Since Table Tales began, I've written at length about my love of wargaming, that curious hobby where grown men and women assemble, paint and battle with miniatures across the tabletop. This, combined with my love of tabletop role-playing games, is one of the classic hallmarks of nerd and geek culture.
Yet, there is one aspect of tabletop games I rarely, if ever, engage in: card games.
Now I'm not talking your classic poker, blackjack or gin rummy. I'm talking tabletop trading card games where each card has its unique properties and, much like rare baseball and hockey cards, can be sold for hundreds, thousands and in some cases, millions of dollars.
Growing up, the big card games for my generation were Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh, both originating in Japan and linked to their respective anime. Each card corresponds to a monster with a set amount of hit points, or HP, that players could attack using their monsters. The goal of the game was usually to defeat every card in your opponent's deck or to reduce their hit points to zero.
One card game that follows this formula is Magic: The Gathering, first released by Wizards of the Coast, of Dungeons and Dragons fame, in 1993. Over the last 30 years, but certainly within the last decade, Magic is a game that has exploded in popularity. According to Hasbro, the parent company of Wizards, the game boasts over 50-million players worldwide.
In a game of Magic, the players are wizards and their decks of cards represent monsters and spells they can summon to attack one another. Each player will have a set amount of HP, usually 20, with the goal being to defeat the monsters guarding the other player and reduce their HP to zero. Each card has different abilities and effects which correspond to five main schools os magic. Players can build their decks around specific playstyles, choosing monsters and magic that synergize together. I would like to stress I am NOT a Magic player and there is a lot I am glossing over with this description for the sake of brevity.
Magic's success is based on a variety of factors, from the enjoyable gameplay to the large sanctioned tournaments. A major factor is the constant inclusion of new cards, often themed around popular movies, TV shows and video games. Much like sports trading cards, these cards can be bought in blind packs and, along with the regular cards, Wizards has begun to slip in exclusive collector's edition cards.
Earlier this month, one of these rare cards was drawn in 100 Mile House. On Saturday, June 7, Luke Brown and his partner Denaya McDonald drew a black ink, foil, borderless Travelling Chocobo from a $69 pack bought at Creative Magic Art and Hobby. For context, variations of that card are currently going for between $3,000 and $6,000 online.
Brown, a mill worker by trade, told me he got into Magic about a year ago after talking about the game with a coworker during a graveyard shift. It wasn't long before Brown and his friend began playing the game together and he eventually joined a larger group.
"I started accumulating more cards and decks," Brown remarked, noting he enjoys playing Magic The Gathering: Commander specifically. He told me he enjoys how each set of cards Wizards releases has unique mechanics.
As for the card, Brown said that he bought the two Final Fantasy collector boosters as a birthday present for his girlfriend, McDonald, because she is a fan of the video game series Final Fantasy, which the cards are based on. He recalled that he let her pick the two packs.
"There was a very low chance of getting a card like this out of two boosters. People will buy whole boxes that are just under $1,000 and not pull anything close to it. She just had a really lucky pick of the packs of the two of them," Brown said. "Boom, it was there on the couch and then in the case because this might be something, neither of us was too sure. I went to check with my buddies, who are super nerds, and they were like 'yo dude, drop it don't touch it, don't look at it, put it away."
The Chocobo Brown and McDonald drew is the second rarest card out of the set, with Brown knowing of about two or three in the United States and no others in Canada, so far. Brown noted that the potential value of the card is everything he's put into Magic so far, times two. He noted he and McDonald still need to decide what they want to do with the card, but he's leaning towards selling it.
"My buddies put it in a good way, I am too broke to have $8,000 wall art," Brown remarked. "Another thing my buddy said, I'm kind of wondering if we can get a proxy of it and then have that because it's only going to lose value staying with us."
Whatever choice the couple makes, Brown intends to keep on playing Magic, noting he's like a fish that's been hooked. Games of Magic: The Gathering are played regularly at Creative Magic Art and Hobby and Valhalla Games. Be sure to swing by there if you're looking to learn more.
