Assemble the Legion—Alliance of Military Magic Players
In case you haven’t heard, a group of Magic: The Gathering players who are all active members of the United States Armed Forces have created an online community designed to bring together people serving in the military, veterans, their families, and people who want to support folks who are involved with the military that love playing Magic!
In this article, I catch up with Greg Sablan of the Commander Advisory Group (CAG) and the other founding members of the Alliance of Military Magic Players (AMMP) to talk to them about how the community got started and get to know them a little better.
If you want to check out the AMMP and see what they’re doing, you can find them on Discord, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You can also find Greg on Twitter to see what he is up to as a member of the CAG.
In these interviews, I sit down with Greg to get some insight into his role on the CAG along with how AMMP got started. I also chat with founding AMMP members Chad, Joe, and Ron to talk about all things Magic in the military. My goal is to bring attention to the wonderful community outreach that they’re doing with AMMP.
Greg Sablan is active United States Army and also a member of the Commander Advisory Group. Despite his busy military lifestyle, he took some time out from a recent vacation in order to talk to me about how his time in the military, how he came to join the CAG, and his efforts with AMMP. In spite of all of his accomplishments, he remains a humble and down-to-earth family man and I’ve immensely enjoyed our talks.
Chief: Hello, Greg. It's great to finally get together on a call after hearing so much about your work on AMMP from Chad. How are you doing today?
Greg: I'm doing great. My Internet might be a bit spotty because I'm going to talk to you from outside while my family is asleep.
Chief: That's no problem. We can work through it if it gets spotty.
Can you tell me a little bit about yourself for anyone who might not know who you are?
Greg: I’ve been a member of the Commander Advisory Group (CAG) since 2021. I've been on active duty in the U.S. Army for 16 years since commissioning as a Combat Engineer from West Point in 2006 where I earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. After graduating from the Academy, I performed many duties and responsibilities including leading a horizontal construction platoon, supervising military and tactical infrastructure scope-of-work design, and I also commanded a Sapper Company.
Do you know what a Sapper is?
Chief: I do, mostly because I started playing Magic during Ice Age and there was a card called Goblin Sappers. I remember asking my dad what that meant and he explained that it had to do with military demolitions work.
Greg: That's pretty accurate! As a Sapper Commander, my unit conducted tactical missions involving demolitions, breaching and emplacing obstacles, as well as executed maneuver support for the infantry. Combat experience aside, I also earned a Master of Science in Civil Engineering and in Nuclear Engineering. I guess you can say I've done a variety of work, including Academics during my time in the military.
Chief: It sounds like it. I’d imagine that you’ve seen and done a lot of interesting things during your career.
Can you tell me about some of the places where you've been deployed?
Greg: I've had deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan as a Combat Engineer before I eventually became a Nuclear and Counterproliferation Officer working in other places.
You know Atraxa, Praetor's Voice and how she proliferates every turn?
Chief: Yeah, she's pretty good for superfriends or infect. She can be pretty annoying to deal with once she gets going.
Greg: My job involves keeping bad people like Atraxa from proliferating dangerous weapons of mass destruction by offering advice, assistance, policy implementation, and providing general expertise on the effects of chemical, nuclear, biological, and other such weapons. I can't say much more than that about it.
Chief: That makes sense. It's serious business. Need-to-know basis kind of stuff.
You’re currently living in Japan with your family, correct?
Greg: That's right. I'm stationed in Japan and my wife and I run a Magic alters business called Sablan MTG Alters. It's a big part of how I got involved in online Magic communities and eventually joining the CAG.
Chief: I love a good backstory. Can you tell me more about that?
Greg: Absolutely. I was talking to a friend of mine about Commander back when we both taught at West Point. We both worked in the same department. He used to be a Level 4 Judge back in the day and he asked me if I knew who Sheldon Menery was. I told him that I had no idea. It turned out that he knew Sheldon from their time in the Air Force. Small world, huh?
Chief: That's right—Sheldon actually got into the original Elder Dragon Highlander when he was in the Air Force. This all makes a lot of sense.
Greg: Yeah, things just fall right into place sometimes. A while after this, my wife and I were running our Magic alters business and I had gotten her a booth at a Star City Games (SCG) event in Roanoke and we decided to attend the after-party for vendors and special guests and this is where I actually met Sheldon. We didn’t get to play Magic together, but we had a great talk and I friended him on Facebook.
Chief: Sheldon is a great guy. He came and played on an early PlayEDH stream along with Shivam Bhatt from the CAG. It was a great time. What happened next?
