Alternate Worlds Podcast #4: Alex Shvartsman, former MTG pro that now writes popular sci-fi & fantasy books
In this episode, Brian sits down with longtime Magic player, entrepreneur, author, editor, translator, and game designer Alex Shvartsman to explore a life spent pursuing curiosity. What begins as a conversation about Magic's earliest days evolves into a broader discussion about entrepreneurship, creative work, parenting, writing, game design, and the value of choosing unconventional paths.
Note from Brian:
Great call today with Alex Shvartsman, who is a candidate for “most interesting person in the world.”
Alex and I met 30 years ago in Philly or NJ or New York (most likely), and have been friends ever since.
He ended up having 5-7 great years as a pro player, traveled the world to play in and win major events (in an innovative fashion — he’s played in events on six continents!), began learning how the game business trade worked while on his travels, opened the longstanding & successful shop King’s Games (located in Brooklyn), then went on to write & edit dozens of sci fi & fantasy titles with many of the top writers in the field (Adrian Tchaikovsky, Ken Liu, George Martin, and so many others).
Along the way, Alex began translating books to & from the Russian & Ukrainian market for many top authors, and has also worked on many successful games such as Ascension and the upcoming title, Reclusion (made with fellow former Magic pros Alan Comer and Brian Weissman).
When Alex creates, he is happy. So he pretty much always creates. :)
If you want to check out is current gaming effort, visit https://www.reclusionthegame.com.
If you want to check out Alex’s speculative fiction, visit https://alexshvartsman.com.
Thanks Alex!
Topics Covered
* Discovering Magic in the mid-1990s
* The first Homelands prerelease and early Magic culture
* Neutral Ground and the New York Magic scene
* Building one of Magic’s first distributed testing teams
* Traveling the world through Magic competition
* Japanese card markets and early trading-card entrepreneurship
* Founding King’s Games in Brooklyn
* Balancing business success with creative fulfillment
* Science fiction writing and publishing
* Editing anthologies and working with legendary authors
* Parenting through games, learning, and curiosity
* Designing games versus writing books
* Why fun is the most important metric in game design
* The value of pursuing unusual opportunities instead of following the crowd
Memorable Moments
* Alex explaining how a college newspaper assignment to cover the Homelands prerelease changed his life.
* Stories of flying to Japan every few weeks to buy and sell Magic and Pokémon cards.
* Becoming the first non-Japanese player to win a Japanese Grand Prix.
* The origin story of King’s Games and competing alongside Neutral Ground.
* Alex’s reflection that writing books remains his true creative north star despite success in many other fields.
* The discussion about helping children discover their own passions rather than inheriting their parents’ hobbies.
