One Year of 421: The Internet Raises Them, Magic Brings Them Together

Today is the first anniversary of 421. And we're happy to celebrate it with all of you, our readers. Many of you have been here since those early weeks, but most joined the project over the course of these 12 months. That's why we want to tell you how this mothership was built and what its spirit is all about.

The Internet Raises Them, Magic Brings Them Together

The core team that conceived and brought 421 into being was born in 2016 at a gathering organized by Juan to rally some Magic: The Gathering players he'd hit it off with. At that meetup in the Villa del Parque mall were Juan Ruocco (center in the photo), Luis Paz (left) and Juanma La Volpe (right), thus beginning a ritual spanning nearly a decade in which Magic, weed and their obsessions with information, the meta and niche topics would lead them to build a beautiful friendship.

As true restless doers, the idea of creating something together always came up. The ideas were there but something was missing, on top of the fact that, at the time, each of them had their own projects -- not just professional but also artistic and creative ones. And so the years went by. Until, at the end of 2023, in a conversation in the group chat "MANIJA MTG," the question about "doing" came up again and it became imperative to hold a specific meeting to answer it.

If there was one thing that united these three individuals, it was the WORD. Not just because of their nerdy tastes, but because they'd already been working with it or doing things with it. Juan had experience with the magazine Velociraptors, had published several novels and the book La democracia en peligro; Luis already had many years as editor of the NO supplement at Pagina|12 and part of the magazine THC; and Juanma had been a writer at various media outlets and agencies and wrote comics as a hobby.

These three stoners who didn't know what to do had an epiphany and, in the original 421 document, wrote the first truths:

- A digital magazine dosed for the internet era.

- A media outlet for retards and degens. Low IQ high IQ.

Creating 421 took almost a year of pre-production, during which the idea, criteria, aesthetics and tone were defined. During that time, the website and brand design were also developed, and the three of them wrote an initial batch of articles, a "starter pack" of pieces. Before seeing the light of day, 421 already had several friends who supported and worked to make the outlet a reality.

And it was finally on September 16, 2024 that the site went live and this journey -- one that's only just beginning -- started. In the following months, the tactical team expanded with Agustina Sojit as the fourth pillar, Alejandra Morasano on photography, Pablo Tempesta on design and Giancarlo Brusca on programming.

The 421 Spirit

From day 1, the goal was clear and ambitious: to separate the signal from the noise. In a hyper-technified ecosystem where information multiplies at an entropic pace, the hard part is no longer accessing data but distinguishing what has value from what is pure spam. That's why we wanted to build an outlet that would work like a small radar: picking up what matters, filtering out the rest.

Over this time we understood that writing and proposing texts is not just about organizing information but also about opening a space for reading, leisure and imagination in a present dominated by screens and algorithms. We don't believe that technology is the enemy of autonomy, as long as we know how to encode a little magic into it.

And so, 421 kept growing. What started as an editorial experiment became a reality: we published 170 articles (and 7 thematic digital magazines), worked in two languages and built a website that serves as a home for all that material. Today more than 4,000 subscribers join us, 20 contributors have added their words and illustrations, and month after month, our texts reach over 53,000 reads.

We have nothing but words of gratitude. To those who read us, share us and write to us. To those who joined as Wizards and sustain this editorial adventure with their contributions. To El Pulpo, to Tano Gianni Brusca and to Ernesto Cettour, from Firmaway, for being among the first to believe in this project. And a special thank you to Ergodic Group, which bet on us from the start and continues to believe in the power of this signal.

421 was born with the intention that reading time would recover its value and that imagination would remain an act of sovereignty. One year later, we believe that idea still has a lot of room to grow. What lies ahead is to keep playing with language and staying sharp.

The invitation, for you who are reading this, is to keep coming along with us. To join as a Wizard so that this signal keeps transmitting, so that the magic multiplies and so that this experiment becomes tradition.