I've made a few mistakes while playing Magic before, we've all been there. A misplay that loses us the game, being a dick to later feel bad about it, things like that.
Let me introduce myself alittle, also if you want to just skip down to the very bottom to see what actually happened, you can do so, my name is Kyle. I'm 17 and I've been playing the game for around 4 years now.
The FNM started off pretty meh. It was just an average FNM, I was playing a B/W Control deck that won a Top 8 at a SCG Open a while ago.
Round 1:
Get 0-2'd by my friend, Damn you Mana where were you!
He was playing a rough version of B/R Dragons
Round 2:
2-1'd a new guy to the shop.
He was playing a decent Eldrazi Homebrew, was overall a fun deck to play against.
Round 3:
Now this is where all the Magic happened and which I consider my worst mistake ever while playing MTG.
I was playing this guy named Ben, were similar ages and we've known each other for awhile. We're cool with each other and the game starts off pretty normal.
He was playing a G/R ramp deck, it's mostly an easy matchup for me sense I have a lot of 1f1 removal spells to take out his big boys.
Game 1:
I win the game pretty quickly, nothing special happened here.
Game 2:
This is where the mistake happened. We were deep into the game, Turn 8-9, he had nothing on the board and I had 2 Thought-Knot Seers (Played one that turn), a Seeker of the Way, and a Sorin on the board.
He was at 8 and I was at around 18 or so. I activated Sorin's +1 ability giving all my creatures +1/+0 and Lifelink till the beginning of my next turn, swung in the with seeker and the Though-Knot for lethal.
At this point I guess I just assumed I already one so I didn't really pay much attention which practically lost me the match. He plays a spell that looks his library for a basic land and he gains 6 life. At first I didn't know what the card did and I didn't hear him saying how he gained 6 life, so I just ignored it thinking I 'won.'
I pick up my cards, put them into my deck and start shuffling, I sign the slip 2-0 me. At this point he just asked if I conceded, I still didn't understand what happened, thinking he was joking. He then proceeds to explain that he gained 6 life from his spell and that he didn't die. I felt dumbstruck at that time so I was in shock.
Next thing we call over a judge, I already knew it was a game lose sense I picked up all my cards and started shuffling, unsurprisingly the judge said it was a game lose on my part.
We go to game 3 and he just completely recks me.
After that I was just completely bummed out considering I would of most likely would of won in the next few turns, winning that round.
That was one of the most stupidest things I've ever done in MTG, conceding thinking I was going to win but in reality I jumped the gun.
Round 4:
Nothing special here, I was still really bummed out at my misplay so I just signed the slip 0-2 and gave it to my opponent.
Easily one of my worst experiences ever.
IF YOU'RE JUST LOOKING FOR THE SUM UP IF THE STORY:
I was playing B/W Control and I was 1-1 going into Round 3.
Round 3, I won game one against ramp. Game two was going great, had 3 creatures out w/h a Sorin. Swung for lethal, in response he plays a card that looks for a basic and he gains 6 life, I pretty much ignore, in my case I didn't hear it, the life gain. Thinking I won I picked up my cards, put them into my deck and signed the slip 2-0 me. I find out I practically conceded and we go to Game Three where I get whipped, overall losing the round.
Mistakes of bad communication and players assuming they win/lose happen quite often.
This teaches you to allways check life totals with your opponent, especially if they matter.
Whenver life totals change, say it, the opponent says what they have noted and if they arent the same, you have to correct it.
That happens so often, especially with fetchlands and other 1 life gain/lose that you have to make sure life totals are accurate (and theres even a lot of cheating involved here, so its double correct to check if life totals are indeed what you think they are).
If you calculate damage, allways ask for what they have noted as life totals, its critical and should simply be a basic question, its quick if nothing is wrong and it makes sure nothing out of the ordinary happens.
Things like this do happen, even on higher level events, like GP's, nationals and even PT's. When I iused to judge more, I saw this happen several times. Long time ago I even had an opponent do this playing against me. Well sort of... I was playing a T1 Shahrazad-deck 1999 and my opponent didn't know how sub-games worked, so before I could stop him he shuffled all his cards into his deck, receiving a game loss... That was the only match I actually won in that event and decided to retire the deck, as I was the only guy having fun. Even managed to drop my eternal rating to just above 1500.
