Maj Andrew Varga with the trophy he won as Australian Champion of the card game Magic: The Gathering. Photo provided by Maj Andrew Varga

Magic is on the cards for Oz champ

By Cpl Jonathan Garland
AN OFFICER from Melbourne has become National Champion in the strategy card game Magic: The Gathering, winning the right to represent Australia at the international level in Berlin later this year.

Maj Andrew Varga won the title from about 200 other competitors at the Australian titles in Canberra in April.

He said matches were played one-on-one and the winner was best out of three games.

“It’s a game of strategy, which I really enjoy – it takes a fair bit of practice, a fair bit of skill and, because it’s a game, a little bit of luck, too,” he said.

“I liken it to playing chess, except you don’t know what your opponent’s pieces are until he actually uses them.

“Having a wife and kids and a full-time job makes it difficult to practice all the time but sometimes you get a bit lucky and things go right for you.”

Maj Varga has played on the professional circuit for Magic: The Gathering, competing in New York several years ago.

The top three players of each country form the national team and will travel to Berlin for the international titles in August.

“Of the Australian team, one is in Perth and one is in Brisbane, so it’s a little hard to train together, so we’ll be using the Internet a fair bit.”

The premise of Magic: The Gathering is that two wizards are going to do battle with each other.

Each brings their book of spells (the deck of cards) and tries to defeat their opponent using spells (cards), which are chosen by the player to fit their mood or style.

The game is sold in a collector’s card format, so a pack of cards has only some of the possible cards in the game, with individual cards varying in rarity.

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