Magickal Gatherings[1] is the EGS universe equivalent of Magic: The Gathering, a trading card game. It was first referred as something Salty Crackers Comics sells in New and Old Friends.[1] Later there was a game in Duel of the Discs,[2] a Sealed format tournament in Squirrel Prophet 2[3], and a Constructed format tournament in Hope[4].
Name[]
Originally, it was called just Magical Gatherings.[1] Later, Dan Shive changed the name to Magickal[5] Gatherings, as visible in the new comment under that old strip.
Story[]
Early references[]
The game is first referred as something Salty Crackers Comics sells in New and Old Friends,[1] along with other card games like Yu-gi-oh.
Later Nanase mentioned that Justin shouldn't concern himself with the paradox of desiring to get to a state without desire before he frees himself from lesser desires like the desire for rare magical gathering cards.[6]
Duel of the Discs[]
In Duel of the Discs, Justin plays against Tensaided in a single game of the "Olde school" format.[7] The purpose of the game was to allow Grace to see Star Wars first time in the original version. Grace imagines the duel as a real wizard fight, roleplaying so well that Tensaided was impressed.[8]
For most of the game, Justin is losing; Tensaided used series of sacrifices to get Gargantuan Cannon[9] and hits Justin heavily, but at last moment - with only a single card and a single life - he is able to win using a combination of Stompalope he got on third turn[10] and Unstompable Stompede.[11]
Squirrel Prophet Tournament[]
The tournament in Squirrel Prophet is of the Sealed format, where each player opens six packs to build a deck with.[3] Justin managed the tournament, and Grace was also working at the store at the time. Players included Tedd, Sarah, Tensaided, and George, who was also playing Pokémon at the same time. Several other characters were introduced or named in this arc, including Luke, Larry, Rich, and Sam. Pandora was also hanging around in the spirit plane.
Sarah initially wanted to build a werewolf-themed deck, but she opened an extremely powerful vampire card, O.P. Aludrakrala.[12] She ultimately decided to build the werewolf deck, but included O.P. Aludrakrala anyway.
The tournament took place over four rounds, where each round consisted of a best two of three match. In round one, Tedd played Larry, Luke played Rich, Sarah played George, and Tensaided played some guy.[13] Larry, believing Tedd was a woman, made multiple inappropriate comments to him and effectively threw the match. Luke initially intended to quickly lose so he could speak to Justin, but Rich made a homophobic comment, prompting Luke to win the match. Sarah lost to George, however he gave her some advice to improve her play.
In round two, Luke received a bye, giving him a free win due to the odd number of players. Tedd played against Sam, causing Larry and Rich much confusion. Tedd ultimately won his match despite Sam's pockets. Sarah played against Tensaided and won, prompting Tensaided to declare her a true geek.[14] In round three, Rich was paired against Tedd, who had accidentally turned herself into a girl between rounds. Meanwhile, Sarah played against Larry, and explained to him why he should not hit on other players. Tedd and Sarah both won their matches.[15] Luke also won his match, despite being distracted by magical things and Justin.[16]
In the final round, Tedd played Luke, Larry played Rich, Sarah played Sam, and George played some guy.[17] Tedd and Luke's decks were both slow and controlling,[18] causing them to run out of time and draw their match.[19] Sarah and Sam bonded over roleplaying, but got into standstill with "who attacks first loses" Alucard against Angelsting[20] and neither could win before they ran out of cards. However Sarah put forty-two cards in her deck, causing Sam to run out first.[21]
Ultimately, Sarah won fourth place, winning one pack of cards. Tedd and Luke shared third place, winning three packs each. George won second place, and also became Indigo League Pokémon champion. The grand prize was won by Guy.[22]
Tournament Summary[]
Round 1[13][]
| Score | Reference | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Tedd | 2 - 0 | Larry | [23] |
| Luke | 2 - 1 | Rich | [24] |
| Sarah | 1 - 2 | George | [25] |
| Tensaided | Guy |
Additional players include Sam and 2 of Sam and Guy's friends. One additional player (possibly one of Sam and Guy's friends) is named Kevin in a later round[26].
