Pensacola, Florida (PNJ) -- For someone who doesn't play the fantasy card game "Magic: The Gathering," watching a round and trying to understand what is going on is difficult.
The pace is fast. There are cards and dice. A round can be over before you know it.
The game has recently taken the local spotlight for a very dark reason: Sean Dugas, 30, one of the area's most active players, was killed, according to police, by two Magic players who robbed him for his collection of cards.
In this descendant of the role-playing game "Dungeons and Dragons," players take on the role of "wizards," using their cards as their tools in fantasy battles.
William Cormier, 31, is accused of beating Dugas to death Aug. 27 at his home in Pensacola.
Dugas' cards, valued at somewhere between $25,000 and $100,000, ultimately were sold in Pensacola, Georgia and Tennessee, police said.
Dugas' body was taken to Winder, Ga., where it was found Oct. 8, buried in a plastic container in the backyard of a home. Now held in Georgia, William Cormier and his twin brother, Christopher, will be returned to Pensacola to face charges in the homicide.
The killing has rocked Pensacola's close-knit "Magic" community of about 150 people who are stunned that a hobby, albeit one that many of them take very seriously, could bring about such tragedy.
This is simply a game with a collectible element, they say.
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