It had come to my attention there was no blogs about magic the gathering. Unfortunately for me, DCTheGamr beat me to creating one about it and made one first when I told him about it. But I'm going to make mine longer and more detailed and actually discuss the card game.

How I got into Magic the Gathering
I had watched friends play MTG while I was a teenager. They weren't really interested in teaching me, so I didn't learn at that point. I learned during college and started occasionally going to a local card shop to play with people there. It was fun and very casual. Everyone was super nice and I learned how to play the game. They played on Fridays and I eventually got a job where I was working Friday evenings and unable to play there anymore. I couldn't really afford to play the game for the price of physical cards. I occasionally played online on two different applications. Cockatrice which is a fan made MTG game located on github and Magic the Gathering Arena which is made by Wizards of the Coast the current owners of MTG. I continued to play there. After graduating college and getting a full time job, I realized I now had the money to be able to play physically again, unfortunately, most card shop weren't open due to Covid. In mid 2021, with the vaccines available, some card shops started opening their doors again and I have gotten back into playing it physically.

Why do I enjoy Magic the Gathering
A big reason is the social aspect of it. Going once a week and meeting new people is really nice especially when normally, I'm working from home and don't go out as much as I'd like to. It's hard to meet people in a new city and I don't really have many friends here. I've met some new friends through MTG. It's a form of gaming that seems more social. People seem really inviting to new people in my experience. I often hear people say that MTG players are mean, maybe in some areas, but I just haven't had that experience.

What advice do I have if you want to start playing
Watch a tutorial on how to play or do the tutorial in Magic The Gathering Arena. Download the online version and play on that because it's a great learning tool for beginners and doesn't cost anything. You don't unlock all the cards at once. If you want to play a version of Magic that has all the cards unlocked immediately, check out Cockatrice. It isn't as user friendly, so keep that in mind. If anyone is down to play a game in Arena let me know.