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Meet the Jewish world champion of Magic: The Gathering
(JTA) — There’s a good chance that right now, Nathan Steuer is playing, or thinking about playing, Magic: The Gathering. The trading card game, which Steuer used to play with friends at Jewish summer camp, has become the 20-year-old Berkeley native’s lifelong passion and full-time job.
Steuer — who had a bar mitzvah in addition to attending the Union for Reform Judaism’s Camp Newman in Santa Rosa, California — competes in online tournaments every weekend for about 12 hours each on Saturdays and Sundays. He spends hours preparing and studying strategy, and also coaches other players in his spare time. He’s even currently taking a year off from his studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, in order to focus on the game.
The obsession paid off when Steuer won the Magic World Championship on Oct. 30 in Las Vegas, beating the 31 other best players from across the globe.
“It felt honestly surreal, like a dream,” Steuer told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in an interview this week.
He sounds very measured and reserved on the phone, and he thinks that calmness helps his game.
“When you’re playing versus such high-level players in a world championship setting, a lot of your edges in terms of trying to win a greater amount come from keeping a really level-headed approach to each game, and making sure to essentially not let nerves affect you,” Steuer explained.
For the uninitiated, in “Magic,” as it is colloquially known, each player inhabits the role of a “Planeswalker,” a wizard who can traverse dimensions to battle others in turn-based combat using spells. The game, which hit the market in 1993, often draws comparisons to predecessor Dungeons & Dragons, and can now be played both online and with physical cards. It has been played by tens of millions of people worldwide.
Steuer, then 12 years old, playing Magic: The Gathering. (Courtesy of Steuer)
After the onset of the pandemic, the game largely transitioned online, especially for serious players. There’s an entire Pro Tour of players who compete in highly-competitive, international tournaments.
The World Championship comes with the hefty prize of $100,000 — but as a true Magic purist, Steuer is even more excited about the other part of the winnings: the opportunity to design his own Magic card with a fantasy illustration of himself that will be released in future decks.
“The prize money is awesome. But having that opportunity is really fantastic,” he said.
Steuer grew up attending synagogue every week for Shabbat services and religious school, an experience he remembers fondly.
“I really enjoyed getting to do that with my family, and having that experience was super meaningful, probably from when I was four to around the time of my bar mitzvah,” he said.
But even though he played Magic at Jewish camp, Steuer said he hasn’t felt much overlap lately in those two aspects of his life.
It’s possible to earn a living as a Magic player: According to the official Magic site, around 150 players have amassed at least $100,000 career earnings, with the top player cracking $1 million. Steuer isn’t sure what his future holds, but for the time being, he’s devoted to his favorite game.
“I decided to transition and see how far this career could take me because it had been probably my biggest passion growing up, I never stopped,” Steuer said. “And so once I saw the opportunity, I decided to pursue it and see it through.”
Going forward, Steuer said he will work to defend his world title at next year’s championship. He’s also interested in the behind-the-scenes aspects of the game he loves, such as designing cards.
“Winning gave me that feeling that I have a lot that I can conquer outside of playing Magic if I set my mind to something, and I think it gave me a firm grasp that I can figure out my own path to success, whether it’s Magic or another pursuit.”
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The post Meet the Jewish world champion of Magic: The Gathering appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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‘Marty Supreme’ and everything else Jewish at this year’s Academy Awards
At last year’s Academy Awards, Anora — a frenetic, somewhat ambiguously Jewish look at a Jewish enclave of New York, took home best picture, original screenplay, director and actress for its Jewish lead Mikey Madison. This year, we have a film that feels, in some ways, quite parallel, while cranking the Yiddishkeit to 11: Josh Safdie’s breathless picaresque Marty Supreme, set on the Lower East Side, is up for best picture and its star, Timothée Chalamet is a favorite for best actor.
There’s also Blue Moon, Richard Linklater’s portrait of Jewish lyricist Lorenz Hart’s breakup with composer Richard Rodgers (Ethan Hawke is up for best actor). And One Battle After Another, a campy and absurdist satire about the infiltration of white supremacists in the U.S. government, is poised to have a massive night, with the blockbuster Sinners serving as its main competition.
That all goes to say that it’s another great year for Jewish stories at the Oscars, with some really compelling fodder for discussion about the place that Jews occupy today in arts and media. What stories are we telling and how are they received?
Here, as ever, the Forward culture team is here to break it all down for you, live as it unfolds. Of course, we cover Jewish movies all year. But at the Academy Awards, we get to see how the rest of the world feels about these movies. We will be updating this story with our thoughts throughout the ceremony.
Traditionally, as we begin these Oscars roundtables, we discuss what we’re all wearing and eating. What’ve we got?
Olivia: brown sweater and jeans; no food but aggressively chewing mint gum. I will later be drinking some of the seltzer I got from Brooklyn’s Seltzer Fest today.
Mira: I did a bunch of cooking for the week so I have vegetarian avgolemono soup and Alison Roman’s fennel salad. (I’m obsessed with this salad.) I am proudly wearing hard pants.
PJ: I am reheating some chicken from last night. Wearing a blue sweater with a little toggle and jeans. How many of Stellan Skarsgård’s large adult sons are here? In other l’dor v’dor news, Bill Pullman just mentioned how they filmed the Spaceballs sequel with his son Lewis.