Greg: I kept thinking back to my talk with Sheldon over the next few months. Then I saw a post on Facebook where Sheldon was asking if anyone who followed him was interested in content creation and wanted help getting started with making Magic content.
Chief: Funny story—I saw the same post and I got some advice from Sheldon. This eventually led me to where I am today, doing this interview. Crazy how that works out sometimes.
Greg: I wanted Sheldon to know that I was serious, so I actually spent time creating a slideshow presentation about the content that I wanted to create, with a two-part focus. It was important for me to make sure he knew that I wasn't messing around.
Chief: I love that. What did he think about it when he saw it?
Greg: He was enthusiastic about it. My idea was to create content connecting Magic players in the military, Commander players, and people in the Magic alters community. He said that he'd talk about it with the other members of the Rules Committee (RC). I met up with Sheldon at another SCG event a while later. I think that it was in Richmond, but I'm not 100% sure. He congratulated me because the RC had enjoyed my content presentation and he told me that they wanted to offer me a position on the CAG. I couldn’t believe it, you know?
Chief: That must have been very cool. It sounds like your hard work paid off. I'll have to make a slideshow presentation next time that I want to convince my wife to let me buy Magic cards because the results speak for themselves!
Greg: You can't beat a good slideshow! So I was joining the CAG, but they told me that they were going to hold off on announcing it because so many things were going on and they were going to onboard more people and I wanted to get settled in Japan with my family before I officially started in the role. The event was a lot of fun—I finally got to play Commander with Sheldon and get to know him and I also met Olivia Gobert-Hicks at the same time. She was great!
Chief: Olivia seems like a fun person to be around. She always looks like she is having a great time when I see her in convention photos, on streams, or on shows like The Command Zone or Tolarian Community College. I’d love to get a game in with her someday.
Chief: You worked on an alter project involving the members of the RC and CAG shortly after you joined. Can you tell me more about that?
Greg: Yeah, it was an awesome project. Before I established my Twitch and subsequently AMMP, I focused on connecting the alters community with the RC and CAG in 2021. I asked the 15 other members who their favorite Commanders were and then secretly reached out to 16 professional alter artists (two of which were my wife and her sister) to see if they would hand-paint those Commanders.
It took about 9 months from start to finish and the results were amazing. I wanted to be able to showcase their stunning work, and get these in the hands of the folks who shape and define the format. On occasion, the alters have made appearances on stream and they are always a joy to see when played.
It’s important to know that professional alter artists’ clientele is largely comprised of Commander players who want to make their decks stand out, and there is no better way to represent the idea than through the RC and CAG.
Chief: Wow, these are incredible! I’ve seen a couple of these shared on social media before, but it’s way more impressive to see them all together. This project was very ambitious. You really did a fantastic job and I have no doubt that they’ll treasure these for years to come.
Author’s note: You can see all of the alters from this project here! I highly recommend checking out the awesome work done by the Magic alters community for this project.
Greg: You're probably wondering how exactly this gets to the AMMP server and I promise it's going to get there. I started working in Japan in early 2020, and there was all the craziness with COVID-19 and other stuff going on. This made it less of a priority to worry about announcing me as a CAG member, but I started working on figuring out my role and what I wanted to take on to help the Commander community.
That's around the same time that SpellTable really started to take off and that's when PlayEDH started to get big, right?
Chief: About that—PlayEDH started to gain some traction in 2020 because of the pandemic and the membership really exploded when Tolarian Community College made a video that featured our server and included an invite link. The funny part is that we didn't know it was coming so we kinda just exploded. He made another video later on with our direct involvement and that video actually has a few screenshots of the server in the video and you can see my name on the sidebar because I was on staff even back then!
Greg: I remember that video. I was just amazed that PlayEDH was so organized before anyone else figured this stuff out. Were you around before SpellTable?
Chief: That takes me back a bit. There was an era before SpellTable where people used Whereby rooms, but thankfully we eventually got a virtual client specifically for playing Magic. SpellTable was definitely a game-changer for us.
Greg: Yeah, I remember joining PlayEDH and seeing all these people playing and I thought it was cool. I didn't even have a good set-up for playing online yet, but Jim from Spike Feeders, who was also added to the CAG at the same time, walked me through it and he also encouraged me to start using Twitch to reach people in the community. It took me a few months in 2021, but I got everything ready to go to start streaming under the name “The Painter's Servant” on Twitch.
