How catfish fishing has become my key to understanding Magic (and all the new cards that have now come to my hands)
How catfish fishing has become my key to understanding Magic (and all the new cards that have now come to my hands)
My wife says that in one of these somersaults I’m going to kill myself, and by rereading the headline of this text I can understand why. But don’t get me wrong. I swear there is a logical relationship behind the mix between catfish fishing and Magic: The Gathering . At least in my already upset head.
In one of those pirouettes of fate that seem to have been done on purpose, last week my departure from the door of my house coincided, in search of the train that would take me to Madrid for work, with the arrival of one of the many delivery men I already have. put on face – eyes, actually, but that’s another matter.
In his hands he carried a package that he had been looking forward to. Inside, if nothing went wrong, there would be the first Adventures in Forgotten Realms cards that would touch my hands -among other things- and, with it, also a leap of more than 20 years between the physical cards that that little box of my early Magic Chronicles and current cartoons.
Faced with one of those soporific trips by AVE that, a little out of boredom and a little because of my irrepressible desire to stay alone in the wagon by sending some to catch wind and throwing a Fireball at others -the people who speak shouting on my cell phone, why? – the idea of spending the trip glancing at my new letters seemed most hopeful.
What was aimed to be a journey where I prayed to fall asleep had suddenly turned into what would probably end up being the most entertaining time of the day. Ahead of three hours of travel in which to open envelopes , study cards and see to what extent he could create his own deck with them.
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How to transform a boring trip: How catfish fishing has become my key to understanding Magic (and all the new cards that have now come to my hands)
With a smile on my hopes, I head to the car and, by making the most of the time, another of the pending issues that I wanted to get rid of during the trip begins to be managed in my head: organizing a more than well-deserved family vacation so that we all get to disconnect from a complex year.
The time between the round trip could well serve to finish clarifying ideas, looking for information and closing a trip that, due to knowing the delivery people only by the eyes, was much more complicated than usual. The plan was nature, disconnection and looking for alternatives that were not bursting with people to try to avoid as many risks as possible.
Luckily, the previous weekend we had been in the Sau reservoir, one of those reservoirs that were made in its day, flooding the area where once there was a town. In the most picturesque way possible, the bell tower of the old town loomed over the water depending on how much or how little it had been filled in the previous months.
Avoiding the hassle of any Mediterranean coast that comes to mind, we find something as close as possible to a private beach . Fishermen at one end and a supply rental area with the typical slide scooters at the other.
In my head it sounded perfect. Between scooters with slide and floating logs in the morning, teaching the kids how to play Magic after eating to avoid the heat, visiting the area in the afternoon to see charming towns and, at night, back to the reservoir to fish – another one of those activities that I touched as a child with the tips of my fingers and that I wanted to experience again.
With my mind and feet in automatic mode, as I skip from topic to topic, I end up almost without realizing it with my ass on seat 10A of car 7, intending to find a reservoir place in which to pass the vacations and the first Magic packs that have passed through my hands in a long time.
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With the emotion of a child on Christmas morning I proceed to look at letters while recording in my head that I should write to my wife to tell her: 1) that I am already on the train, and 2) the plan for the next vacation.
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From the first envelope I take out an Island and I am once again surprised by how small the letters are. I get lost in the shine of the water and that art that would look great framed. It also comes to mind that I should broaden the search to more than just a reservoir. The island is out of budget, but why not a river, or a natural lake.
The next one is also blue. Capture sphere, it’s called. It is true that they seem brighter, but I no longer know if mine were also brighter in their day and have lost that touch. It doesn’t seem like it, of course. I think it is a joy to have a card in your hands that does not have the edges eaten by the passage of time and shuffling. ” Flash . Enchant creature. What the hell is Flash? “
I stop and think of the letter that accompanied one of the received sets, one of those with brilli brilli that in its day I would have called foil but whose current term I do not know completely. Grazilaxx, illicit scholar. A giant catfish that appears to be sucking the head of a distraught man.
