Club Spotlight: Magic: The Gathering

This issue, I decided to shine a light on what seems to be one of Four Rivers’ more overlooked clubs. Our Magic: The Gathering Club, often simply called Magic Club, seems to be of little interest to the many of us who don’t know what Magic: The Gathering is or how it works. The game can be perceived as complicated and intimidating at first. However, this club is a great outlet for students who want to share their love of Magic: The Gathering with others. Prior to writing this, I didn’t know much about Magic. I knew only the bare minimum and hadn’t intended to learn much more. I then got the opportunity to hear from a few Magic Club members about the club and Magic as a whole, and it helped me to realize just how interesting this game is, and how much enjoyment a lot of people get out of it.

Like I said previously, I knew barely anything about Magic prior to my interviews. Rafael Gell, a junior, explained that it is “a table top trading card game with an endless amount of possibilities. It is played by 2 or more people acting as wizards casting spells to defeat the opposition.” Kole Broderick, also a junior, added that “the objective is to get the other person down to zero from twenty, and there’s various different ways of doing that.”

One major takeaway that I had from conversing with these club members is that the Four Rivers Magic Club is a great opportunity for beginner and experienced Magic players alike. Rafael said that Magic Club is “a place where me and all the people that share a love for the game can share their new found combos, decks, and strategies as well as just have fun playing and trading.” I definitely got that sense when I was visiting Magic club to learn about it. Everyone seemed to be really enthusiastic about getting to play the game with each other! I think it’s great that the school is providing an opportunity for the people who enjoy this game to play it with other students who like it just as much. When asked what he likes about being in Magic Club, Kole said “you can play the game at a high level without having to worry about it being too competitive at the same time.” Kole elaborated by saying, “it’s just a place to play it as well.”

Annie Marie Strysky, a freshman, added that she only learned how to play Magic a week ago and has only been playing since the beginning of the current club session. Rafael and Kole, on the other end of the spectrum, have both been playing for about 5 years. I realized that no matter how much experience you have with Magic, the club is a chance to play with people who have the same enthusiasm about it as you do.

The club members that I interviewed also pointed out a common misconception that they believe scares people away from Magic. They believe that people often think it’s much more difficult and complex to learn Magic than it actually is. Kole pointed out, “people don’t want to take the time out of their day to learn something that they don’t care about.” It seems to me that if people looked past their first impressions of Magic, they would then realize that it’s more exciting than they thought and really not as hard to learn as it’s made out to be. “I will admit, yes it can get complicated, but that really just depends on the cards you play with,” Rafael added. “The game at its core is not too complex and can be learned quite quickly if someone is interested.” Rafael included, “you can have a ton of fun playing with much simpler cards with the basic principles of the game. Getting into all the crazy stuff isn't necessary with Magic: The Gathering.” From what I was told, I realized that you don’t have to have much experience playing this game in order to enjoy it.

If you play Magic, or if you don’t but are willing to learn, I think that Magic Club is a really fun opportunity! It’s a great way to connect with other people at school who also like the game. If you’ve never played, there’s a chance that joining this club will help you discover a new hobby. You might end up liking it more than you think! And, it won’t take as much effort to get started as you might expect. I loved getting to learn about why Magic players enjoy the game, and it was awesome that my first introduction to Magic was through our school community. I’m so glad that I got the chance to learn about our Magic: The Gathering Club!