Benefits of playing Magic: the Gathering

Magic: the Gathering, or just Magic as it is commonly referred to, is a trading card game geared towards teenagers and adults.  The setting is fantasy, and new cards are coming out all the time.  At first glance, it might seem like a waste of time, childish, or excessively nerdy (not that there is anything wrong with nerds).  There are tons of benefits to playing Magic though, not the least of which include improvement in social skills, critical and creating thinking, strategy, mathematics, and reading.  The learning curve is a bit high, but in general it is quite easy to learn the basics of the game and learn as you go.  Many groups believe that this game is inherently evil or bad for youth, but the reality is quite the opposite.  I remember playing Magic at my friend's house almost every week, and his dad would always joke that there are a million other things we could be doing that were bad, so he was glad we were at home playing cards instead.  Displacing one's time and keeping them out of trouble is not the main benefit though, the main benefits are increased socialization, improvements in decision making, and self-esteem.

Playing Magic requires everybody to interact with each other, it is one of the key parts of the game that has made it popular.  Within the framework of a Magic: the Gathering game, people can discuss a wide range of topics as the game progresses.  Kitchen table magic -simply put, casual play- is the best example of this, friends gather around and hang out for hours while playing, sometimes the cards come second while socializing is the real goal.  Casual games are usually spur of the moment games at the school lunch table, while on lunch break, or a planned event where you invite a handful of friends over to join you.  If you are talking about the game itself, there are thousands of cards to discuss, many deck archetypes to debate about, and limitless possibilities when it comes to making your own decks.  Do you want to build a fiercely competitive deck and win at all costs?  Do you want a bear themed deck filled with nothing but bears and spells with art of bears on them?  Perhaps you want to make a multiplayer deck that isn't aimed at winning, but at helping everybody else out along the way?  You can use your creativity to try almost anything that you desire, and new options are coming out with each new set.  When you are playing with strangers, it is common to introduce yourself at the start of the game, and with time many of those people become your friends.  This same phenomenon is found in other games, like Bridge for example, which is famous for helping people meet.  It is where the CEO of Goldman Sachs made most of his early connections, and Magic works in much the same way.

Now to the meat and potatoes of the benefits of Magic, critical thinking and decision making.  Magic is a game with hundreds of choices.  Most of them are small ones, but over time the decisions you make develop the outcome of the game drastically.  At the professional level, it is not uncommon to seriously think about whether or not you should attack with one creature for a few minutes, even if it is almost certainly best to do so.  This is because every choice matters, and you have to think about what cards the opponent might have hidden in their hand, what they might draw, and what they might decide to do in the next few turns ahead.  You also have to decide in between games (most are 2/3) what cards you will take out of your deck and which ones you will bring in.  This is called sideboarding, you maindeck must be at least 60 cards, while your sideboard is 15.  In between games you can bring in different cards to your deck that are especially good against your current opponent.  Choosing what to put in your sideboard and how to alter your deck in between games is one of the most important skills one must learn to succeed competitively in Magic: the Gaterhing.  Many cards and decks themselves are hard to use as well.  Cabal Therapy, a popular and powerful card used in many tournament decks, says that you must name a card and your opponent has to reveal their hand and discard all cards with that name.  To use this effectively you must have a pretty good idea of what your opponent might have in his deck, based off of only a few cards that you might have seen thus far.  There are many other examples of this, but the point is this:  Magic is a diverse and complicated game, and playing it requires the exercise of critical thinking and problem solving, since it is very rare any two games are the same, thinking on your feet is a requirement to win.

Hopefully this short article will remove some of the stigma associated with the game, and even better, will encourage more people to try it out.  I am confident that you will be glad that you did.