Magic: The Gathering has come a long way since it debuted at Gen Con in 1993. Last year, it became a billion-dollar brand. The genius behind it, mathematician Richard Garfield, left Wizards of the Coast, Magic's publisher, shortly after it was sold to Hasbro in 1999 and has subsequently expressed an apparent disillusionment with what the game has become. Defector's Nick Zarzycki interviewed him about this, his perception of the existential threats to Magic, and why he left the company. [Story may be paywalled]