Magic: The Gathering 24 hour marathon by Bedlington man will help raise funds for Cancer Research UK

Davey Gair has been playing Magic: The Gathering for just over a year, and will soon be testing his love for the game by playing non-stop for a full day.

He will take on the challenge, which will be live streamed, after himself surviving a cancer diagnosis, and has already raised nearly £900.

Davey said: “It is going to be hard. It is not running a marathon or anything but it is a game where you have to concentrate.

“A lot of people spend a lot of time and money trying to make decks that can win a game as easily as possible, but I just do it for the fun.

“But there is a lot of strategy involved when you are drawing cards and with what cards you might want to keep back until later on. It is going to be mentally taxing, that is for sure.”

The cause is close to Davey’s heart after he was diagnosed with bowel cancer just before Christmas in 2019.

He had to have an operation to remove the tumour and another to have a colostomy bag put in, but has now recovered.

Davey also lost his mum to breast cancer when she was only 52.

He said: “My mum died quite young. She developed breast cancer and that took her life.

“You get told you have got the ‘c’ word and all sorts of thoughts go through your head.

“It was just to combine the love of the game that I have got now and to try and raise a bit of money and a bit of awareness about it.”

Davey decided playing Magic was the best way to raise funds for charity as he has “never been a particularly sporting person.”

He has, however, “been a bit of a geek all [his] life” and is planning to tie the challenge in with the sixtieth anniversary of Doctor Who by using the commemorative decks released by the makers of Magic: The Gathering during the event.

He said: “My wife and I have been getting into board games. Not Monopoly and all that, but the ones that I would call a geek game.

“We were looking around for other games and I thought I had heard of Magic: The Gathering. It never grabbed me because I thought playing with cards did not really grab my attention.

“But we bought a cheap starter set that you can get, where you get two pre-constructed decks and you just start learning to play. I think my wife will tell you that I have become obsessed with it.

“It has taken off, for me anyway, in a big way. My wife does play a little bit but it is mainly me that it has taken hold of.”

Davey plays regularly at Northumbrian Tin Soldier, a miniatures and games shop in North Shields, which has agreed to let him host the 24 hour charity marathon at the venue.

The marathon starts at 6pm on Saturday, February 3, and other Magic players are welcome to join in and play against Davey during the challenge.

To donate or find more information visit gofundme.com/f/daveys-magic-fundraiser-for-cancer-research