Randy Buehler was a Pro Tour Champion at Chicago as the Captain of Team CMU, and went on to have a Hall of Fame playing career.
He was hired by Wizards of the Coast at the end of his playing days, and he became the first lead developer (or “lead of final design”), a function created to try and make the game play as well as possible & also ensure the game’s production went as smoothly as possible.
Randy’s hiring was fortuitous on a few fronts —
Randy was more mature than most other players, a natural leader who helped build the processes that allows teams to better make Magic
Many of the heavyweights who’ve walked WotC’s walls come from Randy’s prior team at CMU (Aaron Forsythe, Mike Turian, Erik Lauer, me, Nate Heiss, Paul Sottosanti, etc.)
Without Randy, I likely would never have taken this game-making & entertainment path, so it was a nice opportunity to reminisce and also express gratitude.
Making games is an above average way to spend a life.
Thanks Randy!
