Magic happens nearly every day at Heroic Realms in Evergreen.

Wizards cast spells. Creatures are summoned to attack. Some lose their lives. Those who enter the realm are cunning, even ruthless as they attack their opponents.

But rest easy, fellow citizens. It’s just a game — a very, very popular game.

Magic: The Gathering is a trading card game that’s been around for nearly two decades. It was introduced in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast, a fantasy game publisher.

Last year about 12 million players tapped into Magic, and the Flathead Valley has not been immune to the craze.

Magic fanatics stop by Heroic Realms — a hobby and game shop at 2181 U.S. 2 E. — at all hours to play a few hands, and every Friday night there are tournaments. For a $5 entry fee Magic players compete and winners get store credit, General Manager Ray Cappis said.

“We do a few different games here, but Magic is one of the biggest,” Cappis said. “It’s really a dynamic game. I’m picky about the games I play and I have played Magic since the early ’90s. It’s probably the best game of this kind I’ve played.”

Friday night tournaments are a mix of casual and the more “hard-core” players, he said.

The card game essentially is a battle between the mighty wizards, known as “planeswalkers,” who use a variety of spells, creatures and other maneuvers depicted on individual Magic cards to defeat their opponents.

Because Magic card decks are assembled by individual players and can have any number of cards beyond the minimum of 60, there’s an endless amount of strategy.

“There’s definitely skill involved,” Cappis said.

Trading Magic cards is a big deal, too, with single cards worth as much as $3,000 to $10,000, depending on a card’s rarity and utility in game play.

Chad Anderson, a local Magic aficionado who was hanging out at Heroic Realms last week, said he sold a previous Magic card collection for $3,500 and continues to play the game and collect cards.

“This is a great place to have kids come and hang out,” he said.

The kind of people who play Magic runs the gamut. Doctors, construction workers, telemarketers and a Highway Patrol trooper are among the regulars.

“We’re all a bunch of nerds,” Cappis admitted. “But we try to negate the stereotypes. We keep it as professional as we can. We keep it family-oriented. It’s a place where anyone interested in games can come and hang out.”

Playing a game of Magic doesn’t have to be a big time investment. Games can last anywhere from two minutes to 20 minutes or much longer.

“It’s quick, portable and social,” he said.

Sanctioned Magic tournaments are held around the world and set the tone for how decks can be constructed, Cappis said. There’s a lot of buzz when new cards are released. Four new cards are given out each Friday night.

The Friday tournaments uses standard card sets, which contain the most current block (there is a cycle of three sets of cards in a given block), the last completed block and the most recent core set.

The standard card pool undergoes a rotation each year in October, when the first set of the next block is released.

The Magic set released Oct. 5 was wildly sought-after, Cappis said.

“It sold out the day it came out,” he added.

Cappis and his buddy Chris Beadles started Heroic Realms in 2000 with the goal of developing an ultimate gaming store that also offered the option of sitting down and playing the games sold there. Since then, three other partners — David Blythe, Nate Mengelos and Bryan Schulze — have joined the business.

Each partner brings a different skill set to the table. Beadles and Cappis generally run the store, and they also paint and sell miniature characters for the various table-top war games. Schulze serves as the “computer guy.”

Heroic Realms specializes in games ranging from Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer 40k, Magic and role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons. Gaming tables available free of charge for those who want to stop by and play games.

For more information and a schedule of gaming activities, go to www.heroicrealms.com or call 755-4376.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.