Do You Believe in Magic?

Another Team Legends member is Ted, an 18-year-old high school student with a shadowy black mustache and acne-riddled skin. Ted is one of the team's stronger players. "He is so damn lucky," says Coonce.

Coonce plays Ted with the deck he has sold me -- an all-red "burn" deck designed to destroy an opponent in fewer than seven turns. Their games rarely last longer than five minutes, with Coonce winning most of them.

Late in one game, Coonce summons Lava Hounds, a tough creature that inflicts four points of damage to himself. With Coonce's life points reduced to five, Ted plays Spite, a nasty black card that kills Coonce, suddenly and violently.

"Shit, a loss," Coonce says. "I hate losing."
"Man, you made the right play," Ted says. "How could you know I had a Spite?"

As they play, I pick up on the ritual of the game. The unspoken signals indicating the end of turn. How each player knows what's in the other's hand, and plans at least five turns ahead. Through all the boasting and bullshitting, I realize that when the playing field is level, the difference between the good and the great, the pro and the amateur, sometimes boils down to the luck of the draw. Watching, I find myself thinking that maybe in the end, the difference between Magic and life isn't that great after all.