Allow me to tell you what happened last FNM at my card shop. FNM was going on and many times we chat and talk about what is going on in our gaming lives.
There are a few exceptions to that rule.
We get the norms in from time to time and every other Friday but there is a player among our group that talks, but I mean TALKS!
He was playing against a mid-30’s male and he kept asking how his day went and asked him questions. Then, he talks about what happened 5 minutes ago, last week, how he dressed himself today, at work, etc. He does not stop. The player was so fed with him talking that he called over a judge to tell him to shut up. His talking was messing with his concentration. Jude told the player and verbatim “He has a right to talk. Free Country, 1st amendment, we can’t penalize him for talking.”
The judge did ask him to minimize the chatter and announced to all who played.
I for one don’t like it when someone is talking about what I ate or what type of toothpaste I used.
However, a tactic I used to intimidate my opponent is - “how many cards are in their graveyard or checking on life totals. Sometimes I look at my cards, even though I know what it means and that also intimidated my opponent.
After all that was done, yes his opponent lost and he forfeited and was extremely upset
Most of the other players already told him when they played the next round don’t talk to them, but of course he did.
The one thing that I would like to ask in two parts:
1. Do you talk to your opponent to be social or to distract? 2. Do you allow having your opponent talk to you and distract you?
Be Well.
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Our hearts still ache in sadness
And secret tears still flow
What it meant to lose you
No on will ever know
But we know you want us
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To remember all the happy times
Life still has much in store
Since you’ll never be forgotten
We pledge to you today
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1.) To be social, but usually just pleasantries before and after the match
2.) I've never encountered something like this in an FNM or tournament. Usually during the match is all about "serious business". Some small chatter but nothing like you described.
However, when playtesting/kitchen table with my playgroup, we talk during matches regarding non-MTG related stuff.
If i'm friendly/acquainted with the person i'm playing against sure( hell even taksy backsies), but if i don't know him it's cold/somber attitude.
After the match maybe we'll talk
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From Supernatural:
Sam: a demon summoning spell ? why?
Lucifer: to summon a demon (auto censorship here)
====
The Wizard of Oz: A juvenile delinquent runs away from home, kills the first person she meets in a foreign land, robs her corpse, then promptly forms a gang with three complete strangers in order to kill again.
====
Personally, I rather play against the chatterbox. I have played too many games already were the guy sits and looks slightly to the side and never makes eye contact. and all they say is a variation of "your turn"
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You don't have to talk, but that doesn't mean you have to be rude. Stay silent but stay friendly. Smile, don't scour, and keep a good attitude whether you win or lose.
I've tended to be very talkative during most of my games, especially since I know most of the players at my LCS. Still, I've learnt to reign it in more recently, mostly for my own benefit (silence helps me concentrate on how hard I'm winning).
Most of my opponents tend not to be very talkative, so I'm lucky there. I HAVE played against trolls who specifically say and do things to annoy me, but those are rare. Even then, it's more their personality/demeanor that's the problem, not the talking in general.
Were I playing the guy described in the OP, I'd probably get a kick out of being out-chatterboxed.
Question for the OP: Does your friend AIM to annoy people, or is he just weird like that?
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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
The main reason I go to live events is to interact with other people. If I didn't want to interact at all, I would just play Magic Online.
If I haven't met the person before, I introduce myself. Then I ask how my opponent's night is going. If they just say "fine" then I don't say anything else. If it's someone at the store who I don't like (because he was rude or whiny in the past) then I don't say anything at all.
If someone asks me a friendly question, I will answer it. Sometimes opponents do try to distract me by repeatedly asking "my turn?" (hoping I'll forget to play lands or spells). In this case, I would politely ask my opponent to stop doing that.
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Focused on limited for now. Occasionally play some standard/modern as well.
First, the 1st Amendment doesn't mean what people seem to think it means. The store owner could absolutely throw him out for talking. Second, just ignore him. If someone can't manage to concentrate with someone else talking, MTG might be too much thinking for them in the first place.
1. To be social. I play for fun, even at PTQ/GP level events, and part of that fun is meeting and talking to new players. If the opponent seems like someone worth knowing I will typically talk and joke intermittently throughout the match, keep things light. (unless it is a crucial moment and I know they need some silence to think)
2. I can't recall someone ever throwing me off due to too much talk. I have had opponents say specific things geared towards getting me to make a mistake or give up info, but I don't think that is what you are talking about.
