This week I unlocked an achievement for a fandom that is
close to my heart. Let me explain…
I love to play Magic: The Gathering. I have ever
since I was first introduced to the game by a close friend, Matt, at the age of
ten or eleven. The two of us, and sometimes his brother Daniel, would spend
long afternoons unleashing massive armies of fungal thallids, goblins, zombies,
or angels culled from decks more akin to Jenga towers than the creatures they
represented. I spent a very satisfying part of my childhood participating in leagues,
tournaments, or pickup games; a satisfaction I was pleased to rediscover as an
adult. There was only one thing, at least until early this week, that was
missing: tearing into box of booster packs.
When I first started playing, booster packs were randomized
injections of fifteen new cards that supplemented your growing collection.
Opening them was part of the fun, since they were truly random. The best way to describe opening a pack is
combining the excitement of a slot machine with the tactile sensation of
opening a pack of cigarettes or a candy bar. I couldn’t wait to see the
contents which could be a pack full of crap up to that a mythical stack of rare
powerful cards that could blow away your opponents. It didn’t take players long
to imagine the Halloween’s bounty that a whole box represented. It was a
particular rite of passage that I finally indulged when I brought home my first
box of Shadows Over Innistrad, the current
set.
Setting the box on the coffee table, I could feel the grin
spread across my face as I tore gleefully into the shrink-wrapped display box, immediately
smelling the acidic toner used on the front and back of each card. A smell that
builds with every one of the individually wrapped booster packs I open. The mylar
pouches were slick and crackled, but I was careful not to bend the cards. Just
like I did as a kid, I sorted the contents by color, setting the land aside for
later use. It took me over an hour to open twenty nine of the packs and fully
sort them (I set aside seven for a type of game play called sealed, which
required sealed packs). At the end I was left with an odd feeling, a small part
of me somehow imagined the box to be bigger.
I didn’t buy a box to build a complete set, (I am not really
that into collecting) or to increase my chances of get the mythic rares. I am
also not super competitive; I enjoy playing but I don’t really care if I win or
lose. Don’t get me wrong I am dedicated to building a good solid deck, but it’s
a moving target. New sets are released
every couple of months, so there is an ever evolving assortment of threats that
must be accounted for when building or maintaining a deck. This shifting ground
is one of the reasons why many people get out of the game; it is simply too
expensive.
I managed to work three trim decks out of the massive pile
of cards I unwrapped, which I will add to the dozen or so constructed and
pre-constructed decks that don’t get nearly enough play. They are far different
then the thousand card monstrosities from my childhood. These sleek 60 or 100 card decks are better
for the formats I play now. I have no idea how they will do, I haven’t had a
chance to sit with the friends I play Magic
with in a while. What I do know is that
the inner me, that kid who played so many hours of Magic, is well and truly indulged.
