By Gary Nipple |ContributorWhen you enter Augusta University, it’s really a lot to take in, especially if you’re a freshman or transfer student. You move into the dorms, set up your class schedule and negotiate the piles of homework. Though you get past those things, there is still something that frightens you the most, the one thing that makes college so much to be feared: making friends. Sure, you come across of couple of people you know from high school, but really, they might not even talk to you ever again, maybe they’ve even changed since then. All these possibilities float in your head and you question if you can even make friends.Sure, you can. College is filled with hundreds of activities. You can play intermural. Grab a group of random people together and get a game ultimate Frisbee going. You can even buy a long broad and shred across the campus. The ideas just keep piling up and it might be more than you can ever imagine.On occasions, go to the Jaguar Student Activity Center, better known as the JSAC. There you’ll go upstairs to the game room, a place where a lot of the fun begins. You’ll see all kinds of people.To the left you see the energetic fighters of Tekken on PlayStation. From there, at the far end, is the screaming mob of Madden 2018 and 2K18 on the Xbox. As you pass, you’ll see some people on the pool tables. They might be even over hitting the cue ball and knocking it off the table.That reminds me. Watch your feet. Next to them could be an intense game of ping pong between skilled table tennis players.At the far end of the room you hear the banging sounds of air hockey and foosball, not to mention the raging matches of Nintendo’s Super Smash Brothers. All this seems so exciting, but really something else catches your eye. At the corner you catch a couple of guys circled around a table. Curiosity takes over and you move in close to investigate. What you find is a world you never imagined, the world of Magic the Gathering.Although what you see is just a table filled with all different type of looking cards, not to mention the random looking dice, which have more than six sides and numbers.But as you explore more, curiosity takes over. What you learn is that Magic is a card created way back in 1993. It was the first trading card game, and now has over 12 million players worldwide. It’s a world of connection and every type of playing style. Even if you’re a wondering person who just get into, that makes it more exciting.You get to try out anything and control who you are and what you desire to be. Play a red ferocious king ruling over a deck of fire breathing dragons. Heck, try being a ruthless forest huntress controlling an army of undead zombies. It’s a game of millions of possibilities. And not only that but you’ll have people to back you up as well. Many games today are focused on being able to connect with players on the other side of the world via the internet, and often the genuine socializing factor is forgotten. While there have been online versions of the game, the most popular form of Magic the Gathering is the face-to-face competition. The open format of the game also gives little restrictions on the number of players in a single game, so no matter how many friends you encourage to play with you, they will never be left out, especially at AU.Even though the group at the game room is small, it’s a tremendous amount of fun. You got Ian McLeod rocking a deck of raging dinosaur, and Cameron Ashely who soars through the skies with a deck of angels and demons. Really you might even catch other new players who just started building just the other day. The group is always growing with new cards to be found and new opponents to challenge.From what I have seen, this group is something to behold. You may think that they just do because there is nothing else to do, but there’s truly more to why they play. Here’s what Michael Burgess had to say about the game.“The game is just very fun and it’s kind of helps me clear my mind at times,” Burgess said. “It reminds of the days I played Yu-Gi-Oh and I enjoy playing games like this with friends. The cards are very interesting as well.”Sure, that sounds nice, though if you’re a beginner, you may lose countless times. Trust them that you are not the first, really; you’re not even the last. Magic is a game where you keep playing and playing until you find out who you really are.Cameron Ashley is another student who plays Magic.“I like Magic because it’s strategic and fun to play,” she said. “I might always lose, but it’s the sheer possibility that I might win.:That’s the determination that keeps him playing. You don’t really know it, but the more you play and watch, the better you get. You understand the game more, and gain knowledge of which cards work, and which don’t. Think of like a rubix cube. Sure, you not good at figuring it quickly, but you adapt to the changes. You will understand what helps you and overcome the obstacles in your way.Soon as all of this has past, you start to get stronger, even smarter. Really you can even put up a challenge for some of the regular players in the game room. This right here is what truly makes magic so fun.