Black History of Magic Part 2: Afrofuturistic Boogalo
What's good, my players and pimps? This is a follow up to my most recent post on Black History of MTG. I recommend you read that first since I'll be referencing it here and there; however, you don't have to read them in any particular order to understand what's going on.
I got such an amazing response from that post. I decided to throw it up on Reddit, and the amount of feedback and views I received touched my heart. This inspired me to not only keep going full force with this blog, but to address some of the things I’ve looked over. I had a feeling I was opening Pandora's box with this topic, and, sure enough, I did. I have no doubt there are things I missed this time around as well. Nevertheless, I wanted to highlight three topics that intrigued me the most upon reading the responses on Reddit.
So without further ado, let's just jump right into it!
Bring The Hammer
Koth of The Hammer is a red aligned Vulshok Human from Mirrodin. How could I forget such a badass character!? Specializing in geomancy, this man is a force for good unlike many others. During the conquest of the Phyrexians on his home plane, he fought against the onslaught and has joined forces with characters such as Elspeth, Venser, and others, through an epic story. I won't go over his full story, but even if you aren't a Magic fan, I highly recommend reading it. Not only is his personal saga quite epic, he appears in some of the game's classic cards. The legendary Phyrexian Arena, Koth The Hammer, and Anger all feature him in all of his molten glory. The story of New Phyrexia is super important to the greater Magic lore, and it’s awesome that he plays a huge role in said events. I will no doubt be building a Koth deck for the blog that I can play in person soon. Teferi isn't the only Black character with powerful game-changing cards, and neither is Koth!
The Future is Black!
Tezzeret and Saheeli Rai are two planeswalkers that are very popular amongst the Magic community, whom I also neglected to mention in the previous Black history post. Tezzeret is a planeswalker centered around the color blue with a deep connection to the greater lore. He is an artificer by nature, with a large amount of his body composed of a material known as Etherium. Saheeli is a planeswalker native to Kaladesh, and is an inventor by trade.
Notice a similarity with these two? Magic fans will know they have a shared history, but they both revolve around the concept of Afrofuturism. Coined by author Mark Dery, Afrofuturism is a school of science and philosophical thought based on African historical culture fusing with sci-fi and techno culture. Ytasha L. Womack, writer of Afrofuturism, brilliantly describes it as, "An intersection of imagination, technology, the future and liberation." We see Tezzeret as a villain, forming a coup to gain power and access the Planar Bridge. Saheeli bands together with the Avengers– I'm sorry, I meant Justice League– I'm sorry, THE GATEWATCH, to attempt to protect the plane and stop him. Saheeli is a great representation for the aesthetic of Afrofuturism, being a creative and bright spirit with a gift for creating life through constructs. Tezzeret is a great face for the opposite side of the spectrum, with a lust for knowledge and power that leads him to join forces with Magic the Gathering's biggest baddie in recent years: Nicol Bolas.
Magic uses this concept not only with the Kaladesh plane, but with other cards and themes as well, such as the art for Ephara's Enlightenment. Magic draws from many cultures and concepts, from Eldritch horror and Greek mythology, all the way to the Grimm brothers’ Fairy tales. Nevertheless, kudos to the design team for digging deep in order to use this concept correctly (for the most part).
Man, I Ain't Paying For That Shit
This section comes less from research, and more from the heart. Another Redditor commented on the issue of financial exclusivity in Magic. Frankly, this was a huge oversight on my end because this is an excellent point to bring into the discussion of Black culture within the game. As we all know, higher priced products create exclusivity, where only those with the type of disposable income to afford said thing can enjoy it. It doesn't take an economics degree to see how this could affect the Magic community due to the secondary market. I learned the game with a group of four friends. My sensei, if you will, was a very affluent guy who had been playing the game for years. The three of us that learned started on the same level, with commander precons (the coined term for pre-constructed decks) we were given by Sensei. Mine was Nekusar, The Mindrazer. Over the years, I wouldn't have that much income in college, and with a mixture of bills everywhere and not too wise decisions, I was left in the dust by friends in the group who sought out competitive builds.
For those who aren't familiar with Magic's learning curve, once you get to a certain level, about a year or two in, you start increasing the power of what you play. Card upgrades can be cheap, but you're usually looking at the better pieces that are at around $2 or higher. Moreover, there are cards that are considered staples in the game that significantly boost power and can be slotted into many kinds of decks, but sit behind large paywalls in the secondary market. In some cases, you need some of these cards to even make a certain strategy work (i.e. tron land Eldrazi in Modern or Food Chain in Commander). Let’s say you want to play competitive magic; you should expect to play decks with an MSRP of $300 or higher to even survive the table. Yes, you could always create fake proxies, but you could never actually take those to an event/tournament due to legality.
