Casting spells and defeating their opponents, students strive to become the best player and advance in tournament play.

Magic: The Gathering is a fantasy, role-playing card game where the cards combine to help players gain magical energy. For instance, when players are attempting to cast a spell, they use the magical energy from the land cards known as “mana.” This strategy is used to win the game.

Using a 60 card deck, two players pick their decks and go head to head, trying to decrease the other’s life total from 20 to zero. “Each individual player can express their personality through their decks and through the colors they choose to play,” Carper said.

Teacher Christian Carper supervises the Magic: The Gathering card club. This club consist of six to ten students and teachers Jacob Becicka and Carper.

Carper became interest in the game when he sponsored an anime club at his previous school. The club soon converted to a Magic: The Gathering card club because of the high interest among the members. “Those students taught me to play, and I’ve been playing ever since, which has been a little over two years,” Carper said.

Although the club is not an official school club, it meets in Carper’s classroom every Monday after school. At the meetings, the members go head to head to advance in the tournament. The group also plans to participate in tournaments at the Comics and Games store in Dyersville.

“If anyone is interested, they are more than welcome to come in on a Monday and learn how to play,” Carper said.