...Two wizards face off from opposing ends of a patchwork landscape comprised of shimmering plains of light, volcanoes spewing crimson flames, and dark swamplands from whose murky depths emerge bizarre horrors. Each controls eldritch forces peculiar to his own sorcerous school, and their battle is to the death. The sorcerer of light desperately conjures into existence a battalion of armored knights. But his opponent controls both chaotic and necromantic forces, and his army of ghouls easily dispatches the newly born human soldiers. Casting a second spell, the dark one calls down a pillar of hellfire that snuffs out the last vestiges of his opponent's life force. But the dark wizard is magnanimous in victory.

"Good game, man," he says, taking a long swig from a bottle of green tea. "Play again?"

"Yeah, but give me five minutes to tweak my deck," replies his humbled opponent. "I need more firepower."

W elcome to the world of Magic: The Gathering, a myth-mixing, genre-bending tabletop card game boasting millions of dedicated (some might say obsessed) players throughout the world.

Magic has captured imaginations throughout the North America, Europe and Japan since being introduced in 1993. But the scenario described above took place not in one of the more traditional strongholds of fantasy game- playing. It, and hundreds like it, was played out on tabletops and imaginations just across the border in a hotel in Guangzhou that, for a weekend last month, found itself the host of some rather unusual guests: Chinese fantasy card game acolytes.

The tournament was part of a weekend-long tournament sponsored by Wizards of the Coast (WOTC), a subsidiary of gaming giant Hasbro, and took place simultaneously in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Though most fans play the game casually, some see it as a way of life, traveling to tournaments around the globe to compete against other diehards.

In China, the number of people who've even heard about Magic is still small.

Michael Cheng, WOTC's territory manager for China, estimates there are about 3,000 players on the mainland. But if Ch eng, a diehard player, has his way, that number will increase exponentially.

"WOTC has really pulled out all the stops to promote the game in China," says Cheng."This event, for example, is called a pre-release game, one of many being held globally to introduce our latest cards to our most devoted players before they hit the general market. We don't want Chinese players to feel left out just because there are fewer of them at this time."

The game's entry into the Chinese market has, on the whole, been free of many of the issues that dog Western entertainment companies attempting to get translated versions of their products past overly sensitive government censors. Based on fantasy world scenarios, card descriptions and other written content are safely apolitical. Graphically, however, a few changes were made to avoid offending local sensibilities.

"In the West, this card appears as an eyeless skeleton," Cheng says, holding up one showing a gaunt, necromantic figure clad in black, "but such an image is a bit too disturbing in Chinese culture, so the company decided to add color to the monster's flesh and put his eyeballs back in their sockets."

At the Guangzhou game, none of the more than 200 players (some of whom have come from Hong Kong and Taiwan to play for the weekend) seem overly concerned. They've come to trade old cards, check out the newest ones, and eventually to compete; dickering over a bit of paint-on flesh and added eyeballs is not a high priority.

One of the more colorful characters at the competition is Simon, a quiet and diminutive Hong Konger carrying a stuffed tiger doll. If it's part of a strategy to catch opponents off guard, it's a good one. Thus far, he's winning every match.

"Simon is well known on the international Magic circuit," says tournament organizer Cheng. "He almost never loses."

The same can't be said for Taipei native Nikko, defeated in every match during the morning.

"I think Magic is 70 percent skill and 30 percent luck of the draw, but still I'm playing poorly today," he says. "Maybe I'll do better after lunch."

Yuepiao, another Taiwanese player, says he's glad that Magic is catching on in the mainland.

"The more the merrier," he says, "besides, Magic cards cost less on the mainland than in Taiwan. I buy them here and bring them back."

A major point of pride in the Magic world is that players can challenge each other even if neither they nor their cards share a common language.

"Though the cards may look slightly different, and be in a totally different language, they function in the same way," says David Ong, WOTC's East Asia events manager. "So a Goblin Fire Fiend functions the same whether its description is written in English, Chinese or German."

Ong, who's traveled the world playing games and setting up tournaments, says that from Beijing to Berlin, the rules of the game always stay the same. To the uninitiated, these rules might appear maddeningly complex.

The object of the game is simple: reduce your opponent to zero points from a starting pool of 20, while preventing him from doing the same to you. Each turn consists of various phases in which opposing players draw cards from their decks and place them on the table, then "tap" other cards to indicate that they're being used to attack, using a power of some sort, or in later stages, to defend.

Where it gets more complicated is in the nearly limitless possibility of deck configurations that can be built. There are thousands of cards that, when put together, afford the player any number of potential offensive and defensive combinations. The sheer number of cards available means that no two games will ever play out quite the same way.

It's this endless potential for variation that makes Magic such a compelling - even addictive - pastime. WOTC estimates that there are more than six million players competing in tournaments worldwide, with the number of casual players being much higher.

While the number of Magic gamers in China is a miniscule portion of the overall game, the company has high hopes for the game's future in the Middle Kingdom.

"We foresee that China will be our biggest Asia market beside Japan in three years time," says David Ong. "Chinese players are beginning to make serious inroads as competitors in global tournaments, and last year's international Magic tournament in Beijing was a major milestone for the game in China."

To most players, tournaments are as much an opportunity to socialize and trade cards - WOTC produces thousands of new cards annually, making it unlikely that any one player will ever own them all - as they are to prove their skills. This social aspect is an important facet in the Magic community, and even in the heat of battle players freely offer helpful tips to opponents.

Still, comments such as "Don't even think of bringing out your Troll this turn my Zombie Wurm will totally demolish it" sound closer to bravado than actual "advice."

While some may peg Magic aficionados as nerdy men-children who can't find girlfriends, gamers in Guangzhou had come from all walks of life, from IT workers to investment bankers, professors and sports jocks. And yes, there are a few nerds in between.

As for the stereotype about girlfriends, the problem for the gaming dudes in Guangzhou is more likely of keeping them than finding them.

"My boyfriend loves this game, so I came with him to the tournament," says Ivy Chung, a slightly bored looking woman who spent most of the morning being ignored by her game-playing partner.

Though not totally the domain of boys, the overwhelming majority of Magic players are male. During the morning tournament, only one woman is actually playing. However, there is one woman prominent in attendance, the beautiful Yo-yo Mok. She flits around the room, dealing cards with long blue-nailed fingers and acting as an umpire when the need arises. As the owner of a local gaming store, Mok has a vested interest in seeing the popularity of the game increase.

"I like the game, but usually only have time to play the online version after running in the shop," she says.

Even if WOTC never manages to entice China's much coveted female demographic, the future for Magic in China looks bright. A burgeoning young middle class with ever- increasing amounts of leisure time and disposable income, coupled with increasing penetration of fantasy-themed entertainment such as Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia promises fertile soil for games like Magic to take root.

Is it possible that, 10 years from now, the sounds of clacking mahjong tiles and cries of "pong" heard in parks across China might compete with the sound of shuffling cards and comments like "my fire drake is so totally going to fry your zombie horde"?

"That would be fantastic," says Michael Cheng, smiling at the unlikely idea that Magic might one day become as popular in his country as mahjong.

"And hey, it never hurts to think big."