Chief: I think that I get it, but can you explain the reasoning behind that name?
Greg: Well, I used to play White/Red Legacy Painter for a while.
You know, the Painter’s Servant and Grindstone combo?
Chief: Yeah, I actually know someone who says that they played against an opponent who opened those two as Kaladesh Inventions during a draft back in 2016. It’s gotta be the least likely draft combo ever printed. I have no idea if he’s telling the truth, but it makes for a good story. I love Tempest block, so I’ve always liked Grindstone quite a bit.
Greg: Okay, so you know what I’m talking about. I thought that the name made a lot of sense since I was managing an alters business at the time, where I pretty much “serve” my wife and her sister and I also wanted to help out the alters community. I made sure to put a maroon beret on the character in my avatar to represent the military. The maroon beret, if you didn’t know, is iconic to the Army and means that a Soldier who has one was or is part of an Airborne unit. I decided to call the battlefield on my stream the Grindstone, since it’s where all of the action happens.
Chief: That’s actually very clever. I like it.
Am I correct that you met the other founders of AMMP through your Twitch stream?
Greg: Yeah, I’ve streamed about 40 times on Twitch since I started there and I would go around to different military communities on social media and ask if people were interested in Magic and ask them to come watch or play on my stream. I wound up meeting Ron, Chad, and Joe in this process.
Chief: Can you tell me about those three and who they are?
Greg: Ron is in the Air Force and he’s actually stationed in the same place as me. I actually played in his playgroup in real life before I asked him to join my stream. Joe is a Navy guy and he’s an alters artist too. He runs From the Forge 3D Alters. Chad is a Marine and he’s had a lot of energy and enthusiasm since the day that I met him first on Instagram and later playing games on my Twitch stream.
I realized from my interactions with these three fellows that I had made friends with people from every branch of the military. Conveniently afterwards, I wanted to figure out a way to bring the military, alters, and Magic players together using my stream and other work.
Chief: That’s very cool. I can relate because a lot of my best friends are people that I met online while playing Commander on PlayEDH. Who actually came up with the idea to start AMMP?
Greg: Ron originally wanted to make a Discord server for my stream community on The Grindstone, but I didn’t like that idea because it seemed selfish to make a community about myself. I told him that I would think about it. This is where I felt our reach to the military community could be so much more and then I made another slideshow presentation to present to our founding members.
When the the founding members initially met up, we all talked about creating many social media platforms to boost our framework, including doing a podcast, creating a Facebook group, or creating content for a YouTube channel, and also eventually came back to Ron’s Discord idea, but making a community server instead of one designed around my stream.
Chief: It’s funny to me because my wife also has an engineering degree and she loves slideshows and stuff like that. I can totally see her doing the same thing.
Greg: That’s awesome! The other guys loved my idea and we decided to move ahead and make several social media platforms including the Discord community you were invited to observe. All of this was done with the plan to bring military members, their families, and Magic players together in one place. It took us a little bit to figure out the name, but Joe eventually suggested Alliance of Military Magic Players or AMMP. We liked it because it was easy to remember the acronym and it summed up the goal behind the server.
I knew that I had found the right team to help me run the community, so we went to different groups on social media and did a bit of advertising to get people to join the server. I also asked the RC and CAG members to help me out, so we got the word out there. We were shocked by how fast people started to show up and start hanging out there! The rest is history.
Chief: Yeah, I was impressed by how many folks were there when I first joined to take a look around after Chad reached out to us on our server. You should be very proud of the community that you’ve brought together in AMMP. I’m hoping that this collaboration brings in even more people.
Before we wrap this up, can you tell me about your favorite Commander decks?
Greg: I have 54 different Commander decks, which probably sounds crazy!
My favorites posted to Moxfield under my profile are Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder and Captain Sisay, but I’ve come to enjoy my Dargo//Ich-Tekik and Kydele//Alena decks as well.
Chief: 54 decks is a lot! I struggle to keep 5 decks updated and you’re definitely much busier than me.
Do you have anything else that you wanted to add before we end our chat?
Greg: Yes, I wanted to thank PlayEDH for taking the time to talk to us about this. I also wanted to say that I hope that people who read this realize that the folks in the military are people like anyone else and we all have our own interests. A lot of us are nerds with families and hobbies just like anyone else but serve the military in different capacities, not just in combat roles.
Chief: Greg, it’s been a pleasure. Thank you for your service. I hope that we’ll talk again soon.
Greg: I hope so too! Thanks again, brother!
