Where the Magic happens
February 07, 2025
Engineering grad and TCG Machines founder Graeme Gordon ditched the oil and gas industry to parlay his passion for Magic: The Gathering trading cards into a thriving business.
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Name: Graeme Gordon
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Age: Legally speaking, 35, but I still don’t feel like an adult.
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Hometown: Born and raised in Victoria, currently living in Calgary.
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UVic degree and year: Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical Engineering), 2012
What I used to be: After graduation, I moved out to Calgary to take a job in Alberta’s oil and gas (O&G) sector as a designer of automated drilling equipment. “Go to the land of plenty,” they said, “You’ll be rich!” they said. Well, five years spent working in O&G manufacturing—with a brief stint as an elevator engineer—and I was quite thoroughly convinced that the juice was not worth the squeeze. There were certainly some good times, and I met some wonderful individuals, but I found it very difficult working at the lower echelons of highly stratified companies. When there are people above you in an organization that don’t work as hard as you do and they get paid substantially more, it feels bad.
Then I had the idea to: Listen to the winds of change. The year 2014 kicked off one of the biggest “busts” in the historical boom-bust cycle of the O&G industry. The company I worked at was in a tailspin, and I was laid off in early 2015. Luckily, I was immediately hired on at another firm doing similar work, and I opted to take two weeks off before starting the new gig.
During this time, I sorted through my personal collection of trading cards. I have played Magic: The Gathering (a popular trading card game, or “TCG”) on and off throughout my life, so I had a sizeable personal collection of cards. Sorting through my cards took several days and was a gruelling experience, but it’s also when I had the infamous “light bulb moment.” I realized that if this was an unpleasant experience for me as an individual collector, surely there must be businesses out there in the world that had this same problem at scale.
Why I did it: Over the next 18 months, I started designing a card-sorting machine during my evenings and weekends, but not taking the idea too seriously. Then, in mid-2016, the writing was on the wall (yet again) for the imminent collapse of my new employer. I had no intentions of staying in the O&G industry, so I figured it was time to see if the automatic trading-card sorter idea could hold water. Idioms! If I was really going to consider a card-sorting robot as a business venture, I was damn well going to make sure there was a viable market first.
I took all my vacation days and spent two weeks calling 200 card stores all across Canada and the US to see if there was interest in a commercial trading-card sorter. The reception was a nearly unanimous, “Please build this.” In September 2016 I left behind my O&G career and started working full-time on TCG Machines.
How I did it: I did not take a salary for six years. So, the short answer here would be: I mooched off of my beautiful, hardworking, and—importantly—gainfully employed wife, Jen. A high school English teacher, Jen supported our family, which grew to include our son, born in 2018, and our daughter, born in 2022.
Apart from Jen, grant funding was an enormous pillar of support for me as I developed and tested early prototypes of the machine; I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Alberta Innovates and the NRC IRAP (National Research Council Industrial Research Assistance Program)—thank you, thank you, thank you!
After extensive R&D and proving the product through years of customer trials, I hired my first employee in 2021, and we launched sales on Star Wars Day (May 4th), 2021.
What I love about my new life: I love that I don’t work for anyone else. That’s huge. I also love having the opportunity to create a corporate structure and culture that I feel good about. TCG Machines is a team of people who are as passionate and hardworking as I am, and it’s hard to overstate just how wonderful that is.
What I miss about my old life: The biggest thing I miss about my old life is not having my work follow me home. As an entrepreneur, you are running the show, which means the buck stops with you. While this is great in many respects, it also puts a lot of extra stress on your shoulders, as anything that goes wrong is ultimately your fault. This results in my mind endlessly spinning on “what if” scenarios for the business, even when I’m at home and would much rather be fully focused on my family.
One lesson learned: Everything takes more time and more money than you expect. A lot more. The first business plan I wrote back in 2016 forecast the production of machines starting in six months. It took six years.
One person who helped me: I was most fortunate in that I was (eventually) able to convince my former boss—the engineering manager at the company I left—to join me in this crazy endeavour. Dan Kusler, also a professional engineer with a mechanical background, has been crucially important throughout the growth of TCG Machines. He has provided advice, time, financing and eventually his soul. He and I now co-lead the company.
One trade secret: It’s one thing to have a great idea, but it’s something else entirely to ensure there is a receptive market for that idea. If you are considering making the big change-up in your own life, the biggest favour you can do for yourself is ensuring there is somewhere safe to land before taking the leap.