Mine was probably the first time I attended a Modern FNM with my new playgroup. We moved to a new town a while back and I'm just getting to know the Magic players. I drafted with them a couple of times and played some EDH, when one of them says that I should come to the Modern FNM. Now these are all nice guys and I didn't have a real modern deck, so I borrowed a Tron deck from another friend. So this is my first real tournament with the new playgroup, and I'm playing with a deck that isn't mine. I go 4-0. As in 2-0 in 4 consecutive matches. The Tron deck I played was really, really tuned because the guy I borrowed it from is really competitive and apparently not well liked in the playgroup because he's "too competitive". They're good players, but almost all of them were playing janky brews, so I really stomped everyone. It felt a little awkward, since there was such a huge difference in powerlevel that it made me feel like "that guy".
That's why I never play casual games with people. Any deck I build is intended to be competitive, and theirs usually isn't. It's not fun for me to stomp someone with nothing on the line.
The scene: 2003-ish Reigonals. (Odyssey-onslaught standard) Round 1.
Me: I was a big noob, in fact this was the first sanctioned tournament I'd ever played in. I was playing black/red reanimator that I had netdecked (but couldn't afford the most expensive cards, so I played bad but comparable cards instead e.g. buried alive over entomb)
My opponent: Super cute girl. Redhead. We talked a bit before the game. I confessed that I just got my DCI card that day and my rating was 1600. She said hers was in the high 1800's. She had played in lots of tournaments. She was playing something green/black with nantuko husk, rotlung reanimator, carrion feeder, and llanowar elves, duress, cabal therapy - maybe oversold cemetery?
Game 1: I get stomped. - I don't remember much, but I died to a giant nantuko husk that I didn't see coming without doing much. When I died, she was still at 20. She stomped me so hard. I felt like I didn't deserve to be there.
Game Two: On her first turn, she drops llanowar elves. I didn't do anything relevant for the first couple of turns. On her second turn, she makes a 2-drop and passes. On my third turn, she realizes that she forgot to attack with llanowar elves, but we both shrug, figuring it won't matter in the long run. By some miracle, I ended up winning that game at 1 life.
Game three: Either I got really lucky, or she got really unlucky, or both. I remember having a ton of ridiculous fatties in play vs. a couple of 1/1's from her. Thanks to phantom nishoba, arcanis the omnipotent, petradon, and visara the dreadful (AT THE SAME TIME), I managed to end the game with about 40 life. It was a complete blowout.
She said something about attacking with llanowar elves game two, then started to tear up. Then she shook my hand, packed up her stuff, and left. I start to pack my things as well, when I realize that she left without signing the match slip. I have to track her down across the convention center. When I find her, she has her head down at a table, and is full on crying. I put my hand on her shoulder to get her attention - I need her to sign the match slip! At that exact moment, her HUGE boyfriend appears out of nowhere - His girlfriend is crying, and some strange guy is touching her. Awkward.
My opponent: Super cute girl. Redhead....When I find her, she has her head down at a table, and is full on crying. I put my hand on her shoulder to get her attention - I need her to sign the match slip! At that exact moment, her HUGE boyfriend appears out of nowhere - His girlfriend is crying, and some strange guy is touching her. Awkward.
How old was this female at the time? That seems like odd behavior, though she could have had other **** going on in her life and that was the last straw.
How old was this female at the time? That seems like odd behavior, though she could have had other **** going on in her life and that was the last straw.
I would guess 18-20ish. TBH I think she was just mad at herself.
After being out of Magic for a long time, I randomly discovered that a friend of my wife played Magic (how did this never come up before?), and he invited me to an M11 draft his gaming group was having. I had a blast, and kept getting invited back for drafts, and then one day they invited me to an informal Legacy tournament the next weekend.
I really only had one deck at the time, my Goblin deck, so that's what I brought. For some idiot reason, I thought everyone in the group was already familiar with Legacy, because everyone had decks (and quite a few of them were Combo to boot), but apparently some of the guys were brand new to Legacy, and had just cobbled some decks together, because my very first game goes like this:
Me: Mountain, Lackey, go.
Them: "What does he do?"
Me: If he deals combat damage to you, I can put a Goblin from my hand into play.
Them: <Makes a concerned face>, Darkslick Shores, pass
Me: (Thinking "What the hell deck runs Darkslick Shores?"), Swing with the Lackey, no response, put Goblin Warchief into play.
Them: What's he do?
Me: He gives all my goblins haste, and gives me a -1 discount to all my goblins.
Them: Okaaay...
Me: Tap the mountian, play Piledriver at discount, pre-emptively explain what he does. Then I play Wasteland...
Them: What's that do?
Me: (Knowing I have another Wasteland in my hand) It.. um... you're not going to like this; it's about to make this game extremely one-sided for me.
I ended up trashing all of his lands, stomping him in round one, and stomping equally hard in round two, and felt really awkward about it: here's a guy playing Legacy, and no one warned him about Wasteland?
