by Andrew Orvedahl
It began with a simple request.
My friend asked me if I had a spare copy of [[Korlessa, Scale Singer]] that I could lend them to put in a deck they were making for a family member. It just so happened that I did. I just wasn’t sure where it was. She was in my Ur-Dragon deck but I had cut her, mainly because she was taking up a spot for more interesting, splashier dragons. The clock was ticking because my friend was about to roadtrip back home and wanted to bring the card along.
Of course, I couldn’t find her.
I’ve always anthropomorphized things. As a kid it was the expected toys and stuffed animals but also maybe a rock that caught my eye, or a favorite hat. It was easy to slap emotions onto these objects and then worry myself sick about how they were being treated. I still have some OG stuffed animals that my daughter outgrew and I couldn’t bring myself to drive down to the filthy donation slot (thanks a lot, Toy Story).
Somehow, fortunately, I have dodged anthropomorphizing Magic cards. I already have a hard time cutting my Commander decks down to 100— if emotional attachments were involved I’d never finish a deck again. The idea of sitting a card down and telling them “it’s not you, it’s me” would be unbearable.