Poker
Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. There are a lot of overlapping skills between playing poker and Magic.[1][2] There are quite a lot of successful Magic players turned Poker pros (e.g. Brock Parker, David Williams, Dario Minieri, Eric Froehlich, José Barbero, Noah Boeken, and Uri Peleg). There even is a book about Jon Finkel who took a break from Magic to focus on poker instead.[3]
Poker decks
Through the years, several Magic poker decks have been created.
Carta Mundi
In 1993, or early 1994, Carta Mundi presented Peter Adkison with a box of about 200 poker decks with regular Magic card backs [4] These were distributed among investors, employees and distributors as business gifts.
The decks were printed at about the same time as Alpha by Carta Mundi. They have standard Magic card backs, yet the faces are of one of Carta Mundi's standard poker decks. They are distinguishable from the DCI/Yaquinto decks by the presence of the "Made in Belgium" text on the Ace of Spades and on one Joker.
One newsgroup posting describes the decks being printed after Alpha (late 1993), and given out just after Antiquities was released (March/April 1994).
DCI Legend Membership (Yaquinto)
As mentioned in the Duelist Companion #20 (April 1996), DCI membership was previously split into two levels. In 1994, those signing up for "Legend Membership" received a Magic-backed poker deck printed by Yaquinto Playing Cards, among other items.
It consisted of 52 standard playing cards plus 2 jokers for a total of 54 cards and again used regular Magic backsides. On the front sides, the Yaquinto Printing Company, Inc. is mentioned. These decks featured the Wizards of the Coast logo on the one Joker and the Ace of Spades.[5]
Poker deck box
In August 1998 Wizards of the Coast released a poker deck box which includes two complete poker decks plus two advertisement cards which promote other Magic products. The decks each consist of 52 standard playing cards plus 2 jokers for a total of 54 cards and can be distinguished by their different backsides, white and blue.[6] The face cards all have classic artwork on them — the Kings are Dragons; the Queens are Angels, and the Jacks are Knights, and the Jokers are Jesters (Jester's Mask and Jester's Cap).[7]
Other references to poker
Unglued 2: The Obligatory Sequel (1999) would have contained an artifact card named "Poker Table". You would have played a Poker Hand with mana value being numbers and color being suit.[8][9][10] The art created for the card was later used on the Arena League promo version of Mise.
Secret Lair Drop Series: Spring Superdrop 2024 contained a drop of cards called "Poker Faces", with five textless creature cards in a poker card frame.
References
- ↑ Randy Buehler (July 02, 2004). "Magic and Poker". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2019-09-07.
- ↑ Martin Jůza (January 24, 2025). "Skills Magic: The Gathering Players Learn from Poker and How You Can Leverage Them in Real Life". Ultimateguard.com.
- ↑ Davis Kushner (2005), "Jonny Magic and the Cardshark Kids", Random House
- ↑ Magic Librarities
- ↑ Collectible Card Games Company
- ↑ Magic Librarities
- ↑ The World of Playing Cards (March 8, 2023). "Magic: The Gathering® Poker Decks". WOPC.co.uk.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater. "#38 - Unglued 2". Drive to Work. Transcript.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (April 15, 2017). "Why did wizards have that painting of dogs playing magic created?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (April 16, 2017). "Can you share any of the design for Poker Table?". Blogatog. Tumblr.