2026 is the year that I decided to really get into TCG or Trading Card Games. I have received Magic The Gathering (MTG) cards in the past from events, and they sort of just sat in my office looking cool. But, after playing and losing two matches of MTG, to the co-owner of this website… a fire was lit inside my soul. Immediately downloaded Magic The Gathering Arena, the mobile game and began practicing. Even though Arena, teaches you a lot about the flow of MTG, it felt like something was really missing. Arena felt like a filler for the in-person experience. So, I set off to build a deck and start playing MTG face to face.
Now if you think it is difficult to fill a raid group in Destiny. Try having to find not only someone who plays MTG, but also someone who is available to play MTG at the same time as you. The first stop in my journey to play MTG, was to my local card shop. Shout out to Nexus Tabletop Games, for immediately making me feel welcome and answering all of my newb questions. What is Commander? Can I just buy a pack of land cards? Etc. Another customer came in and heard a few of my questions then offered to play a quick match of Commander with one of the employees. I say quick because one of them had a crazy deck that had a Jumbo Cactaur and did 9999 damage. Seeing that play out added to my fervor to play MTG.
Surely, I Will Play At PAX West!?
Next thing you know, I am digging through boxes of plains cards fleshing out my budding deck. Grabbed some instants and sorcery cards to make sure I had some stopping power to exile some overpowered cards. And boom, first deck completed, at least for standard. Commander looks a little too advanced for me, but I digress. At this time PAX West is around the corner and I know I will run into a bunch of folks playing MTG. For the first time ever, I do not take any video games with me to a con, only my Magic cards and playmat. Long story short…I did not play one single game. The stars did not align, RNGesus did not see it fit for me to play MTG that weekend.
Five Mics
Before giving up completely and returning to the digital MTG playground known as Arena. I had the opportunity to play Five Mics: The Hip-Hop Trading Card Game with the creator Ace Patterson. Having the time of my life with this fast-paced TCG, I even got my oldest kid to get into it. Of course she beat me her first time playing against me, but most importantly we got hooked. She has her favorite prebuilt deck she uses centered around spending a lot of resources fast and making more even faster. While my prebuilt was centered around solo artists (creatures) and buffing them through being alone on the stage (battlefield). We enjoyed the game so much we attended an in-person event at Haiku Pop. My oldest interviewed Ace Patterson about Five Mics, we played a few matches and talked to other people who enjoy the game.
The Mrs. Got Involved
This past Saturday, we ended up playing MTG and Five Mics until 1 AM. With the power of the Marvel Super Heroes MTG Beginner Box and a lot of google searches, my wife has not been initiated into the world of TCG. Through effort, my kid’s curiosity, and putting on my big boy pants to ask my wife if she wants to play MTG with me, led to a house full of TCG players. We even went to our local card shop to buy sleeves and cases. This is going to be expensive… but so worth it!
