By

Zack Young

As a potential reader examines a shelf of magazines to buy, the reader will look for an eye-catching magazine that pertains to his or her interests. The magazine Top Deck targets an audience which ranges from pre-teenagers to mid-thirties readers who share interests such as collectible card games, RPG's (or roleplaying games), and fantasy related items. Although the main focus of the magazine is collectible card games, Top Deck attempts to also appeal to the other interests of collectible card gamers.

Top Deck experiments with the layout of a normal magazine by expanding it and separating the magazine into two parts. One part of the magazine spotlights the trading card game Pokemon and the other has a majority of articles on the card game Magic: The Gathering. Depending on which portion of the magazine the reader is currently viewing, the other side of Top Deck is upside-down. Most readers would find this design strange and hard to read, but the readers of Top Deck seem to like the design. The design shows imagination and creativity, and these qualities are almost universal among collectible card gamers. It takes a good imagination to play with cards that neither talk nor move and alot of creativity to design a deck of Magic or Pokemon cards.

Another thing that makes Top Deck so interesting to its audience is the sarcastic tone of writing that laces the sentences like arsenic. An article contained in the section called Top Disc, on E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) previews computer and console games that will be released for the rest of this year and possibly next year (35-45). The article is sometimes humorous to read as it tries to sum up entire games in a few sentences. When reviewing the game Quake III: Arena, Cory Herndon explains: "Point. Shoot. Die. Repeat." (35) Obviously, this is an over-simplistic comment, but it parallels the sarcastic tone of the magazine. The readers of Top Deck enjoy this style of writing because the readers themselves are sarcastic. Society today has been so serious about everything that sometimes it is refreshing to read something so totally causal and carefree.

In the department called Box 707, Top Deck stretches sarcasm and humor to the limit (10*). This section is a letter section in which readers write in and someone from the magazine answers these letters. The letters are then printed within the Box 707 section of Top Deck. The latest installment of Box 707 could be classified as humorous sexism. The author writes, "Now I would never want to generalize, but back in the day.....all gamers were guys......." and he goes on to say "....those crazy gals soon asserted themselves with that whole 'right-to-vote' thing, and many became gamers......they also became letter-writers, so much so that this will mark our first all-female letters page." (10*) Anyone who read that would think he was just being a sarcastic jerk, but he then continues with his sarcasm and states, "Don't worry, even though yours truly doesn't know the first thing about dealing with the ladies - as my ex-wife will attest - I have found the perfect machine for the job." (10*) The font style and text then changes to reflect a type of writing not seen since the days of programming in the '80s, and an imaginary robot deemed the "Letterbot 707 - 1000" supposedly appears to answer the letters for him since "I, the Letterbot 707 - thousand, know how to handle members of all genders and species......Activating subroutine Barry White.exe." (10*) The rest of the section contains the letters that were sent in by females and alternately the "robot" answering them.

In almost every magazine, visuals are the another key to success. Top Deck's visuals reflect the products being advertised in the magazine and also the content that graces the pages. Almost every page has a picture of a card that appears in some form of a collectible card game, and the other pictures have to deal with things that would appeal to the reader. Many of the advertisements deal with fantasy related electronic games and books which are also an interest of the targeted audience of the magazine. (35* and 1*) Pictures of dragons, wizards, and armored soldiers all vye for the attention of the reader. In the part of the magazine that deals with Pokemon, one such advertisement appears on the inside cover and on page one. In big bold letters on the inside cover, it says "An Industrial Revolution in a World of Magic" and opposite that page is a picture of a man dressed in a cloak (1*). The man is a wizard and in one hand he is wielding a blue ball of energy prepared to use it against any potential threats. The name of the game then appears below the picture and reads "Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura." (1*) The name "Arcanum" alludes to the word arcane, which in fantasy related terms, means black magic.

The main thing that sells magazines is content. In Top Deck, the content not only deals with the central focus of the magazine, but also branches off and covers other interests of the targeted audience as well. The side of Top Deck that focuses on Magic has articles that Magic players and fans would be interested in. A cluster of articles on the Legend of the Five Rings collectible card game and the previously mentioned section of Top Disc all seem to fit here (1). The Pokemon half of Top Deck has articles on Pokemon and also other items that would appeal to a Pokemon fan. Articles about other collectible card games like MLB: Showdown and WCW Starcade (2*). The editor's letter appears in this part of Top Deck and is named "The Need for Heroes" (6*).

In this editorial Will McDermott uses the game Pokemon not only to better reach the readers, but also to better prove his point. He states, "Kids today get a lot more of their culture from television, so they are more likely to idolize the people they see on TV than we did 'back in the day' "(6*). This letter seems to be meant for the parents of a child who has been "bitten by the Pokemon bug" and tries to help them deal with this phenomenon. He goes on to say that heroes are myths created to teach us something about ourselves (6*). He says that many of his heroes were rogues like Han Solo and Robin Hood and from these heroes he learned that he is "just a rogue at heart" (6*). After reading this article, the reader is almost forced to evaluate their heroes and ask themselves the same question that Will McDermott did - What have you learned from you heroes?

Top Deck uses content, visuals, and a sarcastic tone of writing to appeal to its targeted audience. The magazine is focused mainly on collectible card games, but also contains enormous amounts of information on other items as well. Top Deck realizes that most of the audience it targets shares common interests other than collectible card games, such as RPG’s and fantasy related items. Along with visuals and content, Top Deck also hooks the reader with an underlined sarcastic tone. Top Deck seems to mesh very well and with all the information contained in the magazine; Top Deck is an interesting read for anyone.