Gathering for a Quarter Century

 

Sunday marks a very important anniversary for me and the world: the 25th anniversary of the release of Magic: The Gathering. 

If somehow you don’t know, Magic: The Gathering is a trading card game. Rather than a set box, like Monopoly or Uno, which have a fixed deck of game cards, Magic: The Gathering cards come in randomized packs, like baseball cards, and then players build a deck of cards to play with. Different players can and usually do have different decks.

Magic actually originated the concept of a trading card game, but if you’ve ever seen kids with Pokémon or Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, it’s the same concept. I like to tell people that Magic is like Yu-Gi-Oh! for adults, but really, people of any age can play. (Basically, if someone can read and do basic math, they can play Magic.)

There are new cards released all the time. Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic: The Gathering, cranks out four new sets every year, the most recent was released last month. There are, as of this writing, north of 20,000 different Magic cards in roughly 100 sets (depending on how you count things). Yes, that’s a lot. Luckily, there’s a searchable database that lets you keep track of things.

Wizards of the Coast doesn’t publish production figures, but they did share that from 2008 to 2016, they printed over 20 billion cards. (I personally have probably 40,000 or so within reach of where I’m writing this.) That sounds like a lot of cardboard, and it is, but Magic is played by 20 million people all over the globe. (That figure is from 2015, it’s probably higher today.)

The interesting thing is, it’s both the same game that it was in 1993 and yet it constantly changes and evolves. There is a comprehensive rules document (the PDF is 229 pages), however, it’s intended as a technical reference. There have been rules updates and card erratas, but anyone with a phone can look up the current wording of a card in three seconds.

But anyone who sits down today, and who hasn’t played the game in 20 years, can pick it back up again immediately. Magic is constantly evolving and changing and doing unexpected things, but it’s still the same game. The card face may have changed slightly, but the card back, is as it was in 1993, so someone with cards from 1993 could (in theory) mix them with cards they bought this morning.

That being said, things have changed. I started playing in January 1995 (just late enough to miss out on the super-valuable cards printed in 1993-1994). Back then, the internet was in its infancy and I, and most of the people I played with, were teenagers. Now we’re adults with careers and disposable income to spend on Magic cards.

What does that mean? Well, yes, they still sell randomized packs of cards, but there’s an enormous thriving secondary market. When I started, the only way to get a specific card was to trade for it or open it in a pack. Now I can order anything I want from a website at 1 AM in my underwear and have it delivered. And there’s a whole world of superfluous accessories and various products to buy in addition to cards.

Millions of adult Magic players with disposable income means that prices on certain very specific cards have skyrocketed. Last month, one extremely rare Magic card sold in an eBay auction for $87,672. I remember in 1999 scoffing at the notion of paying $8 for cards that now sell for hundreds of dollars.

Much of this is driven by a diverse tournament scene. There are formats that cater to high-end players, willing to spend thousands (or tens of thousands) of dollars on new cards, and other formats that use more recent cards that are accessible to new players. There are even formats where you open new packs and play with the cards you just opened. These tournaments range from enormous events with thousands of players, down to small tournaments with just eight players. Anywhere in America on a Friday night, you can find a Magic tournament. (And I live in an area where I could play every night of the week if I wanted to.)

In addition to endless local tournaments, there is a thriving pro tour. This weekend, to celebrate Magic‘s silver anniversary, there was a pro-tour event with a million dollars in prizes. Those larger events, and the ability to easily stream video, means that Magic is both a spectator sport and a card game people play around kitchen tables.

The latter is far more interesting to me. If I wanted to devote an enormous amount of time, energy, and cash to the project, I might be able to compete in a serious manner, but it’s not something I want to do. It’s just not that kind of hobby for me. For me, Magic is an activity that allows me to connect with and spend time with friends.

I have a dear friend that I used to play Magic with in high school, and we drifted apart, as people often do, for about 15 years. And we were able to reconnect because his kids, then nine and eight, wanted to play Magic. The game provides a hobby for him and a reason for us to see each other every week, but also a way to connect with his kids.

