Magic: The Gay-thering, the most Magic pride event ever! 

It’s Thursday, August 1st, I have been summoned to an event called Magic: The Gay-thering, and I’m sitting in a board game cafe in central London staring at my imminent demise. 

A horrifying creature called the Venomous Brutalizer, a faceless phyrexian knight clad in putrid armor, looking like some metallic centaur coughed up from the bowels of the underworld, bears down on me. Across from me sits the beast’s master; Gayming Awards 2022 host and famed presenter, Jules Hardy.

For the past 20 minutes I’d been teaching Jules the ins and outs of Magic: The Gathering, and now all my hard work was royally about to bite me in the ass! 

You see, Jules’ introductory deck has a rather nasty win condition, much like the Britney Spears classic, Jules’ Venomous Brutalizer is Toxic. Meaning that in just two turns it can apply 12 Toxic counters to me as the opposing player, and if I have 10 counters applied to me, I lose the game. So when I tell you that Jules had already applied 6 during their last turn, you can probably already tell where this is going.

I stare at the cards in my hand. I have nothing I can play. Nothing to stop the oncoming storm.

“I did this,” I thought. I end my turn and accept my fate.

Jules’ smiles, untaps their mana, draws for turn, and attacks.

If you followed any of that, then you are more than likely a Magic: The Gathering fan. However, if that left you incredibly confused, fret not, because so were a good portion of guests attending the Magic: The Gay-thering event held last Thursday by Wizards of the Coast. 

A celebration of everything queer about Magic: The Gathering was the perfect introduction to new potential fans of the popular card game that just turned 31 years old. Certainly the feather in the cap of a company that is most well known for their other world famous fantasy game, a little TTRPG called Dungeons & Dragons. That said I personally remember them fondly as the original publisher of the Pokemon Trading Card Game, but I digress.

Taking place in a multiverse of seemingly endless worlds (or planes as the game likes to call them), Magic: The Gathering (or Magic/MTG for short) can pretty much be anything it wants to be at this point. 

Its most recent set, Bloomburrow, focuses on small anthropomorphic animal adventurers banding together to defend their woodland homes from much larger, angrier beasts. Think The Secret of NIMH with an art style more reminiscent of Peter Rabbit. 

This multiverse traversal also means that Magic can crossover with other major IP’s, such as existing collabs based around Warhammer, Fallout, Doctor Who, Assassin’s Creed, and of course, Dungeons & Dragons, as well as the highly anticipated Final Fantasy crossover coming in 2025.

It makes perfect sense then that Magic: The Gathering happens to be very, very queer. Multiple characters at this point have been confirmed LGBTQIA+ within the in-game lore, including ones who are canonically lesbian, gay, trans, agender, and more (see our article on The wonderful LGBTQ+ history of Magic The Gathering).

The Magic: The Gay-thering event itself was an intimate one, with around 20-30 LGBTQIA+ people coming together to learn and teach Magic: The Gathering using specialized mix and match Jump Start boosters, containing beginner friendly cards, for players to make their very own 40 card deck. Great for putting everyone on an even playing field. 

Something that guests like DonaTarte remarked was “much more communal, queer friendly, and far less intense than, say, regular pre-release events.” Others mentioned how great it was to be in a space so welcoming to queer people of all experience levels, with no pressure of looking silly for not being knowledgeable about the game. 

But what personally struck me is that everyone seemed to be genuinely enjoying each other’s company, were approachable, quick to join in on some Gayming TikTok shenanigans, and were incredibly open to learning about not only MTG but each other. Good vibes all round!

Gayming even got to learn a little bit about Magic: The Gathering illustrator Jack Hughes (@jackmrhughes), who sat down with us for a private interview. 

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Jack is a queer artist who has worked on Magic: The Gathering sets such as Modern Horizons 3, Doctor Who, Murders at Karlov Manor, Commander Masters, Streets of New Capenna & more. 

Mia: Lovely to meet you. Have you been enjoying the event so far?