Round 2[]
| Score | Reference | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Tedd | 2 - 1 | Sam | [27][28] |
| Sarah | 2 - 1 | Tensaided | [29][14] |
| George | 2 - 1 | Unspecified | [30] |
| Luke | Bye | [31] |
Round 3[]
| Score | Reference | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rich | 0 - 2 | Tedd | [26][32] |
| Larry | Sarah | [26][32] | |
| Sam | Kevin | [26][32] | |
| Luke | 2 - 0 | Unnamed player | [16] |
The unnamed player that Luke plays against is the blue-haired person who entered the comic shop at the same time as Sam and Guy[33]. "Kevin" is unlikely to be Kevin due to this story's place in the timeline and the fact that people would likely remark on a talking magic wand playing a card game. Therefore, this is possibly the name of the person who was keeping time for Sam and Guy when they arrived.
Round 4[17][]
| Score | Reference | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Tedd | 0 - 0 | Luke | [34] |
| Larry | 2 - 1 | Rich | [35] |
| Sarah | 1 - 0 | Sam | [36] |
| George | Guy | [22] |
Hope Tournament[]
A second Magickal Gatherings tournament took place during the Hope arc. This tournament used constructed play using the current sets[4], analogous to Magic: The Gathering's Standard format. In addition to the regular players seen in Squirrel Prophet, a number of additional characters joined in this tournament for their own purposes: including Susan, Hope, Jay, AJ, and Jay's friends Mark and Steve.
Players[]
AJ[]
AJ used a mermaid deck with water and life magic, based on controlling what his opponents were able to do[37]. Jay found his deck particularly frustrating to play against, as he was able to prevent many of her cards from working[38]. AJ was also cheating throughout the tournament, using the spell he was given by Pandora to gain limited information about his opponents' decks[39][40]. Hope felt particularly guilty about enabling his cheating[41][42], though Tedd[40], Jay[43] and the omniscient narrator[42] realised that the advantage he gained from this was laughably small. He had some success in the tournament, winning his first round against Guy, losing the second against George, and winning the third against Jay.
George[]
George was using a dragon[44]-based deck, which included a dragon which made gold to summon other dragons[45]. He had great success, winning all of the games in the first two rounds of the tournament against Sarah[45] and AJ[46].
Guy[]
Guy used a fire and life energy deck based around playing cattle-themed cards with energy costs between 2 and 5[39], and then triggering a stampede to defeat his opponents[47]. He lost the first round against AJ[47], but won against Hope in the second.
Hope[]
Hope played with a deck constructed by Pandora[48]. She was hoping to play against Sarah in the tournament, intending on playing a particular, sub-optimal[49] card that would reveal her identity to Sarah alone[50]. She performed poorly, and lost all of her matches in the first three rounds.
Jay[]
Jay was using a budget deck, as she wasn't prepared to financially commit to a competitive tournament deck[51]. Her strategy was to use a large number of low energy cost goblins to overwhelm her opponent. She had mixed success, losing the first round against Susan[45], winning the second against Sarah[46], but losing the third round to AJ[52].
Mark[]
One of Jay's friends, Mark played a "midrange aggro swine" deck. He played against a distracted Susan in the third round[53]. As the match-ups are based on performance[4], he probably won his first match against Larry, Rich, Steve or Sam and Guy's timekeeper friend (see Round 3 of the Squirrel Prophet tournament, above) and his second match against the timekeeper or Steve.
Sarah[]
Sarah used another werewolf deck, based on the cards she already had[42]. She lost the first three rounds of the tournament against George[54], Jay[46] and a third, unspecified, player.
Susan[]
Susan used a deck that Tensaided had constructed for her[55]. It was built around using cards that could destroy every monster in play[56]: this allowed her to use monsters that could come back to life as powerful ghosts and a gargoyle that only sometimes counted as a monster to defeat her undefended opponent[57][58]. She had good success with this deck, winning the first two rounds against Jay and Rich, but was very distracted during the third round against Mark.
Tedd[]
Tedd used a deck based on a Magic Fish Horn, resulting in an unreliable, but very powerful card-cloning combo[30]. After cloning 6 "Angels of Unreasonable Health" in the first round, he gained between 120 and 480 health, forcing Sam to concede rather than calculate the exact result[59]. However, he was only able to pull off the combo once against Tensaided, and lost the second round[46].