Okay, so let’s say you're a kid from the south side of Chicago like me, and you want to start playing Magic. First, you'll need a deck. Now if you're playing a constructed format (Standard, Brawl, modern, Historic, etc), you will be rotating cards often due to the meta shifts; meaning you could pay $50 for a deck that won't be legal or competitively viable within a year.
For the sake of easy math, let’s stick to the idea that this is purely for your first set-up. Commander players are lucky in the sense that you can build a deck once, and have it run well for as long as you want. New players can buy a Precon valued at $20-$50 (dependent on the deck), or you could use a recourse like Commander's Quarters to build a budget deck from singles within that range. Now you need to protect your cards and buy sleeves. Real gangsters buy DragonShield Matte sleeves, which will run you $12. Oh, you don't have a playmat to use when you go to game shops or at home to avoid your sleeves sticking to an unclean table? Let's add another $15-$20.
Game shops!? It's a pandemic, therefore everyone is playing remotely with webcams. You don't have a webcam? I found mine for $30, so we will say that’s the cheapest option. Adding everything up, if you wanted to start playing commander as of February of 2021, you're looking at a $70+-$100+ investment (not including shipping if you live in an area where you can't buy any of this in person). Granted, things like a playmat and webcam are optional/situational, but that still leaves you with a ~$32-$52 investment. AND, don't forget you're playing at low-level power; you haven't even stepped into the world of optimized deck-building yet.
Now, I will give some credit to Wizards. Precons are often more valuable in the secondary market than they are when you buy them. Wizards does a great job of adding cards to them that are hugely beneficial to a collection. Even though I sold Nekrusar to a friend, the money I put from that deal into the Teysa, Orchov Scion deck still benefits me to this day. In addition, there are now cheaper precon decks out there, an increased frequency in precon decks, and more resources for building on a budget. There's even a format called Pauper where people use only common and uncommon cards. A while ago, I won a pauper tournament at college using a $30 deck, which won me my playmat I still use to this day. Let's also not forget, as much as the community likes to bash it, Magic Arena is a free online game for both Mac OS and PC. I play that game just about every day. So there is value once you decide to make the first step.
I won't get into why this game is so expensive, because to be honest that's a future blog post, but I will say that there are a lot of black kids that don't have this kind of access. Where I live in the south side of Chicago, and there is only one shop within ten miles of my home that sells Magic products, AND THEY ARE A COMIC BOOK SHOP! Not even the local Target a few blocks from my house sells Magic boosters. They only sell Pokemon TCG boosters. I have to go downtown– or to the north side– to maybe even get my hands on a precon deck. That’s a huge problem in accessibility. Unfortunately, many underserved communities in America ARE communities of color. No wonder why you don't see many Magic players in inner cities. And even if you are like me, you still run into the problem of having no one in your immediate community to play with. Then what's the point of getting into paper Magic? Might as well stick to traditional video games and play with your friends there.
In closing, this is an area where not only Wizards, but the greater community, needs to focus on more. In the last Black history post, I mentioned how Wizards could step their game up by changing their hiring practices, but this is arguably just as important. If you want Black magic to thrive, you gotta make it accessible to the players that don't live in affluent areas or suburbs. There are so many great resources out there to help you actually profit from playing the game, and Arena is a great alternative to constructed Magic (especially during the pandemic). But no one ever knows about them unless they're told about it from a friend who is obsessed with Magic, like me. I'm not sure how such a complex issue with all of these moving parts gets fixed, but I know what I plan to do about it in the long term. I hope that someday in the future, I can reinvest in my community, and give people the access to the content they enjoy close to home. I hope that by making more Magic content once I graduate, I can inspire others to jump into the game. As a skater, nerd, tattoo enthusiast and musician, I am tired of having to go to the north side, online, or the suburbs to find access to products others have at their disposal. But until then, it’s on us to make sure everyone feels welcome, and to accept new players with open arms. Do as my Magic sensei did; give your friend a free deck. Bring your collection to a group of friends and let them explore the game. Encourage your local comic shop to expand their products, and in doing so, the whole community will prosper as a result.
-Harland
Editor: Gem Díaz Velázquez
IG: @_harleys_angels
Twitter: @TyronicTheTrill
NEXT TIME IN FLAVORTOWN:
So we all got an Avatar announcement which means an expansion for the universe, and hope for the perfect Avatar deck!
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