That's why I never play casual games with people. Any deck I build is intended to be competitive, and theirs usually isn't. It's not fun for me to stomp someone with nothing on the line.
I wouldn't go quite that far with it. Not playing casually defeats the point of playing at all, IMHO. I usually just insist on playing them with a deck of comparable power (either by borrowing one of theirs or cobbling something together on the spot). Playing casually is fun as long as both decks are at similar power levels.
How old was this female at the time? That seems like odd behavior, though she could have had other **** going on in her life and that was the last straw.
I would guess 18-20ish. TBH I think she was just mad at herself.
It's not much worse than the behavior of several men described in this thread (far better, in fact).
I'm actually kind of heartened that a girl would take the game this seriously. It's not necessarily a bad thing.
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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
Neither one of these reflects well on me, but they're linked and both happened ~15 years ago, so . . . But these are extremely awkward to remember, unlike my straightupbrag earlier.
There was a time in the mid- to late-'90s when intentional draws were frowned upon - and, for a short period in my area, outright prohibited. At some point, the judges realized you couldn't force people to win and policing intentional draws was near impossible. They responded by regulating draws as best they could. Matched pairs would be called up and asked if they intended to draw before the round started. If both players said yes, it was draw. If either player said no, they played.
In one PTQ during Tempest block sealed, I was 5-1 and paired against a friend who played at my store. He was a really good player, but seemed as dense as a brick without Magic cards in his hand. With two undefeated players and seven players with one loss, we were both virtually assured of making top 8 as long as we drew. He didn't think we would make it. Despite all of my assurances, he still wanted to play. I made him a deal; if he didn't make top 8, I would pay him $50. I was so certain we were in, I didn't even consider it a bet. Maybe this is setting off all sorts of alarm bells for you, but I thought nothing of it at the time.
The judges called us up to the table, and, since we were also friends with the tournament organizers, laughed and joked with the judges and TOs as the stressful slog turns to accomplished bliss. One of the TOs asked my friend if he thought he'd do well in the top 8. My friend replied; "I don't know, but this guy's going to pay me $50 if I don't make it."
Me: LOL!
The TO looks at me and all of the smiles and laughter died; "Seriously? Did you say that?"
Me: (Speechless)
TO: That's a bribe. That's cheating. You can be disqualified without prize.
Me: (Still speechless. I had no idea what the hell I had done.)
The TO turns to the head judge and asks what they should do. The head judge looks at me (not particularly concerned, by the way), sees me utterly panicking, and shrugs; "He can say whatever he wants."
Yep, I got away with manipulating the outcome of a match with monetary compensation. Not my proudest moment. Today, I'd likely be facing down an 18-month suspension - if not more. But in the lawless Wild West era of Magic where City of Brass gained you life and PT top 8s were filled with well-known cheaters, all I got was a few minutes of cold sweat and a shrug of the judge's shoulders.
A few years later, I ended up in a Countersliver mirror-match in round 4 or 5 of an Extended PTQ. The match was running long, and a judge wandered over to watch the final game. My opponent made a few mistakes (play-wise and rule-wise) and was quickly losing control of the match, but not before the clock expired and the game went to turns. A crowd gathered as we wrapped things up. Although I had the match in hand if I got one more turn, it was clear I wasn't going to finish my opponent before the fifth and final turn - his turn. As he finished, he said, "I guess that's game." And began scooping up his cards. I was dumbfounded. Did he just scoop? He paused, realized his mistake, and said, "Uh, I mean, I guess that's a draw." The judge, who was sitting right next to us and had corrected my opponent a few times already, immediately murmured, "You conceded."
The head judge sees the situation play out and immediately tells us not to sign the match slip or leave the table. The judges confer for several minutes before coming over and asking me a simple question; Did I think my opponent was conceding? There I am sitting in a crowd of twenty players and 4-5 judges. I answered truthfully. Yes, I thought he was conceding.
I could have offered the draw, but I was worried about getting an infraction. In the moment, I thought I couldn't offer a draw in front of a judge. Subconsciously or consciously, maybe I just wanted the win. I don't know. I feel like **** about it now.
I never saw the guy at another tournament. Feelsbadman.jpg
I'm actually kind of heartened that a girl would take the game this seriously. It's not necessarily a bad thing.
Oh I agree that it is great to see passionate female gamers, and I was not trying to judge the reaction it is just a reaction that I am not used to seeing from any gender when playing MTG. Then again I have never played at anything bigger than a PTQ so it is likely a greater level of stress.
I also tend to think that almost anyone that reacts so demonstrably emotional as a result of a negative outcome in public probably has other stuff going on to push them over that edge. I know when I have been at my most petulant or grumpy when playing it has only partially been due to the game at hand.
Probably not the most awkward game ever, but its the most awkward in recent memory. Last weekend at the Theros pre release I was in a match with one of the regulars at this particular LGS. There are 2 prominent ones in our area, he always plays at this one, and at the pre releases there are usually about 30 extra people who show up in addition to our regulars. Were both 2-1 and playing for a chance at top 8 if we go 3-1 with good tie breakers. Also he and I go back and forth a lot with wins and losses (which annoys me because I believe I'm a better player than he is, but he manages to top deck his way out of some really tight spots even after making some serious errors during matches).