” Normal, how disgusting to have a catfish on your head .” Have you ever seen one of those critters? No, sure, if that is only in the rivers of the United States and in the fishing games, right? ” Will there be catfish here? Which would be cool to take the kids fishing and take down a giant catfish like the ones in Animal Crossing . “
Stop .
I make a necessary stop here to emphasize that, seen in retrospect and with better lighting, the Grazilaxx friend looks like a catfish like an egg to a chestnut . I could have thought of an octopus, or even fishing for Cthulhu, and it would have made more sense, but my myopia and nerd work that way. I saw sticky mustaches coming out of his mouth and my mind went to the catfish because, why fool us more, it is very likely that he is wrong in the head.
We continue .
The impulse to start looking for where to fish catfish has all the will that is usually lacking in any logical activity necessary to survive. But to my surprise there are not only catfish in Spain, there is also an Ebro reservoir with a spectacular population of the also known as river monster . Sexy critters over 100 kg that exceed 2 meters in length await you in your area.
” River Monster. There must be a Magic card with a similar name or a catfish as the protagonist .” But no, either it doesn’t exist or I have no luck with the search. What a pity.
Hey, what about Flash ? What the heck is Flash?
A quick search leaves me in doubt: Flash implies that it can be played as an instant. That is, it can be cast on the opponent’s turn even if it is not an instant. ” And why not call it instant? ” Because there are creatures that also have Flash and, for example, you could fool your opponent by casting them before their attack into a blocking phase that he already had for granted.
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The idea does not occur to me based on reading the description of that new mechanic, mind you, I find it in one of those forums where, beyond explaining how the Flash works , I come across a message that makes me rethink everything that has happened in my head in the last seconds (yes, actually almost all of this has happened in a breath. I have already told you that my brain works regularly, at 200% for nonsense and 10% for everything else) . The message, from someone like me who had not understood the mechanics and was looking for help, read something like this:
“Unfortunately I don’t know anyone who plays, so I can’t debate these things.”
My head clears and I start to think about what I have experienced in recent weeks, the old and new cards, my jump into the Arena … I realize that the evolution that I am experiencing is not only in the game itself. With more or less mechanics, with more or less understandable words, this is still the same card game that a friend invited me to try and I refused to go flirt.
Of course it has changed. Two decades have passed! But the greatest evolution is not in the game, and not in my way of seeing it. That Magic is different now – for the better – is the fault of the same reason that I have discovered in a matter of seconds that I can fish a catfish in the Mequinenza reservoir, that the species was introduced in 1974 and since then it can be fished in holiday period by pellet fishing.
Magic is different because now the internet exists. It’s better because the internet exists.
In the same way that to know more about catfish fishing 20 years ago I would have had to resort to a specialized fishing shop – and I think that even then I would have had problems getting the information I was looking for staying close to Barcelona – the idea of learning, knowing, playing and sharing Magic – especially sharing – was just as complicated before.
What was once a population of two geeks per class who might be interested and, if you were lucky, also a dozen kids playing it in some neighborhood comic and Warhammer store, is now the entire world within reach of a click.
It’s not just being able to play Magic Arena with someone who lives on the other side of the globe, it’s getting excited about how lucky a content creator has had to open an envelope, download the deck created by a tournament champion, or make new friends among those. that two years ago they also had no idea how the Flash mechanic worked.
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The cards may seem smaller to you after your hands have grown a few centimeters more, and that their shine looks more because they are treated with that affection that gives you maturity, but it is still the same game that you fell in love with in its day . The same, but bigger.
The only difference is that it is no longer limited to the friends you can convince to play – or how well you can bribe your children into playing with you – or how close the nearest specialty store is.
Now Magic is both the same and something else. It’s the same game but with more players, tutorials, possibilities, decks, spells, snapshots, critters that look just like a catfish, and, of course, creatures with Flash.
This is an initiative in collaboration with Wizards of the Coast . How catfish fishing has become my key to understanding Magic (and all the new cards that have now come to my hands)
