[Book! - Premium] So do you wear a cape? The Unofficial Story of M:TG

[titus]

Hey guys awesome! Thanks Ween and thanks Plague Sliver for your support. Really hope you enjoy it - Be great to hear what you think when you're done reading. Please do share your feedback here and elsewhere - be ace to have the Legacy community behind it. There's plenty of nostalgia in the book I'll admit - probably something most Eternal players can relate to! :)

Happy reading!

[CabalTherapy]

Hey guys awesome! Thanks Ween and thanks Plague Sliver for your support. Really hope you enjoy it - Be great to hear what you think when you're done reading. Please do share your feedback here and elsewhere - be ace to have the Legacy community behind it. There's plenty of nostalgia in the book I'll admit - probably something most Eternal players can relate to! :)

Happy reading!

Hi, Titus,
I almost finished reading your book on my kindle. I have to say that it is really good stuff and from a literary point of view very well-written. I am not sure if you have done this consciously but throughout the whole text you are using adjectives and verbs which reminds me instantly of some Magic cards. Maybe it is just the corruption in my mind that wants to pop up some notions of cards when I read certain words. :P
Nevertheless one thing needs further clarification. In the chapter "The Missing Tribe" (?) you use the concept of gender to describe women playing magic. But I think you should have used the word "sex" to describe women as being the biological counterpart to men. Gender is the socially constructed concept in our minds which drives us to emulate roles which we see as "male" or "female".

Nonetheless, good work. :)

[titus]

Hi, Titus,
I almost finished reading your book on my kindle. I have to say that it is really good stuff and from a literary point of view very well-written. I am not sure if you have done this consciously but throughout the whole text you are using adjectives and verbs which reminds me instantly of some Magic cards. Maybe it is just the corruption in my mind that wants to pop up some notions of cards when I read certain words. :P

Hi Cabal Therapy, thanks for reading! Who is this by the way? Surely one of the numerous Berlin/Hot Box storm players?! :)

Yes, at times there were words that slipped out that had a dual meaning - a real life one and a Magic one. I decided to leave them in because they were words I felt I naturally wanted to use, but also as a little bit of fun to any players with good powers of observation! After all, the language we use is one of the things that binds us together as a community.

Nevertheless one thing needs further clarification. In the chapter "The Missing Tribe" (?) you use the concept of gender to describe women playing magic. But I think you should have used the word "sex" to describe women as being the biological counterpart to men. Gender is the socially constructed concept in our minds which drives us to emulate roles which we see as "male" or "female".

You're almost certainly correct on this point - and I will refine this when I correct a few typos/errors for a future edition. Hope you felt the arguments were still valid and that you took something away from the chapter nonetheless. Getting more women involved in the game is a vexed issue, but I one I do feel strongly about - I'm sure Magic would benefit from a far more diverse player-base in every sense and I hope it's something that is much changed by the game's next big anniversary. It was very cool to hear from Garfield that he had hopes of attracting more female players to the game when he created it - even if it didn't quite pan out the way he expected it to.

If you have a non-Magic-playing girlfriend or wife in your life, please do pass the book on to her - might be just the thing to pique her interest in the game! :)

[CabalTherapy]

Hi Cabal Therapy, thanks for reading! Who is this by the way? Surely one of the numerous Berlin/Hot Box storm players?! :)

Kind of. I have been playing Legacy for 4/5 years in the ASL. If time is kind to me I attend some of Hotbox's torunaments.

Yes, at times there were words that slipped out that had a dual meaning - a real life one and a Magic one. I decided to leave them in because they were words I felt I naturally wanted to use, but also as a little bit of fun to any players with good powers of observation! After all, the language we use is one of the things that binds us together as a community.

:)

You're almost certainly correct on this point - and I will refine this when I correct a few typos/errors for a future edition. Hope you felt the arguments were still valid and that you took something away from the chapter nonetheless. Getting more women involved in the game is a vexed issue, but I one I do feel strongly about - I'm sure Magic would benefit from a far more diverse player-base in every sense and I hope it's something that is much changed by the game's next big anniversary. It was very cool to hear from Garfield that he had hopes of attracting more female players to the game when he created it - even if it didn't quite pan out the way he expected it to.

Thanks :P. I understand your points you have made in the book and to a great extent also subscribe them. (I think that the last time that I have played against a women was 2007. ^^)

If you have a non-Magic-playing girlfriend or wife in your life, please do pass the book on to her - might be just the thing to pique her interest in the game! :)

Actually, I do have a girlfriend who is aware of Magic's basic rules because I talk about the game, ANT, burn and tournaments almost on a daily basis. :X

[Plague Sliver]

[Note: I do not know Titus - so this is honest feedback and not an infomercial...]

I'm about 30% of the way through the book, and feel compelled to write about it. I can write about the remaining 70% later, but since the book appears to be chronological, hopefully my feedback won't be invalidated later.

