Magic the Gathering - a DIY Advent Calendar (Guest Post)
I am thrilled to share this guest post from one of my oldest and dearest friends, Sue Talbutt. Sue and I met in college while both enrolled in what could be described as intimate German classes, frequently either the only two students or at least the only two who showed up! Sue is an extraordinary baker who built Christmas Baking with SusieJ over 20 years ago. When she's not baking, coding websites, or dodging cars on her bike, she likes to play Dimir control and Boros aggro. Everyone, please welcome Susie J to Heirloom Advent! Take it away, Susie…
My first Advent calendar was the paper kind with doors that opened onto a little picture. It was a gift from my godfather in Stuttgart, and I opened it every Christmas that I can remember. When I was a pre-teen, my stepmother had a calendar made of burlap, with a dark green felt evergreen, and twenty-five pockets, each with a felt ornament to snap onto the tree. Over the years we've had Lego, Kinder egg, and Playmobil calendars; and, of course, two dozen brandy-filled chocolates.
Last year the now-a-teen came home from summer camp raving about this card game everyone had played — Magic the Gathering - have you heard of it? I learned how to play and quickly fell in love too (my desire outstrips my ability). Having outgrown Legos and Playmobil, an MtG calendar seemed the perfect thing, but that's not a part of the Wizards of the Coast product line. I would need to assemble one.
“Traditionally, German calendars run through December 24th because families open presents that night. I kept that tradition...”
An Advent calendar is a real gift, not a cheap shortcut. Each surprise may be a small present, but it's a lot of surprises. My price limit was fifty dollars, with some days more expensive, and others less so, and a lot of variation across the days. Traditionally, German calendars run through December 24th because families open presents that night. I kept that tradition to make it that much easier for me.
Fortunately, there is a strong secondary market for individual Magic cards, and a thriving third-party accessory ecosystem. A majority of cards for resale cost a quarter or less; admittedly, they are not strategically valuable, but are often fun. New sets come out in October and July, making the teen, casual player less likely to have all the recent cards they want.
When choosing items for the calendar, I looked for help in a number of places.
First I asked for help at my local game store, Seventh Dimension Games in Jenkintown, Penna. Glen, who has pointed us to many enjoyable table-top games over the years, suggested penny sleeves (100 card protector sleeves for $1), counter dice (to track bonuses and demerits given to cards), and common and uncommon cards (costing about 25 and 35 cents each). Each card in the calendar went into a penny sleeve, and the remainder were a surprise in the first week.
Many cards in Magic let you play additional "token" cards, which don't need to be official cards to be used in official games and tournaments. There are a handful of Etsy artists, including Cats and Cantrips, Moonland Tokens and Andrea Radeck, who create beautiful tokens of original artwork. Some sites built around Magic, like the reseller Card Kingdom and the informational site MtG Goldfish, also sell their own token cards.
I bought five or six rare cards, costing between one and eight (!) dollars, from both Seventh Dimension and Card Kingdom, a reseller of cards and other paraphernalia. CK's prices are more expensive than TCG Player, probably the leading card reseller site, but CK sells direct, whereas TCG facilitates other card retailers, and it can be tricky to actually buy that 9-cent card. To round things out, there were packs from the latest set and the kid's favorite set, and a token pack.
In picking cards, I needed to know my player: what kinds of cards they prefer to play (creatures of the same type, or maybe lots of artifacts), what sets they prefer to play (we are ride or die for Ixalan), format ("standard" means, roughly, cards from the last two years; "commander" means almost anything, but only one of any card; "modern" is the cards in the last ten years, but is very picky about what is a good card), and colors (white, blue, black, red, green) and color combinations.
Today, knowing my nephew's favorite set (Eventide) and colors (black and white), I *might* be able to pick twenty cards and tokens for him. Your local game store (or your kid's friends) can give invaluable help. Do ask for the rares that they want!
With the surprises in hand, assign each to a day following these general rules:
Set up a grid (four by six, five by five, or week by week) of surprises to plan the calendar.
Mix up the types of surprises. The token cards were about a third of the surprises and appeared every three days. You may want better surprises on a weekend.
Really good surprises are for the last week or ten days; building up expectations. This was the two card packs, the token pack, and an expensive rare. However, there was still a token.
The very best surprise is last; in this case, an eight-dollar rare card specifically requested.
Finally, I needed a way to hide and number all of the cards. As the calendar was mostly cards, an Origami envelope from wrapping paper easily held the cards, and sufficiently if awkwardly held the bulkier surprises.
I assembled while the rest of the family was at Target. Out came the paper, which was marked off and cut into squares, then folded and numbered. All cards, from tokens to commons to rares, were sleeved to protect them from damage. Surprises were laid out in a grid, organized, shuffled, rearranged, swapped, and finally approved. Each surprise went into its envelope, and then into an empty booster box (it's a thing) I'd bought for a dollar from the game store.
The kid could easily have peeked into each envelope, but held off to be delighted by each day, and has requested another calendar.
Was every day a stupendous hit? No. Don't be disappointed if what you think is really good isn't as thrilling for the recipient. Was it overall probably the best received calendar? Yes.
Magic the Gathering, a tutorial sidebar:
Magic the Gathering was the first collectible trading card game; players buy cards in packs of 15 random cards to build decks to play against each other. Four times a year, new sets of about 250 cards are released. Some are reprints, many are new. Magic has been around for twenty-five years, and there are different official variations of the gameplay. The "standard" play is sets in only the last two years (roughly). Other formats are the last ten years, or each card must have a unique name. Packs cost about $4.50 each with tax; two dozen packs was not an option.
Why sleeves? Sleeves protect the cards from wear while playing and shuffling, and from soda and food the rest of the time. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of sleeve designs, from solid colors to Nyan cat to art reproductions.
What's a token? Some cards say, when this card is played, create a goblin token, or, when this card is removed, create a flying dragon token. While Wizards does print tokens, players often don't have the exact card to hand, and will use a random card turned faced down. Everyone remembers that's three bird illusions.
What else could I buy my player? A booster box of their favorite set; a playmat, card box, or sleeves; counters; any expensive rare; pretty lands.