Over the March break, the family headed up to Ottawa for a few days. The main objective was to do some university campus reconnaissance for Christian but it was also a chance to catch up with some friends that had moved up there just as Covid broke out (they sold their old house the day before the first shut down began!).

Their oldest is now 7 (the same age as Noah when he began playing Magic) and has been an avid Pokemon collector & general fan for a few years. He also had dabbled in Magic some time before our visit. So I reached out ahead of our trip to see if he was still interested in the game as I had some bulk cards (and a few more interesting ones) that I would be happy to give him if he was still interested in the game. It turned out that the interest had died down due to lack of people to play with and a general lack of cards. But his father was sure that he would be happy to get new cards. So, a few hundred cards made the trek to Ottawa with us.

Not only was the little boy happy but having my own two boys sit down with him and build out some decks out of the pile of new cards seemed to be even more exciting. Unfortunately, my own contribution was limited to giving him the cards as I might have upset a few people by ignoring the non-Magic players in the room!

By the end of the evening, there were Magic cards strewn across the solarium and plenty of discussions had taken place about what cards went well together and general game play. Better yet, our latest Magic player also had a Blue White flyers deck and a Red Gremlin Burn deck ready to go (I clearly see the influence of my boys given the distinct lack of any Green).

I may have lost a few brownie points with his parents when he exclaimed at dinner that one of the cards was “quite gruesome.” Some kind of vampire, I gathered, so there may be some parental audit of said “gift” to ensure that the cards are somewhat appropriate for him.

It remains to be seen if these new decks will be enough to rekindle the Magic flame for a longer period of time. Then again, does it ever go out completely? We’ll have to see the next time we visit.