Seattle Seahawks’ Leonard Williams is NFL’s biggest ‘Magic: The Gathering’ player

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Just Google the words “Magic: The Gathering players” and you’ll quickly see why Seattle Seahawks defensive tackle Leonard Williams stands out among the mystical card games’ biggest followers.

What pops up is normally short dudes with ill-fitting T-shirts and balding domes. There are many eyeglasses and cosplay costumes. Few women appear. And nearly every person in every photo is white.

Take that and compare it to the 6-foot-5, 301-pound frame of Williams, accentuated by tattoo sleeves, long curly hair and his original hairline — not to mention he’s one of the best defensive tackles in the NFL, spearheading the league’s No. 1 defense.

Most obvious: Williams is Black.

Despite the difference in appearance, Williams is about that Magic: The Gathering life. He’s a big-time collector and plays the game at an advanced level. On social media, Williams shows off his extensive collection, and an entire room in his home is dedicated to the game. Williams estimates his entire collection is worth more than $1 million.

Though it’s a longtime and expensive hobby for the 11-year pro, Magic: The Gathering also helps him be a better football player, he said.

“I think my mental health, my mental space is an important part of being able to show up at work. I’m big into hobbies outside of football,” Williams said during Super Bowl week media availability. “And Magic is definitely one of those things where I can spend time with my brother, my friends and take my mind a little bit away from work sometimes, so when I do show up for work I’m clear and ready to go again.”

Williams got into Magic — which is what those in the know call it — about six years ago. He had collected Pokémon cards since he was a kid and got back into collecting when the coronavirus pandemic caused a surge in interest and prices. His brother, Andrew, was heavily into Magic and recommended the game to Williams.

“I thought it was nerdy, honestly,” Williams said of his initial reaction. “Which is funny because I’m already collecting Pokémon cards, which is kind of nerdy.”

Once Williams started to play, however, he was instantly in love. Williams has enjoyed learning new skills and playing strategy-based games since discovering chess while in middle school. There, he learned the importance of long-term planning, mapping out your actions, and predicting your opponent’s next move.

“Ever since then I’ve really been a big fan of strategic stuff,” Williams said.

Learning how to play Magic is like learning how to use the quadratic formula. But at its core, the game’s objective is to defeat your opponent(s) by playing cards that drain their power source down from 20 points for one-on-one games or 40 points for multiplayer “Commander” games.

Each creature (e.g. Minotaur), instant (Brain Freeze), sorcery (Grape Shot) or artifact (Ratchet Bomb) has a point total that dictates the amount of damage. For instance, an Ashling, Rekindled creature card causes a one-point damage to your opponent while a Sunderflock creature causes five points of damage.

Much like Pokémon or Digimon, players collect cards from either buying packs of cards or sourcing individual pre-owned cards at local game stores or shopping websites like eBay. Williams has earned nearly $160 million in his NFL career, allowing him to purchase more expensive, more powerful cards. In theory, he holds an edge over less wealthy opponents.

Joseph Johnson is a content creator and the host of “Tabletop Jocks,” a YouTube channel dedicated to playing Magic, Dungeons & Dragons, and other tabletop role-playing games, or TTRPGs. He’s played in-person with Williams before, and while Williams is a legit Magic player, a bigger pot doesn’t necessarily make someone a better player.

“When it comes down to the end of the day, it’s about timing, it’s about luck, and it is about skill,” Johnson said. “So you can assess the field, if you will, and make certain plays that will [even] the playing field, no matter how much money people have spent on their decks.”

But you can’t tell Williams anything when it comes to Magic. He plays in-person and on SpellTable, a website that allows users to play virtually using webcams to film each player’s deck.

Williams owns a rare, colorless Zhulodok deck and is working on a Magda deck, which is one of the more advanced Competitive Elder Dragon Highlander (cEDH) decks in all of Magic — a format normally used at tournaments. A one-out-of-100 serialized card from the Lord of the Rings-branded set cost Williams $13,000. And he owns an uncut sheet of rare cards, meaning the manufacturer never cut the cards apart to package them into decks, including a Jeweled Lotus, whose popularity comes from being banned from some Magic games in 2024.

These high dollar amounts can sound insane to those outside the Magic community, but collecting trading cards is no different than collecting comic books or rare cars. Drawers, shelves and binders in Williams’ home are full of Magic and other card game memorabilia. Boxes that hold his decks are decorated with images of popular comic characters such as the Colossal Titan from Attack on Titan anime.

“If you are a car collector, you got that ‘87 Buick with the rims and everything, it’s got the motor in it. It’s basically brand new. That’s a collectible,” Johnson said.

Hasbro, which manufactures Magic cards, says the game has been played by more than 50 million people. But unlike video games like Madden or NBA 2K, which are played by practically every male athlete or celebrity, finding a famous Magic player is like finding a Limited Edition Alpha Black Lotus card.

Former linebacker Cassius “Foil King” Marsh, actor Joseph Gordon Levitt and singer Post Malone openly play the game, but there aren’t many others. That’s in part to Magic being such a confusing game, with manas, expansion symbols and permanents/non-permanents to have to consider while playing.

“Magic: The Gathering is a complicated game, for sure,” Williams said. “Every time I try to introduce it to my wife she’s like, ‘It sounds like you guys are speaking a different language.’ ”

Williams stands out, in part, because of his diverse heritage. The son of a Hispanic mother and a father of Black and Japanese heritage, he offers a different perspective in the Magic: The Gathering community, which often lacks diverse representation.

In recent years, there have been more platforms and communities dedicated to Black players, such as “Tabletop Jocks.” Johnson launched a Juneteenth Day event called The Cookout, which mixes Magic with all the elements of a backyard spades game.

Johnson believes that people like Williams — who openly embrace their identity as “Blerds” (Black nerds) — will inspire more Black men and women to explore passions like D&D, Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering.

“It gets other people involved because then they look at it and go, ‘Oh, it’s not so nerdy anymore,’ ” Johnson said.

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