Arcane dueling: This is the strategy behind the players of the new Magic the Gathering club at Waxahachie High School this semester.

This type of gameplay can be defined as a player cultivating their own skills based on magical martial skills to fight against their opponent.

Although the club started up this year, senior Eli Ratliff had gotten into Magic The Gathering the year before.

“I learned about it from watching YouTube videos,” Ratliff said. “Seeing the technical and strategic side of it is what got me interested in the game.”

Eli realized Mr. Sam Allelo, Environmental Science and Astronomy teacher, was interested in Magic The Gathering and they realized there wasn’t a club so they “struck a deal” as Ratliff says.

Throughout Allelo’s high school years, he had a passion for board games and his love for board games is still there now.

Mr. Allelo started playing the game earliest he can recall is 2009, his friends started picking the cards up and he eventually did so also.

With there being over 27,000 cards, Ratliff said he would not like to start exploring other card and or board games due to a trend in the Magic The Gathering community that “if you play magic you usually don’t play other games,” he said.

“Magic The Gathering is the ‘OG,’” Ratliff said.

Magic the the Gathering meets in Mr. Allelo’s room after school on Wednesdays from 4:15 to 6 p.m.

“Once a magic player always a magic player,” Ratliff said.