My own worst mistake, that actually kept bugging me for a while was a tight game during Onslaught-block sealed PTQ. Board was locked up, my opponent had 36 life and time was low. I knew I had three turns to win. I saw a path to do it, but due to long turns and rush, passed once too fast at my opponents end-step and ended needing to use Starlit Sanctum on that turn to kill my opponent two turns later.
And I had already scripted my plays to do just that. Spent just the exact amount of mana to have Sanctum mana open and had we had one single turn more I would have won. That single mistake shook my belief that I was pretty good player for several months, before I managed to regain the trust in my own play.
My own was probably just this past friday at modern FNM, playing against UW eldrazi using mono-red control. Had chandra pyromaster at 6 and an ensnaring bridge and blood moon out. Kept using chandra's 0 ability hunting for a second bridge to play around disenchant. Opponent found disenchant and I never found a second bridge. Should have just ulted chandra for the probable win.
Dumbest thing I've seen someone do recently was target a fetch with a crumble to dust.
Not horribly long ago I was playing kitchen table magic and someone pithing needled my knight of the holy nimbus. Effectively hurting themselves, not me.
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Standard: GR Pummeler
Modern: Mono-Red Control, Lantern Control, Eldrazi Taxes, Skred Infect
Pauper: Affinity
EDH: Gaddock Teeg Kithkin Tribal, Meren
Legacy: 8 Rack, Omnitell (Both in progress)
I once played in a Modern PPTQ where I could kill my opponent with splinter twin except i forgot to cast my deceiver exarch at end of his turn. I top 4 that PPTQ.
I had a friend who was playing Abzan in the same tournament, he thoughtseize his opponent early and wrote down his hand, then somehow got it wrong so when his opponent played a deceiver exarch he scooped because he had no outs to the opponent's last spinter twin, except his opponent didnt have a twin my friend just screwed up.
I was playing a WMCQ with esper dragons where I tried to counter a crucial spell with silumgar's scorn and forgot to reveal a dragon, my opponent just paid the one and won the game. I won that WMCQ.
Mistakes happen, unbelievable mistakes happen, when Makihito Mihara won the world champtionship with dragonstorm there was a game in the top 8 against PVDDR where he literally just miscounted his mana and was 1 short on casting dragonstorm, and he had to find a 1 outer to win that game.
I guess what i am saying is....better lucky than good?
My most unreasonable play of all time happened during Original Zendikar Standard. I played Jund. During sideboarding I was thinking very hard what to board in. Then I realized my opponent had very bright blue sleeves.
To this day I don't know why but I boarded in 2 Great Sable Stag because of that.
He was mono red.
This is such a great story to tell, i love it. To be fair it was probably better than say broodmate dragon against mono red since its cheaper to cast.
I've heard rough stories about Pithing Needle in competitive play. It was a legacy match and one of the players is up against a blue deck with Vedalken Shackles. It was game 2, so he already knew the deck had that card in it and casts Pithing Needle naming "Shackles". The blue opponent asks "You're naming Shackles?". He responds with "yes, Shackles". The blue player casts Vedalken Shackles and a judge is called. The judge ruled that "Shackles" is also a Magic card legal in legacy play and the needle kept on preventing that card from being used. Yes, it was assumed by both players that he was talking about the card Vedalken Shackles, but the blue player used the rules to his advantage and goes on to win the game.
Built some control with black and blue I think, don't remember quite well. I faced a white/green weenie deck, and won 2-1 with a Reave Soul on the last turn, no big deal.
Felt pretty good about myself and my deckbuilding ability after that. Go on to the second game, and happily try to remove his guy with another Reave Soul, until:
"Yo chief, that's sorcery speed."
"Oh... right."
The game went on uneventfully, and I eventually won. Only after the game did I put the pieces together and realized that my first game I had won with several "instant" Reaves. To be honest, my board was stable enough to where I would have won anyways, but I still felt like a scumbag.
