[For Part One, please click here!]

Wizards of the Coast, owners of the whole Magic : The Gathering card game (as well as the patent for the very concept of collectible trading card games), holds events throughout the world for Magic players to congregate, play, and win prizes that range from free packs of cards to cars and $50,000+ jackpots. These events have been broadcast on ESPN and they’re pretty serious about the whole Tournament thing, but neither of these things makes attending an MtG event any less fun – even if you’ve never played before.

I was traveling with fellow writer Brian, who is an avid Dungeons and Dragons player and former Heroclix player, but who has never played Magic. As I mentioned previously, I hadn’t played since my mouthbreathing high school ‘friends’ started meticulously sanding the clothes off of their female action figures and I decided that my real-life girlfriend was superior in most aspects. This particular demographical observation isn’t a reflection upon Magic players, but it IS a reflection upon living in an isolated area in upstate New York. Brian and I arrived at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago (on the shores of the beautiful Lake Michigan) and set to work to learn the game properly.

We didn’t have to go further than the entrance to the event before we found a ‘LEARN TO PLAY’ area, all set up and ready to help us learn the ropes. Behind the desk was Christian, a volunteer from Canada and unofficial ‘Magic Cheerleader’, whose ebullience made the Learn To Play Booth a hub of activity and an interesting place to retreat to between games and interviews during the course of the entire weekend. With the excellent and studied teachings of Christian and Jeff, Brian quickly picked up on the game and before I knew it, we were entered into a mini-tournament on the main floor. I suddenly became very nervous. I hadn’t summoned a Benevolent Unicorn in over a decade, my old collection of Slivers and Angels was way back in New York, and my Serpent Generator was rusty. I could barely turn the crank.

Brian and I were placed into a group of eight players, and we were all handed three booster packs of cards. Brian began to tear open his first pack, much to the horror of the accompanying players, and we quickly learned that there were rules and decorum for this kind of thing. When the DCI Judge asked if anyone at the table hadn’t played Magic before, Brian raised his hand and was dismissed as the resident smartass – which he was, just not in this specific case. We got things sorted out and we began to play.

Despite having no cards at the beginning of the day, these 15-card boosters were here for us to make gaming decks out of – and to keep! Each player would take their favorite or most useful card from the pack, and pass the rest of the pack on to the next player, in a process that would be repeated until there were no cards left. Out of these completely random cards, the players were forced to test their skill at building a viable 40-card deck out of a limited palette (as well as bonus of potentially discovering a valuable card). Mostly, I just grabbed cards that looked neat – with a focus on cards that used white magic, using the strange Godhead of Awe as the focus of my deck.

When we were done assembling decks of cards, we were paired off by the DCI Judges. The DCI, or Duelists Convocation International, is an omnipresent force at these Magic tournaments. They provide decisions when cards might not make perfect sense to both players, they organize rounds, and they prevent cheating. Yes, despite all of the fun, there can be cheating, as with any event where a prize is at stake, but I was informed that sneaky players were very rare and not something that had to be dealt with often. Should any two players remain unsure about how two or more cards interact, a hand would fly up to the call of ‘JUDGE!’, and a DCI judge, in full referee regalia, would be fast to respond and resolve any issues presenting themselves. It was an efficient, powerful system to see in action.

I ended up playing against an amazingly patient guy named Patrick, who calmly explained everything I was unsure about. Honestly, any player who was paired against us was pretty much guaranteed a spot in round two, so I’m sure that they were pretty psyched about contending with bumbling idiots – even while they remained completely honest and even suggested better moves when one of our choices was not well-made. The game was played in ‘best two out of three’ terms, and when my resurfacing Magic skills actually won a match and Patrick & I went into a third round, it felt pretty good – even when I finally lost. It was just fun to play again, and mostly know what I was doing. It was like riding a bike. The very strong core rules, designed by mathematics PhD Richard Garfield, inform everything else within the game, and they’re easy to remember.

