Beware the Poultry Planeswalkers
Recently Comedy Central’s hit show South Park aired “Cock Magic,” where the boys learned the dangers associated with Roosters contests of Magic the Gathering. Seriously… that was the episode. Roosters. Roosters who play Magic the Gathering in underground matches that bear a striking similarity to cock-fights.
I could not make this up if I wanted to.
Impressively, the show got a lot of elements of Magic the Gathering right. They played correctly, used Mana correctly, knew various styles of play, showcased some degree of proficiency in what works well against what, and even followed the basic flow of the game really well. How they portrayed Magic players was… lets just call it less than flattering, but it is South Park so what can you really expect in that regard.
In the show, the boys are really into “guy stuff,” by which they mean going to watch Kenny play Magic the Gathering at a local game/hobby store, and so do not have the time for Wendy and her “girl stuff” (which in this case is supporting the local girl’s volleyball team as they go to State). They are all really into the Magic scene – to an extent that reminds me of the way Pro-Wresting fans retell exciting matches – until the school janitor lets them know about some really cool “guy stuff” happening down at the City Wok that evening. They go and discover a bunch of folks using roosters to play Magic the Gathering in some “really intense” Magic duels. The boys decide to go in and buy a rooster themselves, Kenny is uncomfortable with the whole “cock-fighting” scene, Stan’s dad misinterprets what the boys mean by “cock magic,” and Stan starts to realize that he is not being a part of Wendy’s life as much as he would like. I could go on, but as you can likely assume, hilarity ensues.
Despite being not the biggest fan of South Park, I liked this episode. It reminded me a lot of the World of Warcraft episode, which is one of my all-time favorites and hopefully it will do the same for Magic the Gathering – getting new potential players interested – as the WoW episode did for WoW. Of course liberties are taken in this episode with the core material as they were with World of Warcraft, but all of that is done for the sake of comedy and, in some respects, making sure the material they are talking about is still decipherable to those not familiar with the hobby in question.
If you missed this episode of South Park and are a fan of Magic the Gathering, be sure to give it a watch. Also, be sure to come by The Hidden Lair each and every Friday for Friday Night Magic, casual play at 5pm, standard construction staring at 6:30. Also be sure to check out what events are coming up with our November Newsletter.
