I was invited to a party on Friday night to celebrate the birthdays of several of my friends. I said that I would love to come, but I had plans running until 11 or 12PM and would make it to the party after, if it was still going on.
My friend G gets a bit curious and inquires as to what these plans are. Now, I wasn't quite prepared to answer so I stumbled over my words quite a bit in explaining what a "legacy FNM" is and why I love it so much.
After thinking about it for a bit, I think I prefer a short and sweet explanation: "I'm playing in a tournament for a game called magic the gathering." And then fielding any follow up questions.
Anyways, what are your thoughts? When people ask you what you're doing on Friday night, what do you say?
I usually just say I'm nerding out. And if someone wants to know more, I'll say I'm playing a tournament for a card game called magic the gathering.
But I wouldn't miss a friends party just to go to FNM. Happens once a year vs happens every week...I think I'll go to the once a year thing. But that's personal preference.
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I usually just say I'm nerding out. And if someone wants to know more, I'll say I'm playing a tournament for a card game called magic the gathering.
But I wouldn't miss a friends party just to go to FNM. Happens once a year vs happens every week...I think I'll go to the once a year thing. But that's personal preference.
Listen to the wise man. A friend's birthday party happens only once a year. FNM happens every week. Heck, the only reason I go to FNM is to hang out with friends anyways. Otherwise, going to just play in a Magic tournament by itself does not sound so enticing to me.
I think you should re-evaluate your priorities if you skipped multiple friends birthday parties to go play some FNM. Don't be that guy.
Some people just aren't really "party people". I know that given a choice between a party and an evening with cards or books, I'll always take the quiet evening. I would much rather call a friend, tell them I'm not up to a party, and arrange a time to buy them lunch.
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Decks:
Modern: Jund
Legacy: Pox
EDH: Chainer Reanimation and The Dragon Show, with Zirilan of the Claw
Some people just aren't really "party people". I know that given a choice between a party and an evening with cards or books, I'll always take the quiet evening. I would much rather call a friend, tell them I'm not up to a party, and arrange a time to buy them lunch.
Sometimes being a good friend means putting your insecurities aside to support them. I know if I was having a birthday party, invited somebody that I considered a friend, and they went and played FMN instead of even making a drop in and stay just a few minutes appearance, they wouldn't be considered much of a friend anymore. Nobody is saying you have to stay and tear up a dance floor all night, but not even making an appearance is pretty crappy.
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I usually just say I'm nerding out. And if someone wants to know more, I'll say I'm playing a tournament for a card game called magic the gathering.
[x] Good idea
But I wouldn't miss a friends party just to go to FNM. Happens once a year vs happens every week...I think I'll go to the once a year thing. But that's personal preference.
A little more backstory:
I moved a couple of years ago to start a PhD program and stopped playing magic to focus on school. Recently, I've realized just how much I love the game and built a legacy deck and searched for a place to play. The previous week I had found a store befriended a bunch of great, friendly people and said that I would be back next week.
The next week, I get an email explaining that there's going to be a house party to celebrate a couple of birthdays at 8 on Friday. Which means to show up sometime after 9, the way this type of party runs. Given that I had already promised my new FNM friends that I would come back, I promptly replied to the email explaining that I had other plans and would arrive late.
Turns out FNM ended early and I got to the party around 10:30, at the peak of the party, and stayed until around 2:15. So on the magic versus friends dilemma, I got to have my cake and eat it too --- literally.
I think you should re-evaluate your priorities if you skipped multiple friends birthday parties to go play some FNM. Don't be that guy.
My priority was actually to hold a promise to some new friends that I made at FNM that I would be coming back this week. Birthdays were used as an excuse to host a house party - to my knowledge I'm the only one who brought presents. This sort of thing happens monthly, so it's actually much more of a routine event than a special one.
"I'm going to a card (or card game) tournament" is my go-to line. If people want to know more, I tell them, but that's usually enough to satisfy curiosity.
I'm not ashamed or anything, but saying "A Magic tournament" or something like that just makes people confused.
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Retrodrome!
Hoi, hoi, u embleer hrair
M'saion ulé hraka vair.
"I'm going to a card (or card game) tournament" is my go-to line. If people want to know more, I tell them, but that's usually enough to satisfy curiosity.
I'm not ashamed or anything, but saying "A Magic tournament" or something like that just makes people confused.
This, exactly.
People with any knowledge of competitive playing cards (poker, black jack, etc.) will usually just assume you're playing something "normal" like that and leave it there. In the rare case where someone tries to dig deeper, I gage their interest/mentality and answer apprpriately.
Explaining MTG to non-players is difficult enough without having tp explain tournaments in addition. And usually, it's just not necessary or worth it.
