Along the way, Magic cleared a path for many things we take for granted in the world of gaming. Magic has grown into a juggernaut and made the game’s developer and publisher, Wizards of the Coast, into a powerful force in the hobby games industry.

It now sells as a collectible for about $1,000. That gift set also appreciated spectacularly. In the interim, Magic kept gaining momentum. It was an elegant novelty, but after a few days we tired of it and put it aside. I played it a bit with my girlfriend at the time, and I remember both of us marveling at the idea of a complex tabletop game made up of nothing more than a couple of stacks of cards. I remember that it came with a pair of 60-card decks, a bag of glass counters and an instruction manual. My own history with Magic goes way back to 1994, when I received a copy of the revised gift set. But if you haven’t been playing it regularly for the last decade or so, it’s easy to feel like you’ve been left behind. Rather than fading into obscurity, the original collectible card game is still going strong.

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