This week, Hunter wrote a pretty cool article about how Magic can change lives. I’ve decided to follow up with a short, not entirely cohesive account of how it changed mine.
Mid-August last year, I was a little college freshman in a big city. Taking shelter from the oppressive heat, I read and browsed the Internet alone in my room. I tried to avoid big social events. And I regretted going to the ones I did attend because I would invariably end up holding a drink and staring at a wall for most of the night. I emerged from my cave for classes and occasional meals, blinking a few times in the unfamiliar sunlight and scampering downstairs like a small desert lizard.
A bit like this. Actually, a lot like this.
I wasn’t unhappy with my life, but the weeks dragged on like I was living in a really long and uninteresting dream, compounded by a late heatwave and long classes. I continued to browse reddit, comment, and apparently leave behind a growing virtual trail. A few weeks in, I received this message:
Sent from the person henceforth referred to as Cool Guy Steven.
Until then, I had never really considered playing Magic in college. I halfheartedly attended a few events with a friend over the summer, but never really got into it. It was too time-consuming, I reasoned. And who really wants to spend all that money collecting cardboard rectangles. Regardless, I lurked /r/magictcg, commenting occasionally to offer my unhelpful, probably antagonistic input.
I responded to his message, and later on I met up with Cool Guy Steven to trek to Redcap’s Corner, our local gaming store. I ended up attending a few events around the time of the Theros drop. In between rounds of drafting, I read card reviews and Limited strategy on Hipsters of the Coast. And late at night a few weeks later, I decided to apply to write for the Hipsters, offering up tales of my early misadventures and my barely passable writing skills. The start of a new relationship.
I was surprised by how easily Magic incorporated itself into my life. One day you’re researching the difference between Instants and Sorceries, and all of the sudden a draft simulator is your most visited website and you can’t stop thinking about building that awesome Hidden Strings combo deck, no matter how many times your friends try to convince you how terrible it is (note: they were right, mostly).
So there’s my story, but I’m sure you have much better ones to offer. Feel free to comment below and share! And if you’re reading for Draft reports and not my uninteresting life story, don’t worry—regularly scheduled Scrub Report programming returns in the upcoming weeks with FNM, Limited, and what is bound to be a hilarious and awkward tournament report and live blog from GP Philly. I can’t wait.
Tony is the Hipsters’ resident scrub. When he isn’t making bad plays, he enjoys writing about them. Find him @holophr.