Everyone has secrets. But Rachel Malley isn’t exactly your average teenager. Though quiet and introverted in class, Rachel is brave, passionate, and -- a national player of the game “Magic: The Gathering.” This isn’t exactly your average card game either.
“It’s kinda like Pokemon, but a bit more complicated,” Malley explains. This game is a high-level fantasy game, where each player represents an elite spellcaster called a “Planeswalker,” and their deck is comprised of all the weapons they own, spells they know, and creatures they can summon.
Players duel each other, and the point is to win by reducing the other player from Life 20 to Life 0, using only your deck. You can build your deck anyway you want it, but you have to have a certain amount of “mana,” a basic resource required to use magic. Land cards give you mana so that you can cast spells, and defeat your opponent.…show more content… It takes skill to defeat opponents, but Rachel is a master. “I’m registered for nationals,” Malley told me, which is pretty amazing considering she’s only been playing for about a year. Nationals start next month, and nerves are flying. Winners can rack up astounding amounts of money. Her collection isn’t as great as she wants it to be, but it’s still pretty impressive, considering that she owns one card that’s worth around $20,000.
So, how did she get involved in this intense competition? “My cousin got me started in it. He has the ultimate collection of it, in Connecticut at least.”
But that’s just the beginning of the surprises the quiet Rachel Malley offers. She’s also in a band, the Reapers Grim, with about 10 others, but is terrified of singing in front of people. In her band, it’s usually not a problem, since she plays drums most
