Under a mural of a dragon-fighting knight, a tournament is beginning. Players from all over the city are gathering for their competition. It will be a fierce battle of skill and wit. The sport? Friday Night Magic.
Magic: the Gathering is a fantasy card game where players try to build a deck that will beat other opponents. Each card has it’s own abilities which can be used, for example, to deal damage to the opposing player’s “life.” The most basic rule is that the first person to lose all 20 points of their life loses the game.
White Knight Games, located on North Anthony Boulevard, is one of several locations in Fort Wayne that holds the weekly tournament. Consisting of several rounds, each won by best two out of three matches, Friday Night Magic is popular amongst the gaming crowd.
“We have the finest athletes here,” joked Tom Hogar, an IPFW graduate, running the store as manager while the two owners were at a convention in Indianapolis.
Thaddeus Art, an IPFW graduate, and Kingsley Davis-Uzoechi, a sophomore public communication and media major, are regulars to these tournaments.
“I’m here every day,” said Art as he and Davis-Uzoechi played a practice game of Magic. “We play at parties and Piere’s, everywhere.”
This is not unusual for Magic players. Many attend Friday Night Magic almost every week at White Knight Games or other gaming stores in the city. Some even travel to compete in out of town tournaments.
One such player is Logan Prather, a theology and biblical literature major at Indiana Wesleyan University. He recently took second place at the Star City Games Invitiaional Qualifier. The invitational boasts a grand prize of $10,000.
The grand prize at White Knight Games is not so large. The winner receivers four packs of Magic cards, and second through fourth place get similar prizes. Still, it costs nothing to enter the game.
Before the first round starts, most of the players were chatting, playing practice games, or purchasing cards. But as soon as Hogar announed the start of the even, an order emerged from the chaos. Everyone took a seat and decks were shuffled.
A normal Friday Night Magic at White Knight has four rounds, but tonight’s competition was planned to last six. With 50 minutes as the time limit per round, that means the game could last nearly six hours.
For this first round, however, it takes only 20 minutes before the first scores are called out. While the early finishers have their break, some go outside to discuss their last round.
Art is among them. He vented about his loss, saying, “I couldn’t draw. I couldn’t deal with what he had. And then I lost.” He isn’t out of the tournament, yet, however. There is no elimination in Friday Night Magic. Players participate in each round and get points for wins. Still, as the second round began, Art headed back inside and said, “Friday Night Masochism!”
Davis-Uzoechi had a better round, winning against IPFW secondary education major Jonathan Stegeman.
“I’m more of a casual player so I’m okay with a loss or two, but winning still makes me giddy,” he said with a smile.
There was a great amount of diversity at the tournament. Though most of the players are teen and adult males, there are women and children in the mix. The youngest player, in fact, is an eight-year-old girl named Ronnie Wilt, there with her father and toy leopard.
Cody Lawson, a sophomore at Ivy Tech, played and defeated Wilt in the first round. “She put up a good fight,” he said with a smile.
After four hours into the tournament, the fifth and final round begins. With the time approaching midnight, the numbers had dwindled. Only 24 players of the original 38 drew their hands to play the last game of the night.
The top two prizes, however, are already out of most of their grasps.
At the table closest to the exit, the only players to have gone undefeated face each other – Lawson and Alex Richards, 23.
Though the first match went to Lawson, the round is far from decided. Both reach for their sideboards, an extra fifteen cards used to supplement a deck.
Sideboarding is a crucial step. Magic is “a high-strategy game,” according to Prather. “You have to take into account what everyone else is playing and know what to put in your deck.”
In other words, the cards Lawson and Richards add could win or lose the game.
At the beginning of the next match, it seemed like Lawson had the advantage yet again, leaving him with first prize. Many turns pass, however, and eventually he surrendered to Richards.
A sportsmanlike handshake starts the third and final match.
Both players seem evenly matched in terms of life. However, time is running out. When Hogar called the 50 minute limit, leaving the players with only five turns to finish, they had yet to determine a winner.
Finally, a concession. “I’m gonna let you have it,” said Lawson, setting down his hand. Richards’ deck had shut him down and he would be left with second place.
