WEÓNEsdAy, M ay 22, 2002
A
H he CI ac I ìamas P rìnt
Magic card stock mysteriously disappears
ISAIAH CREEL
Staff Writer
On May 14, the Wizards of
the Coast retail store in the
Clackamas Town Center ran
completely out of Magic
Cards. The store went one
full week without Magic
Cards, a circumstance that is
far from coincidental with
the final installment of the
X-Files legacy and the
occult.
In 1993, Richard Garfield
introduced
Magic:
the
Gathering' (one of the first
collectable trading card
games) onto a nation of fan
tasy hungry teenagers.
In September of the same
year, Fox aired its original
pilot of the X-Files, a sci-fi
investigation series into the
paranormal.
From their meager begin
nings, both media have cap
tivated audiences, and have
since their releases enjoyed
large success, due mainly to
their respective underground
or cult followings.
On a personal level, I have
been a supporter of both the
X-Files, and Magicr. the
Gathering since their begin
nings, (although taking a
brief hiatus from the X-Files
after the departure of Fox
Mulder, played by David
Duchovny) and was recently
shocked and amazed when I
went to my official Wizards
of the Coast (Magic’s pro
duction company) retail
store to find not a single
card to be had in the whole
store.
“Apparently there was
some problem with ship
ping,” said Store Manager
Eric Joy. But I was not con
vinced.
Suspicious, I returned to
the scene of the crime two
days later to find out the dirt
behind this apparent “prob
lem with shipping.”
Cautious of bad publicity,
Joy was reluctant to give
answers beyond those of his
original statement.
All the secrecy peaked my
interest and curiosity in the
issue, so I did some more
digging into the history of
Wizards of the Coast. My
suspicions were confirmed
when I found that in
September of 1999, Wizards
of the Coast was sold for
more than $325 million to
Hasbro, Inc.
A few months later on X-
Files, Special Agent John
Doggett, played by Robert
Patrick, replaces Mulder. A
strange “coincidence” con
sidering the recent sale of
the original Wizards of the
Coast to Hasbro, maker of
games such as Yahtzee.
But what could tie my sus
picions together?
Then it hit me.
What do both Magic: the
Gathering, and the X-files
have in common?
The occult.
There have been quite a
few episodes of the X-files
dealing with the occult, such
as episode six of its fourth
season,
entitled
“Sanguinarium”.
On the Magic end of the
spectrum, Wizards of the
Coast has come under fire
many times from Christian
groups deeming it immoral.
Just as is the case with
role-playing games, there
are allusions to the occult in
Magic: The Gathering.
“These include sorcery,
witchcraft, and magic, all of
which are condemned in
both the Old and New
Testaments of the Bible (see
Lev. 19:26, Deut. 18:10,
Gal. 5:20, Rev. 21:8). Terms
such as enchantment, spell,
sacrifice, and ogre are com
mon to the game,” said Eric
Internet Photo
Magic cards disappear completely from local ‘Wizards of the Coast’ computer acce-
sories store; fellow ‘occult media,’ the hit show The X-Files. goes downhill after the star
Fox Mulder, played by David Duchovny, leaves the Intense television show for good.
What could be behind this decrease in ‘occult’ forms of entertainment? Who knows....
Hamo, in an article written
for Answers In Action, a
non-profit,
evangelical,
Christian organization based
in Costa Mesa, California,
which trains individuals to
“think logically and reason
ably about all things.”
This occult strangle hold
has given both Fox, the tele
vision network, and Wizards
of the Coast a powerful grip
on the minds of the young
people. In fact, an ad cam
paign for Magic:
the
Gathering was seen on the
Fox television network over
the past six years, 6 being
one of the numbers in 666,
the number of the beast.
What does any of that have
to do with the recent short
age of Magic cards at the
Wizards of the Coast retail
store in the Clackamas Town
Center?
The answer is quite simple.
At the time of this apparent program in order to promote
“problem with shipping,” I his new television hypnosis
was visiting the store in series premiering this fall,
search of employment. I and replacing all forms of
now realize the futility of entertainment (haven’t you
this due to the ever-fluctuat noticed a lack of effort from
ing unemployment rate for Matt Groening?)
the State of Oregon.
How can you stop this?
President Bush, in conjunc
You can’t. You can howev
tion with the Hasbro er purchase Magic cards not
Corporation, has launched a produced within the last
devious plot designed at tak three years. Three being the
ing away the freedom of the number of perisons contained
within the Christian ideal of
common nerd by:
1:) Purchasing all the latest the Father, the Son and the
Magic cards, and replacing Holy Spirit (the Trinity?).
them with a new “pro
I will not tell you to stop
Terrorism” collectable card watching television. Rather,
game due to hit stores later I will invite you to partici
this year. This will keep the pate in occult behavior,
general population confused including, but not limited to:
and afraid while Bush takes demon resurrection, ogre,
advantage of oil drilling Ouija, and the burning of
efforts in the Middle East.
incense.
2:) Destroying the X-Files
To reach Isaiah Creel e-mail
in order to eliminate yet zeplemen@hotmail.com or drop
another quality television by B-104.
Have you seen
the Clackamas
Print Website?
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