Anyhow, he takes game one with a pretty brutal curve on his red / white heroic deck, we proceed to game 2. He mulligans to 6, gets immediately super frustrated and says he'll keep, slamming down his plains and passing. I'm playing R/G and proceed to curve into a 1 drop, 2 drop, 3 drop while he plays more land and nothing else, muttering and shaking his head the whole time. Game goes as expected and he loses around turn 6, dropping maybe 1 or 2 creatures and nothing else. Apparently he was stuck on 4 land (in his low cost humans and heroic trigger spells deck?). Next game goes mostly the same way, with him getting up to 4 land and not doing much. He gets one big guy out which gets 'time to feed' to my heroic green promo card before I swing in for 10 to end it. That set him off pretty bad. He slams his deck down all over the table and yells about his mana and then proceeds to show me the 3 spells in his deck he had to 'answer everything in my deck' etc etc. To make things worse, this LGS is built as an addition to someone's house, so there's about 25 people in the main room which is about 20' x 20'. So now everyone is staring in our general direction wondering what the hell is going on. All I can do is shrug and agree if he had pulled one of those cards the game may have been different. Rest of the night whenever he sees me he just shakes his head and riffles through his deck, probably staring at the same 3 'answers'. Oh well. I'm sure I'll see him again at FNM.
I also tend to think that almost anyone that reacts so demonstrably emotional as a result of a negative outcome in public probably has other stuff going on to push them over that edge. I know when I have been at my most petulant or grumpy when playing it has only partially been due to the game at hand.
Based on how it was described, the player didn't lose it in public, per se. They just ran off. It wasn't until they'd left the area that they "lost it". It's actually one of the things that impressed me. (Though not signing the slip kinds of undermines this.)
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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 draft with a club at my college, and I played versus this really nice (intentioned) guy. Whenever I played ANY card he would exclaim "wow nice card!" and proceed to high five me. It was really awkward, I mean....I can't just not high five him, it would only make the situation MORE awkward. So you can say I was trying to minimize the awkwardness of the whole situation but it was still very weird.
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Hi I'm Infecter4life and ironically I only play GBx decks.
Was playing my Damia prison/stax EDH deck in a 4 player game at my LGS.
I get a soft lock with torpor orb/damping matrix/portcullis, but each other player has a small board up. One of the players is playing jund, and he keeps ramping up mana. Four turns later, I drop a Mana Vortex, and the jund player (who is actually a judge and works for the store) looks at me, and starts yelling "why the **** i play a deck that doesnt let him do anything ever". The other players point out that removing my three artifacts is an option, and I point out that I like saying "no." He looks at me and screams "FINE, IM OUT <A-HOLE>." Scoops, then goes to the other judge in the store and spends the next half hour complaining about my deck. The rest of us finish the game in peace once we're sure that hes gone.
I draft with a club at my college, and I played versus this really nice (intentioned) guy. Whenever I played ANY card he would exclaim "wow nice card!" and proceed to high five me. It was really awkward, I mean....I can't just not high five him, it would only make the situation MORE awkward. So you can say I was trying to minimize the awkwardness of the whole situation but it was still very weird.
Was playing my Damia prison/stax EDH deck in a 4 player game at my LGS.
I get a soft lock with torpor orb/damping matrix/portcullis, but each other player has a small board up. One of the players is playing jund, and he keeps ramping up mana. Four turns later, I drop a Mana Vortex, and the jund player (who is actually a judge and works for the store) looks at me, and starts yelling "why the **** i play a deck that doesnt let him do anything ever". The other players point out that removing my three artifacts is an option, and I point out that I like saying "no." He looks at me and screams "FINE, IM OUT A-HOLE." Scoops, then goes to the other judge in the store and spends the next half hour complaining about my deck. The rest of us finish the game in peace once we're sure that hes gone.
I wouldn't go quite that far with it. Not playing casually defeats the point of playing at all, IMHO. I usually just insist on playing them with a deck of comparable power (either by borrowing one of theirs or cobbling something together on the spot). Playing casually is fun as long as both decks are at similar power levels.
Building tier 5 decks is a waste of resources and time, IMHO. I just kindly tell them 'I don't have a deck built.' which is usually more or less true.
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One time this newer player had a bye at an LGS I had never been to before, and I wasn't playing. The owner, nice guy, didn't like magic, asked me to play him with either an event deck, or something else. It honestly seemed lower in power than an event deck. Like he took the good rares out.
I tell him before we sit down that 'this is going to be bad, I don't even know what these cards do. I want to throw stuff in here just to make it playable.' So, I play the kid, and I win 2-0, while reading every card either of us played.
At one point he drops a night hawk and automatically hands it to me, and I'm like 'oh, I know what that does. That's a real card.'
