Feature: Magic gathers at Vancouver card game competition

Spells were cast, monsters summoned, and defenses mounted in Vancouver over the weekend as more than 1,000 competitors gathered around card tables to win a chance to join Magic: The Gathering's pro tour.

Magic, as people in the know call it, is a fantasy card game created in 1993 and now spreading around the world like wildfire. Players assemble their own decks by buying, trading or winning cards that can be used to attack or defend against opponents in a world that is set mostly in the imagination.

At Grand Prix events like this, the top eight players earn a spot on the professional world tour. There are dozens of other similar tournaments taking place around the world on any given weekend.

Ron Foster, Grand Prix tournament organizer and manager, told Xinhua that the game has attracted a wide range of players.

"People who love the game and just want an opportunity to play with their friends, and all the way up to the people that are aspiring pros and want to qualify for the pro tour," he said.

The game has developed an international community of an estimated 12 million players. The developers behind the game said Magic is played now in more than 70 countries and the cards are printed in 11 languages.

It's also a big business as entrants to the tournament pay 60 Canadian dollars (about 48 U.S. dollars) to compete. Rare playing cards can often cost more than 1,000 dollars.

The game not only requires an active imagination, but also attention to detail, said one Magic player, Jonathan Martin.

"Good math skills are actually very important. At its base, the game mainly boils down to probabilities. What are your odds of drawing a certain card. So if you have a decent math base, you're probably pretty fine," Martin told Xinhua during the game.

Like any competitive sport, Magic has its stars and personalities, even its own hall-of-fame.

Among all pro players, "some of them are hall-of-famers, and most of them make a living off Magic, like winning prize money from tournaments like these,"said Kevin Wang, a Magic player.

Events like this one can get competitive, but the game's global success probably has more to do with its ability to bring friends together for a Friday night showdown at local games shops.

"Community is a really good word to use . ... It's more than just the competition; it' s more than just the game play. It's the friendship, the camaraderie. It's the shared experience of being in an event like this and sharing that hobby, sharing that fun with people," said Foster. Endi