Magic...a gathering

Tournament draws the best Magic players from all over the world

MAKING MAGIC Magic: The Gathering is a game of strategy in which opponents try to eliminate each other by playing cards that represent such magical concepts as spells and monsters. Each player uses an individualized deck of 60 cards. Complex rules govern how the cards can be used or combined to increase their powers. On the Net » www.magicthegathering.com

"Hey Tim, how'd you do?"

"I won another game."

"Arrgghh! Lose one, already!"

Hawaii players Tim Lui and Marshall Sakaguchi were sizing up each other's progress during last weekend's Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour circuit stop at the Hawai'i Convention Center. While they might have distinguished themselves as two of the 410 players from all over the world invited to this money event, they're learning that being big time in your own back yard doesn't necessarily translate into success against the big boys.

Big boys such as Jeroen Remie, a professional who came from the Netherlands, all expenses paid. (Like professional poker players, top Magic players receive appearance fees as well, ranging from $500 to $2,000.)

"I've been a pro full time for 2 1/2 years now," Remie said. "I quit school back home. For me this is the opportunity of a lifetime."

The 27-year-old Remie has even been honored with his own pro-player card.

What started as a hobby in high school resulted in a pro title for Ramie at the 2004 Seattle tournament. He now spends five or six months per year in the United States on the pro tour.

Remie is sharing a North Shore rental with 13 other tour buddies for a month's time, away from his home country's snowy cold weather. While not all of his Dutch team could make it to Honolulu, he is sharing the house here with "Swedes, three Frenchies, Brits and Americans."

The trading-card game just turned 13, and Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour celebrates its 10th year this year with the motto "Play the Game, See the World." Hawaii was the first stop of the '06 tour, to be followed by Prague in the Czech Republic, Charleston, S.C., and Kobe, Japan.

LUI, a shy guy from Hilo, was up two games to one in Friday's first round of seven games, while Sakaguchi, a former member of the Kaimuki High School wrestling team (before he quit to concentrate on Magic), lost his first two games, both to top Japanese Magic wielders.

The rule of thumb is that once you lose four games, you're out of the running for cash prizes. A total of $240,245 would be paid out by tournament's end Sunday, to finishers from 75th place on up.

First-place winner Mark Merberholz of East Lansing, Mich., took home the $40,000 top prize. The champ's name will be etched on the tour trophy, and he gets bragging rights -- that is, until the next tourney stop in a couple of months in Prague.

Sakaguchi, who just turned 18, is doing his best to keep his composure in this, his second pro tournament. He started playing Magic nine years ago against friends and schoolmates, and has refined his game through online play.

"I like the creative aspect of the game," he said, "the logic and intellect behind it, and of trying to know what kind of deck your opponent is playing. It takes skill." Plus, "I like the feeling of winning."

Lui won his air fare to Oahu after winning a qualifying tournament held here. He and a group of Hilo friends were staying at the Waikiki Beach Marriott hotel.

For the 20-year-old Lui, who has been playing since middle school, this tournament was his baptism of fire. "It's kind of overwhelming. It's intimidating to go against this high level of players."

The convention hall is filled mainly with guys in their 20s and 30s, most wearing special navy-and-white aloha shirts given out at the previous night's welcoming luau. But they quickly switched to their game-playing guises as "wizards," to do battle across the felt-top table, armed with carefully crafted decks of finely designed cards of spells, weaponry and creatures.

The hall goes quiet during each 60-minute round as players quickly shuffle, sort and position their cards, casting die and scribbling down point totals. Breaks are taken only when someone wins two out of three matches or time expires. The milling around and socializing stops when the next pairings are posted, and everyone hurries to their designated tables.

TOURNAMENT manager Scott Larabee said the card game is as strong as it has ever been, despite a lack of the kind of media attention that other games such as poker and Yu-Gi-Oh! receive.

"Magic: The Gathering was the very first trading card game," he said. "It involves a high level of strategy, and you need to be an intelligent player. When poker came along, it was no surprise that our own pro players, like David Williams and Jon Finkel, gravitated to it for the opportunity to make more money. But people like Finkel still come back to Magic because it's fun.

"The strategy in Magic is a lot deeper, and the game is a lot less luck-based. There's always a changing strategy, mainly because (game maker) Wizards of the Coast brings out new sets every three months. Each cycle has similar themes, and it appears that the latest cycle, represented by Ravnica: City of Guilds, and Guildpact, which just came out, has struck a nerve and revitalized interest."

HOSTING an international Magic card tournament can only have a positive effect on local players.

Michael Otsuji co-owns with his wife the card and collectibles stores Da-Planet, in Honolulu and Hilo. He sponsors Team Planet, a group that includes Sakaguchi and 22-year-old Matt Dunn, whose professional earnings have covered his college tuition.

"We have to strive for better play," Otsuji said. "A tournament like this gives our players an opportunity to play a higher-caliber game. Most of all, this is a good life lesson for them. With anything, there are levels of complexities to it. Our play can be elevated only if we want to make the move to better commitment and structure.

"So long as the players here go by casual rules, it conveys a bad life lesson. This helps our players get to the next level."