It was a cool Saturday night at The Card House in Temple, TX. MTG fans gathered together to play the latest set of cards, Amonkhet, in a prerelease tournament for prizes and fun.  I was a few hours late so, abiding to the rules, I wasn’t allowed to purchase a prerelease box. Luckily, a few of my friends and a few familiar faces I hadn’t seen in a while were there and they all welcomed me into the fold.

I haven’t played in years but after watching a few matches it soon came back to me. I watched my friend A.J. graciously lose a gruelingly close match to his friend Justin. There was good sportsmanship all around; I could see why they like coming to this place.

As the tournament was winding down A.J.’s brother, Josh, was in a ranked match. His opponent had a stone-cold poker face and smashed him the first round; it was savage. Unfazed, he won the next two rounds but it wasn’t any walk in the park. Then we all gathered up front to see the final results and Josh placed high enough to win a prize.

The brothers and their friends showed me some of their new treasured cards and I couldn’t help but be a bit envious. They seriously had some awesome cards. After chatting for a bit and spirits still high, we all parted ways but in the back of my mind I couldn’t wait to get home and start building my next deck.