Local Stax Player Claims He’s Been Getting Gen Z Stare For Years

As the world debates the existence of the Gen Z stare local stax player Jack VanBundy has weighed in to report his experience with the blank, disinterested gaze of the younger generation. A firm believer in the stare, he claims to experience it regularly while playing in his commander pods. Troublingly, he claims that the trend is not only real, but has spread to those in other generations and has actually been around for years.

The Stare

Emerging on TikTok, the Gen Z stare is a term for the blank expression modern teens give others in public. While most of the discourse around the look has centered around retail situations, VanBundy claims it is prominent among his opponents in Magic: The Gathering games. He finds the stare is particularly prominent when he plays his favorite archetype, stax. 

When asked to describe the Gen Z stare, VanBundy claimed, “It’s kind of an empty glare. Like they’re mad at you, but they’re also so bored they can’t manage any real anger. It’s kind of rude. Like, look at all the cards in your hand I’m keeping you from using, not at me.”

“These kids can’t handle real social interaction and it’s obvious when you sit down across from them with a Grand Arbiter Augustin IV deck,” the stax player told us. “Sure, they can handle combat interactions or group hug but as soon as you start making the game more fun and interactive by shutting down their ability to play they clam up.” 

Is the Gen Z Stare Spreading?

“Despite the name, I think the stare is actually spreading to other generations too,” VanBundy claimed. “My fellow millennials and even some of the OG players have started to get the Gen Z stare as well. It’s clearly a problem with our society. The other day I cast Armageddon for the third game in a row and the entire pod was giving me the gen z stare. They were all over 30. I blame social media.”

VanBundy did admit that, “The stare isn’t exactly new. I’ve been getting the same beaten down, soulless look for years. It’s just more prominent with gen z players now. I find it’s especially common with gen z kids playing the game for the first time. They start the game pretty sociable but as soon as I explain to them that they can only play one spell per turn and it costs five more mana and it has to have an odd converted mana cost, they break out the stare. A lot of them spend all nine hours of the game giving me the Gen Z stare and then never show up to FNM again. I guess Magic is just too social for this generation.” 

Other Players React

“Jack doesn’t even play win-cons,” one anonymous Magic player from VanBundy’s LGS told us. “Of course people look frustrated and bored when they’re playing with him. It’s not the Gen Z stare or whatever, he’s just a dick. I think he actually likes when people glare at him.” 

Another player told us, “I’m pretty sure I’ve seen him get turned on by a player conceding after he flashed in Aven Mindcensor in response to an Evolving Wilds. I can’t confirm that it was sexual arousal but his expression definitely made me think it was. Well, that and the fact that he moaned when it happened. So yeah, he gets some weird looks.” 

While many players have refuted VanBundy’s claims about the gen z stare, other stax players have supported his stance. Infect, mill, storm, and turbo turn players have all reported similar experiences with the phenomenon.