Magic the Gathering

[Anonymous]

My 17 year old (ASD) DD goes to private school in Baltimore but we live in Montgomery county. She is desperate for local friends and wants to learn to play Magic the Gathering (she’s very creative and likes role play and metal music). Does anyone have any ideas of how to help her find a group of nice kids to learn with?

[Anonymous]

Labyrinth games in DC has MTG nights and is very kid- and beginner-friendly. Maybe too far for you to go but they might have recommendations for Maryland events.

[Anonymous]

My autistic 18 year old has loved playing board games with Game Night Space and I think they also do MTG. https://gamenight.space/

[Anonymous]

Have you tried online on Outschool?

[Anonymous]

I just searched it on Meetup and a lot of groups came up. I would read the descriptions and see if any are open to a 17 year old. Even if they are adults only, they often meet at hobby or comic shops and it’s still worth contacting them because they might also have kids or teens groups there that aren’t posted on Meetup.

[Anonymous]

I wish I knew you because my kid is in a metal band and could be her tutor! My recommendation is to try to get a neighborhood kid to teach her and then take her to a Friday Night Magic to ease her in. They are the most accepting group ever! Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish I knew you because my kid is in a metal band and could be her tutor! My recommendation is to try to get a neighborhood kid to teach her and then take her to a Friday Night Magic to ease her in. They are the most accepting group ever! Good luck![/quote{

If you’d be open to asking your kid if they’d be open to it, I’ll give you my burner email address!

[Anonymous]

Go to some specific learn-to-play events wherever they are (worth the travel.) labyrinth is great as mentioned above, also see what Game Kastle (college park) has.
Once she knows the basics, YES to the prior poster who said go to Friday Night Magic at almost any game store, it’s a welcoming scene! Dice City Games does. Lot of Magic and does “casual Commander” play on Saturdays.
There are multiple formats FYI… standard, Commander, Modern, etc. She will learn standard first. But a lot of Friday Night Magic and the casual events can be Commander or Modern (and some other types) so just know that. You use slightly different decks (built of the same cards.)
She could buy a pre-made Commander deck and start with that. As she learns more she can build her own deck from packs or from buying re-sale card singles at stores.
This is a GREAT hobby, don’t be intimidated! Such a welcoming community!
Just make sure to find the learn-to-play sessions to get started. The staff at Labyrinth are sooooo great and enthusiastic about new players and totally patient.

[Anonymous]

* Dice City Games is in Silver Spring, meant to say

[Anonymous]

It might be too far but maybe you could go a few times to meet people to then play online with - there’s a place on old town, Alexandria, on the corner of Washington st called Your Hobby Place. It had lots of teens that sound similar, and they always look like they’re having a great time. I walk by most evenings, and it seems to have something nightly.

[Anonymous]

There is a Magic the Gathering App that would be useful for learning the rules by playng against different AIs.

Check with your local game store to see if they have a game night and ask them how they handle kids attending. Our lcoal game store is honest that they are not set up for a kid friendly environment for many of their events. They have open gaming tables that can be used throughout the day so people arrange to meet at the store and play board games or Magic or D&D and the like. But don't expect them to monitor the language and overall behavior, outside of obviously poor behavior. I say this to remind you to ask the store how they run games because some stores have kid friendly hours with kid friendly expectations but not all.

[Anonymous]

The Child's Play in DC has game nights.

Call them and see if there are any options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Child's Play in DC has game nights.

Call them and see if there are any options.

Here is a link - https://childsplaytoysandbooks.com/pages/events

They have "Magic Mondays"

[Anonymous]

Just a thought — Magic: The Gathering is still very male-dominated, and the social dynamics can be… intense. It’s not unusual to find players who are incredibly rules-focused but maybe not as socially developed as you’d hope for a healthy teen friend group. I’d be wary of throwing a 17-year-old girl (especially one who’s creative and outgoing) into a scene where “making eye contact” is considered a high-level skill.

If she wants the role play + creativity, maybe check out tabletop RPG groups or board game cafés that have more balanced gender representation. At least there she’s more likely to meet peers who can talk about something other than mana curves and obscure card bans.

[Anonymous]

If she is very creative and into art, she may also want to look into playing Warhammer because a huge part of that is making and customizing the figurines.