Tag: generationdecks

In these days of geek domination, we take it for granted that mainstream culture and geek culture are kind of the same thing. Being a long-time comic nerd, D&D campaigner or card game player is accepted, admired even. But it wasn’t always the case...

Generation Decks, Titus Chalk’s love letter to the makers and the payers of Magic: The Gathering takes us back to a time before the geeks inherited the world. In this intimate history, we see how a simple card game becomes a bank-busting phenomenon and a professional sport – and it is a hell of a story…

Find out more about it below, and click through the links at the bottom of the page to grab a copy from the retailer of your choice!

Generation Decks by Titus Chalk

The incredible true story behind the global gaming phenomenon!

Generation Decks tells the story of the mould-breaking fantasy card game, Magic: The Gathering. The brainchild of misfit maths genius Richard Garfield, Magic combines complex gameplay with collectability. When it came out in 1993 it transformed the lives of quiet braniacs who had longed for a way to connect and compete. It made millionaires of its creators, and it kick-started the era of professional gaming.

Titus Chalk tells the game’s story – from its humble origins to its continued success in today’s digital age. Prepare to meet Generation Decks, a community like no other.

‘Who doesn’t love a story about small town dreamers who make it big? A gripping tale with a journalistic eye for how fast fortunes, and the world, change.’
Samira Ahmed, Culture journalist and Presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Front Row

‘After reading Generation Decks, I fell even more in love with the game.’
Jonathan Little, professional poker player and author

‘A fascinating insight to the blood, sweat, and tears that went into creating one of the world’s most iconic card games.’
Jimmy Wong, actor, host and filmmaker

‘An enthralling tale of oddball game makers, fan obsession and big money.’
Tristan Donovan, author of Replay: The History of Video Games

‘This book will add Flying to all the cards in your memory of Magic.’
Ian Bogost, author of Play Anything

Generation Decks is out now!
Buy: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Google|iBooks|Kobo|Rebellion Store

Magic: The Gathering players! Lovers of geek culture! Readers of love letters to hobbies! Your times is now: Generation Decks, Titus Chalk’s unofficial history of Magic: The Gathering, is available for preorder now.

A wonderfully written and utterly compelling tale that follows the birth of the world’s biggest card game from its infancy through to its global success, Generation Decks is available for preorder now. 

Read on for more info and links to where you can grab your copy…

Generation Decks
The unofficial history of Magic: The Gathering
By Titus Chalk

The incredible true story behind the global gaming phenomenon!

Generation Decks tells the story of the mould-breaking fantasy card game Magic: The Gathering. The brainchild of misfit maths genius Richard Garfield, Magic combines complex gameplay with collectability. When it came out in 1993 it transformed the lives of quiet brainiacs who had longed for a way to connect and compete. It made millionaires of its creators, and kick-started the era of professional gaming.

Titus Chalk tells the game’s story, from its humble origins to its continued success in today’s digital age. Prepare to meet Generation Decks, a community like no

Generation Decks is available for preorder now!
Buy: UK|US|Rebellion Store

We’re seven days into Advent now, and we’re keeping the bells a-jingling with another top notch giveaway.

Today we’re giving you a chance to bag yourself a copy of Titus Chalk’s forthcoming unofficial history of Magic: The Gathering, Generation Decks.

This is the story of geeks inheriting the earth, of a hobby that has become a phenomenon, and a young man discovering friends and his own identity through the ultimate card game. And it is awesome.

We can’t wait to release this book, but we’re going to have to as it’s not out until April 2017. But because it’s (nearly) Christmas, we’re giving you the chance to win a super advanced copy only via the Rebellion Twitter account.

So, head over to Twitter, follow our account and retweet this tweet to enter this competition!

Multi-million dollar industry; pop culture phenomenon; professional sport; Magic: The Gathering is much more than a game.

In Generation Decks: The Unofficial Story of Gaming Phenomenon Magic: The Gathering, Titus Chalk tells the true story of how a trading card game conquered the world.

Part geek history, part biography, Generation Decks charts the rise and rise of Magic: The Gathering, from the perspective of a player whose life was transformed by it.

Generation Decks is the first non-fiction title from award-winning science fiction and fantasy publisher Solaris.

Solaris Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Oliver commented on Generation Decks:

“Generation Decks is not only the story of one of the biggest revolutions in Geek Culture, it is also a love letter to gaming – to the friendships formed, the games won and lost, and the people who turned a relatively simple idea into a massive industry. Told with warmth and insight, this is a fascinating account of one of the world’s biggest games.”

Titus Chalk commented:

“The book was my attempt to legitimise Magic, to play a small part in making it something myself and other players could share with those who perhaps didn’t get gaming, or fantasy, or the obsession and excitement that comes with being deeply involved with a hobby you love.

I wanted to tell the story of Magic as it unfolded across the pop-cultural landscape, a story that spans the birth of the internet age in the 1990s to the hyper-connected word of today, where being a geek is cool. Magic had a role to play in that transformation and I wanted to share all the brilliance of the game, the business behind it and the community who play it with unsuspecting readers.

If anyone can get the story of Magic into the right hands, then it’s Solaris. Hopefully together we can get a few more people to tear open their first booster packs and get hooked on a game that has changed my life since I picked it up as a miserable, home sick teenager in rural New Zealand, over 20 years ago.”

Generation Decks: The Unofficial Story of Gaming Phenomenon Magic: The Gathering by Titus Chalk will be published by Solaris in April 2017.

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Generation Decks
The Unofficial Story of Gaming Phenomenon Magic: The Gathering
by Titus Chalk

For some, a game of cards is just a way to pass the time. But for an awkward generation on the cusp of the internet age, it became a way of life.

Generation Decks tells the story of the millions of fans worldwide who fell hopelessly in love with the mould-breaking fantasy card game, Magic: The Gathering. The brainchild of misfit maths genius Richard Garfield, Magic combined fiendishly complex game play with addictive collectability. When it came out in 1993, it transformed the lives of quiet braniacs who had longed for a way to connect and to compete. It made millionaires of its creators, who shook up corporate America. And it kick-started the era of professional gaming.

Author Titus Chalk tells the game’s complete story – from its humble origins in a Seattle basement to its continued success in today’s digital age. Prepare to meet Generation Decks, a community like no other, and to discover Magic: The Gathering, the phenomenon that made it OK to be a gamer…

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About the author

Titus Chalk is a freelance writer currently based in Berlin. He learned to play Magic: The Gathering in New Zealand in the early ‘90s, and has been lugging around a
cupboard full of cards with him ever since, with many of the rarest in his collection worth more than their weight in gold. He has contributed to magazines such as FourFourTwo, 11 Freunde and German broadsheer Tagesspiegel. He is currently sharpening his fiction skills, and his dream is to write a novel before he goes completely grey.