When it was all said and done and we were both removed from competition, another player walked up to Brian and handed him a stack of at least 300 extra cards that said player didn’t want to lug home with him. It was a moment of camaraderie and generosity that would encapsulate the entire weekend and everyone we’d meet there. Can I stress enough that these are events that you want to go to, even if you have only the most remote interest in games? It might not be the best place for a guy to go looking for a date, but if you’re a chick, you pretty much have the pick of the litter. Also happening nearby in Chicago were a gathering of Masons, Lollapalooza, and the Black Womens’ Expo – and more than a few attendees of these events wandered curiously into the gaming hall.

My gaming loss marked the temporary end of my professional Magic career, but that didn’t stop Brian and I from procuring packs at the Magic Pro Shop booth and playing until 2 AM up in the hotel room. Down on the main floor, a ‘Gunslinging’ area was set up during the day for players to match decks against champions, designers, and even Richard Garfield himself – so even if you weren’t close to being in a tournament, you could claim the glory of playing against one of the game’s luminaries, win or lose.

The idea that the genesis of this was all in a small collectible card game was staggering.

By Sunday afternoon, the top eight players had been sorted out. WotC was liveblogging every deciding game onto their website, where they catalogued every match-up and crucial move to the captive audiences at home. Crowds gathered, people were forced out of competition, and professional gamer Michael Jacob from Livonia, MI came out on top, having beat out 8th place contender and close hometown friend (and guy with awesome hair), Mark Herberholz, early on.

Herberholz, a former $40,000 Magic winner, and recent graduate from Michigan State University, who was suitably crestfallen. “So close, but so far!” said Herberholz, “I think I’ve reached a certain level where I’m considered to be one of the best in the game that’s still playing, so right now the goal was to make the National team and finish in the top three, but since I didn’t do that and I came really close, it’s almost more disappointment than if I had just lost early on.”

Despite Mark’s disappointment, his position in the World Championships is already assured, so things remain both onward and upward. He seemed content to have at least been bested by a friend, and he told us that his interest in Magic has not waned. He has plans on hunting down a job at Upper Deck so that he can continue to compete in Wizards tournaments as a non-employee. Like many players, he was introduced to the game by bored friends who had found an excellent outlet for themselves. In his case, it was a $40,000 outlet.

Mike Jacob was thrilled to have won the final match against Sam Black, netting a prize of $5000, a big trophy, and a place in the World Finals. In our post-game interview, he credited a card called ‘Skred’ in his ultimate victory over Black. He quickly launched into MtG language in the interview, and for as much as I understood at this point, I felt officially initiated into the club.

“It was a choice that nobody else in the tournament had done. I usually do play a lot of unique cards. Like, there’s a 3 mana 4/4 that can’t block that most people dismissed, and there was a 3/3 haste available, and I played this one instead because I thought it was better against the field”, said Mike. “It feels pretty good. I made a lot of really tight plays, and that’s how I got here.”

When we asked what his favorite part about the game was, he quickly replied, “Definitely the people. I just have so many friends that I met through this game, and I get to see them once a month, maybe twice a month at the other tournaments I go to. If I was gonna go to San Francisco, I could call three people and have a place to stay. How many people can say that they have friends all over the United States?”

This was an answer that we heard many times from many players. Even above the idea of free lodging across the US, the friendships that were made through the game were the most enduring, solid aspect of the gaming community. When asked if he’s let his friend Herberholz hold the trophy, he jokingly said “No, definitely not! He’s had enough accomplishments!”

As fellow players walked through the hotel lobby, they frequently shouted congratulations to Mike, who accepted them modestly. As a professional gamer who often wins $20,000 to $40,000 in various gaming systems, he has no plans on stopping anytime soon. Good luck in this year’s World finals in Memphis, Mike!

While crowning the US Champion was the purpose of the weekend, it wasn’t the extent of everything the weekend held for visitors within the complex world of Magic. Stay tuned for more, including an interview with Richard Garfield himself and some of the more collectible aspects of the game.

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Article Tags: card game, ccg, chicago, Hasbro, Magic the Gathering, mark herberholz, mike jacob, mtc, richard garfield, wizards of the coast, WoTC

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