Talya: I believe I’m wearing the exact same sweater I donned for this event last year — where’s my award for consistency? And, as always, sweatpants; I cannot comprehend suffering through this event in jeans.
Discussion of Israeli-Palestinian protests on the red carpet
Mira: Love a toggle. Speaking of outfits, anyone have thoughts on Odessa A’zion’s spangled red carpet set? She is one of the only people who styles herself on the red carpet, which I do respect.
Olivia: A’Zion’s outfit kind of looks like she forgot to tie whatever was supposed to be holding it up. I don’t think it looks bad, just like it’s falling down.
PJ: It wouldn’t look out of place hanging from the window of a VW van with shag carpet and some Tibetan prayer flags.
Mira: Of note, the past several years have seen protesters approaching people on their way into the ceremony, and a lot of pins on the red carpet taking a stance on the Israel-Hamas war, largely pro-Palestinian ones. We’re seeing less of that this year — though not none. Javier Bardem posted a photo of him wearing a pin reading “no to the war” in Spanish, along with another pin featuring Handala, a cartoon boy considered a symbol of Palestinians. The team of The Voice of Hind Rajab, nominated for best foreign film, are also wearing red pins with a white dove.
PJ: Those have replaced the red hand ArtistsforCeasefire pins, which some said recalled the bloody palms of Palestinians who killed IDF soldiers in 2000.
Olivia: A reporter for ABC in a pre-recorded segment asked executive producers and showrunners for the ceremony Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan if anything would get bleeped, such as mentions of Trump, Israel and Palestine. Recently, the BBC removed director Akinola Davies Jr’s call for a “Free Palestine” from their BAFTA stream. Kapoor asserted that the night’s production team supports free speech, but we’ll see what transpires over the course of the night.
The post ‘Marty Supreme’ and everything else Jewish at this year’s Academy Awards appeared first on The Forward.
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US Sends Additional Arms to Israel to Sustain Iran Operations
The first of two Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors is launched during a successful intercept test. Photo: US Army.
i24 News – The United States has recently increased shipments of munitions to Israel to support ongoing Israeli air operations against Iran.
According to reports broadcast by the public radio network Kan Reshet Bet, several weapons deliveries have arrived in Israel in recent days as part of what officials describe as an ongoing airlift aimed at sustaining the pace of military strikes.
Since the start of the campaign, Israeli forces are believed to have dropped more than 11,000 bombs on targets across Iran.
The shipments come as reports emerge about a potential shortage of ballistic missile interceptors in Israel. US officials told the news outlet Semafor that Israel’s interceptor stockpiles have been heavily used during the conflict.
According to those sources, Washington had already been aware for months that supplies could become strained, though it remains unclear whether the United States would be willing to share its own interceptor reserves. Israeli officials have since rejected claims that such a shortage exists.
Unlike the Iron Dome, which is designed to intercept short-range rockets and projectiles, ballistic missile interceptors serve as Israel’s primary defense against long-range missile threats. Fighter jets can also be used to attempt interceptions, though this method is considered a supplementary measure to missile defense systems.
Meanwhile, the Israeli government has taken additional budgetary steps to support the war effort. During an overnight vote between Saturday and Sunday, ministers approved a roughly 1 billion shekel reduction across various ministry budgets to help finance classified military purchases linked to Operation “Roar of the Lion.”
The government had already approved a 3 percent cut in ministry budgets, a move expected to increase the defense budget by approximately 30 billion shekels as the conflict continues.
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Pope Leo Decries ‘Atrocious Violence’ in Iran War, Urges Ceasefire
Pope Leo XIV leads the Angelus prayer from a window of the Apostolic Palace, at the Vatican, March 15, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Matteo Minnella
Pope Leo made an impassioned plea on Sunday for an immediate ceasefire in the expanding Iran war, lamenting “atrocious violence” that he said had killed thousands of non-combatants and caused suffering across the region.
As the US-Israeli war on Iran enters its third week, the first US pope warned that violence would not bring the justice, stability and peace that the peoples of the region long for.
“For two weeks, the peoples of the Middle East have been suffering the atrocious violence of war,” the pope said at his weekly Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square.
“In the name of Christians in the Middle East and of all women and men of good will, I appeal to those responsible for this conflict: Cease fire!” Pope Leo said.
IDEA THAT WAR SOLVES PROBLEMS IS ‘ABSURD’
Leo added that the situation in Lebanon – ravaged by a war between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah – was also a cause of “great concern.”
“I hope for paths of dialogue that can support the country’s authorities in implementing lasting solutions to the serious crisis currently underway, for the common good of all the Lebanese people,” the pope said.
During a visit to a Rome parish later, the pope said war could never resolve problems and hit out at people who invoke God to justify killings.
“Today many of our brothers and sisters in the world are suffering because of violent conflicts, caused by the absurd claim that problems and disagreements can be resolved through war, when instead we must engage in unceasing dialogue for peace,” he said during his homily.
“Some even go so far as to invoke the name of God to justify these choices of death, but God cannot be enlisted by darkness. Rather, He always comes to bring light, hope and peace to humanity.”