By Adam Sullivan
It was a classic game-winning strategy. Summon big, swing big, outpace and outlast. Britt Grace could see the next battle playing out in his head turn for turn. His first deck was nearly perfect, only requiring a few tweaks. With a multitude of cards splayed before him, glaring from behind their reflective plastic sleeves, he got to work.
For those unfamiliar, Magic: the Gathering has been the world’s most popular trading card game since its inception in the early '90s, boasting a playership of 35 million and growing. To further illustrate the point, MTG’s reach is so expansive that it has been translated into eleven languages, hosts its own annual invitation-only Pro Tour with a $50,000 grand prize and is slated for a Netflix series later this year. To say the game's fanbase is devout would be putting it mildly.
But what exactly is Magic? In layman’s terms, Magic: The Gathering is a strategy game where players exploit land, spell and creature cards in an effort to battle opponents and reduce their life totals to zero. Standard decks consist of 60 cards that typically follow a pre-planned theme or strategy. A staggering 20,000 unique, playable cards in circulation lead to decks becoming highly customizable and even reflective of a player’s personality in some cases.
Behind every card’s beautifully intricate display of artwork is a puzzle piece to a rich and ever-expanding storyline that is wacky even by fantasy standards. Anything can happen in the world of Magic. Would you like to command a vengeful, all-powerful Elder Dragon hellbent on destruction? There’s a card for that. How about a card for those times when you’re really feeling like a squirrel in a powdered wig? He has a seat at the dinner party too.
This clash of scenery is exactly what should be expected by anyone entering Starkville’s resident tabletop destination, Down To Game. In sharp contrast to the squat, white brick building I saw from the parking lot, the shop’s interior dominated my senses with flashes of color and shimmer. To my right was an L-shaped display counter with rows upon rows of overlapping cards so iridescent that they seemed to be holding onto what little sunlight beamed through the large windows that afternoon. To my left, half a dozen fold-out tables were set up with four chairs apiece. The store was sleepily quiet save for the drone of lo-fi music and the shuffling of cards from a lone young man hunched over one of the tables.
Inside Down to Game
I’m no veteran, but I know a new player when I see one. Rewind around two years ago and you would find me in the same position as Grace, physically and mentally. Craning your neck over piles of cards while meticulously comparing your creatures to perfected online decklists is par for the course.
“Yeah, just a handful of times, maybe four or five,” said Grace when asked how many games he had played in Down To Game. “I’ve only been playing for a couple of weeks now. I used to play a lot of Star Wars games before this. I would walk in and notice all of the Magic things so I decided to watch a YouTube video on it one day and thought, ‘Wow, this is cool!’ and so I bought this first deck. After that, it was more like, ‘This is really, really cool,’ and I was hooked immediately.”
For new players such as Grace, the sheer number of cards is just the tip of the iceberg. Surmounting the in-game vernacular is more than enough reason why most would turn tail and hide - not to mention Magic is mathematically more complex than chess. How is it possible that a game so complicated can be picked up so quickly and adored by all who give it the time of day? What’s the magic behind Magic?
Camaraderie. Over the course of two weeks and several good chats at the tables, I was able to answer the big question I walked in with. The first question I was asked on community game night in no way pertained to who I was or what I was doing there.
I was simply asked, “Do you want to play a round?”
After a minute of fumbling over my words, I would give thanks but explain how I had sold my old cards a little less than a year ago. Little did I know, behind the counter were stacks of playable decks set aside for the sole purpose of allowing anyone to play or learn to play at any time. I picked up very quickly that in Down To Game, who you are and how you identify hold next to no sway in how you are treated. Gaming tables doubled as dinner tables - equally littered with goblins as Subway wrappers. Some players were willing to brave six total hours of driving to visit old friends that were kept away by post-graduation plans and the pandemic. Inclusivity and friendship were more than ideals, they were cornerstones.
The men behind the store
Co-owners Daniel Todd and Avery Belek are fully aware of this effect and don’t shy away from it.
“Magic easily makes up 60 percent of our revenue,” Avery said, talking about today compared to March 2020 when the pair bought the store. “We’re close to four times the sales of the previous owner. We will always support Magic as much as we can. If you support it, people will come to play it.”
Daniel continued on that point, again mentioning how identity is not tied to the game in any way after I mentioned the store’s “LGBT+ friendly” rating on Google.
“You don’t have to have any specific identity to play the game and that’s the important part. It’s important specifically for me because I am gay and I’ve been in plenty of spaces where that isn’t accepted,” he said.
Down to Game is not surviving through the pandemic, it’s thriving. Pre-COVID sales and foot traffic have dramatically increased over the past two years thanks to Magic: The Gathering and its unique ability to bring together those from all walks of life. The sense of togetherness within the store was palpable; on multiple occasions I found myself grinning as I would scan the room and take it all in.
It only felt appropriate to give myself a parting gift during my final day sitting in on Down to Game. I placed down at the checkout counter a matte black, leather deck box. As Todd rang me up, he gave a short laugh and asked if I’d be back. I looked back toward the tables to see Grace setting out brand new cards as he started on his second deck. I replied that I definitely would.