I felt like an ******* afterwards, I beat him using the worst deck I think I've ever played, and insulted the deck I beat him with the entire time.
I tell him before we sit down that 'this is going to be bad, I don't even know what these cards do. I want to throw stuff in here just to make it playable.' So, I play the kid, and I win 2-0, while reading every card either of us played.
At one point he drops a night hawk [sic] and automatically hands it to me, and I'm like 'oh, I know what that does. That's a real card.'
I felt like an ******* afterwards, I beat him using the worst deck I think I've ever played, and insulted the deck I beat him with the entire time.
I'll let the bolded bits speak for themselves.
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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 don't really play limited, I'll forget every terrible theros card in less than a month.
That's fine. You have every right to be a hardcore Spike and hate Limited. I favor Constructed and consider myself a Spike-Johnny. Nevertheless, I would like to think there's more to Magic than just stomping people with Tier 1 decks. And even if there isn't, I generally try to be a dick about 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
That's fine. You have every right to be a hardcore Spike and hate Limited. I favor Constructed and consider myself a Spike-Johnny. Nevertheless, I would like to think there's more to Magic than just stomping people with Tier 1 decks. And even if there isn't, I generally try to be a dick about it.
I don't play casually, like I said.
So I have to wonder, you're trying to insult me for wanting to win...?
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I've called judges on myself.
One time I played a game against goblin guide, and was on the draw. So I reveal and draw a land. Then I draw a card, play a land, and drop a vengevine into the graveyard. He calls a judge. The judge had to explain to him that I had 8 cards because of his goblin guide after my land play.
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One time some girl shows up and starts yelling at my opponent because she thought it was her spot. They had the same last name, but different first initials. His name was on the match slip.
I attended the Legions prerelease, and had an ok U/B deck that had Graveborn Muse and some decent morph creatures, not super powerful but good enough.
Round 1 I had Smelly 50 Year Old Guy That Needs Every Card Explained
Round 2 I actually played a normal guy and thought my weirdo quota was met for the day, nah.
Round 3 I played Runny Nosed 8 Year Old Punk
Literally, he was all those things. His nose was running like a faucet, he was a little kid that could see over the table and he was a sarcastic punk. He was playing W/G with Akroma, I knew this before we started because he told me about 99 times. Our first game went real long because I stalled out and because he was spending more time talking and wiping his nose on his coatsleeve than playing. He drew for one of his turns and says something like "oh yeah here comes Akroma!" but he was short on white mana, so he shows the card to me and even in the sleeve he managed somehow to get snot on it and says "can I use all my forests for her since she's a green card?"
.....
Got a judge and got him dq'd because of marked cards and the disgusting ordeal of this kids runny nose. Easily the most awkward game I've ever played, and the look on the judges' face during the whole thing was priceless as I think he was a major germaphobe.
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CAMILLA: You, sir, should unmask.
STRANGER: Indeed?
CASSILDA: Indeed it's time. We all have laid aside disguise but you.
STRANGER: I wear no mask.
CAMILLA: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda.) No mask? No mask!
The glaring example I can think of is in a recent game in a Modern FNM. I was playing Merfolk, he was playing BUG Infect, and we're both 2-2.
We sit down, I extend my hand, and introduce myself. He hastily and quietly replies, and we start shuffling. I wish him good luck, he just grunts in response. I notice this, but shrug it off as feeling bad about being 2-2. I knew the feeling as well, obviously, being, ya know, 2-2 and all that.
Game 1 is an epic struggle, with an early Aether Vial helping immensly, but he eventually gets a second Inkmoth and kills me w/Vines of Vastwood kicked. I say good game, he just grunts. Again. I'm slightly put off by his demeanor now, but I shrug it off again.
Game 2 was less close, I get a great curve, and early Merrow Reejerey into three Lords turn four, then finishing w/a big swarm of Merfolk. He got me to 7 poison, but I had removal enough that it would've been tricky to finish me off. I say good game as an offhand comment, he responds with "not really." I said something to the effect of me lucking out with the Reejerey chain, and he says something to the effect of that's the only way Merfolk could win. I'm definitely realizing that he's just on tilt mode by now.
Game three was longer in turns, but faster IRL. (sidenote: He's definitely tilting during this game, getting angry about draws even if they aren't that bad.) I get him down to lethal, he has a Blighted Agent, I have a Kira, and an untapped Vial with 2 counters on it. He attacks, and says "Counters in hand?" Obviously, I don't have to say whether I have counters in hand, so I tell him I don't have to let him know. He then yells "DO YOU HAVE A COUNTERSPELL," certainly loud enough for several nearby people to hear him. I tell him no, since I don't technically have one, just a Spellskite in hand. He windmill slams double Groundswell, doing a fist pump. I Vial in Spellskite in response. He loudly exclaims profanities, follows with comments about how he "PLAYED RIGHT INTO IT! SO STUPID!"
As we sign the match slip, he yells about how terrible Merfolk is and how terrible my deck is and how super lucky I got. I just say whatever dude, buy my final crap, wait for door prizes, win some sleeves and leave. The worst part is the tourny was so much fun except for him. It was fun and I'm really glad I went, but he put a miserable end on a great day.