Other Characters[]
A number of other characters also took part in the Hope Tournament. Larry lost in the second round against Sam[60] (this match-up implies that Larry, like Sam, lost the first round too). Rich also lost his second-round match against Susan[46]. Tensaided won his first two matches against Hope[48] and Tedd[46]. Both Jay's friend Steve and Sam and Guy's friend who keeps the time for them were also present, and either of them may have lost to Mark in the second round.
Tournament Summary[]
Round 1[61][]
| Score | Reference | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sarah | 0 - 2 | George | [45] |
| Sam | 1 - 2 | Tedd | [45] |
| Susan | 2 - 0 | Jay | [45] |
| Hope | 0 - 2 | Tensaided | [48] |
| AJ | 2 - 1 | Guy | [47] |
Other players present included Larry, Mark, Rich, Jay's friend Steve and Sam and Guy's friend the timekeeper.
Round 2[]
| Score | Reference | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sarah | 1 - 2 | Jay | [46] |
| Tensaided | 2 - 1 | Tedd | [46] |
| Susan | 2 - 1 | Rich | [46] |
| Hope | 0 - 2 | Guy | [60] |
| AJ | 0 - 2 | George | [60] |
| Sam | 2 - 1 | Larry | [60] |
Other players present included Mark, at minimum, and likely also Jay's friend Steve and Sam and Guy's friend the timekeeper.
Round 3[]
| Score | Reference | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Susan | Mark | [52] | |
| Jay | AJ | [52] | |
| Unspecified player | Sarah | [62] | |
| Unspecified player | Hope | [62] |
Details are deliberately sparse for Round 3. At minimum, Sam, George, Larry and Tedd also played, as they continued into Round 4. The commentary for the end of Hope, Part 10[63] suggests that Susan likely lost her match in this round.
Round 4[63][]
| Score | Reference | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sam | TBD | George | |
| Susan | TBD | Larry | |
| Hope | TBD | Sarah | |
| Tedd | TBD | Jay |
While the final round match-ups are "a bit looser"[63] when it comes to following the win/loss records for the previous rounds, these match-ups can still make sense: if Susan and Tedd lost their third round matches, Larry and Sam won theirs, and George either won or lost. Then there would have been 2 players who'd lost all 3 matches (Sarah and Hope), 3 players who'd won 1, thus forcing one of them (Larry) to play against someone who'd won 2 matches (i.e. Susan), and leaving the last two players (Sam and George) to play against each other.
Known Cards[]
Magickal cards with known names are listed here, along with their Magic: The Gathering equivalent, if any.
| Card | First Seen | Description | Played by | MTG Equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Energy Bird | EGS Main Story Comic for 2012-09-07 | 0/1 flier, activates to gain 1 energy. | Justin | Birds of Paradise |
| Power Growth | EGS Main Story Comic for 2012-09-10 | Allows you to play an additional land | Justin | Explore |
| Elvish Gardener | EGS Main Story Comic for 2012-09-10 | 1/1, activates to gain 1 energy. | Justin | Llanowar Elves |
| Fiery Sacrifice | EGS Main Story Comic for 2012-09-11 | Sacrifice a monster to gain 3 energy. | Tensaided | Infernal Plunge |
| Gnomish Inventor | EGS Main Story Comic for 2012-09-11 | Activate and Sacrifice to gain 4 energy. | Tensaided | |
| Library of Schematics | EGS Main Story Comic for 2012-09-11 | Activate and Sacrifice to search your deck and play any equal or lesser value device | Tensaided | |
| Gargantuan Cannon | EGS Main Story Comic for 2012-09-11 | Pay one energy, activate: attack with a monster from your hand. That monster then dies because, well, cannon. | Tensaided | Sneak Attack |
| Literary Dragon | EGS Main Story Comic for 2012-09-13 | 7/7 flier. When it dies it deals 3 damage to everu monster. | Tensaided | Visually similar to Nicol Bolas. Mechanically similar to Magma Phoenix. |
| Scurry | EGS Main Story Comic for 2012-09-13 | Until end of turn, prevents all damage to monsters who are not attacking or blocking | Justin | |
| Stompalope | EGS Main Story Comic for 2012-09-18 | 8/8 stomper for 6 energy. The summoning of the Stompalope cannot be stopped. | Justin | Terra Stomper |
| Skreevos | EGS Main Story Comic for 2012-09-21 | 10/10 flier. When it damages a player, that player discards their hand. | Tensaided | Inspired by Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. Mechanically similar to Nicol Bolas. |
| Unstompable Stompede | EGS Main Story Comic for 2012-09-28 | Until end of turn, all of your monsters get an attack bonus equal to the attack of your strongest monster. | Justin | Overwhelming Stampede |
| O.P. Aludrakrala | EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-05-16 | 5/5 Vampire. Flies, cannot be the target of spells. When he kills a monster, he gets a permanent +1 bonus to attack and health. Each other vampire gets +X to their attack and health, where X is the number of bonuses on him. | Sarah | |
| Diminutive Fairy | EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-06-02 | Luke | ||
| This Thing | EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-06-03 | Uh-Oh attack / Really? health. Hella strong* *Actual description may differ. Probably a dragon. | George | |
| Grizzly Bear | EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-06-05 | Tedd | Grizzly Bears | |
| Beefy Lycanthrope | EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-06-24 | Sarah | ||
| Cancel Spell | EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-06-24 | Target spell does nothing and is discarded | Tensaided, Luke, Tedd | Cancel |
