Birgi, God of StorytellingBirgi, God of Storytelling | Art by Eric Deschamps

Eleven years ago, on the Limited Resources (LR) subreddit, a user made a post titled, "6 things you can do to get more women into Magic: follow up to the gender survey." It had a link to a ChannelFireball (CFB) article, now defunct.

The post had 70 upvotes and 155 comments. I didn't get to read the article — the thing I was looking for — but I did find the comments really fascinating. One post in particular, actually.

Someone who has since deleted their account started with, "I guess as one of the 3% of women who listen to LR, I'll put my two cents worth in. I've only been playing Magic for about five months now, so I may not have had the time to fully experience how women are treated in the Magic community (so far it's been pretty positive though)."

I was surprised by the end of her post. I'd started playing Magic around the same time, and my sentiment was rather the opposite.

My experience as a femme-presenting person, and back then fully identifying as a woman, was awful. I kept reading though, and I got to the gold of this post. "I think the worst bit of sexism I've heard at my shop is a guy being poked fun at for a girl (me) knowing more about a certain card than him, which was in good fun with everyone laughing.

That experience is extremely mild compared to what a lot of women face in geek spaces, so I feel I am fortunate in having a safe, welcoming space to play Magic."

I don't mean to undermine this poster's sentiments here, or her positivity, but that very comment is the core of the problem with getting femme-presenting people into the Magic space.

Even the comment she downplays as mild is part of the overall problem with creating a "welcoming space to play Magic" for femmes.

To her credit, I think her point is that her experience wasn't upsetting enough to deter her, that these comments weren't a big deal. It is. Let's talk about it.

The Problem of Visibility

This woman who posted on Reddit did say something else, something important:

"I think right now the biggest issue Magic is facing in getting more women into the game is just the tradition of it being male dominated. When you go to websites like Star City Games or ChannelFireball, there's mostly male authors there.

When you tune into the Pro Tour, you're greeted with mostly male players and male commentators. When you go to your local card shop, probably 75-100% of the people there will be male.

It's rather intimidating for a woman to get into what is seen from the outside as a very male game."

This is a hugely important point, even now.

This has changed some in the last ten years, but I think this point is still worth talking about. Meghan Wolff posted about why women don't play in 2015 too, "This lack of female visibility at competitive events is indicative of a larger trend in Magic; there is not enough Magic content written, recorded, created, or produced by women. The Magic community as a whole is very engaged in content, from reading articles to watching videos, streams, and event coverage to listening to podcasts.

For as much quality content as there is available to players at any point in their careers, little of it is created by women."

We see Magic presented, deconstructed, and uplifted predominantly by men. It's gotten better, but is it in proportion to the women who play? It got me wondering how many women were playing Magic back in 2015.

Luckily, Mark Rosewater posted on Tumblr roughly around that same time. His post opens with "38%."

It was the number of self-identified women who played Magic in 2015. That number is surprising — weird even — especially thinking about Pro Tour demographics.

He knew this, and said: "The number of female players is up (and I believe everyone in this debate acknowledges this), yet is not represented at equal numbers in organized play. Why is this? Please share your experiences."

I have a theory as to why this is. Haiyue Yu spoke on women's attendance at the Pro Tour in 2025 saying, "The lack of consistent PT-level players who aren't men isn't an unfortunate accident, and we're not inherently less interested in gaming or competition." She went on to say, "A large part of this requires working on our listening and empathy skills — and they are skills that can be practiced and strengthened, just like your mulligan[ing] or technical play skills." This brings us to our next hurdle in getting women into the game: creating welcoming spaces.

Welcoming Spaces for Everyone

Before we take a step into discussions about sexism and inclusivity, we have to understand something about patriarchy, male-dominated spaces, and their effect on men and women alike.

I find it deeply upsetting how little we talk about the motivations and pressures in male-dominated spaces in conversations about making safe spaces.