For what it's worth, the opposite of evergreen is "deciduous" so I suggest we start using that from now on to refer to shroud, banding, islandhome, etc.
So I have to wonder, you're trying to insult me for wanting to win...?
I've not even trying to insult you, believe it or not. I'm just noticing a lack of self-awareness on your part. (And really, isn't a lack of self-awareness at the root of 90% of what been posted in this thread?)
Your post about the pain of playing casually came off as "I felt like an a-hole because I was being an A-hole". I'm just not sure you realize, when posting, how these sorts of statements are likely to be perceived by others.
Again, you're free to do and say things as you have been. I'm just making observations.
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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've not even trying to insult you, believe it or not. I'm just noticing a lack of self-awareness on your part. (And really, isn't a lack of self-awareness at the root of 90% of what been posted in this thread?)
Your post about the pain of playing casually came off as "I felt like an a-hole because I was being an A-hole". I'm just not sure you realize, when posting, how these sorts of statements are likely to be perceived by others.
Again, you're free to do and say things as you have been. I'm just making observations.
Okay, I've been places where people outright BEG me to play their casual jank deck they built out of the 6 total packs they've opened.
Standard legal merfolk against highly tuned UB Control with JTMS=/= fun for anyone.
Cawgo versus anything that isn't geared to be competetive with cawgo =/= fun for anyone.
A legacy deck against some super-sealed pool deck =/= fun for anyone.
Those examples were things that happened. I tried to get out of it ahead of time, they simply refused saying 'oh, it's fine, it'll be fun!' They didn't believe me.
I don't care how it sounds, in the minds of players on this forum I'm 'that guy' ripping off little kids, telling them they're terrible, etc, etc. Sure, that's not entirely true. I no more want to play with the majority of the people on this forum than they do with me. I don't rip off little kids, but if you tell people you trade and that you have foil snapcasters, they tend to assume that's the only way you get nice things.
The majority of the people on this forum will not like me simply because they don't like people who don't only play EDH with non blue opponents and I'm not going to apologize for not remembering what cloudfin raptor does.
I have an opinion, and reasons for said opinion, and like everyone else on this forum, I'm entitled to having it.
At the theros prerelease, one of my opponents was a new kid (maybe 16). He acted as if he was bored to death and was literally staring past me to the side of my head the entire match. I had to raise my voice announcing steps etc. Then after each spell I cast, he's say "Ok, my turn?" and start untapping his stuff. He was with friends, and they were friendly and normal.. and the kid was normal towards them.
Definately made the match awkward with his death-stare eyes glazed over looking past me.
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That's why I never play casual games with people. Any deck I build is intended to be competitive, and theirs usually isn't. It's not fun for me to stomp someone with nothing on the line.
Me: I was a big noob, in fact this was the first sanctioned tournament I'd ever played in. I was playing black/red reanimator that I had netdecked (but couldn't afford the most expensive cards, so I played bad but comparable cards instead e.g. buried alive over entomb)
My opponent: Super cute girl. Redhead. We talked a bit before the game. I confessed that I just got my DCI card that day and my rating was 1600. She said hers was in the high 1800's. She had played in lots of tournaments. She was playing something green/black with nantuko husk, rotlung reanimator, carrion feeder, and llanowar elves, duress, cabal therapy - maybe oversold cemetery?
Game 1: I get stomped. - I don't remember much, but I died to a giant nantuko husk that I didn't see coming without doing much. When I died, she was still at 20. She stomped me so hard. I felt like I didn't deserve to be there.
Game Two: On her first turn, she drops llanowar elves. I didn't do anything relevant for the first couple of turns. On her second turn, she makes a 2-drop and passes. On my third turn, she realizes that she forgot to attack with llanowar elves, but we both shrug, figuring it won't matter in the long run. By some miracle, I ended up winning that game at 1 life.
Game three: Either I got really lucky, or she got really unlucky, or both. I remember having a ton of ridiculous fatties in play vs. a couple of 1/1's from her. Thanks to phantom nishoba, arcanis the omnipotent, petradon, and visara the dreadful (AT THE SAME TIME), I managed to end the game with about 40 life. It was a complete blowout.
She said something about attacking with llanowar elves game two, then started to tear up. Then she shook my hand, packed up her stuff, and left. I start to pack my things as well, when I realize that she left without signing the match slip. I have to track her down across the convention center. When I find her, she has her head down at a table, and is full on crying. I put my hand on her shoulder to get her attention - I need her to sign the match slip! At that exact moment, her HUGE boyfriend appears out of nowhere - His girlfriend is crying, and some strange guy is touching her. Awkward.
Reprint Opt for Modern!!
FREE DIG THOROUGH TIME!
PLAY MORE ROUGE DECKS!
I would guess 18-20ish. TBH I think she was just mad at herself.