Chad is a United States Marine and a key member of the AMMP team and the one who first reached out to PlayEDH about collaborating to help raise awareness about AMMP’s efforts. I found him to be a highly organized and motivated team-player and an absolute joy to sit down and talk to when we finally got a chance to get on a voice call.
Chief: Hello, Chad. It’s great to finally be able to put a voice to the guy who I’ve been talking to about AMMP all this time. How are you doing?
Chad: I’m doing great! Iactually just got to my hotel room and the AC hasn’t been running, so it’s pretty hot in here. I won’t be able to sleep for a while, so I’m all yours for as long as you need me for this interview.
Chief: You got it. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and your role on the AAMP server for our readers?
Chad: I can do that. I’m an active duty U.S. Marine Gunnery Sergeant. I’ve completed 9 deployments. I’ve been deployed on every continent except for Antarctica, but I’m currently deployed in Japan. I work on AMMP as an Adjutant, which is almost like a secretary. I handle all of our clerical work, among other things. I’m always busy, but that’s how I like it.
Chief: My role on PlayEDH keeps me busy too, but I’m sure it’s nothing compared to your workload between AMMP and your military service.
Can you tell me about your biggest accomplishments with AMMP so far?
Chad: I’m very proud of the amount of reach that we’ve developed in such a short amount of time. We have players all over the world. I didn’t expect there to be so many active duty and veteran Magic players out there. I’m really proud of what AMMP has become because I haven’t seen one like this before for the military community. We’ve even gotten some attention from content creators and even a few people from Wizards of the Coast. It’s really exciting!
Chief: Yeah, it was definitely a bit of a ‘level-up’ moment for PlayEDH when we started to get more well-known and started to get attention from Wizards of the Coast. The entire AMMP team should be proud of how fast the community has grown. It’s a monumental achievement to actually put together a successful online community in such a short time.
You mentioned that you’re stationed in Japan right now—is it hard to keep up with new Magic releases and developments while you’re deployed?
Chad: That’s a huge challenge. I actually used to be a Standard player, but I got tired of purchasing new Standard decks and finding that they had rotated by the time that I could even sleeve them up to play. Fortunately, I found a home in the Commander format. The decks never rotate, so you can always just sit down and play a deck with your friends. I love to play Commander with my friends. We play focused, higher power casual lists all the way up to cEDH power level.
Chief: That’s similar to why I started playing Commander after years of grappling with rotations and bans in other formats.
What do you think is the biggest benefit to playing Magic and other games during your free time?
Chad: I play Magic, Dungeons & Dragons, and other games during my free time because it helps keep my mind off of the stresses of military life. For many folks, it’s a great outlet to escape from the grind of day-to-day life during deployment. I think that it’s been great for my mental health and I’d recommend Commander in specific to anyone in the military. The social aspect of the format makes it ideal for winding down and hanging with friends.
Chief: I’m thankful that you’ve found a good way to let off steam and spend time with friends during deployment. Commander is my favorite way to unwind with friends too.
While we’re on this subject, can you tell me about your favorite Commander decks?
Chad: My two favorite Commander decks are my Thrasios, Triton Hero and Vial Smasher the Fierce partners deck known as Ramp to the Damage (or R2D2) and my Norin the Wary deck that I call Norin: Hard Mode Activated.
Thrasios and Vial Smasher want to ramp into big, disgusting spells like Expropriate or Rise of the Dark Realms and Norin uses cards like Impact Tremors to bring down everyone’s life totals fast. My Norin deck is actually my favorite deck to play on PlayEDH. You can find me in the Mid Power tier quite often looking for games when I have free time.
Chief: Those decks sound like a lot of fun, especially the Norin deck. He’s one of my favorite commanders because I just think that his design is so interesting. Maybe I’ll run into you in the SpellBot queue sometime.
Chief: I’ve heard a little bit about something that you’re working on called Operation: Ignite the Spark. What can you tell me about it?
Chad: Operation Ignite the Spark (Op:ITS) is an outreach program focused on bringing US service members and vets into our community by gifting them a Magic the Gathering deck and connecting them with the AMMP. The target audience are those in need of an understanding community and positive mental outlet for their attention such as those struggling with PTSD, depression, suicide, substance abuse, or any other mental illness.
Author’s note: I will include more details about Operation: Ignite the Spark later in the article for those who are interested in getting involved.
Chief: It’s cool to see someone really taking the initiative and trying to help people in need. I’ve had a job supporting veterans in need, so this cause is near and dear to me. The entire PlayEDH team is happy to have the opportunity to spread the word about this initiative.
