“So, let’s go back to Magic, the Gathering. Here’s one of the cards:
Yeah, isn’t he cute? This is Khabal Ghoul. Now, you notice that there’s counters up here. In other words, this stands for two points, and it says Khabal Ghoul. Now, in case you don’t know what a ‘ghoul’ is, it’s a dead rotting decaying thing that’s been in the ground and magically summoned back to life so that you have a walking dead thing. And that’s what a ‘ghoul’ is. And in this particular thing it says ‘At the end of each turn, put a one plus one counter on cabal ghoul for each other creature that died during the turn and was not regenerated.’ In other words, you have cards that will actually keep your character alive for a certain amount of time.
Here’s another interesting card, because it’s called the All Hallow’s Eve card.
Again, this is all in magic. Magic, the Gathering. By the way, there was a news clip that I read about two weeks ago, that spoke of a young boy in Maine, I don’t remember what the town was but it was in Maine, and he came home one day and asked his mother about Magic, the Gathering. and said that the teacher had decided to use Magic, the Gathering, this card game, as a new and exciting way to teach Mathematics in school, in their class. And they even formed what was called ‘A Magic Club’ and that all the kids were part of this magic club. Well, the mother said you’re not going to be part of that. You’re not going to be in that. But one of the kids had given him one of the cards, and that card he showed to his mother. And that card was called Necromancer. And on that card it showed spiritual beings actually being risen out of the ground, out of their grave. And then he asked his mother ‘What does summon mean?’ And she said, ‘Why do you ask that?’ And he said ‘Because all the kids on recess go outside on the school grass, pick up huge sticks, wave them in the air, and say ‘Spirits enter me’. True.
This is All Hallow’s Eve, again, two points symbolized by two skulls. Here’s your demonic, black cat. I guess it’s a black cat. I have never seen anything look like that. There’s your demon in the middle, Jack-O-Lantern, full moon, and it says this card is called sorcery. Sorcery comes from the Greek word pharmakeia. It’s where we get the word ‘pharmaceutical’. In occultism, it’s witchcraft through drugs. Sorcery. And it says, ‘Put two counters on this card. Remove a counter during your upkeep. When you remove the last counter from All Hallow’s Eve, all players take all creatures from their graveyards and put them directly into play. Treat these creatures as though they were just summoned. You choose what order they come into play.’ Remember, again, that this is a role-playing game.”
The lecture can be watched here.