>>96001467
i think a 'fantasy card game' like magic the gathering has only come to fruition through two main reasons:
1. the concept of mass printing.
2. much of the world not needing to worry over famine, war, pestilence, etc.
on point 1, i'm assuming that you're talking about a card game with individual unique art and stats, and not just reusing a regular set of playing cards. the first problem that arises is logistical. in the ancient days, printing was scarce, and things that were printed had to be important, for the cost and labor of actually making it. even just printing a couple of decks would be quite costly. nowadays, printing is cheap and easily accessible in a relative sense.
on point 2, for most of humanity's history we were preoccupied with just trying to survive into the next season. people dedicated their time and resources purely into survival, and for the first time in history, much of the world doesn't have to worry about that.
i think this is the earliest time MTG could've been invented. companies can mass produce cardboard and make profit, people can afford to spend a king's ransom on cardboard.
i could be totally wrong though. i did zero research and i don't know anything.