Magic and Me

Magic and Me

I’ve been playing Magic for about fifteen years now. It’s been there at times when I’ve needed it, through good and bad, it’s helped me meet great people and I’ve had some of the best times of my life at events hanging out with friends, having a laugh and playing a fantastic game.

Now, I don’t want this just to be an article about how excellent Magic: The Gathering Is, because in my opinion it is the best trading card game (TCG) ever. I’m writing this to try and show you how it has affected and altered my life. Why don’t we start at the start…

I’m eight years old, rummaging through a box of various bits and pieces, when I come across a Magic: The Gathering Portal starter pack. The box art depicting a moss-covered brickwork archway with a swirly, multi-coloured vortex or Portal if you will, containing cards built into pre-made decks that you learn to play Magic with. Luckily my older brother new how to play so, I took the box and start playing Magic with him. One of the first cards I remember seeing was a Raging Goblin; a 1/1 creature with haste for a single red mana, nothing special but that was the gateway card, for me anyway, that started a beautiful friendship. My brother and I started taking other cards from his collection and changing the decks; adding different types of creatures, finding new spells to try out and learning what cards worked with each other. That’s when I fell in love with both the style and feel of the game.

I remember being frustrated to start with, I’m not going to lie, I found it hard. However, I also found it rewarding when it worked. When I put those pieces together successfully, I got this feeling of accomplishment and pride. That feeling got me hooked and kept me wanting more, confirming the start of my journey through the different planes and sets of Magic: The Gathering. Along with drafting and constant deck building, one day I hoped to make it big at a Pro tour or Grand Prix, I lived Magic.

At the age of twelve, I remember playing in a local Pro tour qualifier and even though I didn’t do well, it was such an enjoyable experience. Round after round, meeting new and interesting people, engaging in a battle of skill until one person, usually not me, emerged victorious. The beauty of these events, and Magic in general, are the players. A mix of people from all walks of life, young and old all, from every nationality, all brought together for one reason. This was enlightening to me, from my local game store to a one hundred and fifty person qualifying event. I could always find a place to interact with other people that have come together to have fun, no matter who they are and nothing else mattered. Finding common ground with my opponents after a match and making a new friend to stay in contact with, swap deck ideas and travel to and meet with at other events across the world. Magic provided me with another way to expand my friendship circle while learning and experiencing so many things.

Getting older, I didn’t feel like I was improving at Magic as much as I would have liked to. It had been a hobby so far but losing isn’t a good feeling no matter how much you learn from it. So, rather than just playing fun, janky decks, I started testing with more serious decks. Playing with players that were on a higher level than me seemed futile at first, but the best way to better yourself is to play opponents that are better than you. With enough knuckling down, really paying attention and learning how to be more patient, I slowly started to progress. I became more invested in attending and playing more events. Maybe I felt worse than before when I lost, but as long as I was confident and happy with the play I had made, that’s all I could ask of myself.

I few years later I attended a Grand Prix in Brighton. Thanks to a mix of a quote made by me at my local store which was taken way out of context and having a friend in the circles of pro level players, I found myself playing a five-colour control match against Shuhei Nakamura. At the age of fifteen, I thought this was too good to be true. Granted it was a friendly match and not on the tournament scene but this is one of the best players in the world. I’ll tell you now, I was shitting myself. I know I was going to lose, although at one point I thought I was getting close to winning but looking back, I think he was just toying with me. Shuhei’s English is great but with the game of Magic being played between us, we understood each other with no problems, it acting a universal language for the both of us.

Inevitably, I lost spectacularly but that didn’t faze me. I had just sat down and gone card for card with one of the best Japanese pros of all time. It was an incredible experience for me and one that has stayed with me all this time, I learned a lot from my game with Shuhei, along with marveling at his ability. His composure and forethought was unbelievable, being able to predict my plays with almost pinpoint accuracy and react accordingly, coupled with his respect for the game and his opponent really made me want to achieve more. Since then, I have tried to emulate Shuhei’s way of thinking both in Magic and in life, trying to become more patient and taking all the information available to me into consideration.

With all the time I had spent with Magic: The Gathering, reading the cards and backstory, I had learned definitions of new words or even words I had come across before and not understood. Either thanks to the art of the card giving me an image to extrapolate from or the context of the effect for example, I’m fairly sure each new set has provided me with at least one new addition to my vocabulary. It wasn’t just language, it affected my maths as well. I know repetition is the mother of learning, but you learn something faster if you attach something you enjoy to it acting as motivation. With life totals, combat damage, mana count, even deck building, Magic and maths was a good combination for me. Through the years with Magic I have been many places, met many people and learned many things. Admittedly, I haven’t been playing as much in recent years due to work, responsibilities and general life, but I have always kept up with new cards and goings on with wizard and events. 

However, I think that has been an advantage in relation to improvement and achieving more within the game. I feel my time away from playing Magic has given me a chance to take a step back and try to better understand the way the game works; evaluating cards and grasping the meta game for example. This has helped me improved my drafting or what decks to play at an event of course, but by using this I have learned to refine my way of thinking on a broader scale. Being able to better asses a situation; understanding what I need, when I need it and how to use it. Recognise patterns; in a person’s play style or what they’re drafting for example, and getting better at reading whatever the current circumstances are; in both playing Magic and knowing what decks are prevalent at what times as well as in everyday life, Magic has been invaluable to me.

I hope this has given you an interesting look into my life with Magic and shown you some of the things that I have taken away. I also hope this has helped give you an idea of what this sort of game can provide for you, Magic has helped me but for you it could be any game that challenges you and makes you want to accomplish more. Overall I want to demonstration the effects of perseverance and where it can take you along the way. 

If reading this has given you the urge to start your gaming journey, I bid you good luck on your travels otherwise, keep checking back to Game Changers for more MTG news, tales and more.