The Lady Planeswalkers Society (LPS) is an unofficial play group that has successfully built a welcoming, friendly environment for women to learn, play, and compete at Magic: The Gathering. This does not mean it’s exclusively women, either. Thirty to forty percent of the people who come play regularly are male, mostly significant others but also friends, brothers, and fathers. All of the men who play are not only understanding about the mission of the group, but are supportive of that mission. Males and females alike contribute to the group’s constantly growing success. Many of them volunteer to help teach at conventions, recruit female friends, bring tasty snacks, and help in many other ways. Plus, including men helps us to be accepted by the Magic Community as a whole. We are not an exclusive group outside of the community, but a subset within.

One of the main purposes for the group is to teach people how to play Magic, especially people who might not feel as comfortable jumping into the regular tournament scene to learn. I wanted to take out as many potential obstacles as possible. This includes taking away the highly competitive vibe that most tournaments have and making it more casual and inviting.

“I started playing in Friday Night Magic (FNM) tournaments and Draft tournaments within my first few weeks of playing and it wasn’t easy going into a scene where everyone knew every detail of the rules. I felt viewed as “bad” when the reality was that I was inexperienced. I couldn’t help but feel that this view was worsened because I was a woman.”

EXACTLY. I’ve been playing for 2+ years (competitively for a year or so) and I still feel this sometimes.