I talked to my friend about it, and he said in these cases, it's usually the opponent's fault for not reading the card correctly. I don't play tournaments often, so I trusted him and tried to convince myself that I had not cheated my way into G2... which I technically didn't! But once the thought is in your mind it stays there, I guess.
I ended up 3rd in that tournament. Sourest victory I've ever had.
This wasn't my mistake but it was funny to be on the other side of it. We did a draft I was playing against a green white deck. He had 10 forests and 7 islands. He realized his mistake and quickly lost game 1. TO rectify the situation he boarded out the forests and boarded in islands. It was priceless. We all laugh about the incident now.
To this day, I have never lived down this mistake.
Playing Innistrad/Scars standard. Playing G/W/B tokens versus Mono-Black Infect. I'm sitting at 8 infect, but had just cracked a Shrine of Loyal Legions for 9 3/3 tokens with Vigilance. My opponent only has a Phyrexian Crusader. He swings. I scoop. When my friend asked why I scooped, I said my white tokens couldn't block his pro-white Crusader. He point to Shrine... it generates colorless tokens...
It prevented me from getting Top 8. I was so pissed at myself.
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Level 1 Judge
"I hope to have such a death... lying in triumph atop the broken bodies of those who slew me..."
You don't call "dying to removal" if the removal is more expensive in resources than the creature. If you have to spend BG (Abrupt Decay), or W + basic land (PtE) to remove a 1G, that is not "dying to removal". Strictly speaking Goyf dies to removal, but actually your removal is dying to Goyf.
I was playing Mirari's Wake in the Junior Super Series back in 2002-3ish. I started the match with 0-1 because I was late since i didn't have a cellphone or watch at that age and just lost track of time. He was playing a monoblack cleric control type deck. I already combo'd out and had my 4x 4/4 elephants out and the game was done next turn once I swung. I was at 4 life and the guy plays patriarch's bidding naming clerics and I let it resolve holding up a counterspell and mana leak. I wanted to just drop more elephants and go wide around the clerics. I forgot I was at 4 life and he had a cabal archon among the clerics in his graveyard and he sacs clerics for the win.
I was pretty bummed and that mixed in with the rotation of standard I stopped playing until last year. Looking back, I could of cunning wish'd for a renewed faith and copied it with mirari in response. sloppy play
Playing Modern at the Charlotte Open a few months ago. I'm on Infect & my opponent is on Jund. After losing game 1, he taps out for blood moon on 3 since i have no basics. I see the moon and kinda instinctively say "crack my fetch for a forest" I get the forest and shuffle. He goes to cut and then asks "Blood moon resolves?" To which i say yes. Then I look in my hand and see a Spell pierce which I could have cast if I fetched a Breeding Pool. I was so dumbfounded at my mistake I took my a few seconds to realize what I had done. Put me on tilt so bad I lost every match for the rest of the day.
I think my worst mistake was at Vancouver GP 2014 I was playing B/W Weenies that was a pretty good meta call against all the devotion decks running around.
I'm sitting at 2-0 in rounds and it's game 3 against a player who is on a very agressive red strategy.
Board had predominantly stalled though he is getting in for two in the air whilst I get in for one....I wait for until the crucial turn where I had calculated about 4 turns ahead I'd probably be able to snag lethal.
Untap, upkeep, draw. I recheck my maths. I swing for victory and the chance of playing a Pro...!
...and realize I'd forgotten to animate my Mutavault.
This isn't my mistake, but my opponents. The moral of the story is never assume anything, always read the cards.
Yesterday at Modern tournament I play vs an Esper Control deck. We're 1-1, I go first. I drop an Urza's Tower and an Expedition Map. He plays a Celestial Colonnade and passes. I follow up with another Tron piece an pass. He's like "Turn 3 Karn?" to which I just smile making him believe so. He goes Polluted Delta, pass. I go get my final Tron piece eot. On my turn I cast Pithing Needle and he says it resolves. Guess what I named? Polluted Delta The look on his face was priceless. He responded something like "I never thought it could hit lands as well...". I proceed to resolve a Reality Smasher and win in 4 turns.