It's very good. An excellent trip through memory lane and well researched. The narrative is written in a way that is both fun for old diehards (most people on this forum) and perhaps more importantly, for non-Magic players. The Magic basics and lingo ("broken," "combo," "card advantage") are clearly explained and readers who know the terms can easily skim through. Personally I feel that the initial 30% I read - while possible to collate through the Internet - is coalesced into a strong narrative, which already makes it worth the $5 or so I paid. I was concerned initially - from the sample chapter - that it was going to be rambling in places. But I've been pleasantly surprised thus far.

One thing that the author does well is transpose the reader into a particular time and place. He also calls out the relationship between Magic and the trends at the time - technology, social norms, music scenes - to create a more well-rounded view.

I also like the author's use of personal experience in New Zealand to overlay/juxtapose along the Magic timeline. Every player who's involved in Magic has a story, and that helps make the personal angle stronger. As I read along I couldn't help but remember how my brother and I got started around Revised, forking over money for the 2-player intro set complete with life counters in a bag and oversized rulebook.

In addition, the author landed some exclusive interviews with folks like Brian Weissman, so there's additional value there. You can tell that the author clearly enjoyed writing it; it's clearly a labor of love.

It's fascinating to read about the early days of Magic, so much that I'll devolve into a tangent here. Reading about the origins - the playtesting of cards before going to print, Jesper Myrfors and the "first wave" artists, Adkison driving cross-country, customers rallying against Arabian Nights' different card backs - it's easy to wax nostalgic about the "good old days." Certainly I never knew about the origins of WotC, as I just played the game. I'll just say that it's a completely different game now. Just as one cannot compare professional basketball to the beginnings of the sport, when players shot at a mounted peach basket, it's nearly impossible to draw similarities between modern Magic and the organic, no-Internet, no-price guide beginnings of the game. When opening every starter was mysterious and new interactions were found daily.

I don't think one can say the early period was better or worse - it was just unrecognizably different. One thing that really resonated, though, is that the book allows us to reflect on how WE got started playing this game. None of us knew jack shit in the beginning, and wandered into gaming circles/stores with nary a clue. That kid in the card store today who just opened packs and is getting laughed at, or ripped off? That was me, that was you, that was us. That was us 10, 15 or 20 years ago.

It's pretty easy to lose perspective - especially when we're on a message board dedicated to a premier Eternal format - that we all started humble. And continued humility goes a long way. Kids today start with Standard and that's what we started with. We need to keep the scene strong, no matter what format it is, so that the game can thrive and continue to evolve. Let's get them interested in Eternal, sure, but let's keep them interested in Magic, period, whatever the format is. They want to pick the format with the most support and the most players, not to mention the most "gloss" in terms of new cards. I say let them play and don't denigrate what they're into.

Tangent aside, I've really enjoyed the first 30% of the book and look forward to reading the rest.

[titus]

Wow - thanks Plague Sliver for such an extensive write-up! Really appreciate it - and am glad that what you've read so far gave you food for thought. That really is the point of it - to try and situate Magic and our lives as the Magic community in a wider social context than we usually consider; to pull back the lens somewhat from the newest tech or decks to beat or whatever. And in so doing, to give wider society a way to understand how they relate to us, too. I hope if you enjoy the rest of the book you might pass it on to friends or family who don't understand the game. Hopefully there's something in there for them, too.

It's pretty easy to lose perspective - especially when we're on a message board dedicated to a premier Eternal format - that we all started humble. And continued humility goes a long way. Kids today start with Standard and that's what we started with. We need to keep the scene strong, no matter what format it is, so that the game can thrive and continue to evolve. Let's get them interested in Eternal, sure, but let's keep them interested in Magic, period, whatever the format is. They want to pick the format with the most support and the most players, not to mention the most "gloss" in terms of new cards. I say let them play and don't denigrate what they're into.

And amen to this! Magic might be in rude health today, but we all have a role to play in keeping it a living, breathing, thriving game. Ultimately, its continued growth is vital if we are to see it celebrate another 20 years. I certainly don't want to be writing a book about the game's demise any time in the near future....

[titus]

Quick bump to this thread for several reasons:

Firstly, the awesome Luis Scott Vargas said nice things about it on Twitter this week. Along with Olle Rade and Frank Karsten, that's three Hall of Famers who have now read it (and I know Paulo has bought it) - need I say more? This thing virtually guarantees a ring! ;)

Secondly, MJ Scott interviewed me for Gathering Magic and Matt Mendoza for his Across the Table podcast. If you'd like to know more about what went into the book, before checking it out yourself, this might give you an idea of what I tried to achieve with it. Hopefully, you'll like what you read/hear - here's the Gathering Magic link and here's the Across the Table podcast.

Finally, just wanted to shout out to everyone going to GP Paris! I'll be there for some Legacy and Vintage action and will be wearing a T-Shirt with the cover image (see OP). If you spot me, please come say hi. Happy to answer any queries you might have about the book or, if you've read it, listen to your feedback. Also happy to swap inevitable bad beats stories!

Phew... that's about it. I really hope some of you Sourcers have had a chance to check the book out. Meanwhile, to everyone heading to Paris this weekend, bonne chance! And I'll see you there!