Playing Magic: The Gathering with Senate hopeful Lucas Kunce

WHEN MISSOURI SENATE CANDIDATE LUCAS KUNCE logs on to Zoom for our game of Magic: The Gathering, he isn’t messing around

- MINI RACKER

He has what he calls his “streamer setup”— an extra computer monitor— and has opted for Standard, a dynamic version of the strategic trading- card game where we build decks ahead of time using cards from the most recent sets. I don’t often play Standard, so I’ve “net decked”—built my deck based off an online list.

I soon see a problem: I don’t recognize Kunce’s deck at all. It’s one he’s built himself. He plays Field of Ruin, which destroys one of my nonbasic lands, then does it again by bringing Field back with Conduit of Worlds. He then plays Jace, the Perfected Mind to dump my entire deck into my graveyard, an uncommon strategy that wins him the game.