Morning of the magicians

About a year ago, in an effort to find something to do with my then-new apartment mate Nate, I did a little investigating into the game Magic: the Gathering. I had distant recollections of Steve Jones and Sam Stranmo playing Magic on the baseball field during recess, but the game had never interested me enough to watch them play. When, years later, I finally gave Magic a second look, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it has little (other than player demographics) in common with Dungeons and Dragons. To the point: Magic doesn't require the player to pretend anything. It has a fantasy theme, but one need not imagine oneself to be a wizard (walking through yon dungeon, in which obvious exits are North, East, and blah-blah-blah). The game is essentially a math game, with systems of fantasy-themed mnemonics. I'm sure even that may not sound like fun to everyone, but certainly caters to one of my many ideas of fun.

It's confession time: I gave it a try. Years after giving up Star Trek and daily use of a graphing calculator, I started playing a pretty nerdy game. The complicated interactions between relatively simple parts plays on my interest in complex systems, and I've come to view the moments where the fantasy cloak conforms beautifully with the mathematical mechanics as architectural. I might even conjecture that I like to analyze Magic more than I like to play it; I've kept my playing pretty low key, and I go for weeks without playing. I've rarely had the opportunity to play with someone more experienced than myself.

Today, however, I did something that—for me—was a little radical: I attended a pre-release event. Long story short, Wizards of the Coast releases a new Magic deck four times a year, and about two weeks before each release they hold a pre-release event, which occurs simutaneously at comic-book shops, game stores, and even convention centers across the world. Here in London the event was hosted by The Games Club at the Royal National Hotel, which was my temporary home during the SU orientation week. I showed up, and upon payment of my enterence fee became player #102. Without much further ado, I was given a tournament pack and two "boosters" of the new Lorwyn cards. From that pool of cards I constructed my deck, which I used to compete in my "flight." I was one of 32 people in Flight 2, which ran concurrently with with six other flights (meaning over 200 people were playing at any one time). In the first of four rounds, #76 (Fletcher, Geoff L) put me away rather handily, but he was kind enough to help me tweak my deck afterwards. I managed to beat #106 (Marks, Joshua), who was experimenting with two different "Planeswalker" cards and still developing his strategy. In round three #85 (Simmons, Brian) and I each won one game and were pushing the time limit on the third. I thought I might manage a draw, but a during a surprise time extension I lost. With that my hopes of a prize were extinguished, but I played my final round anyway, being shut-out by #94 (Mayall, Alex).

Honestly, managing to win a third of my games was a pleasant surprise, since I was prepared to loose each time. After all, I went for the cultural experience as much as the playtime. Granted, the "culture" (or perhaps 'sub culture' is more apt) isn't too exotic, and the demographic of awkward, slightly unwashed white males isn't a glamorous one, but there's a sincerity that permeates an environment in which enthusiasm and and competitiveness is allowed to show. Evenings at the local comic book shop are probably not part of my future, but I hope I'll be able to attend more Magic events. I may have more in common with the design crowd nowadays, but I have roots in the culture of math whizzes and the 12-sided dice owners, and I think losing that connection would be forgetting a little part of myself.