26 players gather on a Saturday evening in the back of Time Warp Comics and Games in Cedar Grove, New Jersey. The group, veterans in their early 30s to a single 12 year-old player, chat, trade cards and even shuffle up decks containing cards from the new Shards of Alara expansion and playtest new creations. For what? Magic the Gathering, a 15 year-old fantasy card game from Wizards of the Coast.
The event is a release Sealed Deck tournament, where players purchase randomized packs of the newest set, open them and construct 40-card decks, which they then use to battle opponents based on win record over the course of four rounds, best two out of three.
The event begins at quarter after six following an hour of socializing with other players attending the event, some of which haven't seen each other in months.
Like most other organized events, a community follows closely. In Magic, the Magic community is no different. From the official forums on Wizard's Magic website, to rumor and spoiler sites like MTGSalvation, to online stores that publish articles from Magic professional players like StarCityGames (and people are able to play the game professionally; the last Pro Tour tournament in Hollywood, CA in June had a prize purse of $230,795 with $40,000 of it going to the winner, one of the larger but not largest events in Magic), the Magic community is an active group with much to say about their game of choice.
The next Pro Tour event, to be held in Berlin, is on November 2nd.
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