Dana Fischer, born July 2010, is a competitive Magic: The Gathering player and is the youngest person to win cash at a Grand Prix event (the largest events in Magic). She is also a prominent member of the Magic: the Gathering community and beyond playing the game, she cosplays, commentates, raises money for charity, writes articles, and as of just recently makes videos and appears on her family’s Twitch channel. Dana has also developed a following on social media (her Twitter account has over 8,000 followers). Dana uses that presence to chronicle her experiences (e.g. she has traveled to 37 Grand Prix events) and to get more kids and women to play Magic, to show that, as she says, "young people can do amazing and hard things".

 

Dana started learning how to play Magic at age 3, after watching her dad Adam and older sister Sadie play. Adam used to play Magic professionally and owes most of his career (currently VP, Strategic Finance at Riot Games) to contacts made and skills gained playing Magic. Dana’s other interests include soccer, singing, hula hooping, and gymnastics. She also likes dancing with her sister Sadie, who likes creating dances, ice skating, baking, and science. Adam, Dana, Sadie, and mom Rachelle (who makes sure all these activities run smoothly) live in San Diego, California.

 

Unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic has caused all in-person Magic tournaments to be cancelled, and while there are online Magic tournaments, the minimum age is 13 or higher, 3+ years beyond Dana’s age. However, Dana has wanted to stay connected to the community while continuing to play Magic so she has turned to video content creation. Her YouTube channel recently launched with a new card preview video that her sister Sadie edited and the video has received over 12,000 views. Dana also regularly appears playing Magic on the family Twitch channel.