Can you tell me about how Op:ITS started?
Chad: One of the young Marines in my unit was struggling with depression and alcohol abuse, so I decided to talk to him and ask him if he wanted to join my gaming group because I could see that he was in need of a positive outlet and a few good friends. I got him set up with his own Commander deck and it really seemed to have a positive impact on him. He told me that he had always wanted to ask us if we would help him play, but he just didn’t have the courage to ask. With Op:ITS, we’re aiming to reach as many people as we can and provide care packages to get them started playing Magic with their friends on deployment.
Chief: How can people who want to help get involved and support Op:ITS?
Chad: Right now, people can reach out on Facebook or Discord if they want to contribute to Op:ITS. We’re planning to make it more accessible once we get more people involved. We’ve been funding the project on our own so far, but we’ll be able to do a lot more with help from the Magic community. I’m really looking forward to seeing this program grow.
Chief: It sounds like a great program. I’m sure that you’ll be able to find many new planeswalkers and help them ignite their sparks with these Commander care packages. I’m sure that our readers will be happy to lend their support as well.
Is there anything else that you want to discuss before I close this out and let you go?
Chad: I did want to mention that being able to play on PlayEDH using SpellTable has been fantastic and a great way to find Commander games. I’ve had a lot of fun using the server. Your team went above and beyond my expectations by reaching out to do this interview. I also wanted to thank your team for finally putting the PlayEDH podcast on Apple Podcasts, because that’s the service that I use for my podcasts.
Chief: I’m happy to hear that and I’ll also pass on your positive feedback to the rest of the PlayEDH team. We’ll have to try to get a game in at some point. Thank you for your time and thank you for your service. Have a great night!
Chad: It’s been my pleasure. Thank you and good night!
Joe is a part of the United States Navy and one of the founding members of AMMP. Joe also owns and operates From the Forge Altars. Joe brought a lot of passion and energy to this interview and he was very eager to talk to me about what AMMP has been doing and why he wants to continue to be involved.
Chief: Hello, sir. I’ve been looking forward to talking with you. How are you doing today?
Joe: I’m doing good. I’m actually sitting in my car right now with the notes that I made for this interview. I’m ready to go!
Chief: I’m ready as well. I love that you prepared some notes. You sound really excited about this interview. Can you tell me about yourself and your military service?
Joe: I’ve been in the Navy for 19 years now. I joined right out of high school. I’ve been an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Technician for 17 years. You can think of EOD like a bomb squad. I’ve been deployed in a lot of places. I’ve been in Iraq, Afghanistan, South America, and the Persian Gulf. I’ve done IED disposal in active combat zones and I’ve also worked as an instructor educating military personnel on nuclear weapons and other hazardous materials.
Chief: That sounds pretty intense. Out of everyone that I’ve talked to, you’re definitely the most energetic! I’m trying to keep up with my notes, so please bear with me.
Joe: Working as an instructor, I’ve gotten really good at putting my thoughts into words quickly. Let me know if I need to slow down so you can keep up! I don’t mind.
Chief: No, we’re good. You just talk a lot faster than Chad or Joe, so I’m going to have to adjust to your speaking style. It won’t be an issue for me.
Do I have it right that you’re currently stationed in the United States?
Joe: Yes. Unlike the other AMMP founding members, I’m currently stationed in the United States. I supervise a unit here.
Chief: I’ve talked to Greg and Chad so far and they’re in a totally different timezone. That made scheduling the interviews interesting.
Is it very different being in the United States compared to being stationed somewhere else?
Joe: It is different, but there’s still a lot to do. I’ve deployed with Special Forces into active combat zones, supported Fleet efforts on ships, worked with Navy SEAL teams on ships and I’ve also worked alongside conventional Army units deployed in foreign countries, so I’ve had my share of different experiences.
Chief: I dare not ask for too many details. No, seriously—I don’t want to know about anything that might be classified!
That aside, I would like to know about your Magic alters. Can you tell me about those?
Joe: When COVID hit, I was essentially quarantined for several months and I got bored. I saw a lot of alters online including some cool 3D alters on Instagram. I’m not very good at drawing or painting, but I have a mechanical mind. I decided to give that a try and this is how From the Forge 3D Alters got started. I’ve been honing my craft ever since then. You can find my work on Etsy, Facebook, and Instragram. I also have a YouTube Channel for folks who want to see videos of my work.