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I'm officially proposing we retire the word "insane" from the MtG vocabulary.
"The best way to be different is to be better" - Gene Muir
I had to field questions like this when I went to Washington to play in the WMCQ and stayed with family. People understand the concept of a tournament well enough. I explained what Magic is a bit, even showed them a few cards. It's not a big deal.
I think you should re-evaluate your priorities if you skipped multiple friends birthday parties to go play some FNM. Don't be that guy.
This. You can play FNM 52 night a year. Do you really need to attend every FNM in the year when you're missing out on something that only happens once a year with close friends? Meh, but I shouldn't judge. People sometimes make the choices they make because of reasons some of us can't comprehend unless we were them.
Anyways to answer your question: I tell people I'm going to FNM. Most people I know, know what FNM is. Those who don't "I'm going to play in a local magic tournament". If they don't know what magic is, "It's a card game; think chess but with customizable pieces."
Well, based on your scenario (with the further backstory), I would say you made the right decision, but that's just my personal take on your scenario - there's no real right or wrong in such scenarios, just different takes with a possibility of a majority taking a side.
Well, to the topic of explaining Magic - I usually simply say I have scheduled to play card games. The word games does help somewhat mitigate the chances of people thinking it's poker or other similar card games (that are more likely to have direct money involved.)
Only when people inquire about them do I state Magic - some get it, other don't - then I simply use "Something like Yu-Gi-Oh or Pokémon - I know that's a pretty bad comparison for us who play TCGs, but I just wanted to the get the TCG point across to the general public. There are plenty of people out there who only vaguely know Pokémon as a TCG and nothing else (so we can forget about MTG being the oldest popular TCG being a reason that people would know Magic.)
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If that's your "casual," what on earth is required for "formal," a butler in livery shuffling the decks whilst a pianist plays Brahms in front of a tapestry?
Personally, I wouldn't miss someone's once-a-year event for FNM, but most of the time I just say "Playing in a Card Tournament" if people assume poker or something, I don't really care.
STATISTICS.
All of these "Let's eliminate bad cards" crusades are simply ignorant. And when they start to devolve into "WotC is conspiring to give us crappy cards," they just become embarrassing. MATH is conspiring to give you crappy cards.
Playing cards or Going Gaming are some good simple suggestions. I usually went to FNM with a few friends so I'd just say I already have plans with some other friends (who the person I am talking to doesnt know).
Legacy FNMs arnt that uncommon. Until just recently my LGS had been having only legacy FNMs for the past 6+ years. They called it FNM cause it was friday night and magic, but it wasnt "official" and they just didnt do the FNM promos or whatever.
Wow, some really great ideas in this thread. Thanks guys.
The general strategy seems to be to first say that you're going to some sort of tournament or gaming event, then dispense additional details when asked.
I was getting into a lot of trouble trying to explain what MTG was and THEN explaining the structure of the tournament scene in a single breath. Sticking to one topic at a time sounds a lot more manageable.
This. You can play FNM 52 night a year. Do you really need to attend every FNM in the year when you're missing out on something that only happens once a year with close friends? Meh, but I shouldn't judge. People sometimes make the choices they make because of reasons some of us can't comprehend unless we were them.
Well, based on your scenario (with the further backstory), I would say you made the right decision, but that's just my personal take on your scenario - there's no real right or wrong in such scenarios, just different takes with a possibility of a majority taking a side.
Since this seems to be a recurring topic, the reason why I went to FNM has to do with the chronology of invites. I was invited to FNM first by some new friends, and I agreed to come. Then, several days later, I was invited to the party and politely told that I would love to attend, but I already had plans for Friday and would arrive late.
I live in an environment where double and triple booking is incredibly common occurrence. Personally, once I accept an invitation, I put it in my schedule and do everything I reasonably can to follow through on it, even if something else interesting.
Now, if I had heard about the party first, I would have accepted that invitation and told my FNM friends that I would be back in two weeks.
I can see how there's a strong pull to go to my friend's party. Reneging on the promise to my FNM friends wasn't really an option, especially since I didn't have their contact info to let them know why I couldn't make it.
The moral of the story is that if you want to invite someone who is very busy to something, try to do so at least in advance.
Although there's no issue with playing in a legacy event on fridays, there is if it's being run officially as "FNM". "Friday Night Magic" can be:
Standard
Draft
Sealed
Block
Modern
Two Headed Giant Standard or Sealed
It cannot be sanctioned as FNM with Legacy.
Interesting, that explains why I had trouble finding legacy events with the FNM finder!