And I encourage it, not only because I get to see my friend more often, but because Magic is good for kids. It teaches reading and reading comprehension, math, strategic thinking, and also sportsmanship and social skills. It’s a hobby that kids can do where they have to sit in a room, face-to-face with other humans, and talk to them while reading and doing math. What more could one ask for?

Of course, I have a selfish interest: I want the game to continue. We’re now in the second generation of Magic players. I’d like it to keep going and have more generations. I want my friend’s grandkids to play the game because if Magic is still thriving in another 25 years (and there’s no reason to think it wouldn’t be), I will still be playing it.

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  1. Brian Wolf Inactive
    Brian Wolf
    @BrianWolf

    This post is great but it does make me feel old.

    • #1
  2. Valiuth Member
    Valiuth
    @Valiuth

    I gave up on Magic long ago. I collected and played back in 5th and 6th grade. It was fun but I could never really commit to it enough to be good and make really effective decks. I always wanted to just make crazy decks that amused me conceptually. Like a zoo deck that only have animals of every color, never the same animal twice. Five different man, no card synergy, utterly worthless going up against a real deck. But it was fun to put together. So I gave up on it.  Then in college I played again with some friends and one of them did infinite damage to me to win. Something I had not even conceived of as possible to do back in the days of 4th edition, ice age, and mirage when I played. And that is when I knew the game could never appeal to me again. I did though make my last deck in college printing out cards from the internet to make a proxy deck. It was a deck comprised of all zero mana cost cards (So no lands). I played it on a team with friends. It was pointlessly hilarious, but also kind of randomly useful at times. 

    • #2
  3. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    Fred, you are wrong and misguide – oh. Sorry. I had assumed this was a political post. 

    • #3
  4. AltarGirl Inactive
    AltarGirl
    @CM

    Pokemon is Magic for dummies.

    It has provided a pretty decent jumping point for our oldest and I think his dad would enjoy starting him on Magic now.

    • #4
  5. Jeff Petraska Member
    Jeff Petraska
    @JeffPetraska

    I’d say that Magic is probably the penultimate most transformative tabletop game produced in my lifetime, second only to Dungeons & Dragons.  Both are still going strong, and created entirely new genres of gaming.

     

    • #5
  6. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    Jeff Petraska (View Comment):

    I’d say that Magic is probably the penultimate most transformative tabletop game produced in my lifetime, second only to Dungeons & Dragons. Both are still going strong, and created entirely new genres of gaming.

     

    What I like about Magic (and D&D) is that it keeps updating and trying to improve itself. Also, the art is very very pretty. I respect people that can make things look pretty. 

    • #6
  7. Sisyphus Member
    Sisyphus
    @Sisyphus

    I think I’ll stick with Flux, but thanks anyway.

    • #7
  8. Fred Cole Inactive
    Fred Cole
    @FredCole

    Sisyphus (View Comment):

    I think I’ll stick with Flux, but thanks anyway.

    Playing magic made me a much better flux player. 

    • #8
  9. Valiuth Member
    Valiuth
    @Valiuth

    Fred Cole (View Comment):

    Sisyphus (View Comment):

    I think I’ll stick with Flux, but thanks anyway.

    Playing magic made me a much better flux player.

    But the games are basically nothing a like. Flux isn’t about deck building. It is about putting out as many rules as possible and then getting the one that fores you to play randomly and every card in your hand. This leads to maximum hilarity and confusion. Plus the best card game is Bang. 

    • #9
  10. Fred Cole Inactive
    Fred Cole
    @FredCole

    Valiuth (View Comment):

    Fred Cole (View Comment):

    Sisyphus (View Comment):

    I think I’ll stick with Flux, but thanks anyway.

    Playing magic made me a much better flux player.

    But the games are basically nothing a like. Flux isn’t about deck building. It is about putting out as many rules as possible and then getting the one that fores you to play randomly and every card in your hand. 

    Yeah, Fluxx also isn’t about attacking with creatures. But two important concepts translate from one game to the other: card advantage and sequencing. 

    The latter is where Magic players especially have the advantage. Sequencing is vital in Fluxx. 

    • #10
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