florida Regional Championships, with all three 5CG decks in the tournament making top 8. Created as part of a collaboration with Matt Place, with extensive input by Dan Burdick and Nate Clarke, 5CG was called a "near perfect metagame deck" by Tom Guevin [3]. 5CG made up just 7% of the field during the US Regional Championships that year, but 62% of those who played it qualified for US Nationals.[4] |
| US Nationals 1997 | Standard (Type II) | Turbo Abeyance[5] | A collaboration between Cathy and Brian Weissman for US Nationals. This deck is sometimes erroneously attributed to Andrew Pacifico[6]. It was played by Brian and his friend Chris Pantages. Both ended with a 4-1-1 record. |
| US Nationals 199? | Standard (Type II) | The T2 Deck[7] | A Standard version of The Deck developed by Cathy and Brian Weissman for US Nationals. |
As webmaster of classicdojo.org
In 2020, two posts on Reddit revealed that Cathy has been the secret webmaster of classicdojo.org, a nearly complete archive of the original pre-Psylum Magic Dojo, since 2002.[8] [9] She also stated that the site had been created using a backup personally given to her by Frank Kusumoto.
Personal Life
In Cathy's two posts on Reddit, mentioned above, she also revealed that she was now in a physics Ph.D. program. A search for 'Catherine Nicoloff' on ResearchGate turns up a profile with over a dozen peer-reviewed physics publications since 2015.[10]
Notes
- ↑ Pro Tour Paris 1997 Final Standings: https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/ptpar97
- ↑ Cathy's 5CG tournament report from 1997 (with additional commentary by Eric Taylor and Erik Lauer) at classicdojo.org: http://classicdojo.org/history/5CG_01.html
- ↑ Tom Guevin, 1997: The Magic Year in Review (long!): https://classicdojo.org/bou97/bou.971231tgu.txt
- ↑ Analysis by Frank Kusumoto of The Dojo, originally posted on rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy/8WKnVWq3n_c
- ↑ Turbo Abeyance deck list from Team Legion website: https://web.archive.org/web/20010303060502/http://legion.ccgnews.com/decks/turbo_abeyance.shtml
- ↑ Nate Clarke admonishing Pacifico for taking credit on rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy: https://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy/c/Gu_GzfeaxGI/m/fRX-JoKhX-sJ
- ↑ https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/The_Deck#T2
- ↑ "classicdojo.org missing, my apologies": https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/gvd80d/classicdojoorg_missing_my_apologies/
- ↑ "classicdojo.org returns": https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/gwjh58/classicdojoorg_returns/
- ↑ Catherine Nicoloff, Michigan State University, Department of Physics and Astronomy: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Catherine-Nicoloff