Magic at the Library - As Richard Garfield Intended

(Note: Flipside Gaming is proud to provide bulk and sealed packs for the Albany Public Library’s Magic: the Gathering Beginner Battle program. The names of youth participants have been altered to protect their identity.)

In the Youth Services section of the Albany Public Library, Washington Avenue Branch, two eight-foot tables line up end to end with Magic cards–piles and piles of Magic cards–strewn face-up, unsorted across the table.

As Garfield Intended

It is the beginning of a winning recipe.

Add educator Evelyn Quinlan, interested youth, and time to sort, build, and play, and you have a program of which Richard Garfield would surely approve, a program similar to how Evelyn learned Magic.

Evelyn recalls summer camp. “A local game store donated their bulk and we were given hours to sort, build decks, and just play Magic. For the library, I noticed I had a lot of bulk myself and thought, ‘Wait a minute, I could build a program here.’”

As Magic players often do, Evelyn went in the tank. Clearly the library had the perfect cross-section of space, audience, and interest, but how could she plan out her next plays to maximize value for participants?

Evelyn needed to reframe how we interact with objects from the library. “You think of the library as a place to borrow things, but, here, you keep it. I really want people to walk away with something tangible.”

Enthusiastic Study - Jesper Ejsing

Her first thought was to build starter decks, not dissimilar to the Welcome Decks available to new players. But, this pedagogy missed the critical period of just looking at cards. In her quest to build the best beginner program she can, Evelyn found the MagiKids pedagogy, a way of teaching that divides sessions into three phases: sort, build, play.

As MagiKids describes, “The process of sorting into colors gives the kids a good first exposure to the cards before diving into playing. It’s also a great chance to talk about some of the concepts behind the game.”

In Evelyn’s experience, this stage captures the spark of interest in youth. When told they were going to eventually build a two-color deck, a youth (perhaps used to testing boundaries) declared they were going to build with “all the colors.” When sorting, however, it became clear they were drawn exclusively to green. Through talk alone, the child was blindly defiant. Cards in hand, they found true direction

Sorting, a critical aspect of teaching Magic, allows players to find what speaks to them. 

Inspiration - Matt Cavotta

In line with Evelyn’s aims, MagiKids describes that “Building their decks, as opposed to starting with pre-built decks, also gives them a sense of ownership and control. That’s why we suggest allowing kids to keep the decks they build.”

Iris, a youth participant from a recent session, shares this sense of ownership and control. “While playing, you get the feel of how Magic works. You understand and make strategies for how you want to play.” Iris understood from one lesson that this game was hers to choose how to play.

With program and pedagogy in hand–and true to her call as Youth Services Librarian–Evelyn curated piles of bulk with the new player in mind, ultimately whittling the game down to creatures, sorceries, and enchantments.

“The timing for instants and artifact activations was too complicated for these first games. I wanted creatures to teach fundamentals of attacking, sorceries to break up board stalls, and enchantments with static abilities to add depth.”

Evelyn creates that first firm handhold to spark imagination and interest, to create opportunity without overburdening new players with rules baggage. If we do away with the stickier parts of getting through a turn, patrons can focus more deeply on the reasons they thought to join in the first place. 

As Evelyn describes, the reasons people join come down to a variety of benefits including developing critical thinking skills, creative expression, character exploration, reading, art exploration, and socialization.

Frolicking Familiar - Brian Valeza

“I had a patron come in, younger than the average player, who was working on reading. Their family was using Magic to onboard him to higher levels of reading, effectively using Magic as the point of interest.”

Evelyn recalls a story of when competitive Magic was in its infancy. Set in Italy, players who did not share a common language were able to sit and play through complete games, using the cards, art, and gestures to indicate game actions. “Even without knowing the same language, people could play and connect.”

Critically for teens in the digital age, everyone is working, reading, and speaking at the same level. 

Combining the spark of interest and the just right mix of benefits is an alchemical and precise work. As Evelyn describes, “Every book, its reader. Every card, its player. It’s a challenge, but as an educator, it’s one I’m up for.”

A Deck for a Participant Who Likes Books and Animals

And of course, Magic is a pricey game. Many people don’t play (or don’t play as much as they’d like or how they’d like) simply because cards can be very, very expensive. Without the barrier of cost in Evelyn’s program, a patron can visit four sessions in a row, leave with a 25-card deck each time, and have a commander deck (plus four participation boosters) at the end of it. 

With regular monthly attendance, three commander decks a year is a very fair pace for collecting.

Cheap Ass - Randy Gallegos

Find the new players in your life and stop in. Evelyn will be there to greet you and to respond to your goals and interests. “Every session is a little bit different like every Magic game is a little bit different but also the same.”

And if more encouragement is needed, consider the advice of youth participant Iris, “I think that if you want to learn how, you should go and find out and keep going to try new decks.”

To participate, the program’s upcoming events are regularly updated.