Probably much to the surprise of anyone reading this, my first tabletop gaming love was Magic: The Gathering. I'm not into Magic right now; my playing of that game goes in cycles now, much as the sets themselves do. I sold my collection for the 4th time now 2 years ago and have just borrowed decks since.
You see...when I was 15, I had no gaming friends. I had heard about D&D, Vampire, etc., but hadn't ever looked into them further than flipping through the books looking at artwork. I was into basketball cards then, and regularly went to a local card and comic shop. One day while there, I traded a Michael Jordan card for my very first pack of Magic. After that, Jester's Cap got me into the game.
And not because I liked and understood the card and utilized it to seal win after win. No, simply because after I ripped open that pack of Ice Age and Mark, the owner of the shop, asked to look at my cards, he immediately offered to trade me 2 starter decks and 2 boosters for trade for that one card. I jumped on it. I was able to trade two more cards for another booster, then gladly made my way home with a huge stack of really cool art cards!
Then I sat down and read the rules after sorting the cards by color. With what I had, I made two crazily incoherent 4-5 color decks and tried to recruit my friends into playing. Some of them bit and I started buying more cards and we'd all play with those.
When I was 16, I got my first true, taxed employment at a restaurant, and not much after, a guy named Paul hired on. We soon became fast friends and learned that we shared a like of Magic. He got me into different sets and helped my understanding of the rules and deck mechanics.
If it weren't for randomly getting Magic cards then meeting Paul, I probably would never have gotten into gaming. I played my first D&D game at his place after having been invited over for some Magic games...another game hooked me and I've had a friend for years due to them.
So you see....while D&D is my true gaming love, Magic was my first. We stay in touch, and who knows...we might spark up our relationship again sometime in the future. Don't worry, though...D&D doesn't mind.
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