I really only had one deck at the time, my Goblin deck, so that's what I brought. For some idiot reason, I thought everyone in the group was already familiar with Legacy, because everyone had decks (and quite a few of them were Combo to boot), but apparently some of the guys were brand new to Legacy, and had just cobbled some decks together, because my very first game goes like this:
Me: Mountain, Lackey, go.
Them: "What does he do?"
Me: If he deals combat damage to you, I can put a Goblin from my hand into play.
Them: <Makes a concerned face>, Darkslick Shores, pass
Me: (Thinking "What the hell deck runs Darkslick Shores?"), Swing with the Lackey, no response, put Goblin Warchief into play.
Them: What's he do?
Me: He gives all my goblins haste, and gives me a -1 discount to all my goblins.
Them: Okaaay...
Me: Tap the mountian, play Piledriver at discount, pre-emptively explain what he does. Then I play Wasteland...
Them: What's that do?
Me: (Knowing I have another Wasteland in my hand) It.. um... you're not going to like this; it's about to make this game extremely one-sided for me.
I ended up trashing all of his lands, stomping him in round one, and stomping equally hard in round two, and felt really awkward about it: here's a guy playing Legacy, and no one warned him about Wasteland?
To this day, I have no idea what his deck was.
I wouldn't go quite that far with it. Not playing casually defeats the point of playing at all, IMHO. I usually just insist on playing them with a deck of comparable power (either by borrowing one of theirs or cobbling something together on the spot). Playing casually is fun as long as both decks are at similar power levels.
It's not much worse than the behavior of several men described in this thread (far better, in fact).
I'm actually kind of heartened that a girl would take the game this seriously. It's not necessarily a bad thing.
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
There was a time in the mid- to late-'90s when intentional draws were frowned upon - and, for a short period in my area, outright prohibited. At some point, the judges realized you couldn't force people to win and policing intentional draws was near impossible. They responded by regulating draws as best they could. Matched pairs would be called up and asked if they intended to draw before the round started. If both players said yes, it was draw. If either player said no, they played.
In one PTQ during Tempest block sealed, I was 5-1 and paired against a friend who played at my store. He was a really good player, but seemed as dense as a brick without Magic cards in his hand. With two undefeated players and seven players with one loss, we were both virtually assured of making top 8 as long as we drew. He didn't think we would make it. Despite all of my assurances, he still wanted to play. I made him a deal; if he didn't make top 8, I would pay him $50. I was so certain we were in, I didn't even consider it a bet. Maybe this is setting off all sorts of alarm bells for you, but I thought nothing of it at the time.
The judges called us up to the table, and, since we were also friends with the tournament organizers, laughed and joked with the judges and TOs as the stressful slog turns to accomplished bliss. One of the TOs asked my friend if he thought he'd do well in the top 8. My friend replied; "I don't know, but this guy's going to pay me $50 if I don't make it."
Me: LOL!
The TO looks at me and all of the smiles and laughter died; "Seriously? Did you say that?"
Me: (Speechless)
TO: That's a bribe. That's cheating. You can be disqualified without prize.
Me: (Still speechless. I had no idea what the hell I had done.)
The TO turns to the head judge and asks what they should do. The head judge looks at me (not particularly concerned, by the way), sees me utterly panicking, and shrugs; "He can say whatever he wants."
Yep, I got away with manipulating the outcome of a match with monetary compensation. Not my proudest moment. Today, I'd likely be facing down an 18-month suspension - if not more. But in the lawless Wild West era of Magic where City of Brass gained you life and PT top 8s were filled with well-known cheaters, all I got was a few minutes of cold sweat and a shrug of the judge's shoulders.
A few years later, I ended up in a Countersliver mirror-match in round 4 or 5 of an Extended PTQ. The match was running long, and a judge wandered over to watch the final game. My opponent made a few mistakes (play-wise and rule-wise) and was quickly losing control of the match, but not before the clock expired and the game went to turns. A crowd gathered as we wrapped things up. Although I had the match in hand if I got one more turn, it was clear I wasn't going to finish my opponent before the fifth and final turn - his turn. As he finished, he said, "I guess that's game." And began scooping up his cards. I was dumbfounded. Did he just scoop? He paused, realized his mistake, and said, "Uh, I mean, I guess that's a draw." The judge, who was sitting right next to us and had corrected my opponent a few times already, immediately murmured, "You conceded."
The head judge sees the situation play out and immediately tells us not to sign the match slip or leave the table. The judges confer for several minutes before coming over and asking me a simple question; Did I think my opponent was conceding? There I am sitting in a crowd of twenty players and 4-5 judges. I answered truthfully. Yes, I thought he was conceding.
I could have offered the draw, but I was worried about getting an infraction. In the moment, I thought I couldn't offer a draw in front of a judge. Subconsciously or consciously, maybe I just wanted the win. I don't know. I feel like **** about it now.
I never saw the guy at another tournament. Feelsbadman.jpg
I also tend to think that almost anyone that reacts so demonstrably emotional as a result of a negative outcome in public probably has other stuff going on to push them over that edge. I know when I have been at my most petulant or grumpy when playing it has only partially been due to the game at hand.
