Magic The Gathering is something that becomes much more interesting the more you look into it. Not just a game about duelling wizards throwing spells at each, Magic The Gathering is a commercial game with championships on par with the likes of Poker and E-sports. Richard Garfield’s simple to learn and impossible to master collectible card invented an entire new genre of gaming and created an industry. Titus Chalk’s latest book, Generation Decks, takes the reader into a world that most of us know nothing about. Magic is an incredibly geeky little game, but behind it is a rich history filled with hopes, dreams, betrayal, loss and discovery.

This is a compelling story that gets into the real nitty gritty of the history of the game. From its humble origins as a simple, off the cuff idea to a multi-million dollar, world spanning tournament game, it’s a compelling read. Titus Chalk relates the history of the 24-year-old game in a very personal way. Chalk not only tells the story of the game itself, but also his own personal relationship with the collectible cards. We learn that Chalk picked up the game as a teen, following a move to New Zealand, and how his growing fascination with the cards gave him the strength to make friends.

Chalk uses the back-drop of his own story to relate the history of MTG to the reader in a friendly, chatty and ultimately compelling style. Titus tells real tales in a highly compelling and entertaining way; you get the feeling that he could make any topic interesting.

However, the tale behind Magic really is a fascinating one. We learn that as the game grew, the creators and investors had to grow up quickly. Lurching from one near disaster to another, it was only the dedication of the creators and an awful lot of quick thinking that prevented this gaming mainstay from early disaster. We get a glimpse into the lives the game irrevocably altered, from the humble janitor who put her life savings into its early development to the game’s early tournament heroes who couldn’t quite cope with the fame and fell apart under the pressure.

At its heart, Generation Decks is the tale of a business start-up and the people who made it happen. However, given the unusual subject matter, those stories are little bit special. If you’ve ever wondered what the fuss was about (or even how Pokemon became a card game), then give this lovely little book a read.


GENERATION DECKS: THE UNOFFICIAL HISTORY OF GAMING PHENOMENON MAGIC THE GATHERING / AUTHOR: TITUS CHALK / PUBLISHER: SOLARIS / RELEASE DATE: 6TH APRIL

I remember discovering Magic the Gathering while I was in college. I am still tempted to purchase cards when I go to the comic book store every weekend. This book rekindled my love for the game. It claims it is a history but it is also part memoir and, ultimately, a love song to a game that took the world by storm.

Read it if you've played the game, are curious about the game, or enjoyed reading Of Dice and Men (the story of Dungeons and Dragons).

I've been playing MtG since it was released, and really enjoyed reading a completely different perspective of an introduction to a game that I love (and have spent far too much money on!), and the world that follows falling in love with, and playing the game.

Gamingis an extremely vast business,more hidden and huge than many people know- the posture of the writer of this speedy and entertaining volume is that he is addicted to game-playing and (a) he wants us to understand why and (b) he wants to justify it. Sometimes I began to feel that this was simply an extended promotional piece for the game 'Magic' which apparently shifted paradigms of gaming. If I am so told, I can only believe it. I do know that people can get completely wrapped up in playing games on a computer and that it alters their lives- isolating them etc. This game is a social experience- it wasgood fun to track how Garfield developped it - he is truly an individual He moves on at the end, pursuing mathematics in yet another series of ways. There will never be a new game such as this, Garfield says, or at least one I could do again.

GENERATION DECKS by Titus Chalk examines the phenomenon of Magic: The Gathering the game. Chalk cover the game from it's beginnings in the early 1990's through all of the ups and downs as an ever expanding commodity, to the present, where the game continues to thrive as an easy game to start playing, yet nearly impossible to fully master.
Chalk is a Magic player himself and looks introspectively throughout the book about how Magic:the Gathering has been a part of his life. Not only does Chalk give a detailed history of the game of Magic, but looks at so much more. Chalk looks at gaming business as a whole and how the creation of Magic ushered in a revolutionary change in the gaming world. Chalk looks at how Wizards of the Coast, the company that brought us Magic, grew out of a basement into giant company and all of the warts and hiccups that came along with that growth. Chalk spend a lot of time looking at the social aspects of the game; how Magic brought a socially adverse segment of the population together and made them better by having a group of people they can relate to. Chalk considers that as the internet was forming into what we know today, how the Magic community had a hand in the crafting and honing how we interact with the internet. He even looks at the female aspect, or lack thereof, in the Magic community. In the middle of the book ,Chalk gets a little heavy handed about gameplay and the "metagame", and think a reader unfamiliar with the game could get easily lost. Overall though, I think Chalk does a good job looking at so many aspects of Magic; how it's a unique game that has left a unique mark on the gaming world.
Any fan and/or player of Magic will enjoy GENERATION DECKS and its clear that Titus Chalk has a passion for the game and the people who play it, create it and enjoy it.

My first experience with Magic:The Gathering was back in 1995 in the band room over lunch with a bunch of kids huddled over two decks. I continued to play casually all through college and enjoy the game today.

This book was about the founding and how the game came to be what it is today and defined an entire genre of card games. The only thing that I didn't enjoy that much was the long chapters about the authors experience playing the game. Knowing how he got started is cool, but the parts dragged a little bit in the middle.

Recommend this to people who have an interest in the history of games, particularly CCG's and how they got started.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1937353333?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1