DesertCon Statement

DesertCon and Four Horsemen Magic were born from a desire to create something innovative, different, creative, and charitable. We made a few mistakes along the way, and we have learned from them. But we have also poured thousands of hours and dollars into building the Four Horsemen Old School Magic into a community of over 560 members strong built on creativity, innovation within the Old School Magic landscape, and resilience that celebrates fringe formats, supports children’s hospitals as our charity, and honors the legacy of Old School Magic the Gathering with an impressive history of thousands of spicy brews composed of cards that rarely see play in other formats.

​

Over the past four years, we’ve hosted 23 free tournaments, given away thousands in free prizes, and built a format that celebrates the forgotten corners of Magic’s history allowing cards that rarely see play, see lots of action on the spell mat with Four Horsemen Old School Magic.  Four Horsemen Old School Magic is now and has always been free.  We have never requested funds from any of our members, who are all volunteers who participate freely in our tournaments and community.

​

DesertCon is our next chapter:  a celebration of fringe formats, legendary artists, and charitable giving.

 

DesertCon was inspired by the medical journey of Audrey, the daughter of one of our founders and our commitment to Children’s Medical Center of Dallas as our charitable cause for DesertCon 2026.  DesertCon is more than merely an Old School Magic conference and tournament event.  It's a tribute to resilience, healing, creativity, and community. 

The Four Horsemen Old School Magic dynamic community is also doing actual good in the world.  As a consequence, we may always draw fire.  Four Horsemen Old School Magic and DesertCon has faced a recent immense onslaught of unjustified, hate-filled and baseless attacks which have been heaped upon us by dishonest gate keepers hell-bent not on celebrating innovation within Old School Magic, but sadly rather on territorial tribalism and deceit.  Their hostile tribalism and gate-keeping is apparent by those uncomfortable with innovation within the Old School Magic landscape and who are not aligned with Four Horsemen's mission for good.  We’ve addressed this openly in our Discord and Facebook Group, and we stand by the truth.  ​​

​

We have shared on our Facebook and Discord the culmination of months and years of tension, misunderstanding, and resilience. We have risen above and have built something innovative, charitable, and inclusive, and now we are  facing a storm of backlash, misrepresentation, and tribal resistance.  A targeted attempt to baselessly discredit Four Horsemen Old School Magic and DesertCon is occurring, using defamatory language, malicious interference, false accusations, coordinated harassment and hostility, tribal emotional manipulation, defamation, and libel.  This painful, unjust, and damaging to the reputation and community of Four Horsemen Old School Magic, our founders, and to DesertCon as an event.

 

We are disturbed and disgusted by the individuals leading this hate-based, baseless conspiracy to harass and defame.  False claims, baseless public insults, and calls to boycott are designed to isolate and damage DesertCon intentionallySpreading libel and baseless false statements attempting to frame DesertCon in a false manner is deceptive and exploitative.  This plays on community fears and tribal loyalty.  Misinformation and false claims regarding charity legitimacy, and guest consent is distorted and fabricated.  This represents a deliberate baseless effort to undermine DesertCon’s credibility.  False accusations such as “con artist,” “scam,” and “boycott DesertCon” are not just opinions; they’re defamatory statements that are causing real harm and real intentional damage, specifically financially damaging our charity, Children's Medical Center of Dallas, a children's hospital which saves young lives, and also to the attending Old School Magic Artists who's income relies on these events.

The individuals leading these hate-filled efforts have contacted artists to pressure them into withdrawing from DesertCon telling them lies with intentional targeted disruptions.  Others have stated on record publicly that they would infiltrate DesertCon, not pay to enter, and violate the security of the DesertCon event.  This is malicious interference.

 

However, we stand firm in our moral position.  We have stood with clarity, conviction, and truth in the face of unjustified hate, gaslighting, libel, slander, defamation, cyber bullying, criminal tortious malicious inference, felony conspiracy to harass, baseless boycotts, and outright cruelty.  We stand proudly by our Mission, and by the community that we have built.  This is our foundation and our shield against lies and false accusations.  This isn’t just about logistics, it is about identity, belonging, and legacy; it is about what is right and what is wrong. 

We are grateful to leading voices like Brian Weissman, who has helped shape and guide in this journey.  Brian Weissman has been a beacon of clarity and has publicly defended the integrity of Four Horsemen, its founders and DesertCon, outlining the contributions of Four Horsemen and Chadster, and calls out the bullying in his response to the baseless boycott issued, offering a balanced perspectives pointing out the irrationality of the mob mentality at work.  Brian has shared his testament to our leadership, our community’s resilience, and the soul of Four Horsemen Old School Magic.​​

​

We invite good people who may have questions to reach out directly. We invite respectful dialogue only and will not engage with any of the individuals who are committing illegal acts of harassment described in this statement.  Let’s move forward with honesty, kindness, and a shared love for the game.   This space is for building, not battling.  Let’s focus on what unites us: the joy of Old School Magic, the thrill of innovation, and the power of community doing good together. Let’s rise above the noise and celebrate what makes Old School Magic magical - its diversity, its history, and its heart.  If you have questions, we are here. If you’re here to play, welcome home!