Chief: I’ve seen some of these before! I was very impressed by how meticulous they are.
How many copies of a card do you use during the process of creating a 3D alter like these?
Joe: It usually takes 8-10 copies of a card to create one of these. It depends on the complexity of the art and how many layers it needs. It’s a lot of work, but I’ve gotten to be pretty good at it. My work has even been shared by Star City Games and John Avon also shared my alters of his Unstable basic lands.
Chief: It’s definitely nice when you see that a big name in the community saw your work and decided to give it a signal boost. I think that these 3D alters are sick and I might even have to order one for myself. Maybe the dog Plains from Jumpstart…
Joe: Wow, I’ve actually never seen that Plains before. This would look great after I got done with it.
Chief: I have absolutely no doubt about that. The work that you’ve shared with me is absolutely killer.
Can you tell me about Magic during deployment? Do you have many opportunities to play?
Joe: There actually isn’t anyone in my unit that seems to be interested in Magic, but I’m sure that this isn’t the same for everyone. I’m sure that there are a lot of folks in other military sectors that are playing Magic. I actually haven’t done anything with Magic while I was deployed. There was a 10-year period where I actually didn’t look at Magic cards or even talk about them during my deployment.
Chief: I can’t even go an entire day without looking at Magic cards, so I can’t imagine what that’s like.
What was the most surprising thing for you since you started working on AMMP with the others? Did you expect it to grow so fast?
Joe: I was not very surprised by how many soldiers play Magic, but I was very surprised at how many Magic: The Gathering personalities like community leaders and content creators have military connections. I think that most people know that Sheldon Menery was in the military, but there are a lot more out there.
Chief: I’ve definitely learned about a lot more Magic folks in the military since I started working on these interviews. I think that people just don’t realize how many people are connected to the military in one way or another.
Can you tell me about your history as a Magic player and your favorite decks?
Joe: I used to be a big Standard player, but then I got into Modern. I’ve pretty much quit Modern since Lurrus of the Dream-Den was banned and now I’m a full-time EDH player. My favorite Commander deck is my Lord Windgrace deck. It’s not your typical landfall deck, but it does rely on lands. My main win conditions are stuff like a huge Torment of Hailfire or entwining Tooth and Nail to drop Urabrask, the Hidden and Blightsteel Colossus.
I also play a Nethroi, Apex of Death deck where I tutor creatures to my graveyard in order to combo off. It has several different ways to win.
Chief: I can relate, as I used to play Standard and Modern until I got tired of them and made the switch over to Commander in 2018. These seem like really fun decks.
Chief: How did you first meet Greg and what can you tell me about the origins of AMMP?
Joe: Greg and I actually work in the same agency, but that isn’t how we met. I saw one of his alters online and it was cool, so I looked at his social media profile and found out that we were in the same military agency. I messaged him and we started chatting. He asked me if I was interested in starting a military-focused Magic group online. I hadn’t really heard of anything like it before and I liked the idea. That’s how AMMP got started.
Chief: It must have been exciting to meet someone that had so much in common with you completely by chance.
Can you tell me about your personal goals with AMMP?
Joe: I wanted to help start AMMP because I missed the presence of Magic when I was deployed. There’s definitely a stigma around Magic players, D&D players, anime fans, and other people with hobbies that are considered nerdy in many parts of society including the military. People online also sometimes have misconceptions around military members and veterans. I want to help eliminate these barriers because I’ve encountered them a lot in person and online.
Chief: Unfortunately, the Internet can be a brutal place sometimes.
Have you felt excluded in online spaces before because of your military affiliation?
Joe: I’ve had a lot of people who saw my posts online or my Magic alters that were insulting or negative after they learned that I was in the military. I’m sure that this happens a lot and I want to help folks realize that military folks are people too and that we have our own interests and hobbies. In fact, less than 10% of military personnel are in direct action roles and most of them are involved in support, logistics, cybersecurity, and other roles that don’t involve combat at all! Some of us just want to exist and play Magic with other people who like the game.
Chief: That makes sense to me. I appreciate your insight on this and I can tell that it’s very important to you. I wish you the best in breaking down these barriers.
Before I let you go, is there anything else that you’d like to add?
Joe: I just wanted to say that I joined the military right out of high school when I had no sense of direction. It wound up being the catalyst for me to get my life together and it ultimately made me into a better person. I know many other people with similar stories and I hope that anyone reading this will have a better understanding of us moving forward.
Chief: Thank you for your time and thank you for your service. We’ll have to catch a Commander game together sometime.