Asking for Help

How Patriarchy Hurts Men Too is an article written by Veronika Ilich in 2021. In her article she said, "Patriarchal ideas ... encourages risk-taking behavior and discourages help-seeking or health-enhancing behavior." In spaces dominated by men, the culture of not asking for help, not "needing" help is dominant.

GirlyPopMagic is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in North Carolina that is committed to fostering inclusivity for women and gender-expansive players in Magic: The Gathering. They stated that one of the barriers to inclusivity in the Magic space is that "it’s not clear how to get started — the store doesn’t clearly showcase how to sign up for events or how to view/access product."

Men are imposing an expectation on men and women equally. Men are conditioned to see help as a woman-need, a negative thing. "Everyone has to just figure it out, and if you don't, then you're girly." This way of thinking doesn't consider a feminist perspective that both men and women deserve space to ask questions and ask for help.

Katherine Basch speaks on this more in, "How Patriarchy Hurts Men (And How That Hurts Us All)." She said, "Homophobia doesn’t just target queer men. It’s also used as a powerful tool to enforce traditional masculinity — to make sure all men stay within the narrow boundaries of what is considered 'acceptable male behavior.'”

We can apply this to sexism as well. Anything seen as feminine isn't traditionally masculine and in this system is seen as wrong, bad. It's why that comment from that Redditor at the beginning of this article is actually so insidious.

A phrase like "a guy being poked fun at for a girl (me) knowing more about a certain card than him, which was in good fun, with everyone laughing" encourages men to reject femininity and exclude other men socially through humor for their inferiority to a woman. It is really about separating themselves from women, which is harmful for women feeling safely included.

Women Are Competitors, Too

Basch goes on in her article to say, "From an early age, many men are taught to view each other...as rivals — competing for success, status, attention, power, and even love or sex... there’s a constant underlying pressure to prove you’re better, stronger, richer, more desirable, 'more dominant.'" This is considered a male trait, competition, perceived as distinctly different from what a woman is capable of.

It creates a 'Girlfriendification,' as Wolff put it. "[It is] the common misperception that women at competitive events are there because they’re dating a competitive player rather than because they’re a serious competitor themselves." This goes back to Yu's point as to why a lack of women in the Pro Tour isn't an unfortunate accident. Wolff puts it perfectly, "We’re often comfortable with characterizing women as...walking messes as opposed to committed, motivated, and goal-oriented individuals."

It's why women don't feel comfortable in these competitive spaces, but comfortable with kitchen table games. It's why a woman might fill out a poll saying she plays Magic but doesn't show up to Pro Tour events.

There is no interrogation about your ability or intentions, no scrutiny of your body or your investment. Embedded thinking and structures like this make spaces hostile to women.

Women's Appearances

Basch also points to the expectation of men to prioritize, "Strength without weakness. Constant sexual desire," because of the internal structure of the patriarchy. The constant sexual desire mentioned above often presents itself as sexual harassment. Wolff talks about the kind of pressure that sexualization has on women, the fixation on the appearances of women.

"It takes a lot of strength and determination to play in an event where your height, weight, makeup, or clothing choices might come under unwelcome scrutiny."

GirlyPopMagic points out that the conversation isn't always about overt sexual harassment: "Obvious sexual harassment may be the easiest thing to identify but flagging crude/crass jokes, micro-aggressions, overly sexual game accessories...matters too." Deconstructing how our biases and oppressions work, allows men to unpack how they treat each other, giving real understanding on how to treat women in all spaces.

How to Get More Women Into Magic

All of my solutions for overcoming the barrier and hurdles for women joining Magic fall on authority. The highest authority on Magic is Wizards of the Coast (WotC).

Hierarchy of Power

LGSs look to WotC for guidance. They rely on each other for their livelihood. "We really need more folks (particularly men) to step up and say something when other players act out, either to the offending player themselves or to a store/venue employee," according to GirlyPopMagic.

How do we encourage these kinds of behaviors or enforce them if LGSs don't hold the offending party accountable? And how do we hold LGSs accountable if not through their relationship to WotC?

