Deal or No Deal Island host uses love of MTG to advertise show

The new reality TV show, Deal or No Deal Island, has been advertised with a custom Magic: The Gathering card leading to some confusion.

Host of the latest Deal or No Deal spinoff, Joe Manganiello, has used a custom Magic card to advertise the show. Not only that, Manganiello has hired out a well-known custom card maker, Nerd of the Coast.

Reactions on both X/Twitter and Reddit have been met with confusion until someone did a quick Google to get to the bottom of it. The simple answer is that Manganiello is just a big nerd who loves the game.

Over on the MagicProxies subreddit, the creator said about the project:

“Still pinching myself to convince myself that this is real. Having someone with such a large following show interest and love [for] my work is such a great and reassuring feeling and wanted to share [it] with you.”

The card isn’t just a custom Magic card created from scratch. It’s a proxy alternative to the recent Doctor Who Secret Lair card, The Celestial Toymaker (featuring Neil Patrick Harris). If the group Manganiello was playing with agreed, he’d be able to use it in the casual format.

Some X/Twitter users appeared confused about the situation and whether or not Wizards of the Coast endorsed this:

“Okay, so what is “Deal or No Deal Island”? Has this anything to do with MTG? I’m so confused guys.”

Others were more concerned that they’d missed another Universes Beyond crossover:

“I hate that I can’t tell what is or isn’t a real card anymore.”

While it might have confused some players and fans of the game, the Magic Mike actor has been quite open about his love of the game. He was even featured in an episode of Big Bang Theory playing Dungeons & Dragons.

Manganiello has also been a guest on the popular Magic video series, Game Night. He actually won his match, besting the other three Commander players in the process.