My research object in the American Material Culture class at Temple University has been Magic: The Gathering cards. Magic, as it often is short-handed, is a game that my brother introduced me to over 10 years ago now, and I’ve been fortunate to have so many incredible memories with friends from our time playing or being around the game. A comprehensive research profile of Magic cards as material culture is a difficult undertaking, mainly because the game has been putting out around 4 sets a year at a minimum for the last 30 years. As someone who once had a job working with Magic cards and a long-time player, I’ve noticed that the cards don’t always feel the same.
A new promotional product started to be sold in 2019 called ‘’Secret Lairs’’. They are special reprinting of cards with alternative art, usually based on a theme such as ‘’Pride Across the Multiverse’’. Issues have arisen from foil secret lairs. Foiled cards are the same as normal cards, but they have an additional layer of material that makes the card look shiny or holographic. The problem that foil Secret Lairs cards have consistently had is that they become warped and bent, which is pictured below. The cards are curled and thusly can not be played in any tournaments because they can be considered ‘’marked’’ or easily found cards in a deck that could be used for cheating. This issue isn’t just with the foil Secret Lairs, as foils in general in the last 3-4 years are mostly unplayable because of the curling of the cards that are being distributed. I haven’t been able to find anything about this through my research, or how the materials may have changed. I’ve tried calling the company that produces almost all of the Magic: the Gathering cards, Cartamundi but haven’t heard back yet after multiple messages.
One of the directions I could see this research going in the future would be an oral history, or documentary-style production. There are large Magic events all throughout America nearly every month and I believe an oral history of the communities relationship with Magic as a hobby, as a material that is consumed, and as a history of the game would excite people. Large Magic events and conventions bring in a large group of people with a shared hobby, as well as employees from Wizards of the Coast which is the company that makes the game. One of the groups that have been absent in my research has been Wizards of the Coast. I haven’t spoken to anyone there directly, and that’s something I’ll have to follow up on. I believe the community would be interested in this kind of information and could see this project becoming something digital either on a website, or youtube videos with oral histories.
When I was interviewing Matt Weiss, someone who has played the game for around 20 years and has worked as a judge at events and helped run stores, something important stuck out to me. Magic: The Gathering is a card game that allows people to express themselves. With so many printings of the same card with different art, languages, foil or non-foil, and other ways to collect and play the game does create a sense of individualism. Magic is a trading and collectible card game, but it also does a good job of making it so people have options and freedom of expression. The community that Magic has fostered cares about the game, and a lot of the information I’ve been getting about the game has been from forums that are created by players who record information such as how cards are printed, and on what material.
One of the leads I’ve been trying to follow but haven’t been able to figure out is who Wizards of the Coast does printing through for every set that comes out. From what I’ve found so far, there are typically 3-4 main sets printed and distributed every 3 months and these seem to be coming from Cartamundi. Though promotional products are sold throughout the year at different points and I believe these are printed on different card stock, and perhaps from a different company or location. Some of the promotional products, such as the popular ‘’Duel Decks’’ cards have a glossy, almost waxy feel to them. I haven’t been able to find information on this, but this is something that the community is well aware of. There have also been conversations on forums and websites dating back mostly from 2017 to the present about Japanese card stock, and that cards produced in Japan are preferred by players because they have fewer issues with foil curling. This was something Matt Weiss mentioned in our oral history as well. I’ve been doing research into this and it does appear that Japan does use a different card stock, which Wizards of the Coast released an article about on September 19, 2016, but that post has been removed from their website. The forums I’ve been using do a great job of citing their sources, so I’ve been able to try to follow their links. The only issue is some of these links no longer direct to anything.
One of the things I considered doing with this project was posting about my research interest in these forums and in various Magic communities. I knew I would get a lot of responses, but I knew I wouldn’t have enough time to follow up on all of them, so I decided not to do it. If I were to continue research on this project, I would want it to be for the Magic community and with the community’s help. Magic as a card game, collectible, and hobby goes beyond the community it’s created. This research could pertain to collecting any object, such as the first printings of books or playing cards in general. I’m very excited about this project and wish I had more time for it. One of the things that inspired me is the ‘’Enter the Battlefield’’ documentary that started in 2016. They were a series of documentaries on professional Magic: The Gathering players, pro teams, community members, and locations. I loved these and still watch them even though they stopped making them. If I were to continue the project it would focus less on material culture and more on the community and the relationship that the game and the players have shared. Matt Weiss asked me to present at a Magic convention which would be on how the game has evolved over the years and how we as players and the community have changed. Unfortunately, we weren’t selected to present.
