Beyond the Deck: Critical Essays on Magic: The Gathering and Its Influence

by Shelly Jones (Editor)

Since its debut in 1993, Magic the Gathering has grown to be an influential collectible card game, allowing its community of loyal fans to duel each other with mana cards and spells while enjoying its lore and compelling narratives. This collection of essays focuses on Magic from a variety of disciplinary approaches. Authors explore the innovative game design of Magic, the ludic differences between analog and digital play, how players interact with the MTG market and one another, professional play versus casual play and the many ways Magic has impacted gaming.

309 pages, Paperback

Published August 11, 2023

About the author

Shelly Jones is a professor by trade and a nerd by design. Woefully introverted, their pockets are full of post-it notes and their head is full of (unsaid) witty come-backs and un-won arguments from years past. When they aren’t grading papers or writing new cozy mysteries, Shelly can often be found hiking in the woods or playing a board game while their cats look on. Find them on BlueSky @shellyjones.bsky.social, Instagram @shellyjonesauthor, or sign up for their newsletter at https://shellyjonesauthor.com/.

Reviews

[Marco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very insightful collection of essays and short papers. I personally found the inputs related to community building especially intriguing and will rely on many of these suggested findings for my own work.

While some of the essays briefly mention the importance and influence of language (e.g. card prices or the shared vocabulary within playgroups) I find the lack of linguistic research regarding MTG both disappointing and inspiring.