Austin Horne
Staff Writer
Magic: The Gathering, the 27-year-old card game enjoyed around the world as a contemporary of chess or poker, has had a wealth of diverse talent in its lifespan. William Jensen, Autumn Burchett, Benjamin Wheeler, and many more have paved the way for LGBTQ+ representation in Magic. Like many games, Magic has had its fair share of difficulty diversifying their player base. However, over the past decade efforts have been made to include all people in the community and in the cards. Most recently, the developers of Magic announced a new set of commemorative alternate-art cards to be released on International Women’s Day, which is March 8th, 2020.
Arguably, one section of Magic’s player base rarely receives the spotlight. Magic can sometimes be considered a game too complex for children. Dana Fischer has been proving otherwise since she was 3-years old. Now 9, Dana has achieved another personal goal by becoming the youngest player ever to “money” an event. Meaning, to place high enough in the tournament to earn a cash prize. At Grand Prix Austin last month Dana went 10-4-1 to finish 46th out of 801 players. She participated in the Modern format, widely considered to be among the most complex formats in Magic. Dana also got to cross another goal off her list by winning the Play it Forward playmat prize which celebrates the top-finishing woman or non-binary player. The professional and casual Magic communities have been celebrating her success alongside her. Channel Fireball, a Magic news network, even commissioned an article from Dana to talk about her experience. To sum up what this win means to her, she puts it better than I ever could; “Cashing also shows what young kids (especially girls) can accomplish. Hopefully my record will inspire other young kids to play the game as well, because I love to see other kids enjoy playing the game.”
To hear more from Dana, you can read her article here.
Categories: Arts & Entertainment
THE CAROLINIAN 
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