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Currently playing: WUBreakfast @ Urza'sUW GRC7 Land BelcherCRG
I was playing a non-poison beatdown deck in Scars of Mirrodin limited and had a Contagion Engine, while my opponent had a poison counter from one of his own cards. I completely forgot to use Contagion Engine for several turns since I wasn't thinking I would win with poison and I had a lot of creatures out beating him down, then he managed to kill off my creatures, stabilize, and kill me when he had 9 poison counters (I eventually remembered to start using it once my creatures were dying)
Some years ago in a legacy weekly, playing junk nic fit against omnishow. I had a decent board of 8-10 permanents, mostly lands, including a Phyrexian Tower and a Dryad Arbor. Opponent resolves Show and Tell at 1 life, puts in Omniscience, then casts Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, takes his extra turn, and swings. I've got Damnation in hand, so I take the line of keeping Tower, Arbor, and two other lands after annihilator, which will let me untap and Damnation Emrakul to try and stabilize. I do that, it gets Forced, and I lose. Sometime after the game I realize that I had a 1 power creature against an opponent at 1 with no blockers, but sacrificed it to try and wrath the board.
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[Pr]Jaya | Estrid | A rotating cast of decks built out of my box.
At my last FNM I was playing Lantern Control against U/W Control. I had won game one and was well on my way to winning game two. The opponent flashed in a Restoration Angel targeting his Sun Titan . His Titan brought back a Detention Sphere targeting my Ensnaring Bridge . In response I cracked my Seal of Primordium to kill the D Sphere. Thinking it was worded like Banisher Priest . Forgetting it is in fact Oblivion Ring . I lost in short order and instead of winning we drew and I ended up not getting prizes.
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Let me introduce myself alittle, also if you want to just skip down to the very bottom to see what actually happened, you can do so, my name is Kyle. I'm 17 and I've been playing the game for around 4 years now.
The FNM started off pretty meh. It was just an average FNM, I was playing a B/W Control deck that won a Top 8 at a SCG Open a while ago.
Round 1:
Get 0-2'd by my friend, Damn you Mana where were you!
He was playing a rough version of B/R Dragons
Round 2:
2-1'd a new guy to the shop.
He was playing a decent Eldrazi Homebrew, was overall a fun deck to play against.
Round 3:
Now this is where all the Magic happened and which I consider my worst mistake ever while playing MTG.
I was playing this guy named Ben, were similar ages and we've known each other for awhile. We're cool with each other and the game starts off pretty normal.
He was playing a G/R ramp deck, it's mostly an easy matchup for me sense I have a lot of 1f1 removal spells to take out his big boys.
Game 1:
I win the game pretty quickly, nothing special happened here.
Game 2:
This is where the mistake happened. We were deep into the game, Turn 8-9, he had nothing on the board and I had 2 Thought-Knot Seers (Played one that turn), a Seeker of the Way, and a Sorin on the board.
He was at 8 and I was at around 18 or so. I activated Sorin's +1 ability giving all my creatures +1/+0 and Lifelink till the beginning of my next turn, swung in the with seeker and the Though-Knot for lethal.
At this point I guess I just assumed I already one so I didn't really pay much attention which practically lost me the match. He plays a spell that looks his library for a basic land and he gains 6 life. At first I didn't know what the card did and I didn't hear him saying how he gained 6 life, so I just ignored it thinking I 'won.'
I pick up my cards, put them into my deck and start shuffling, I sign the slip 2-0 me. At this point he just asked if I conceded, I still didn't understand what happened, thinking he was joking. He then proceeds to explain that he gained 6 life from his spell and that he didn't die. I felt dumbstruck at that time so I was in shock.
Next thing we call over a judge, I already knew it was a game lose sense I picked up all my cards and started shuffling, unsurprisingly the judge said it was a game lose on my part.
We go to game 3 and he just completely recks me.
After that I was just completely bummed out considering I would of most likely would of won in the next few turns, winning that round.
That was one of the most stupidest things I've ever done in MTG, conceding thinking I was going to win but in reality I jumped the gun.
Round 4:
Nothing special here, I was still really bummed out at my misplay so I just signed the slip 0-2 and gave it to my opponent.
Easily one of my worst experiences ever.