1. I talk just to be social. However, I usually try to cut the superfluous stuff (things like clothes I wore or what I ate). Sometimes when I see someone play a card against me that I have a really funny story about, I usually mention it and we both usually get a good laugh.
2. My opponent can talk to me all he wants! I love bantering back and forth.
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Why are there so many mirrors at the gym?
I already know what I look like. That's why I'm there.
For some people, they are very social and holding a fast paced conversation takes almost no effort.
Others are a bit more socially awkward. Especially within the Magic community! Actively maintaining a conversation, and also doing something else, is just simply HARD for some people.
So if you are naturally social and only have to devote 1% of your thoughts to talking and your opponent has to devote 25% to keep up with the conversation?
This edge is exactly why some people do it. I've seen this at the GP and PTQ level a few times but not really in a FNM setting.
If you are playing against the guy, say, "please be quiet, I need to concentrate, no offense" If you are someone else tell him that directly, you don't even need the judge unless he just refuses to after asking. It's FNM. I don't understand the hurt feelings and deep pondering of what to do. If you are old enough to play MTG you are old enough to resolve a little problem like this.
If you are playing against the guy, say, "please be quiet, I need to concentrate, no offense" If you are someone else tell him that directly, you don't even need the judge unless he just refuses to after asking. It's FNM. I don't understand the hurt feelings and deep pondering of what to do. If you are old enough to play MTG you are old enough to resolve a little problem like this.
Not if they don't change their behavior.
I am a generally verbal person, but I draw the line at inane chatter. I will talk with my opponent about the game at hand or MTG in general and if the conversation veers off to something else I will keep it up as long as it is not vapid small-talk. That kind of thing is just noise pollution that is not social in any way, rather it is an empty verbal approximation of social interaction. If my opponent does not seem interested in conversation then I will keep my speaking to specifically the game at hand and I have no problem with that either. I find that behavior that people use to try and get an edge in the game by tilting or distracting their opponent in MTG is the worst sort of douchy poor sportsmanship. If that is what you need to have an edge in a game then perhaps your time would be better spent improving at the game rather than resorting to cheap tricks.
i have been to fnm about 5 times and almost all the guys there pretty cool. also when i play i do my best to make it fun for both guys, for example if i get brutally owned by a sick play my reaction is usually "DAYUMMMM, dude that was crazy," and when i am doing good and say my opponent has no land a bit of sympathy is appreciated and can make you a few friends. also no talking at all would seem weird and too competitive for me.
Where did you guys get this "judge" the 1st amendment doesn't apply here at all. It has to do with the government not private companies or entities like The DCI or Magic the Gathering. If an opponent requests for you to stop asking him questions and chatting with him while he thinks he is well within his rights as a player. I would at least report this event to the judges center or the DCI.
No one is forced to listen to or participate in chit-chat during competition.
Normally... I am the quiet type... but at FNM I come quite a bit more out of my shell.
We even joke about our picks and passes all draft giving out info we shouldn't.. it is really relaxed.
I was paired up against a chatter box..... he talked about lots of things... anime (which I don't watch), comparing Ascension to MTG (which I don't know anything about).... and about how bad his deck was and how he didn't really know what he was doing (as I beat him in two quick games) by the end of it though...
He said "you hate me don't you".... "I can see it in your eyes".
How do you respond to that?... am I actually too quiet? interacting too little?
I tried to reassure him.. by telling him my best friend is more annoying than him. Which is true.. at least this guy isnt complaining about blue and whinning when I countered things. But that kind of seemed like "saying some of my best friends are black" when being accused of being racist.
I want to play the game with the cards not the game with the mind. I wouldn't play mind games. But I am known to in casual games to repeatedly ask people the number of cards in thier hands.. and they say " you have rakdos return don't you"... and they are right.. if I made asking about thier hands more common it would improve my bluffing.
The chat is just a tactic to distract his opponent. It worked.
If this is the intent it would be quite arguable to say this is unsportsmanlike conduct and should be at least given a warning and gameloss and eventual dq.
I don't mind people talking when playing (in fact I'll chat if the opponent feels up to it) but if you are trying to get an advantage from irratating the opponent through your actions you are not "next leveling," or "jedi mindtricking," you are cheating, you are trying to abuse a situation to your advantage that has nothing to do with the gamestate. This is just as bad as slow playing at the absolute least.
