#makemagichistory

A continuation of a series of articles on my history with magic, and how it got me to where I am today. Last time we talked about how I started playing magic back around odyssey block in 2001.

Part 2: Artful Tactician

Throughout Middle School our play style stayed relatively the same. Picking up cards in expansions and evolving our casual decks. Mirrodin Block added isochron scepters to my burn deck, and viridian joiners to my insane Kamahl deck. The next year I played Snakes from Kamigawa and Ninjas from Betrayers, not fully understanding how to use my Jitte but liking it because of the flavor nonetheless.  The next block was ravnica, and the first guild i gravitated to was selesnya, as it fit the tokens and ramping play style I adopted with Kamahl. In Guildpact that all changed when I discovered the Izzet. The main conflict of the guild is instinct vs Intellect, and the guild embraces creativity and thinking outside the box. Add on to that philosophical grounding with experimental lightning magic and steampunk garb and I was hooked. I played a super fun isochron scepter Replicate deck and have found a way to play red blue in every format since. Flash Forward to the summer of 2014 at a tattoo expo, I had a rule that I would only get a tattoo if i wanted the same thing for 5 years, and that thing was the Izzet Sigil. I look down at my left leg every morning and think about what it means and how much the game has given to me. It helps affirm and fuel my convictions of being a creative and thoughtful person, and acting with passion first and foremost. 

In honor of Modern Masters Weekend and Make Magic History. I thought it would be fitting to tell the story of undoubtedly one of the most influential aspects of my life Magic: The Gathering. If it were not for magic I wouldn't be where I am today, wouldn’t have studied what I did in college, and wouldn't have met the wonderful people in my life that make it what it is. 

Part 1: The Gathering

It all started back when I was about 11 playing the pokemon tag, the insert card had a few weird symbols and talked of this other game called “The Gathering” I didn't think too much of it then. A year later I'm surfing through channels and see the same strange symbols on cards on a sports channel? That’s right, I had inadvertently tuned in to one of the only televised magic tournaments on espn2. The art looked kinda cool but the camera didn't focus on it too much and I couldn't understand what was going on. That year I started at a new school after having moved around several times due to my dad serving in the air force. We were told this was the last move we had to do, but after years of having to tell your friends goodbye I was skeptical of making new ones. On the bus rides to school a few rows behind me were other boys my age, playing a card game in between the seats. They were having such a good time that the next day I looked on to see what they were doing.  “Oh, no, not Trevah and Crosis!” I heard as I saw a horde of creatures being outclassed by 2 very different looking dragons. That summer hit and the first time I got lawn mowing money to spend on what I wanted, I bought an Odyssey precon “One-Two Punch” and a Judgement Booster with my first rare. Thriss, Nantuko Primus. I made my first friend through the game that weekend and traded a sylvan might for an Anger, which I still have to this day. That fall I was finally able to play with my friends, playing my green mantis deck as well as my red blue deck that they made me split up because it was too powerful. It played burn spells, Wonder and Anger to make all my creatures into flying hasty beaters. That christmas I got the first of many wintertime fat packs, opening one of my favorite cards of all time Kamahl, Fist  of Krosa. That winter break was the first time my best friend growing up, Jayson, came to sleep over, play cards and watch movies, a ritual we still practice to this day. My first deck evolved into an Elf deck with Kamahl, Thriss, and some mana elves to attack for hundreds. I made my wizard mill deck out of half of the WonderAnger Deck, and a mono red goblins deck that was rained on, and fell into a snowbank.  We kept playing the same way, casually adding packs as new sets came out.