How a card game is bringing new meaning to the magic of gathering - Greensborough Commander Community

For kids raised in the 90s and 2000s, trading card games were all the rage. You’d spend your time trading popular cards and building the best deck to verse your friends in games of Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokémon and the originator behind it all, Magic: The Gathering.

Since the game’s initial release in 1993, gaming groups have been formed across the globe, all with a shared passion for Magic.

Here in Melbourne Australia, a small group of friends recently discovered that a few folks playing cards in the back room of their local game store could be the beginning of something special.

Greensborough Commander Community (GCC) is an established not-for-profit community group with 200+ members passionate about Magic: The Gathering.

For Givemas we spoke with James Alvarez, the President of the GCC about how Magic has impacted his local gaming community.

For the uninitiated or unaware, can you explain what Magic the Gathering is? 

Magic: The Gathering, is THE original trading card game. Within it, you summon wizards, goblins, monsters and more from other planes of existence to defeat your enemies, sling spells only the most powerful mage’s can muster! 

Each Magic set takes place on a different plane of existence, from sets like Ravnica, a futuristic world where magic and technology coexist as one, to Ahmonket, a world based on our own understandings of Ancient Egypt, to Kamigawa, a Cyberpunk plane based on real Japanese fables and myth, to one of my favourites, Stryxhaven (imagine Harry Potter but on cardboard). 

There are stories to follow hidden in the flavour text or artwork of cards, but best of all, you get to use these places you visit and the lessons you learn to take down your opponents!

What does a typical session of playing Magic entail at the Greensborough Commander Community (GCC) table?

As mentioned above MTG is a trading card game and can be played multiple ways. Traditionally people play 1v1, but the way we play is much more focused on ‘the gathering’ aspect. 

Commander is a non-competitive MTG game format or what we call a ‘social’ format.  You have four players who take turns in casting spells and summoning creatures with the aim to be the last one standing. Naturally, players start working together in a weird temporary teamwork way.

It’s a fantastic bonding experience for friends of old and people you just met. You end up saying things like, ‘remember when we met and I cast a fireball at your face? Good times!’ Within the ‘normal’ competitive magic format, that doesn’t really happen.

Commander ends up being a great way for people to get to know you because your personality can shine through the way you build your deck and the types of cards you use. 

So for those of us who might sometimes feel like we get to hide aspects of ourselves, it’s a wonderful experience to show off your personality and have people love and accept you for it!

Members of the Greensborough Commander Community playing Magic.

There are many tabletop gaming groups out there, but what is it about the Greensborough Commander Community that keeps you coming back for more?

I often think, ‘How often is it that someone in their 20s to 30s gets to hang out with their friends regularly?’ Not very often, but when you play commander, it’s not just a game, it's like a lifestyle.

A lot of our interactions as adults these days are ‘grown up’, or involve playing games online. Commander is a chance to put down the screens, play a game with magic and monsters and have no barriers between you and your friends… except the monsters!

And playing in our community is more than just a tabletop game, it actually has the social benefit of a community coming together over a shared interest. 

We’re not just playing a game and leaving. We’re socialising and talking about the game sure, but also about our days, our hopes for the future, what we’re going through, and the memories we share. 

The Greensborough Commander Community has a strong focus on inclusivity and ensuring members feel welcomed and comfortable. What is it about gaming culture that made you want to focus on this ethos for your group?

We’ve seen so many people find the Greensborough Commander Community and discover that this is a space to be themselves and find comfort in their interests and the community. I’m really proud to say how diverse our community is because usually gaming spaces aren’t. 

We’ve attracted people who don’t feel like they fit anywhere else but who can feel like they fit in here. 

We’ve got some really young people going through their gender transitions who have told me that this community is where they feel most comfortable and secure. 

We’ve had 15-year-olds say, ‘This is where I come to hang out after school,’ and then we’ve got people who are over 45 years old who are hanging out with us because it’s a great way to keep social after their work day and decompress.

Members of the Greensborough Commander Community playing MTG at the Good Games Greensborough store.

Since its inception, how have you seen the community blossom over time and what does that growth mean to you?

I’m really proud that we saw a really strong community and said, ‘this can be something really beautiful if we support it.’ I’ve got to say, we’ve not had to push this uphill. It’s been a gentle nudge and the momentum has grown really organically.

The most credit should go towards the community itself, they're the people who come to each session, who connect with others and they’re the people who actually make it a viable idea.

For context we started with just a small group of 25-30 active players at one store, and we’re now approaching 200 players across three different stores in Victoria aswell as an incredible online presence! Numbers don't lie but the community feedback that I receive weekly is the reason I know we’re doing something right.

What power lies in organic community groups cultivating culture and connection?

I think the power of community IS cultivating culture and connection. This community shares a common interest in playing a silly old card game and it’s resulted in people finding their place to belong, friends for life being made and much more.

President of GCC James Alvarez (Left) and Co-Host of MTG focused podcast, ‘Get Commanded’ Walt Dyson (Right).

What do you hope for the future of the Greensborough Commander Community?

I have so many hopes for this endeavour! Big picture thinking is that one day our community will be causing enough noise in Australia in the Magic: The Gathering space that Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes the game, can’t simply ignore us and works with us to make the game better and help them grow the community on a global scale. 

However, I have always said that my goal is to make a welcoming and choice environment for people to play, discuss and ponder our great game format of  Commander.

What advice would you give to those who may be anxious to join their local community groups or come along to a Commander night?

It can be nerve-wracking of course! Especially when a community has established members and friend groups within it that can be seen from the external. I always try and make sure we all mingle evenly within our community. But my advice would be to dip your toe in and test the waters. We actually had a member of our community do exactly this only a few months back. 

On day one of engaging with the community, they simply asked what the community was about and then left to be in a comfier space. The next day, they sat and watched like a fly on a wall (nobody judges anyone for this by the way!). The next day they felt comfortable talking to some members of our community and slowly but surely now feel their comfy space IS our community group. 

Being a part of a community is almost the single most human thing we can do. 

If you’re interested in learning more about the GCC, you can join their Facebook group, check out their podcast ‘Get Commanded’, or head along to their weekly game night on Tuesday at the Good Games Greensborough store in Melbourne.

INTERVIEW: NATALIE WILLIAMS
PHOTOGRAPHY: JAMES ALVAREZ