Joe: I’d like that too. I’m going to head back to work. Thank you for your time!
Ron is the lead administrator who runs the AMMP Discord server and an integral part of the AMMP team. He is currently serving in the United States Air Force. I found him to be a bright and compassionate person who cares deeply about the well-being and mental health of military members and veterans.
Chief: Hello, sir. I hope that you’re doing well today. Are you ready to go?
Ron: I’m doing great. I’m present and ready when you are.
Chief: For starters, can you tell me about who you are and a little background on your military service?
Ron: I’m a non-commissioned officer (NCO) in the United States Air Force. I’m 30 years old and I began my Air Force career at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. I could tell right away that everyone there had something special and unique about them. I’ve worked as a Unit Deployment Manager (UDM), and I’ve also been involved in overseeing security and emergency management during my time in the Air Force. I’m interested in Magic, D&D, and Warhammer.
Chief: Based on your interests, I’m sure that we’ll get along famously.
Where are you currently stationed?
Ron: I’m stationed in Japan. I’m actually stationed in the same place as Greg, but I didn’t know that when I first met him online. It was interesting to find out. I’ve connected with many good people here and being able to play Magic and spend time with other people that I get along with has made it enjoyable here. I even maintain 3 different Magic playgroups here.
Chief: That sounds great. I confess that I can barely keep a single in-person playgroup together, let alone 3.
Can you tell me about some of the positive impacts that you’ve seen Magic have on people in the military?
Ron: I’ve seen people dealing with a lot of hardships in the military including balancing military life with illnesses of family members, dealing with substance abuse, and other things. Inviting people to play Magic with me as an outlet for stress has been something that really seems to help people out by giving them a better way to be creative and find some enjoyment during tough times. I’ve been doing this since before AMMP was formed.
Chief: I can tell that you’re passionate about this. Magic is an important part of my life, but I don’t think that my daily stress is even close to that of someone on a tough military deployment.
What are some of your favorite Magic decks?
Ron: I’ve played Magic since 2011 and my favorite format is Commander. One of my favorite earlier decks was my Darien, King of Kjeldor Commander deck. When I played it, I would offer people deals where I’d get them to hit me so that I could make Soldier tokens. I’d write down how many tokens they helped me create and I’d agree to give them immunity from that many of my tokens during the game. I died a lot playing this deck, but I had a lot of fun every time.
These days, I enjoy my Mangara, the Diplomat deck that aims to win with anthems and Angel tokens. White being so restricted for so long has been a big part of my enjoyment of the color. I always feel like you’ve earned it when you manage to win.
Chief: I’m also a big fan of mono-white for similar reasons…and maybe because I like playing stax and Armageddon. It’s actually the only color that I play.
What do you enjoy the most about playing Commander with your military friends?
Ron: I’ve built hundreds of Commander decks ranging from silly jank to the highest level of cEDH. The number one strategy that I teach and preach is self-expression. It’s been a big help when trying to help out other people in my unit who are battling depression, showing up as often as I can to offer a friendly Commander game and a chat. Not every deck needs to run the expensive staples—just building around a fun theme and executing a win condition that you worked hard on is a lot of fun and my favorite thing about Commander.
Chief: I completely agree. I play decks at a variety of different power levels and I think that the social part of the game and assembling fun win conditions with cards that people don’t expect are what keeps me coming back for more.
Chief: Outside of AMMP, are there other projects that you’re working on that you’d like to talk about?
Ron: As we speak, I’m working on bringing Magic game nights to the United Service Organization (USO) and I’m doing some networking to extend that concept across multiple areas. I expect to see some good times and fun experiences offered to military personnel free of charge in order to help out people who might feel isolated and alone in new places during deployment. The USO is a tremendous asset in that regard due to their enthusiasm and willingness to support military members and veterans.
Chief: I’ve seen a lot of people in all walks of life who have really benefited from playing Magic. I hope that you can see this come to fruition in the near future, because I love the sound of it and I think that it will be great for military folks.
I’ve heard that you’re the mastermind behind the decision to start an AMMP Discord community. How did that come about?
Ron: The Discord server has been in the works for a long time. I originally wanted to just make a platform for magic playgroups to coagulate. It wasn't until Greg brought a bunch of us together and we had our first meeting to provide input and offer our specific skills. My talent happens to be connecting people and forming communities online, specifically via Discord. I started with a simple shell, providing a place to share social media info, chat about random topics, and discuss specific Magic formats. It quickly snowballed into grinding hours at a time to create logos, incorporate other social media platforms, and testing the technical aspects of Discord.
