THEWIRE

Card games on campus

By Shane Smith

 

Some students at Delaware Technical and Community College get together to play a trading card game when they are on their breaks in between classes. The card game is known as Magic the Gathering. Students play these games for fun, but sometimes it can become competitive. The game takes at least 15 to 45 minutes to play and has one goal, and it is to be the last man standing.

 

Magic the Gathering is a trading card game first published in 1993 by a trading card company known as Wizards of the Coast. Magic was the first trading card game produced and it continues to thrive. As of 2011, it has attracted approximately 12 million players.

 

Among those 12 million players is Alexander Willette, a student at Delaware Tech’s Owens campus who plays Magic the Gathering. He has been playing this game ever since it has been getting a huge following in 2010. It is his all-time favorite game because of its complexity.

 

“This game in particular takes a lot of an intellectual strategy as well as skill,” Willette stated. “Typically, you need a deck, preferably with an idea in mind as to how it is structured. These are the two formats most people like to play because of the competitiveness and complexity of the game. It’s as if the player has to be on their toes the entire time playing.”

 

There are two main types of formats Willette likes to use: Standard and Commander. The difference of these formats in Magic is the number of cards in the deck. The Standard format is a deck constructed with 60 cards and players have a total of 20 life counters, whereas the Commander is a deck constructed with 100 cards with a “commander”, which is primarily a legendary creature, thus confirming the name of the format. For Commander, players start out with a total of 40 life counters. The first person to reach zero life counters loses the game. The Commander format is a more favorable approach when it comes to playing Magic, according to Willette.

 

“There are many different formats of the game, but I primarily like using the Commander format more,” Willette stated. “It’s generally played between two players, but it can be larger groups. Sometimes, we have up to six players playing one game.”

 

According to Willette, Magic the Gathering is just for fun and to relieve stress from classes. “It’s definitely a stress-reliever,” Willette stated. “There are times when the workload is so overwhelming that I need to take a break from it for a while. So I take out my Magic cards and I forget the world that surrounds me.” Willette also stated that Magic, if it’s either making decks or playing against his opponents, is something that he likes to do to relieve stress of classwork, homework, and project due dates.

 

According to Willette, he has been playing this game ever since he was first introduced to it. “To be honest, I started out playing Yu-Gi-Oh! before I started playing Magic,” Willette stated.

 

”Ever since this game came out, it got very little reception but has gained a huge following. I decided to get the game because I wanted to see what all the commotion was about. It was at that moment that I understood why the game was so popular. I was so hooked onto it; I play this game more than Yu-Gi-Oh!”

 

Willette stated that he doesn’t only play this game for sport, but it also gives him the opportunity to meet new people. “This game is an easy way to make friends with my opponents,” Willette stated. “It also allows me to know what kind of people they are based on the themes of decks to use and stratagems they like to make.”