Despite spending much of my early teens experimenting with the likes of Dungeons and Dragons, Warhammer and other similar games, I somehow missed out on Magic: The Gathering. Probably because it came arrived in 1993, just as I was packing away my ten-sided dice in favour of underage drinking and unsuccessfully trying to impress girls. Plus in the UK, trading cards brought back memories of wet holidays stuck playing Top Trumps.
So it’s ironic that I heard about the Magic: The Gathering Modern Masters Weekend just after being probably introduced to Magic: The Gathering by this rather good Vice feature on Youtube.
So, having become acquainted with the people that love the game, and those who play professionally, I can appreciate the fact that 20,000+ people in Japan, America and the Netherlands all celebrated the Modern Masters Weekend together.
Christine Sprankle at Grand Prix Las Vegas – Photo by Joey Pasco
In addition to 5,000 fans in Grand Prix Chiba, 5,000 in Grand Prix Utrech and 11,000 in Grand Prix Las Vegas, around 1,000,000 fans watched the live streams.
Grand Prix Las Vegas Crowd – Photo by Joey Pasco
More staggering stats include 40,000 main event matches, 90,000 packs of cars opened, and the weekend also saw a variety of cosplayers, and even four weddings.
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- Florence Dei Ochoa & Greg Miller – Photo by Joey Pasco
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- Florence Dei Ochoa – Photo by Joey Pasco
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- Christine Sprankle & Florence Dei Ochoa – Photo by Joey Pasco
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- Christine Sprankle – Photo by Joey Pasco
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- Christine Sprankle at Grand Prix Las Vegas – Photo by Joey Pasco
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- Alan Marling – Photo by Joey Pasco
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- Amanda Sharpe – Photo by Joey Pasco
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- Jacklyn Foglia – Photo by Joey Pasco
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- Christine Spankle – Photo by Joey Pasco
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- GP Chiba – Photo by Neale Talbot
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- Gp Chiba – Bitterblossom – Photo by Neale Tablot
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- GP Chiba Cosplayers – Photo by Neale Talbot
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- GP Chiba – Photo by Neale Talbot
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- GP Utrecht Liliana of the Veil – Photo by Craig Gibson
And just to tie into the competitive side of things, Davide Vergoni won Grand Prix Utrecht, which had a total prize pool of $70,000.
We not sure whether that’s better than getting hitched at a Magic competition/convention.
Grand Prix Las Vegas Wedding – Photo by Joey Pasco
Another Magic Wedding – Photo by Joey Pasco
Either way, the enduring love of Magic: The Gathering is certainly something any hobby-obsessive can identify with. And it also makes us tempted to give it a try – although the risk of spending our meagre savings on limited edition classic Magic cards means we should probably re-consider our other collections first. At least Magic is undoubtedly a social event – you need at least one other person to play against!
Players at Grand Prix Las Vegas – Photo by Joey Pasco
You know she’d beat us in a matter of seconds – Photo by Joey Pasco
Magic continues to attract fans since 1993 – Photo by Joey Pasco
Mother plays at Grand Prix Utrecht while her son provides support – Pic by Craig Gibson
Who are we kidding – someone get us a pack of cards while we start reading up on the rules….