Header photo by Nick Wolf

When Paul Stayback set up a table at MagicCon: Las Vegas earlier this year, he wasn't sure how it would go. The organization he created, Veterans: The Gathering (VTG), was less than a year old, still running entirely on donated money, and the Gathering Grounds space where they'd be set up put VTG alongside Trans Lifeline, Women of Wizards, Birds of Paradise, and Pendragon. "We, at first glance, presented as different," he says. "I was worried that we wouldn't be so well received."

What he found was the opposite. Every group there was welcoming. And then the veterans started showing up at the table; not to play, just to stand there for a moment, surprised to find something that looked like them in this particular room.

"I can't tell you how many vets came up and said they were shocked to see us there," Stayback says. "It's something they never expected to see."

Stayback joined the Army Reserves in 2001. He was in Basic Training on 9-11. He served as a surgical tech for six years before becoming a medic, deployed to Anbar Province during the surge, and left the Army in December 2009.

"Once out, I struggled to connect with people and transition to civilian life," he says. "It has taken a lot of work and support from people close to me. I know what it's like to be out there as a vet and feel alone and unconnected."

That experience eventually led him to counseling work with veterans. When funding for his contracts was cut, the veterans he'd been working with were at risk of becoming isolated; the resource they'd had was gone. VTG was his answer.

"I recognized my time there was limited and tried to find an alternative for them to get out of the house, reduce isolation, and socialize," he says.

VTG launched in May 2025 at Core Cards & Collectibles in Wenatchee, Washington, initially under the umbrella of Combat Veterans International, a veteran motorcycle nonprofit. It has since incorporated as its own nonprofit to have more flexibility and reach. The MagicCon appearance, funded through a New Perspectives grant from Wizards of the Coast, was its first time on a national stage.

Members of Veterans The Gathering during a scheduled play session. (Photos provided)

What Stayback understood, both from his own transition back to civilian life and from his work as a counselor, is that veterans don't typically come to support through conventional channels. The culture of the military: the directness, the ribbing, what he describes plainly as talking "shit to your face and nice behind your back," doesn't translate easily to a therapist's couch.

"When we talk good about you behind your back, we are protecting your reputation and defending your character," he explained. "These are things we might not say to your face; that could be too vulnerable, too uncomfortable."

So he didn't build a support group, but rather a Magic: The Gathering night.

"VTG is not a support group in the traditional sense," he says. "The game is the vehicle used to create the social connections and support networks that we hope will form organically. We set the stage for the vets to have fun and allow them to connect at their own pace." It's like taking medications disguised in cheese, he adds. "You're doing it, building support networks, adapting to social norms, without knowing it."

A VTG meet-up in full swing at a local LGS.

The game does some of that work by design. Drawing on his clinical background, Stayback points to the neuroscience: engaging the logical parts of the brain, the planning and decision-making required by a Commander game, keeps participants out of fight-or-flight response.

"When you're in a fight-or-flight mindset, you're not thinking, you're reacting," he says. "By engaging the part of the brain for logical thought, you can't be in fight-or-flight. You need to be present." A physically safe, low-stakes environment reinforces that by showing vets there's no danger. The result is something that serves to lower self-built barriers without announcing the deconstruction.

The choice of Magic specifically isn't incidental. "I like chess," Stayback says, "but there are only so many ways to get creative. MTG has such a plethora of options for people to express themselves through the cards they use, the strategies they use, it's essentially unlimited." There's also the physical dimension. "You don't need to be the fastest or the strongest to play Magic, and that allows people with physical limitations to participate. Whether it's a missing limb, a bad back, or one eye, you can play Magic, be creative, have fun as an equal at the table, not seen for your disability, and be yourself, or who you want to be."

Josh Madland, co-owner of Core Cards & Collectibles, has watched this play out from behind the counter. "As a shop owner, I see lots of new players struggle to interject themselves into the community or approach strangers in order to play games," he says. "The VTG group members have a different bond and seem to be able to sit down and play games together immediately." His advice to other shop owners considering hosting a VTG group is simple: "It's more about the gathering than the Magic."

Newcomers start with simple 40-card decks. As they keep participating, they receive a full Commander deck, booster packs, sleeves, and a storage box, all at no cost. The program is entirely donation-driven, with no corporate support, which is part of what makes the next chapter complicated.

VTG members go over a line of play during a game of Commander.

The response they received tabling at MagicCon made the scale of unmet demand concrete for VTG. Interest has arrived from around the country and from military bases overseas. For a group still running on donated money with no institutional backing, that's not just an opportunity, but a risk, too.

"I really worry that the demand is too big for us and we will let people down who already feel let down by systems that said they would take care of them," Stayback says.

Among the messages that came in after Vegas was one from a female veteran who had felt edged out at a table and, looking at VTG's events, saw what she expected: a male-dominated space. The message stayed with Stayback.

"She's a vet. She has a place at the table," he says. He's thinking about what it would look like to build something specifically for female veterans, acknowledging that the systems designed to support vets have historically been oriented toward men and that female veterans are often overlooked entirely. "I wish it wasn't needed, as I see them as my peers, no better or worse, but I also recognize they may have different needs and I want to try and meet them if I can. MTG has room for everyone. Sometimes we just need to be conscious to hold space for everyone."

As for Stayback himself, he still plays. He runs multiple elf decks, including two different VojaVoja builds in varying states of development, and a MorcantMorcant poison deck. He was taught on Elves and keeps coming back to them. "Elves are easy to understand, straightforward, and can overwhelm the board," he says. "They're not 'too cute' with 30-minute turns."

Of course, how he interacts with Magic has shifted over the course of building VTG. "My own relationship with the game is still a bit of escapism; I can leave the pressures of work behind me," he says. "But my relationship is evolving. I'm seeing it less as an escape, and more as a tool to better things and help people, to connect others."

New members of VTG receive everything they need to start playing.

For more information on Veterans The Gathering, be sure to check out their website, Facebook and Instagram.

Estimated minimum start-up costs for a new VTG group is $4150 per year per 12 veterans. That money provides durable materials that are used when every veteran presents at VTG to teach them how to play. It also provides each veteran the materials to play with the group but remain engaged, at no cost to them. Every veteran gets a new, 100-card preconstructed Commander deck to play with, two packs of cards to augment their decks, sleeves and a deck box, and a bag of dice. Additionally, each veteran currently gets two packs of cards every month as long as they continue to engage.

If you'd like to support Veterans The Gathering, follow this link to set up a one-time or scheduled donation. Any money donated will go directly toward supporting the above endeavor.