| Big Pointy Teeth Drake | EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-06-02 | 3/1, flies. | Luke, Tensaided | Skywinder Drake |
| Extra Pointy Fangs | EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-07-03 | Sarah | ||
| Beef Up Defense | EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-10-20 | Sarah | ||
| Shrink | EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-10-23 | Target has 0 Attack / 1 Health until end of turn. | Luke, Tedd | Humble |
| Van Angelsting | EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-10-27 | 3/3 Angel. Flies, cannot be the target of spells. Reduce all damage to him from Vampires to 0. He gets +1 to attack for each Vampire your opponent controls. Angels you control get +2 Health. | Sam | |
| Overpartymus | EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-10-31 | Return target monster to their owner's hand. | Tedd | Unsummon |
| Unbalanced | EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-10-31 | Enchanted monster cannot fly. | Luke | Grounded |
| Snorified | EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-10-31 | Enchanted monster has -3 Attack, +3 Health, and cannot attack. | Tedd | Guard Duty |
| Ditzified | EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-10-31 | Flip a coin whenever enchanted monster attacks, blocks, or uses an ability. It tails, they do nothing instead. | Luke | |
| Penguinimus | EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-10-31 | Target monster is a penguin. | Tedd | Pongify |
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 EGS Main Story Comic for 2003-03-03
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2012-09-06
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-05-14
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-04-25
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2012-08-27
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2003-04-30
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2012-09-04
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2012-10-03
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2012-09-11
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2012-09-18
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2012-09-28
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-05-16
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-05-28
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-07-04
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-08-15
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-09-18
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-10-13
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-10-31
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-11-18
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-10-29
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-11-13
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-12-03
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-06-09
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-06-13
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-06-12
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-07-17
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-06-17
- ↑ EGS Main Story comic for 2014-06-26
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-06-18
- ↑ 30.0 30.1 EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-07-10
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-06-16
- ↑ 32.0 32.1 32.2 EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-08-18
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-05-12
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-11-26
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-11-10
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2014-11-17
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-06-24
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-10-25
- ↑ 39.0 39.1 EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-05-03
- ↑ 40.0 40.1 EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-06-28
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-05-06
- ↑ 42.0 42.1 42.2 EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-07-08
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-08-12
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-07-03
- ↑ 45.0 45.1 45.2 45.3 45.4 45.5 EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-06-03
- ↑ 46.0 46.1 46.2 46.3 46.4 46.5 46.6 46.7 46.8 EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-07-22
- ↑ 47.0 47.1 47.2 EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-06-14
- ↑ 48.0 48.1 48.2 EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-05-24
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-02-09
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-10-14
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-03-06
- ↑ 52.0 52.1 52.2 EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-08-05
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-08-26
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-05-13
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-03-13
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-05-20
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-05-17
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-05-22
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-05-15
- ↑ 60.0 60.1 60.2 60.3 EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-07-24
- ↑ EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-05-01
- ↑ 62.0 62.1 EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-08-28
- ↑ 63.0 63.1 63.2 EGS Main Story Comic for 2024-11-04