IF YOU'RE JUST LOOKING FOR THE SUM UP IF THE STORY:
I was playing B/W Control and I was 1-1 going into Round 3.
Round 3, I won game one against ramp. Game two was going great, had 3 creatures out w/h a Sorin. Swung for lethal, in response he plays a card that looks for a basic and he gains 6 life, I pretty much ignore, in my case I didn't hear it, the life gain. Thinking I won I picked up my cards, put them into my deck and signed the slip 2-0 me. I find out I practically conceded and we go to Game Three where I get whipped, overall losing the round.
This teaches you to allways check life totals with your opponent, especially if they matter.
Whenver life totals change, say it, the opponent says what they have noted and if they arent the same, you have to correct it.
That happens so often, especially with fetchlands and other 1 life gain/lose that you have to make sure life totals are accurate (and theres even a lot of cheating involved here, so its double correct to check if life totals are indeed what you think they are).
If you calculate damage, allways ask for what they have noted as life totals, its critical and should simply be a basic question, its quick if nothing is wrong and it makes sure nothing out of the ordinary happens.
WUBRG#BlackLotusMatterWUBRG
👮👮👮 #BlueLivesMatter 👮👮👮
My own worst mistake, that actually kept bugging me for a while was a tight game during Onslaught-block sealed PTQ. Board was locked up, my opponent had 36 life and time was low. I knew I had three turns to win. I saw a path to do it, but due to long turns and rush, passed once too fast at my opponents end-step and ended needing to use Starlit Sanctum on that turn to kill my opponent two turns later.
And I had already scripted my plays to do just that. Spent just the exact amount of mana to have Sanctum mana open and had we had one single turn more I would have won. That single mistake shook my belief that I was pretty good player for several months, before I managed to regain the trust in my own play.
Set to default
Dumbest thing I've seen someone do recently was target a fetch with a crumble to dust.
Not horribly long ago I was playing kitchen table magic and someone pithing needled my knight of the holy nimbus. Effectively hurting themselves, not me.
Modern: Mono-Red Control, Lantern Control, Eldrazi Taxes, Skred Infect
Pauper: Affinity
EDH: Gaddock Teeg Kithkin Tribal, Meren
Legacy: 8 Rack, Omnitell (Both in progress)
I had a friend who was playing Abzan in the same tournament, he thoughtseize his opponent early and wrote down his hand, then somehow got it wrong so when his opponent played a deceiver exarch he scooped because he had no outs to the opponent's last spinter twin, except his opponent didnt have a twin my friend just screwed up.
I was playing a WMCQ with esper dragons where I tried to counter a crucial spell with silumgar's scorn and forgot to reveal a dragon, my opponent just paid the one and won the game. I won that WMCQ.
Mistakes happen, unbelievable mistakes happen, when Makihito Mihara won the world champtionship with dragonstorm there was a game in the top 8 against PVDDR where he literally just miscounted his mana and was 1 short on casting dragonstorm, and he had to find a 1 outer to win that game.
I guess what i am saying is....better lucky than good?
Not counting of course mistakes made by not knowing the rules of magic.
I have seen someone pithin needle a putrefy
And runed halo a runesnag
This is such a great story to tell, i love it. To be fair it was probably better than say broodmate dragon against mono red since its cheaper to cast.
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl.
EDH
Xenagos, the God of Stompy
The Gitrog Monster: Oppressive Value.
Marchesa, Marionette Master - Undying Robots
Yuriko, the Hydra Omnivore
I make dolls as a hobby.
TL;DR? BE SPECIFIC!
Signature courtesy of Rivenor and Miraculous Recovery
EDH Altered Cards by Galspanic (Seriously, this guy's awesome.)
My Pauper Cube
Tapped-Out Simulator
My Trade Thread
-Decks-
Commander:
GWR Rith, the Awakener RWG
U Kami of the Crescent Moon U (Flagship Deck)
BW Teysa, Orzhov Scion WB
Under Construction:
UBR Crosis, the Purger RBU
Cube:
WUBRGX Pauper XGRBUW
Built some control with black and blue I think, don't remember quite well. I faced a white/green weenie deck, and won 2-1 with a Reave Soul on the last turn, no big deal.
