This past weekend was the Magic: the Gathering World Championship in Rome, Italy. An astounding 408 players from more than 50 countries showed up to participate. It was a grueling four days of head-to-head competing for the coveted title and prize money. Three new members were initiated into the Magic Hall of Fame, joining big names like Randy Buehler. The top eight players from the tournament span eight different countries. In the end, Andre Coimbra from Portugal took the title.

Not only was the World Championship a great moment for these hardcore players, there were a lot of fun side events like getting a chance to play against the creator of Magic: the Gathering himself, Richard Garfield. Some other big-names like Mike Turian (one of the main forces behind Time Spiral), Aaron Forsythe (head, R&D), and Tom LaPille (developer), were around to play anything from Elder Dragon Highlander to Duel Decks and everything in between. There was also a Magic game show where trivia questions were asked and rare cards were given out as prizes. The top player walked away with 500 rares. That’s a lot of cards!

All of the blog coverage that Wizards of the Coast employees did while there can be found here, here, and here.

In all of the 408 players that showed up, there were a fair number of female players and some were younger than the average player. A short interview was had with Helene Bergeot, the Senior Manager for OP Programs. You can watch the video below. It’s really cool to see a lot of younger girls getting into the game and women of all ages participating in such an awesome, well-known tournament.