Legacy FNMs arnt that uncommon. Until just recently my LGS had been having only legacy FNMs for the past 6+ years. They called it FNM cause it was friday night and magic, but it wasnt "official" and they just didnt do the FNM promos or whatever.
I'm jealous your store still has it.
OMG, yes. My favorite part of college was Friday night legacy, so I went on quite a search to find one in my new area and found one ~30 minutes away.
Sorry to hear that your store stopped. That's a real bummer!
Wow, some really great ideas in this thread. Thanks guys.
The general strategy seems to be to first say that you're going to some sort of tournament or gaming event, then dispense additional details when asked.
I was getting into a lot of trouble trying to explain what MTG was and THEN explaining the structure of the tournament scene in a single breath. Sticking to one topic at a time sounds a lot more manageable.
Yeah, if the person you're talking to isn't a nerd then he has no interest in hearing about your nerd stories; don't bore them. You only sound more like a nerd and it doesn't help your case. If they think Magic is boring, then they'll get even more mad at you for choosing Magic over them.
My go-to phrase is "hobby game". I just tell them that "there's this game I like to play" and a bunch of us get together and play it. (I hesitate to call it "cards", since I do play poker on a fairly regular basis as well.)
Since this seems to be a recurring topic, the reason why...
Don't fret. It's a pretty rampant problem on these forums that people don't read everything in the thread and then still feel that they're qualified to put in their two cents.
Personally, I feel this discussion of whether you should play Magic or go to the party is off-topic anyway. You were asking how to describe Magic and Magic tournaments. You weren't asking for our opinion on whether you should play Magic or go to the party.
Besides, as far as I'm concerned you have no obligation to justify your decisions to us.
Most of my friends know that i play magic, most have even played it. Still if i had to describe what i am doing to someone who had no clue i would call it a gaming tournament, if they asked questions from there i would give simple answers to their questions unless they showed more than a curious interest.
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I was invited to a party on Friday night to celebrate the birthdays of several of my friends. I said that I would love to come, but I had plans running until 11 or 12PM and would make it to the party after, if it was still going on.
My friend G gets a bit curious and inquires as to what these plans are. Now, I wasn't quite prepared to answer so I stumbled over my words quite a bit in explaining what a "legacy FNM" is and why I love it so much.
After thinking about it for a bit, I think I prefer a short and sweet explanation: "I'm playing in a tournament for a game called magic the gathering." And then fielding any follow up questions.
Anyways, what are your thoughts? When people ask you what you're doing on Friday night, what do you say?
But I wouldn't miss a friends party just to go to FNM. Happens once a year vs happens every week...I think I'll go to the once a year thing. But that's personal preference.
Thanks to Rivenor for the signature and XenoNinja for the Avi!
Quotes:
Modern
xWBreakfast at Urza'sxW
UWGBantUWG
GWRNaya ZooRWG
Listen to the wise man. A friend's birthday party happens only once a year. FNM happens every week. Heck, the only reason I go to FNM is to hang out with friends anyways. Otherwise, going to just play in a Magic tournament by itself does not sound so enticing to me.
Some people just aren't really "party people". I know that given a choice between a party and an evening with cards or books, I'll always take the quiet evening. I would much rather call a friend, tell them I'm not up to a party, and arrange a time to buy them lunch.
Modern: Jund
Legacy: Pox
EDH: Chainer Reanimation and The Dragon Show, with Zirilan of the Claw
Sometimes being a good friend means putting your insecurities aside to support them. I know if I was having a birthday party, invited somebody that I considered a friend, and they went and played FMN instead of even making a drop in and stay just a few minutes appearance, they wouldn't be considered much of a friend anymore. Nobody is saying you have to stay and tear up a dance floor all night, but not even making an appearance is pretty crappy.
Modern
xWBreakfast at Urza'sxW
UWGBantUWG
GWRNaya ZooRWG
[x] Good idea
A little more backstory:
I moved a couple of years ago to start a PhD program and stopped playing magic to focus on school. Recently, I've realized just how much I love the game and built a legacy deck and searched for a place to play. The previous week I had found a store befriended a bunch of great, friendly people and said that I would be back next week.
The next week, I get an email explaining that there's going to be a house party to celebrate a couple of birthdays at 8 on Friday. Which means to show up sometime after 9, the way this type of party runs. Given that I had already promised my new FNM friends that I would come back, I promptly replied to the email explaining that I had other plans and would arrive late.
Turns out FNM ended early and I got to the party around 10:30, at the peak of the party, and stayed until around 2:15. So on the magic versus friends dilemma, I got to have my cake and eat it too --- literally.
My priority was actually to hold a promise to some new friends that I made at FNM that I would be coming back this week. Birthdays were used as an excuse to host a house party - to my knowledge I'm the only one who brought presents. This sort of thing happens monthly, so it's actually much more of a routine event than a special one.
