The Gathering casts a spell on UNL students

Ryan Hildreth put down the cards because he couldn’t afford them. But only a few years later, the freshman general studies major found himself addicted again.

Magic: The Gathering, created in 1993, was one of the first collectible trading card games.

And now it’s making a comeback.

In 2011, there were approximately 12 million players, including students at University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Hildreth was originally brought back into the world of Magic by his sister. He played Magic while growing up but has been on break from the game for the past four years.

“I quit because it’s a money trap,” Hildreth said. “Then I sat down with (my sister) and all of her friends and I remembered how fun it is.”

Every Tuesday night at 6 p.m. a group made up of mostly UNL students gather in the Nebraska Union to play the card game.

Each game of Magic is a battle between wizards called planeswalkers. Two or more players try to reduce their opponents to a score of zero by dealing the designated Magic cards that cause damage, or loss of points, to other players.

Students began playing Magic together about five years ago in the 501 Building off Stadium Drive. The gamers said they moved to their current location two years ago in hopes of a higher attendance rate.

“It turns out there’s lots of Magic players here (at the Union),” said Elliot Campbell, an economics graduate student said.

According to Campbell attendance peaks between 14 to 16 people some Tuesday nights. With this increase in numbers, Campbell found a way to adapt Magic to larger groups. He took the concept of the card game Bang, based on the wild-west, and applied it to Magic.

“There’s one person that everyone knows who they are,” Campbell said. “Then there are a bunch of hidden roles and they have different objectives. It adds a layer of social games like Werewolf or Mafia to Magic.”

With this change, he has fixed a couple of problems with the multiplayer version of Magic.

“It’s possible to lose early and you’re just sitting there doing nothing,” Campbell said. “In this variant you’re in teams so if you lost, you might still be interested in the game because your teammates are still playing.”

With this different style of Magic, the group can play three or more games between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m., according to Campbell.

“I think it’s interesting enough where it keeps people coming back,” Campbell said.

Many of the regular Magic players at the Union had heard of the group from someone they knew. Mauricio Lang, a senior economics major, was invited into the group by one of his friends when Magic was still being played in the 501 Building.

“I started playing Magic with them and when they moved up to the Union, I moved too,” Lang said.

Hildreth also introduced at least three more friends to Magic, one who had never played before. Members said those who don’t know how to play but are interested are welcome to join.

“There are people that bring decks to share so you don’t have to have your own Magic cards to play,” Campbell said. “We have a thing called a cube. Someone has made a mini set of Magic that you can build deck out of.”

Campbell, Hildreth and Lang all say they play Magic simply because they enjoy the game.

“Magic is a way for me and my friends to hang out,” Hildreth said, “and it’s fun.”