Jack: It’s been fun. I played my first game of Magic in 25 years, and I won. I was a bit nervous about starting, as I don’t like being bad at things. I think the guy went easy on me, he ‘was’ also advising me on what I should do. So, in that sense I’ve been loving it.

Mia: So you’ve produced a lot of pieces for Magic: The Gathering, how long have you been honing your craft?

Jack: I did it straight off the bat after University. I studied illustration and was very fortunate to get signed to an agency, that was back when I was 21, so it’s been 13/14 years that I’ve been doing it professionally.

Mia: Who would you say are your biggest inspirations as an artist?

Jack: I always go back to the work of J. C. Leyendecker, who was a very prolific illustrator in the 20s/30s. He was also gay, and his muse was his partner, his “companion” as they called it back then. I love his work. I also love the work of Gruau, who was an Italian fashion illustrator. Going a little bit more left field, I grew up with things like Dungeons & Dragons and fantasy novels, so I’ve always been drawn to that side of things for inspiration. And I’ve just always loved drawing kick ass women in full armor with a sword. I think that’s also why we ALL love drag queens!

Mia: What was it like to land a role on MTG?

Jack: Incredible. Obviously I’d known it since I was a kid, it’s up there with Dungeons & Dragons of the epoch of nerdiness. It doesn’t get better than that. [Wizards] first approached me for The Streets of New Capenna, an art deco themed set. I’d done art deco illustrations before so it made sense from that perspective. We had such a great working relationship and they really liked my work. I then did a Secret Lair for them which was based on my inspirations… fashion focused, and I had worked on a few fashion illustrations in the past. That felt very self indulgent. And it’s just snowballed since then.

Mia: I know you also contributed to the Doctor Who set…

Jack: Yes! That was fun.

Mia: What was it like working on an IP so incredibly beloved? Did that affect your process at all?

Jack: It actually didn’t, but now I’m concerned it should have! Maybe I should have gone back in time! I was working on the showcase art, which is different from the art they commission for the [main set] so there’s not so much weight on my shoulders. I grew up watching Doctor Who and I did it because it was fun, it was really fun working with the art director. Turns out a lot of people love that collection.

Mia: How important is it to you as a queer person, that Wizards seem to be at the forefront of LGBTQIA+ representation not only within MTG but their other ventures like Dungeons & Dragons?

Jack: It’s absolutely important. Gay people have always existed. We’ve always played these games. If you look at the games, they’re SO gay. They’re so camp. How could gay people not be drawn to them? I think our voices come through in the game and the lore in so many ways that I think are so vital to these games and experiences.

Mia: One last question. Have you got anything come up you can tell us about or is it all under wraps?

Jack: Everything is so secret with Magic. I’ve done a bunch of cards this year, all for things being released in the coming year. One of which I love, and I can’t wait for it to be released, but I say that about all of them to be honest. There are four that I’ve just wrapped that are part of a new setting. I’m very excited for the world to see it.

Mia: And we’re very excited to find out. Thank you so much Jack, it’s been a pleasure.

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The time flew throughout the evening, drinks were had, memories were made, and as the night drew to a close, the fine folks at Wizards sent everyone off with their very own goodie bag filled with various boosters from past sets, a set of Pride themed limited edition D&D dice and a T-shirt with fan favorite flaming lesbian; Chandra.

I was actually incredibly impressed with the Secret Lair “Pride Across the Multiverse” foil sets they handed out to all attendees. For the uninitiated, Secret Lair sets are premium collectible reprints of popular cards, which are almost always a selection of rare and mythic rare cards featuring alternate art than their standard counterparts. Prices of course can range with the size and focus of each “drop”. 

The Pride Across the Multiverse set is absolutely gorgeous, featuring a selection of queer characters, each illustrated by a queer artist, but unfortunately is not available for general purchase at this time following its limited release. Bring it back Wizards!

A wonderful night all round, and I can genuinely say that for a game that’s been ongoing for 31 years, it seems Magic: The Gathering isn’t running out of steam any time soon. Hopefully that means more overt LGBTQIA+ representation, and queer surprises to come in the future releases!

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