- The "Avengers: Endgame" directors are tackling
"Magic: The Gathering" for Netflix!
After pulling in over 2.7 billion dollars
at the international box office with "Avengers: Endgame",
the directing duo the Russo brothers must be feeling
pretty good about their future job prospects.
- Yeah. - Yes.
- In fact, while they've made it pretty clear
that they're stepping away from
the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the time being,
many are asking, "What will they do next?"
Maybe smaller, more intimate films.
Maybe a return to directing TV
like back during "Arrested Development" days,
Or, what about this for a flex?
How about taking the world's biggest collectible card game,
"Magic: The Gathering", and turning it into a show?
That's right, on Monday it was revealed
that the 26-year-old card game Magic is finally
heading to the small screen as part of a team-up
between Netflix and Wizards of the Coast.
The Russos are going to bring the trading card game to life
in an animated series for the streaming giant.
Now in case you've been living in a cave
for the last 25 years and have never noticed
what all those gamers are doing on their lunch breaks
with a stack of cards, "Magic: The Gathering"
is a collectible card game in which players assume
the identities of wizards or Planeswalkers
as they play cards from their deck in an attempt
to cast spells and summon creatures to attack
and drain their opponents life to zero.
Obviously the rules are much more complex than that
and there are plenty of other ways to win,
but that's pretty much the basic gist of it.
So how will this work for a TV show?
Is it just going to be two players sitting around a table
as they sling spells at one another?
No.
Besides, you can already get that on Twitch and YouTube.
Luckily, we do have some details for what we can expect
thanks to the Netflix press release.
"The Russos will oversee the creating of an all new
storyline and expand on the stories of the Planeswalkers,
which are Magic's unique magic-wielding heroes and villans
as they contend with stakes larger
than any one world can hold."
If you're one of the players that dropped out
before Planeswalkers were introduced back in 2007,
these characters-slash-cards are typically
some of the more powerful cards in the game,
with some fetching 20 to 50 to 100 bucks on up.
As the name implies, Planeswalkers are
characters who are able to travel between planes
in the magic multiverse, and usually help drive
the narrative story of the game forward
as each Planeswalker has their own agenda.
Nicol Bolas, the elder dragon, is obsessed with
regaining his god-like abilities,
Liliana Vess uses necromancy in her quest for power,
a Johnny uses his powers for healing and purification,
and so on and so forth.
So why are the Russo brothers the perfect fit
to shepherd this project forward?
Well first off, they are Magic players themselves!
- Yeah. - Yes.
- "We have been huge fans and players of
"Magic: The Gathering" for as long as it has been around,
so being able to help bring these stories to life
through animation is a true passion project for us."
Secondly, they are masters of the ensemble,
the most obvious example being Infinity War and Endgame,
but also look at their TV work as they have directed
the pilots for "Happy Endings", "Community",
and "Arrested Development".
These are shows with huge casts and arguably
almost too much talent on the screen,
yet the brothers manage to give every cast member their
individual moments without these shows feeling too bloated.
So now consider the fact that there are currently
over 50 Planeswalkers with about 25 realms, or planes,
that they inhabit, managing a new narrative around
all of these characters and the various realms
is right in the Russo's wheelhouse.
Of course, it doesn't hurt that joining them
to help work on the show are writers, artists and producers
who have worked on fan-favorite animated shows and movies
like "Justice League Unlimited",
"Star Wars: The Clone Wars", and the Oscar-winning
"Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse".
So for the reported 38 million fans who play the game
worldwide, it looks like your show is in good hands.
But what do you folks think?
Are you down for the animated "Magic: The Gathering" series?
Do you think that banning Gitaxian Probe from the
Pauper format was bogus?
And what other card games should finally get
their own TV show?
"Yu-Gi-Oh!", "Pokemon", Uno?
Let's discuss.
Thanks for watching.
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and have you ever wondered how long we could live
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it's not looking good.
(techno music)