Randy Buehler
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Randolph E. Buehler, Jr. is currently the Director of Magic R&D at Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc., as well as the commentator for the Magic Pro Tour. He was a former weekly writer for Magicthegathering.com's "Latest Developments" column and former Magic Pro Tour player.
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[edit] Before Wizards of the Coast
Buehler started playing Magic: The Gathering just before the Homelands set came out. After initially playing Magic with roommates at Carnegie Mellon University, Buehler gained a fierce interest in tournament level Magic. Many Pro Tour Qualifier and Grand Prix tournaments provided valuable experience that would lead to Buehler's first Pro Tour win (Pro Tour-Chicago 1997), which was also his first Pro Tour appearance.
While working on his Ph.D. in History and Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics, Buehler's interest in school began to fade as his financial successes in Magic: the Gathering yielded a satisfactory lifestyle. Buehler therefore decided to take a two-year leave of absence from school to pursue his passion.
A favorite style of play for him has always been card drawing. His famous decks include CMU Blue and Draw Go. When he won Pro Tour-Chicago '97 he used a Necropotence deck.
He slowly gained the attention of Wizards of the Coast with his skill on the Magic Pro Tour and was eventually offered a position at Magic Research and Development as a developer. Before he could return to college from his two year leave, Buehler decided to take the job. As a developer, his responsibilities would include testing out cards before they were printed to adjust and tweak them for power level reasons and fairness.
[edit] At Wizards of the Coast
When Buehler arrived at Magic R&D, development for the Invasion set was just beginning. Since then, he has been a developer in almost every set. His first assignment as a lead developer was in the Odyssey set, and in the summer of 2001 Randy Buehler was promoted to the position of lead developer of all Magic.
On January 4, 2002, Randy Buehler published the first Magicthegathering.com "Latest Developments" column, wherein a developer writes about a topic related to Magic development. On January 30, 2004 Buehler announced that he would leave "Latest Developments" and be succeeded by Aaron Forsythe. Buehler serves as the color commentator for the Magic Pro Tour webcasts, joined by co-hosts such as Mike Flores. He also serves as the host of the monthy Magic: the Gathering podcasts, which cover new sets and upcoming tournaments, and as the floor reporter for the Pro Tour podcasts, which feature ongoing coverage of each Pro Tour event.
[edit] Miscellanea
- Buehler is married to fellow Wizards employee and Magic player Del Laugel, who is the Magic Lead Editor. The couple has a daughter, Kira Elizabeth Buehler.
- Buehler will be eligible for induction into the Magic Hall of Fame in 2007.
- Buehler's last name was misspelled on his deck for the 1998 Championship deck box series, with a reversal of the H and the L.