Glad you were able to do both though!
Thanks to Rivenor for the signature and XenoNinja for the Avi!
Quotes:
I'm not ashamed or anything, but saying "A Magic tournament" or something like that just makes people confused.
Hoi, hoi, u embleer hrair
M'saion ulé hraka vair.
This, exactly.
People with any knowledge of competitive playing cards (poker, black jack, etc.) will usually just assume you're playing something "normal" like that and leave it there. In the rare case where someone tries to dig deeper, I gage their interest/mentality and answer apprpriately.
Explaining MTG to non-players is difficult enough without having tp explain tournaments in addition. And usually, it's just not necessary or worth it.
I'm officially proposing we retire the word "insane" from the MtG vocabulary.
"The best way to be different is to be better" - Gene Muir
Cubes:
Modern Banlist Cube
Monocolor Budget Cube
This. You can play FNM 52 night a year. Do you really need to attend every FNM in the year when you're missing out on something that only happens once a year with close friends? Meh, but I shouldn't judge. People sometimes make the choices they make because of reasons some of us can't comprehend unless we were them.
Anyways to answer your question: I tell people I'm going to FNM. Most people I know, know what FNM is. Those who don't "I'm going to play in a local magic tournament". If they don't know what magic is, "It's a card game; think chess but with customizable pieces."
Also...
Although there's no issue with playing in a legacy event on fridays, there is if it's being run officially as "FNM". "Friday Night Magic" can be:
It cannot be sanctioned as FNM with Legacy.
Well, to the topic of explaining Magic - I usually simply say I have scheduled to play card games. The word games does help somewhat mitigate the chances of people thinking it's poker or other similar card games (that are more likely to have direct money involved.)
Only when people inquire about them do I state Magic - some get it, other don't - then I simply use "Something like Yu-Gi-Oh or Pokémon - I know that's a pretty bad comparison for us who play TCGs, but I just wanted to the get the TCG point across to the general public. There are plenty of people out there who only vaguely know Pokémon as a TCG and nothing else (so we can forget about MTG being the oldest popular TCG being a reason that people would know Magic.)
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I hate the reserved list.
Mythic rares are fine.
Legacy FNMs arnt that uncommon. Until just recently my LGS had been having only legacy FNMs for the past 6+ years. They called it FNM cause it was friday night and magic, but it wasnt "official" and they just didnt do the FNM promos or whatever.
I'm jealous your store still has it.
The general strategy seems to be to first say that you're going to some sort of tournament or gaming event, then dispense additional details when asked.
I was getting into a lot of trouble trying to explain what MTG was and THEN explaining the structure of the tournament scene in a single breath. Sticking to one topic at a time sounds a lot more manageable.
Since this seems to be a recurring topic, the reason why I went to FNM has to do with the chronology of invites. I was invited to FNM first by some new friends, and I agreed to come. Then, several days later, I was invited to the party and politely told that I would love to attend, but I already had plans for Friday and would arrive late.
I live in an environment where double and triple booking is incredibly common occurrence. Personally, once I accept an invitation, I put it in my schedule and do everything I reasonably can to follow through on it, even if something else interesting.
Now, if I had heard about the party first, I would have accepted that invitation and told my FNM friends that I would be back in two weeks.
I can see how there's a strong pull to go to my friend's party. Reneging on the promise to my FNM friends wasn't really an option, especially since I didn't have their contact info to let them know why I couldn't make it.
The moral of the story is that if you want to invite someone who is very busy to something, try to do so at least in advance.
Interesting, that explains why I had trouble finding legacy events with the FNM finder!
OMG, yes. My favorite part of college was Friday night legacy, so I went on quite a search to find one in my new area and found one ~30 minutes away.
Sorry to hear that your store stopped. That's a real bummer!
Yeah, if the person you're talking to isn't a nerd then he has no interest in hearing about your nerd stories; don't bore them. You only sound more like a nerd and it doesn't help your case. If they think Magic is boring, then they'll get even more mad at you for choosing Magic over them.
My go-to phrase is "hobby game". I just tell them that "there's this game I like to play" and a bunch of us get together and play it. (I hesitate to call it "cards", since I do play poker on a fairly regular basis as well.)
Don't fret. It's a pretty rampant problem on these forums that people don't read everything in the thread and then still feel that they're qualified to put in their two cents.
Personally, I feel this discussion of whether you should play Magic or go to the party is off-topic anyway. You were asking how to describe Magic and Magic tournaments. You weren't asking for our opinion on whether you should play Magic or go to the party.
Besides, as far as I'm concerned you have no obligation to justify your decisions to us.