Card Games
Here comes a story of love and hate, of happiness and despair, of high ranks of heaven or trash ranks of hell…
Perhaps, a tiny bit dramatic, but playing card games feels that way sometimes, and got me thinking that they are a vital part of so many lives. It’s possible that younger generations don’t feel as much attachment with card games, and I mean the physical ones, but growing up during times in which technology wasn’t as advanced as today meant card games were all you had sometimes.
There was a card game culture at home though, if I should call it that. Every weekend, the family would gather and card games were a classic. We played with Spanish-suited cards, which is the norm where I’m from (evident Spanish heritage), and used beans to bet sometimes. It was only natural for me to feel attracted to card games from then on. One day in high-school, a couple of class-mates where playing some card game in which they had creatures and spells, and an art I’ve never seen before. “It’s Magic”, they said. “As in, Lord of the Rings magic?”, I thought. Two of my best friends and me started talking about this card game and ran to a popular store to get our decks of cards as soon as we could. We knew nothing about the game, and the person at the store didn’t seem to know much about it either. “All the kids ask for this, so I believe this is what you mean by ‘magic’…” - the case had LITERALLY ‘Magic’ printed on it.
We crossed the street to a popular sandwich restaurant, ordered, sat down, and opened our newly acquired packs. I’ve got Tempest’s pre-constructed deck: The Swarm - can’t remember what my friends got. Plastic off. Box opened. The smell of new cards was all there was. Well, that and the excitement of learning this new game! No one cared about the sandwiches anymore.
Fast forward ~10 years, for me to finally be playing Magic frequently and more seriously. It was not something I sought all my life by any means, but it coincided with moving to Europe and Magic was a way to get to know people and have something to do in a new place. It was a blast! Especially, FNMs (Friday Night Magic). The organizer was a retired pro player, who also worked at the bar in a café where (elderly) people usually went to play Bridge. It was a small community, but it was great. We drafted, had some drinks, made fun of bad plays, learned more about the game, and had quite a lot of fun. Eventually, the venue had to move a couple of times and, like all good things, it came to an end. No more FNM. The organizer moved on, and so did the community, and for me that’s when Magic pretty much ended at the time.
A few years passed, until another little card game appeared. It was a digital card game which just entered open beta: Hearthstone. We were playing that game whenever we could. We organized game nights to play together, played at work, kept up to date with all the info there was about the game and the meta. Then we found there were tournaments in the city. Fireside Gatherings they were called. Once again, just like FNM times, a community blossomed and turned out to be an amazing group of people. Starting from the organizer to the staff from the café these tournaments were held at; the players, everyone. Not long after the first couple of gatherings, the popularity of the game increased and so did the attendance, making the event a bit too difficult for just one person to manage. Collaborators stepped forward to help out and I was lucky enough to fill in a gap in that team - laying out cabling and installing switches to extend the local network. What followed was my best experience playing a card game, we had so much fun. Another example of a card game that had a big social impact in my life.
However, things eventually changed (they always do), and as the Fireside Gatherings had an increased importance in the Hearthstone scene, it formalized and moved to a bigger venue somewhere else. I continued to play Hearthstone somewhat seriously for a bit longer, until the game also changed direction in designed mechanics, to the point it was no longer as fun to play. I stopped playing it and then found out Magic: The Gathering released its digital version: Magic Arena. Here we go again!
Reconnected with friends that played Magic, started streaming, made new friends that play Magic, found some really cool streamers and communities that are really into playing the game and creating a good environment for new and returning players. And this past month, I doubled-down: as a new expansion released, I’m back at playing Hearthstone too! Although, I’m no longer in touch with my old communities, I secretly hope one of those guys eventually finds me online somehow and I manage to reconnect. For now, I am having fun with these card games again and hopefully there will be more content, and stories, about my experience now. Stay tuned!
