After discovering some decent niche search terms for Boston Red Sox bloggers and some revealing (or not) hints about Major League Baseball's demographics, I figured I'd look at the NFL for similar edification and amusement. Alas, I didn't find much, certainly not enough worth writing about. However, in turning to examining my other major article writing niche, the mega popular trading card game Magic the Gathering, through the Correlate lens, there's some interesting data we have to look at. Some of it makes sense. Some of it doesn't.

Some of this is downright bizarre. We have to break this down.


“Discount auto parts”

Here's some useful info. Apparently, most people searching Magic the Gathering also have cars that they need to repair and on the cheap. Gotta be able to drive to those game stores and other tournament venues.


“Trucker hats”

Come to think of it, I've seen a good number of Magic players wear trucker hats. There's a market for these and baseball caps for magic players. This is another good data point.


“Google search bar”

I'll admit that there are so many cards, decks, and cool combos in Magic the Gathering that I find myself using Web search quite a bit. Apparently, some Magic players feel it's necessary to add a Google search bar to their browser despite most browsers already having one built in already. What this does tell us though is that Magic players make a ton of searches and want to do so as quickly and efficiently as possible.


“Duelist of the Roses” and “Dark Duel Stories”

As someone who used to play a ton of the Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game, I can tell you a bit about these games. I didn't particularly care for the Playstation 2 game Duelist of the Roses. However Dark Duel Stories for the Game Boy Color was an awesome game. Sure, it didn't always conform to the rules of the actual card game but it integrated some of the goofy mechanics that were featured on the anime version of the game. I personally preferred Eternal Duelist Soul for the Game Boy Advance, but I get the appeal of these two games for trading card game lovers.


These are pretty interesting data points, in particular. Many Magic players played Yu-Gi-Oh before getting into gathering the magic. It also reminds me that Wizards of the Coast, parent company of Magic, really needs to put out video games that actually reach the level of playability and fun that the Yu-Gi-Oh ones have. People still play those older games as these search terms show. Magic Duels, Wizards’ latest video game effort, has had some serious issues and requires a lot of micro-transactions to build any decent decks. Yu-Gi-Oh games were always self-contained and you could often get cards you actually owned by inputting pass codes that were actually printed on the cards. Konami had Wizards beat there. Something to think about.


“Legacy of Goku” and “Legacy of Goku 2”

These classic DragonBall Z games for the Game Boy Advance were never ones I played a lot, but they still have a good following. A bit of a trivial data point, but still an interesting one as far as demographic info is concerned.



“Fairyland”

I'll go out on a limb and assume the Fairyland correlation here is for the French symphonic power metal band. Most likely it's not this www.fairylandgame.com - although that looks cute if you have kids and are looking for a fun, safe game for them to play (I don’t really know, I haven’t tried it - yet).


“Kaoru”

Again, I'll assume this correlation is for the Guitarist from the Japanese band Dir En Grey. I’m not familiar with his music, but it’s another interesting data point.


“Mitsubishi Galant” and “Montero Sport”

When I think of Magic players, I don't really think of them driving Mitsubishi Galants and Montero Sports. But they have to be getting the discount auto parts for something, right?


“S56”

This term probably refers to the Ping S56 irons for golf. I doubt it's the chainsaw chain or hazardous material.

Searching the Monthly correlations turns up a couple more gems.

“Go kart kits“

A lot of Magic players are hobbyists, so building go karts is one that makes sense. This isn't really weird, just interesting.


“Msi insurance”

Apparently, there are a bunch of aspiring independent insurance agents playing  Magic. That's one way to fuel what can be an extremely expensive hobby. Or players are looking to take out insurance policies on their vast collections. I’m not sure which...


“Multiband”

Multiband is a communications company. Apparently a lot of Multiband customers and or employees play Magic the Gathering. Or they're the unofficial provider of directTV for Magic the Gathering enthusiasts. This is definitely an odd correlation.


“Bureau of automotive repair”

This is primarily a California thing, so obviously tons of Magic players live in California. One possibility this correlation offers is that a lot of car repair enthusiasts play Magic. The more likely scenario is that the owners of all those Mitsubishis are filing complaints and buying those discount auto parts to do over the repair work themselves. It all makes sense now.

So what have we learned about our average searcher of Magical Gatherings? We'll call them Steve and Stephanie.

Steve/Stephanie Average

Dream job: Independent insurance agent

Entertainment provider of choice: DirectTV (preferably through Multiband)

Favorite fashion accessory: Trucker hats

Favorite nostalgic video games: Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Duel Stories for Game Boy Color, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist of the Roses for PS2, DragonBall Z Legacy of Goku and Legacy of Goku 2 for Game Boy Advance.

Favorite pastimes besides Magic: Building go karts, Car repair, Golf

Favorite search engine tool: Google search bar

First world problem in common: Filing complaints with the California bureau of auto repair

Golf club of choice: Ping S56 iron

Music of choice: Dir en Grey and Fairyland

Vehicles of choice: Mitsubishi Galant and Montero sport


How useful is all this information? Besides the video games and musical choices providing somewhat useful demographic info, the rest can be used as you see fit. For my purposes, that's amusement.

Any search terms you'd like me to run through Google Correlate and get my analysis? Warning some will be far more boring than others. If it’s fun enough, I’ll make a whole article about it. If not, I’ll be sure to let you know what interesting things you can get out of the data.