To close, here is a public statement from one of our Four Horsemen Old School Magic community members  who is a father of thee children, a Husband, and a good human being who was struggling with mental health issues.  Due to his engagement and Four Horsemen Old School Magic Player's Group, Jason has found camaraderie, made friends, and been able to talk with others who have endured and overcome similar struggles.  Additionally Brian Weissman, creator of "The Deck" and Ken Meyer, Jr., famous Magic the Gathering Artist, have both made public statements as well, outlined below

​

Alters_by_Kronus (Jason) — 10/17/25, 1:37 PM

"...I just wanted to put my two cents in. I’ve had a lot of health issues and I’ve been down a lot recently and should’ve been dead a few times and when I was going through a hard time, Chadster reached out and helped me out while I was down.  I try in life to help people when they are in need.  And he reached in and helped me out in a lot of ways and I know that’s my personal business, so I don’t wanna get involved in details.   But I just wanted to say don’t let other people do your thinking for you think for yourself.  Chadster tries to help people in need, not for personal gain, or for attention, or for any other reason other than just to try and do what’s good because he’s a good person. So thanks for putting this community together and doing all those things behind the curtains to help people that really need it.  Never asked for anything in return.  And like, I said I don’t wanna get into my personal challenges, but I just wanted to throw it out there that I personally know he is a great person and helps a lot of people.  So thank you for doing what you do and thank you for helping people in today’s world somebody who helps others just because it’s the right thing to do. It’s a very rare thing." - Jason 'Alters by Kronus

​

Public Statement by Brian Weissman

TheBrianWeissman -

"Can you produce some evidence for the claim? Every time this subject comes up a bunch of people start shrieking about how Chad has been scamming people with his format. How, exactly, is he doing that without even charging entry fees?

I played in one 4HM event a few years ago, back when the format was getting started. I believe I paid no entry fee, and I was never solicited to purchase anything. At the end of the event, I got a couple of cards in the mail, and watched the event winner receive a print of a custom unique playmat, illustrated by Ken Meyer Jr.
 

This playmat, incidentally, is not for sale anywhere, and likely cost a pretty penny to commission and produce.

The organizers of 4HM have poured an enormous amount of time and energy into their format. Events have been clicking off steadily for three years now, I believe they just finished the 22nd one. I’m really struggling to see how Chad has come close to breaking even on his format, and that‘s not even accounting for the thousands of hours he’s invested personally in running events and editing videos.  Please, with evidence, explain how Four Horseman is a scam. It’s a serious inquiry.."
 

Hey there, thank you for the questions. Initially, I was super skeptical about the 4HM format, and questioned why it existed. I told Chad as much the first time we discussed it on the phone. 4HM didn‘t seem to solve any problems in Old School format, other than removing the requirement to own Alpha/Beta/Revised power. It also had some glaring systemic problems, such as the inability to interact with enchantments. The format was very imbalanced at inception, tilted heavily in favor of Workshop/Mana Drain decks.

​​

But the rules committee for 4HM has been hard at work tuning their format, which now has an extensive restricted and banned list. Consequently, it sees a ton of deck diversity, and still doesn’t feel solved. Tournament attendance continues to climb, and apparently it’s very popular in Australia. The removal of the degeneracy from Alpha opens up a lot of creative design space, allowing unusual cards and strategies to flourish. Sleeper cards have risen to the top, it’s very cool to see spells like Miracle Worker, Falling Star, Spirit Link, Blood Lust and many others show up in S-tier lists.

​

I originally learned of 4HM when Chad approached me on Facebook. At the time, I had been playing and producing videos about 7-point Old School Singleton, so Chad figured I might enjoy theory-crafting his new format. I quickly homed in on a pretty degenerate Bant strategy utilizing Sylvan Library, Land Tax, and Ivory Tower. I played it undefeated up to the semifinals, where I lost a nail-biter to an awesome B/G Workshop deck. My Bant deck is very obsolete now due to many restrictions and bannings, but you can see my videos about it here.

​

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=y-tp3cnDR70

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fEClkUujf4A

​

I do want to make something very clear. Chad never offered me compensation for my involvement, and I participated because I found the challenge of exploring 4HM interesting. The last time I was compensated for anything Magic-related was when I did top 8 commentary for 1999 Worlds in Yokohama, Japan. Magic is and will always be a passion, I enjoy promoting the game in whatever avenues make sense, whenever time allows. I have particularly fondness for niche Old School formats, but most of the content on my channel concerns 1 vs 1 EDH games played using the community banned list, on Magic Online.

​

Frankly, I’ve been really baffled by all the animus thrown Chad’s way. From the outside, it’s looked like bizarre gatekeeping more than anything. I’m confused by why you think 4HM has been “detrimental to Old School” as a whole. I asked the anonymous Redditor “Key-Interaction-9378” to explain his criticisms with evidence, but it seems he’s just more interested in playing a keyboard bully instead. Pretty childish and awful." ​

- TheBrianWeissman

​

Public Statement by Ken Meyer, Jr.​