 "Photo: Laura-Jane Cunningham")
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You can find them in the same corner of the Dining Hall every day, chatting away and huddling over cards as they eat their meals and play Magic: The Gathering (MTG).
MTG is a fantasy-themed trading card game introduced by Wizards of the Coast in 1993. Players build their collection by purchasing 15-card packs used to customize their decks and by dueling one another.
“It’s a fun way to waste your money,” said computer science freshman Ethan Yeager. “I don’t spend too much—maybe $30 a month—but some people spend $100 a week.”
The group consists mostly of freshmen and is one of the largest to meet in the Dining Hall. There are about 20 of them in all, Yeager said.
“We’re always looking for more members but we also sort of discourage it a little bit,” Yeager said. “I would not get some of my friends into Magic because it’s an expensive hobby.”
Biology freshman Chris Elrod looked up from his cards with a smirk on his face.
“I don’t discourage people; if they spend their money smartly they won’t lose it,” Elrod said.
Elrod has played MTG since seventh grade and enjoys it, but he predicts financial gains as well.
“All of the cards you buy are going up in value over time. So if I buy everything off eBay in the future I will be able to sell all the cards back,” Elrod said. “For example, cards that I acquired in 2005 which were maybe $20—$25 then are probably $40 now.”
Yeager owns around 1,500 cards and said the best way to start playing MTG is with starter packs, pre-constructed decks available for purchase.
“They are built for new players, they’re mostly well constructed,” Yeager said. “It’s being casual, and people have to learn how to play.”
Arts & Technology freshman Haley Howard said she started playing MTG last semester when a friend made a deck for her. Now, she’s hooked. She explained the game from a beginner’s point of view.
“You have two people who are like the magicians and they’re casting spells and mana is the energy they get for their spells, so if you don’t have it you can’t do anything, which is really bad,” Howard said. “Whenever you cast a spell it can be like either a creature, or instant, or sorcery or anything.”
Yeager elaborated on Howard’s point.
“You can only play one land per turn. In general, lands will only generate one manna each of a different color, and there are five colors and each color represents a different aspect of magic,” Yeager said. “Blue is very analytical. Red is ‘I’m going to kill you.’ Black is darker, like destruction, and green is primal, savage.”
The freshmen commented back and forth, suggesting what they believed each color stood for.
International political economy freshman Jeff Tang said red stands for reckless behavior, blue is thoughtful and green is involved with nature and its processes.
Howard explained:
“The colors express a personality,” she said.
Although they gather on a regular basis, the MTG group isn’t an official UTD club.
“It’s a little more than a club because we’re all friends,” Yeager said.
Yeager said they wanted to start one, but the paperwork created too much of a hassle. The club would have helped new players get into the game using drafts.
In a draft, players pass MTG packs around a table and choose one card at a time until every player has constructed a deck. At the end players usually get to keep the cards and add them to their collection.
“It basically lets you play a Magic tournament without owning any cards,” Tang said.
Most of the group plays the game casually but MTG can be enjoyed at a competitive level as well.
“We take like 6—10 people every Friday to Friday Night Magic (FNM), which is held at most comic book stores,” Yeager said.
FNM is a recreational draft-style tournament.
“That’s not even that competitive, you can get to a higher competitive level,” Tang said.
Elrod explained that a professional league sanctioned by an official group known as DCI exists. Tang and Elrod both dug in their wallets and took out a DCI member’s card. DCI records player statistics and assigns every registered player with a ranking.
“There’s another tournament in April that’s a lot larger that a lot of us are traveling down to Houston for,” Yeager said.
Learn the basics for Magic: The Gathering in a few quick steps
Most duels consist of two players and each player uses their own deck comprised of about 60 cards. Players begin by drawing seven cards from their deck and drawing a consecutive card at the beginning of their turns.
Because of this MTG is a combination of luck and strategy. Players choose which cards to put into their decks, but they can’t choose which cards they draw.
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