Surrounded by the board game-covered walls of The Gaming Goat, a mass of young adults gather in the center of the room. One can hear spurts of laughter and heated debate as the students exchange cards at a quick pace.

It is a Friday at The Gaming Goat, a game shop located within an old brick building on 723 S. Neil St. in downtown Champaign, and that means magic. Specifically, Magic: The Gathering.

These tournaments, based on the popular trading card game, are held every Friday night at The Gaming Goat. Kevin Huang, sophomore in Business and president of the Magic: The Gathering RSO on campus, typically sits among the long plastic tables, crowded between players.

Wanting to get more exposure to the card game he loves, Huang started the Magic: The Gathering RSO earlier this year.

“Prior to this year, there was a lot of people that played and we all met up, but we didn’t actually have an RSO,” Huang said. “I, and a couple other guys, decided to make an RSO so we could get more people to join and play.”

Magic: The Gathering, Huang explained, is a card came that can be played by two or more players using decks of printed cards. Each player is known as a “planeswalker,” a wizard, that uses the spells and creatures on each card to defeat his or her opponent. 

“It was created in 1993 and has since grown to include over 12,000 different cards with millions of people that play it worldwide,” he said.

The trading game is available both online and in card form. There are numerous complex rules, depending on which format the game is being played in. However, the main objective of the game is simple, Huang explained.

“Basically, everyone has 20 lives, and the goal of the game is to get your opponent’s life down to zero,” Huang said, “There are other ways you can win, but that’s the main one.”

The deck that the player has can determine whether he or she loses or wins the game.

“In order to win, you don’t have to put a lot of money in your deck, but you have to have a good deck,” said George Jabbour, sophomore in LAS and avid Magic player. “You can get one by trading cards a lot or, if you have a lot of money, you can buy really good decks.”

Magic cards range in price depending on how rare or necessary a card is. Huang explained a standard card deck costs around $100 to $200, but he has one of a slightly higher price range.

“I have a deck that’s worth $10,000, so its totally blinged out,” he said.

Huang began playing the card game in middle school, but then stopped shortly after. It was not until his senior year in high school, where he found out that one of his teachers played the game, that he began playing seriously himself. He has now been a “hard core” player for more than three years.

Jabbour began playing the game in high school and has been crazy about it since.

“I play because I really enjoy the game. It really challenges you. There’s a lot of strategy involved. It’s like a mix between chess and poker,” Jabbour said. “With chess, all the information is there and you can figure out what moves your opponent plans on taking, but with this game, you have your own cards and your opponent can’t see them, like in poker.”

The Magic club meets every Wednesday at 6:40 p.m. in the Illini Union basement. During these meetings, members can buy and trade cards and play with other members to garner more experience and skill. 

In addition to these meetings, tournaments are held at The Gaming Goat most Fridays at around 6:30 p.m. Here, participants can pay $5 to enter the tournament and have chances to win store credit and other prizes. Members can also travel to larger out-of-state tournaments with the club.

Mike Keplinger, co-owner and manager of The Gaming Goat, and his business partner had been huge fans of the fantasy role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons. In college, they would frequent gaming stores all over the state when they traveled for tournaments. After many years of contemplation, the two officially opened their own game shop last September. 

Since the store’s opening, Keplinger has loved the attention his store has been receiving for hosting the weekly Magic tournaments. He thanks Huang for a part of his business’s growing popularity.

“Kevin’s a very central figure in the Magic and gaming community,” Keplinger said. “And when we have a Magic event going on, Kevin helps spread the word and gets more people who otherwise would not have heard about the event to come and come back again the next week.”

While the RSO currently has over 40 registered members and about 20 non-registered members, the club has some arguably unsurprising demographics.

“We have two or three female members,” Huang said. “It’s mostly guys right now.”

Huang hopes more girls realize how fun the game is and are not scared away by the male-dominant atmosphere these types of games sometimes boast. 

“I don’t judge,” Huang said. “Magic is Magic, and I’m just going to play with people who like to play too.”

Elizabeth can be reached at [email protected].