Felt pretty good about myself and my deckbuilding ability after that. Go on to the second game, and happily try to remove his guy with another Reave Soul, until:
"Yo chief, that's sorcery speed."
"Oh... right."
The game went on uneventfully, and I eventually won. Only after the game did I put the pieces together and realized that my first game I had won with several "instant" Reaves. To be honest, my board was stable enough to where I would have won anyways, but I still felt like a scumbag.
I talked to my friend about it, and he said in these cases, it's usually the opponent's fault for not reading the card correctly. I don't play tournaments often, so I trusted him and tried to convince myself that I had not cheated my way into G2... which I technically didn't! But once the thought is in your mind it stays there, I guess.
I ended up 3rd in that tournament. Sourest victory I've ever had.
But I recently did an insanely long play in Kruphix, God of Horizons with a bunch of Soul's Majesty and Maro variants. Everyone was just sitting there watching me until I slaughtered the Mayael deck that was dominating us with an 80/80 Multani, Maro-Sorceror. HOWEVER nobody realized or pointed out that I'd played a Prime Speaker Zegana earlier while Mayael had a blue mode Ionia, Shield of Emeria out.
We realized the mistake after Mayael had scooped her cards up. I felt so bad I just immediately scooped too and suddenly the edh game was a 1v1.
I've also killed myself twice in The Mimeoplasm because I thought I had Laboratory Maniac in there. I didn't.
Playing Innistrad/Scars standard. Playing G/W/B tokens versus Mono-Black Infect. I'm sitting at 8 infect, but had just cracked a Shrine of Loyal Legions for 9 3/3 tokens with Vigilance. My opponent only has a Phyrexian Crusader. He swings. I scoop. When my friend asked why I scooped, I said my white tokens couldn't block his pro-white Crusader. He point to Shrine... it generates colorless tokens...
It prevented me from getting Top 8. I was so pissed at myself.
"I hope to have such a death... lying in triumph atop the broken bodies of those who slew me..."
WBG Karador GBW
R Daretti R
RG Omnath GR
WRG Modern Burn GRW
WB Modern Tokens BW
DCI Rules Advisor as of 5/18/2015
I was pretty bummed and that mixed in with the rotation of standard I stopped playing until last year. Looking back, I could of cunning wish'd for a renewed faith and copied it with mirari in response. sloppy play
Modern
GWBAbzan CompanyGWB
Pauper
UGU/G BeatsUG
I'm sitting at 2-0 in rounds and it's game 3 against a player who is on a very agressive red strategy.
Board had predominantly stalled though he is getting in for two in the air whilst I get in for one....I wait for until the crucial turn where I had calculated about 4 turns ahead I'd probably be able to snag lethal.
Untap, upkeep, draw. I recheck my maths. I swing for victory and the chance of playing a Pro...!
...and realize I'd forgotten to animate my Mutavault.
my opponent remains alive at 2.
I was so disappointed with myself.
Signature courtesy of Rivenor and Miraculous Recovery
EDH Altered Cards by Galspanic (Seriously, this guy's awesome.)
My Pauper Cube
Tapped-Out Simulator
My Trade Thread
-Decks-
Commander:
GWR Rith, the Awakener RWG
U Kami of the Crescent Moon U (Flagship Deck)
BW Teysa, Orzhov Scion WB
Under Construction:
UBR Crosis, the Purger RBU
Cube:
WUBRGX Pauper XGRBUW
also made plenty mistakes where I just play too fast and make a mistake
Yesterday at Modern tournament I play vs an Esper Control deck. We're 1-1, I go first. I drop an Urza's Tower and an Expedition Map. He plays a Celestial Colonnade and passes. I follow up with another Tron piece an pass. He's like "Turn 3 Karn?" to which I just smile making him believe so. He goes Polluted Delta, pass. I go get my final Tron piece eot. On my turn I cast Pithing Needle and he says it resolves. Guess what I named? Polluted Delta The look on his face was priceless. He responded something like "I never thought it could hit lands as well...". I proceed to resolve a Reality Smasher and win in 4 turns.
WUBreakfast @ Urza'sUW
GRC7 Land BelcherCRG