Magic Mean Girls

"She's fabulous, but she's evil,"

Although magic players are not social animals by nature when they get together they create a hierarchy within the community.  

There are the cool Asians and then the really old not cool Asians who have kids…. and pack a lunch for FNM.

There is the popular table and then the table next to the bathroom… I’m totally serious, DNA comics reserve a table away from everyone else… conveniently located near the bathroom…  Interestingly this table is crowded with new players and or shy players.  I’m not too sure what they do at this table; I’ve only passed on my way to the bathroom.  But FNM and the actual events are held in the middle of the store where we have a nice plasma t.v. and ice cream. 

There are the suits.  R and I come straight out of work so we are not in t-shirts and jeans.  We also shower daily and exercise. 

There are the college kids.  Mostly from the University of Houston but in my graduate school they were from William and Mary.  I expect every local game store has them.  They are very nice, but they do tend to isolate non-college students.  And apparently there is always a party to go to…. Right… you are playing magic Friday night until 1… and you have a party to go to.  Just stay and play EDH with me?!

Then there are the high school kids.  They tend to be sort of awkward.  They are super nice.  And apparently always looking for geists of st. tafts.  I like talking with them the most because I can share my knowledge.  They also are easily impressed.  I show them 5 jaces and they are like “woah that’s more than a playset.”

On the lower end of the totem are the trade grinders.  They treat magic as a business where they need to earn a certain quota before the end of the night.  They are sharks, but not smart ones. 

They are true sharks.  Every store has them.  The great white, the great hammerhead, and the tiger shark.  They are aggressive, like to belittle traders.  Their tactics may include publicly humiliating or spreading nasty rumors about other traders, pitting friends against one another, excluding or rejecting former friends, or even developing a set of rules for their group members and punishing disobedience. 

So what are you?  I’m probably a great hammerhead shark… but it’s debatable.