What was he thinking?

Ferret

Moderator
Staff member
Back in days of yore nearly thirty years ago, a math professor named Richard Garfield created a game to teach his kids math. Believe it or not, that's the real origin of Magic: The Gathering. It would become a highly addictive game that would allow its publisher Wizards of the Coast to dominate the gaming industry, buy up other gaming companies, and eventually be bought up by gaming megacorporation Hasbro. Now, we all know this, right? But, I have to wonder: What has he thinking when he created the game?

Some thoughts:

Maybe he had a child that would went through a long "NO!" phase and he probably used that to create Blue's counterspells. What a better way to give someone with a defiant negative outlook a nice little outlet.

Maybe he had a kid that liked to play with fire (not the bad way), so he created Red to help channel their pyromaniac attitude constructively.

Maybe he had a child that liked to construct things out of toys like Lego blocks, Lincoln logs, or just good old tinker toys. White wouldn't be a bad thing to describe that (especially if they liked to then tear them apart - Armageddon/Wrath of God, anyone?).

Maybe one his kids was a proto-Goth that was obsessed with death...Black, anyone?

Or maybe, he had a kid that loved animals and nature - but, didn't mind that they would lose constantly and created Green...

Just some thoughts...anyone else want to chime in?
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
Funny. But Richard Garfield didn't have any kids yet at the time he created the five-color system for Magic. He actually had cards made for the births of his children.

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