Chief: You’ve managed it well. AMMP looks like a very professional and organized online community. It’s great to see a group taking their online community so seriously.
How would you describe the atmosphere of the AMMP Discord server in your own words?
Ron: It’s a place for military members, military families, and people who want to support those groups to show up and know that they can relate to people they are speaking to while chatting and playing Magic together. As long as anyone joining reads the rules and agrees to respect them, they will have access to our Discord and all the resources we provide. If you do join the server, please read the rules carefully and make sure to grab the appropriate roles!
Chief: It seems like a wonderful community and I’ve enjoyed the chats that I’ve had there so far after I grabbed the Civilian role. Everyone has been very welcoming.
Is there anything else that you’d like to add before we finish up?
Ron: Yes, I wanted to take some time to identify the primary attribute that I’ve noticed my peers on the board running AMMP have embraced. Their foremost concern is being altruistic, despite never having made that claim publicly. AMMP has naturally morphed into a hub for Magic players in the military to use for networking with one another in a very positive way that will hopefully lead them to healthier entertainment alternatives.
Chief: I’ve truly enjoyed my time exploring the server and talking to you and the others. It seems like these folks are in good hands.
Chief: What can people do if they want to help support AMMP?
Ron: If people were to support AMMP with something as benign as joining our Facebook page or our Discord server, they’d be showing support to the people in the community, not necessarily the Department of Defense or anything like that.
Our organization is about the people involved and putting them above our own aspirations. That’s the biggest motivator for me and why I dedicate my own personal time to working on AMMP. I want to make a lasting impression to help my brothers and sisters in the military.
Chief: Well, I think that you’re succeeding in more ways than you know. The AMMP community seems to be thriving due to your efforts. Thank you for your time and thank you for your service. I’m sure that we will talk again soon!
Ron: Thank you. I appreciate your effort in helping spread the word about the AMMP community as well.
This concludes my chats with Greg Sablan and the other founding members of the Alliance of Military Magic players. I’d like to once again extend my thanks to the wonderful folks from AMMP for taking the time to talk to me about their efforts. I look forward to seeing their community grow and thrive under their quality leadership and I have no doubt that they will ignite many sparks around the world among those connected to the United States Armed Forces. You can read on to find more information about Operation: Ignite the Spark and to access the AMMP Linktree portal.
As previously mentioned, Operation: Ignite the Spark is an outreach program designed to help at-risk military personnel by providing them with care packages that include custom Magic decks and help them get set up with a group of friends. Chad described it as follows when I followed up to request more information:
Operation Ignite the Spark (Op:ITS) is an outreach program focused on bringing US service members and vets into our community by gifting them a Magic the Gathering deck and connecting them with the Alliance of Military Magic Players (AMMP). The target audience are those in need of an understanding community and positive mental outlet for their attention such as those struggling with PTSD, depression, suicide, substance abuse, or any other mental illness.
Members of the AMMP community are encouraged to keep an eye out in their local communities for potential planeswalkers that fit the above criteria. Once identified they can then reach out to the AMMP staff and request a care package to be sent containing an AMMP brochure, AMMP swag, and mental illness resources.
The member wishing to use Op:ITS will be the individual purchasing the gifted deck for their recipient. Once the care package and deck have been collected they can be presented to the recipient in order to have their spark ignited!
Members can use any deck they would like for their recipient. The goal is to invite them into your community and the AMMP community at large. Please use the format you would like to invite them to play. The AMMP staff will have several Commander deck list available, at varying budgets, upon request. We are not affiliated with any card suppliers so prices may very depending upon where they are purchased. The goal will be to have decks from less than $10 to around $50. These decks will also be geared toward new or returning players to help new planeswalkers learn the game.
If you’re interested in participating in Operation: Ignite the Spark, please visit the AMMP Discord server or Facebook group and get in touch with the admin team. They will be thankful for your support in their mission to help at-risk military personnel and veterans by giving them the gift of Magic! Links to all AMMP social media and their Discord server can be found below.
If you or someone that you know might be interested in joining the AMMP community, you can find links to all of their pages here. I hope that you will consider joining their community and lending your support to their efforts to bring people together.
If you’ve enjoyed these interviews and want to sound off about it online, you can find us on Twitter! I hope that you’ll also consider checking out AMMP on Discord and giving them a follow on your favorite social media platforms.
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This article is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
