Magic: Gathering is a trading card
game first put onto stores shelves in 1993. It's foundational mechanics went on to inspire many other games, Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh currently being the most famous. It also invented the prospect of tournaments for trading card games, which did not exist at the
time.
Magic is a worldwide phenomenon, and has developed it's own list of dozens of slang words. Magic itself is typically known as Magic: The Gathering, MTG, or just Magic for players who
play it more exclusively than other games for which the word “magic” could easily be confused.
More players
play magic today than ever before, showing a clear upward trend in popularity over the last 10 years. Reports by Hasbro, the parent company of MTG, put the figure at “around 6 million” in 75 countries in 2003, while current(
2016) unprofessional estimates are at anywhere from 8-15 million globally.
The
game was invented by Richard Garfield with the financial support of WotC, the latter now owning the
game in it's entirety and the former currently receiving royalties. Despite his lack of direct control over the
game since the late 90s, Richard Garfield still contributes to the
game sporadically, and is considered by many to be a pillar of the community and is known by Magic players internationally.
The
game is known
best for it's simplest mechanics by those who've
never played it, these principle mechanics being 5 colors and resource building involving “lands” and “non-lands”.
Magic: The Gathering is a
game like any other. The company prints things on cardboard and it turns into money. Might as well cut out the middle
man and print money.
Person A: Magic The Gathering Players are fat vrigins.
Person B: Did you know that the
player base of Magic: The Gathering in the United States has a 10% lower rate on obesity than the national average? How about we talk about issues that matter instead?