If WPN stores could be reported for their lack of follow-through with creating safe and inclusive spaces for everyone, then WotC could take recourse.

If a store doesn't care about the safety of their players, then they don't get product early, can't run prereleases, can't hold other official events. Authority is something WotC can use to enforce positive behavior.

People who feel discrimination can have recourse. Yu even simply asked: "What kind of gathering are you cultivating? Are you taking feedback from marginalized people seriously or just concerned about ticking a box? How are your staff trained? Do you make use of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) consultants? Are the people you're hiring going to inspire confidence in your commitment to inclusion?" All good questions and expectations WotC should be expecting of their WPN stores.

We can't always expect people to be motivated to be better on their own. We can, like Yu, ask that when someone "tells you about a behavior that had a negative effect on them, try to believe them and not immediately try to gauge whether you would have been affected negatively or whether you think it's an issue."

What do we do when players just decide they don't need to? WotC needs to bring consequences.

Representation Matters

WotC can prioritize women in their advertisement and creator outreach. We've seen a lot of this recently. Ashlizzle, Scrybabies, and even Sylvie Sherman's visibility are perfect examples of the growing trend on WotC's part to make Magic spaces feel inhabited by women.

We need to push for more of that. There can never be too much. There is still disparity in inclusivity in their creator program on the axis of gender, sexuality, and race. WotC can continue to grow there.

The Big One: Catering

WotC needs to cater their product to women. This has been a controversial topic as of late and I'd like to speak on it carefully. Sometime last year, Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks said, "[D]on't be surprised if you see us poking into Romantasy, don't be surprised if you see us looking at K-Pop bands, nothing is off the table." Cocks said that when talking about "possible licenses with appeal to female consumers, which currently make up about 30% of the player base, according to Wizards of the Coast estimates."

The most common response to this from women in the Magic space is essentially that "women like dragons and fantasy the way it's been depicted in Magic already. Not all women are the same. We don't all love Romantasy or K-Pop Demon Hunters."

There is a nugget of good in this sentiment. Yes, not all women like Romantasy, but when we talk about marketing, we're talking about common trends with certain demographics. It is stereotypical, based on data. It's the common denominators.

The women who like the current aesthetic aren't the target audience. You all already like the content when it is stereotypically catered to men. If we want to cater to stereotypical women who aren't already playing, we need to look at other things.

These are K-Pop and Romantasy girlies. It doesn't feel good to summarize women into Romantasy and K-Pop but Bloomburrow, a very feminine-coded set, was really popular amongst women, bringing more into the game.

But somewhere embedded in this conversation about women not being the same, there is a sentiment that WotC shouldn't try to appeal to stereotypical women.

Why not? There is an insidious dynamic here. Unconsciously we're doing precisely the thing that oppresses women. We're saying that these typically feminine things aren't valuable, that these K-Pop girlies aren't worthy of WotC's attention.

We shouldn't have to like what is catered to men to enjoy this game. If we want games to become safer for us, we need the space to be built with us in mind. That means sets that are feminine, even though stereotypically.

The organization, GirlyPopMagic, took a similar stance. "Approachable sets using cute design or related IP can help get more women into the game. Bloomburrow and Lorwyn Eclipsed were a huge success within our community and added attractive play elements."

Yes, there are stereotypes at play here in the conversation. Similar to the way that men tease each other for their proximity to femininity, they're talking about stereotypes. We need these stereotypes to become acceptable to be. Girls should be allowed to be as girly as they want and play this game safely. WotC needs to cater to stereotypical girls. They need this game, too.

Conclusion

I want to leave you with a quote from Haiyue Yu: "We're at a time of flux in Magic, with our game going through huge changes in focus, aesthetic and audience. I think we've all been somewhat taken aback by the pace of change, and many of us are mourning aspects that we've lost. But let us also see this time as an opportunity to drive the community and the game forward in the best way possible, and leave gender exclusion in the past."

Femme-presenting people want to play Magic. Let us. Make it safe to do. Make it fun to do.