How Unpoetic

My topic is slightly unorthadox-it is a card game. But no ordinary card game-oh no, this is not your poker, your Texas hold'em. I speak instead of a fantasy card game, one that many people have not heard of, or, having heard of it, have dismissed entirely as something only a "nerd" would do. I speak of the game "Magic: The Gathering" (I believe I mentioned it briefly in a previous post. To me, this particular game is a huge part of my life. You make a deck of 60 cards out of a huge pool of cards, and pit yourself against opponents in a bid for...well, whatever's one the line, be it pride or something else. The ability to create your own deck, based on your own thoughts and analysis of the game is what makes it, to me, more interesting then the ever-the-same deck of Kings, Queens, and Jacks. To me, the most interesting part of the game is tournament magic. You meet so many different types of people-its spectacular. No matter their quirks, every person at the tournament is united by a common love and comittment to the game that one would normally expect to see in, say, football. Of course, no game could do so well without a savvy company to promote it, and for that you have the company "Wizards of the Coast." They not only release new sets at intervals to keep the game fresh and interesting, they, in their incredible commitment to seeing the game succeed, host tournaments of all kinds, up to and including the Pro Tour-yes, their is in fact a pro circuit. Of course, you don't need to be a hardcore tournament player to enjoy the game. A kitchen table can support the game just as well as a table in a tournament venue should you so choose-to many people (and to me, at times) the draw of the game is simply playing casually, nothing on the line, for nothing but laughs and fun (although theirs plenty of that in tournaments as well, believe you me). Yes, dynamic, ever shifting, a wonderful social exercise, and, to me, something to be treasured...to me, that is Magic.