I started playing
MtG during
Ice Age / Homelands (boy, am I dating myself!). I was drawn in by a particular card, Balduvian Shaman, because the card art was lush, weirdly sensual, and beautiful (by the late, great Quinton Hoover). (Ironically enough, it's a famously pointless card and I nowadays barely ever play Blue.) I played passionately until
Invasion, I got too wrapped up in the Weatherlight story and was heartbroken by it, ended up quitting because absolutely all of my favourite in-universe characters died.
Years and years and years later, one of my closest friend opened his own game shop (shout out to West End Games in Glasgow, everyone nearby, go visit, it's amazing -- and has both trans* employees and a lot of LGBTQ+ regulars, it's a very positive, welcoming, and amazing space), around the release of
Eldritch Moon. I don't play any format other than Commander/EDH and the odd Pre-Release; I have too many other interests and hobbies to spend too much time and money on
MtG, and I've never been a competitive player to begin with. The more social format of Commander and the more "let's just all get excited about the new release" format of Pre-Releases is where the fun lies for me.
My pride and joy is my Xenagos, God of Revels Commander deck (
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/the-return-of-king-stranger/), which is an extremely fluff-heavy, Theros-heavy (my favourite plane), enchantment-themed Red/Green deck -- anyone peeking in the Spirituality / Pagan parts of the forums will know I'm huge on Dionysus, and Xenagos got me there. He's my favourite
MtG character, easily -- with Tibalt and Starke il-Vec sharing a fair second place. I'm currently working on building a Starke Commander deck (less fluff, more mechanical) and a Tibalt-by-Proxy Rakdos, the Showstopper Commander deck (much like Tibalt, it doesn't exist to win or accomplish much, just to slightly inconvenience other players and let a few devils come out and play). Eventually I'll probably also rebuild my sea serpent / leviathan tribal, but that one's kind of rough and has never won a game (yeah, ramping with Mono Blue? Not a picnic. Not even in Commander.). Attempts can be seen over here:
http://tappedout.net/users/cawdor/mtg-decks/I also maybe someday want to make a vampire tribal, but that's a long way off. I love vampires, but it seems too obvious a tribal deck to create.
I love how the mana colours correlate to personality types. I'm very Red at heart, all emotions and passion, with leanings into Green (I love nature and animals) and Black (because oh, do I ever love myself and coming out on top). I keep hoping for a return to Theros block, but I don't think it'll happen anytime soon. Also, major props to Wizards of the Coast for including LGBTQ+ characters in
Magic despite complaints - including the explicitly canonical transwoman Alesha, Who Smiles at Death.