Reprint Opt for Modern!!
FREE DIG THOROUGH TIME!
PLAY MORE ROUGE DECKS!
Anyhow, he takes game one with a pretty brutal curve on his red / white heroic deck, we proceed to game 2. He mulligans to 6, gets immediately super frustrated and says he'll keep, slamming down his plains and passing. I'm playing R/G and proceed to curve into a 1 drop, 2 drop, 3 drop while he plays more land and nothing else, muttering and shaking his head the whole time. Game goes as expected and he loses around turn 6, dropping maybe 1 or 2 creatures and nothing else. Apparently he was stuck on 4 land (in his low cost humans and heroic trigger spells deck?). Next game goes mostly the same way, with him getting up to 4 land and not doing much. He gets one big guy out which gets 'time to feed' to my heroic green promo card before I swing in for 10 to end it. That set him off pretty bad. He slams his deck down all over the table and yells about his mana and then proceeds to show me the 3 spells in his deck he had to 'answer everything in my deck' etc etc. To make things worse, this LGS is built as an addition to someone's house, so there's about 25 people in the main room which is about 20' x 20'. So now everyone is staring in our general direction wondering what the hell is going on. All I can do is shrug and agree if he had pulled one of those cards the game may have been different. Rest of the night whenever he sees me he just shakes his head and riffles through his deck, probably staring at the same 3 'answers'. Oh well. I'm sure I'll see him again at FNM.
Based on how it was described, the player didn't lose it in public, per se. They just ran off. It wasn't until they'd left the area that they "lost it". It's actually one of the things that impressed me. (Though not signing the slip kinds of undermines this.)
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
I get a soft lock with torpor orb/damping matrix/portcullis, but each other player has a small board up. One of the players is playing jund, and he keeps ramping up mana. Four turns later, I drop a Mana Vortex, and the jund player (who is actually a judge and works for the store) looks at me, and starts yelling "why the **** i play a deck that doesnt let him do anything ever". The other players point out that removing my three artifacts is an option, and I point out that I like saying "no." He looks at me and screams "FINE, IM OUT <A-HOLE>." Scoops, then goes to the other judge in the store and spends the next half hour complaining about my deck. The rest of us finish the game in peace once we're sure that hes gone.
Sometimes, I hate timmies.
Censor evasion warning -rax
G MGC
WB Teysa Tokens
BR Wortsnort
UG 23.5-No Edric
URG Noncombo Animar
GUB Damia Stax
WBR Alesha Hatebear Recursion
WBR Daddy Tariel
UBR [Je]love-a Your Deck
GWU Almost Critterless Enchantress
WUB Sydri+Artifacts=WUB
WURG Glint-Eye Combo
I want to play against this guy.
"YOU THINK THAT'S COOL? CHECK THIS OUT!"
*drops Shivan Dragong*
WhhhoooooOOOAAAAHHH DUDE!
*high fives*
Maybe it just sounds fun in my head.
Torpor Orb stops the trigger of Portcullis.
I know. He didnt realize it or ask and I wasn't about to tell him
G MGC
WB Teysa Tokens
BR Wortsnort
UG 23.5-No Edric
URG Noncombo Animar
GUB Damia Stax
WBR Alesha Hatebear Recursion
WBR Daddy Tariel
UBR [Je]love-a Your Deck
GWU Almost Critterless Enchantress
WUB Sydri+Artifacts=WUB
WURG Glint-Eye Combo
Building tier 5 decks is a waste of resources and time, IMHO. I just kindly tell them 'I don't have a deck built.' which is usually more or less true.
------
One time this newer player had a bye at an LGS I had never been to before, and I wasn't playing. The owner, nice guy, didn't like magic, asked me to play him with either an event deck, or something else. It honestly seemed lower in power than an event deck. Like he took the good rares out.
I tell him before we sit down that 'this is going to be bad, I don't even know what these cards do. I want to throw stuff in here just to make it playable.' So, I play the kid, and I win 2-0, while reading every card either of us played.
At one point he drops a night hawk and automatically hands it to me, and I'm like 'oh, I know what that does. That's a real card.'
I felt like an ******* afterwards, I beat him using the worst deck I think I've ever played, and insulted the deck I beat him with the entire time.
I'll let the bolded bits speak for themselves.
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
I don't really play limited, I'll forget every terrible theros card in less than a month.
That's fine. You have every right to be a hardcore Spike and hate Limited. I favor Constructed and consider myself a Spike-Johnny. Nevertheless, I would like to think there's more to Magic than just stomping people with Tier 1 decks. And even if there isn't, I generally try to be a dick about 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
I don't play casually, like I said.
So I have to wonder, you're trying to insult me for wanting to win...?
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I've called judges on myself.
One time I played a game against goblin guide, and was on the draw. So I reveal and draw a land. Then I draw a card, play a land, and drop a vengevine into the graveyard. He calls a judge. The judge had to explain to him that I had 8 cards because of his goblin guide after my land play.
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One time some girl shows up and starts yelling at my opponent because she thought it was her spot. They had the same last name, but different first initials. His name was on the match slip.
Round 1 I had Smelly 50 Year Old Guy That Needs Every Card Explained
Round 2 I actually played a normal guy and thought my weirdo quota was met for the day, nah.
Round 3 I played Runny Nosed 8 Year Old Punk
Literally, he was all those things. His nose was running like a faucet, he was a little kid that could see over the table and he was a sarcastic punk. He was playing W/G with Akroma, I knew this before we started because he told me about 99 times. Our first game went real long because I stalled out and because he was spending more time talking and wiping his nose on his coatsleeve than playing. He drew for one of his turns and says something like "oh yeah here comes Akroma!" but he was short on white mana, so he shows the card to me and even in the sleeve he managed somehow to get snot on it and says "can I use all my forests for her since she's a green card?"
.....
Got a judge and got him dq'd because of marked cards and the disgusting ordeal of this kids runny nose. Easily the most awkward game I've ever played, and the look on the judges' face during the whole thing was priceless as I think he was a major germaphobe.
STRANGER: Indeed?
CASSILDA: Indeed it's time. We all have laid aside disguise but you.
STRANGER: I wear no mask.
CAMILLA: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda.) No mask? No mask!
We sit down, I extend my hand, and introduce myself. He hastily and quietly replies, and we start shuffling. I wish him good luck, he just grunts in response. I notice this, but shrug it off as feeling bad about being 2-2. I knew the feeling as well, obviously, being, ya know, 2-2 and all that.
Game 1 is an epic struggle, with an early Aether Vial helping immensly, but he eventually gets a second Inkmoth and kills me w/Vines of Vastwood kicked. I say good game, he just grunts. Again. I'm slightly put off by his demeanor now, but I shrug it off again.
Game 2 was less close, I get a great curve, and early Merrow Reejerey into three Lords turn four, then finishing w/a big swarm of Merfolk. He got me to 7 poison, but I had removal enough that it would've been tricky to finish me off. I say good game as an offhand comment, he responds with "not really." I said something to the effect of me lucking out with the Reejerey chain, and he says something to the effect of that's the only way Merfolk could win. I'm definitely realizing that he's just on tilt mode by now.
Game three was longer in turns, but faster IRL. (sidenote: He's definitely tilting during this game, getting angry about draws even if they aren't that bad.) I get him down to lethal, he has a Blighted Agent, I have a Kira, and an untapped Vial with 2 counters on it. He attacks, and says "Counters in hand?" Obviously, I don't have to say whether I have counters in hand, so I tell him I don't have to let him know. He then yells "DO YOU HAVE A COUNTERSPELL," certainly loud enough for several nearby people to hear him. I tell him no, since I don't technically have one, just a Spellskite in hand. He windmill slams double Groundswell, doing a fist pump. I Vial in Spellskite in response. He loudly exclaims profanities, follows with comments about how he "PLAYED RIGHT INTO IT! SO STUPID!"
As we sign the match slip, he yells about how terrible Merfolk is and how terrible my deck is and how super lucky I got. I just say whatever dude, buy my final crap, wait for door prizes, win some sleeves and leave. The worst part is the tourny was so much fun except for him. It was fun and I'm really glad I went, but he put a miserable end on a great day.
What an absolute jackass.
Quotes:
I've not even trying to insult you, believe it or not. I'm just noticing a lack of self-awareness on your part. (And really, isn't a lack of self-awareness at the root of 90% of what been posted in this thread?)
Your post about the pain of playing casually came off as "I felt like an a-hole because I was being an A-hole". I'm just not sure you realize, when posting, how these sorts of statements are likely to be perceived by others.
Again, you're free to do and say things as you have been. I'm just making observations.
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
Okay, I've been places where people outright BEG me to play their casual jank deck they built out of the 6 total packs they've opened.
Standard legal merfolk against highly tuned UB Control with JTMS=/= fun for anyone.
Cawgo versus anything that isn't geared to be competetive with cawgo =/= fun for anyone.
A legacy deck against some super-sealed pool deck =/= fun for anyone.
Those examples were things that happened. I tried to get out of it ahead of time, they simply refused saying 'oh, it's fine, it'll be fun!' They didn't believe me.
I don't care how it sounds, in the minds of players on this forum I'm 'that guy' ripping off little kids, telling them they're terrible, etc, etc. Sure, that's not entirely true. I no more want to play with the majority of the people on this forum than they do with me. I don't rip off little kids, but if you tell people you trade and that you have foil snapcasters, they tend to assume that's the only way you get nice things.
The majority of the people on this forum will not like me simply because they don't like people who don't only play EDH with non blue opponents and I'm not going to apologize for not remembering what cloudfin raptor does.
I have an opinion, and reasons for said opinion, and like everyone else on this forum, I'm entitled to having it.
Definately made the match awkward with his death-stare eyes glazed over looking past me.