Not to mention if you don't shut up someone and piss someone off enough they can charge you with harassment.
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Allow me to tell you what happened last FNM at my card shop.
FNM was going on and many times we chat and talk about what is going on in our gaming lives.
There are a few exceptions to that rule.
We get the norms in from time to time and every other Friday but there is a player among our group that talks, but I mean TALKS!
He was playing against a mid-30’s male and he kept asking how his day went and asked him questions. Then, he talks about what happened 5 minutes ago, last week, how he dressed himself today, at work, etc. He does not stop.
The player was so fed with him talking that he called over a judge to tell him to shut up. His talking was messing with his concentration.
Jude told the player and verbatim “He has a right to talk. Free Country, 1st amendment, we can’t penalize him for talking.”
The judge did ask him to minimize the chatter and announced to all who played.
I for one don’t like it when someone is talking about what I ate or what type of toothpaste I used.
However, a tactic I used to intimidate my opponent is - “how many cards are in their graveyard or checking on life totals. Sometimes I look at my cards, even though I know what it means and that also intimidated my opponent.
After all that was done, yes his opponent lost and he forfeited and was extremely upset
Most of the other players already told him when they played the next round don’t talk to them, but of course he did.
The one thing that I would like to ask in two parts:
1. Do you talk to your opponent to be social or to distract?
2. Do you allow having your opponent talk to you and distract you?
Be Well.
And secret tears still flow
What it meant to lose you
No on will ever know
To mourn for you no more
To remember all the happy times
Life still has much in store
We pledge to you today
A hallowed place within our hearts
Is where you’ll always stay
― Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential
I will always firmly stand by the belief that Magic is a game first and a collectable second.
2.) I've never encountered something like this in an FNM or tournament. Usually during the match is all about "serious business". Some small chatter but nothing like you described.
However, when playtesting/kitchen table with my playgroup, we talk during matches regarding non-MTG related stuff.
Standard
UR Control
Modern
Merfolk
Burn
Avacyn did nothing wrong!
Purify Innistrad!
#Purge
After the match maybe we'll talk
Sam: a demon summoning spell ? why?
Lucifer: to summon a demon (auto censorship here)
====
The Wizard of Oz: A juvenile delinquent runs away from home, kills the first person she meets in a foreign land, robs her corpse, then promptly forms a gang with three complete strangers in order to kill again.
====
with R i'll burn you and with B youll'be maimed
2.- I've never considered it a distraction.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/trading-post/details/805-w-underground-sea-h-revised-lands
Decks
Modern
BGR Jund RGB
BW Eldrazi and Taxes WB
BWGAbzan Company GWB
Mtgo Modern
G Company Elves G
How To Keep Your FOIL Cards From Curling: http://youtu.be/QTmubrS8VnI
The Best Deck Boxes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEwgLph_Pjk
The Best Binders: http://youtu.be/H5IauASYWjk
Most of my opponents tend not to be very talkative, so I'm lucky there. I HAVE played against trolls who specifically say and do things to annoy me, but those are rare. Even then, it's more their personality/demeanor that's the problem, not the talking in general.
Were I playing the guy described in the OP, I'd probably get a kick out of being out-chatterboxed.
Question for the OP: Does your friend AIM to annoy people, or is he just weird like that?
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
the First amendment definitely does not apply to the case. The government has to respect it, but the DCI most definitely does not.
If I haven't met the person before, I introduce myself. Then I ask how my opponent's night is going. If they just say "fine" then I don't say anything else. If it's someone at the store who I don't like (because he was rude or whiny in the past) then I don't say anything at all.
If someone asks me a friendly question, I will answer it. Sometimes opponents do try to distract me by repeatedly asking "my turn?" (hoping I'll forget to play lands or spells). In this case, I would politely ask my opponent to stop doing that.
The chat is just a tactic to distract his opponent. It worked.
2. I can't recall someone ever throwing me off due to too much talk. I have had opponents say specific things geared towards getting me to make a mistake or give up info, but I don't think that is what you are talking about.
2. My opponent can talk to me all he wants! I love bantering back and forth.
I already know what I look like. That's why I'm there.
Others are a bit more socially awkward. Especially within the Magic community! Actively maintaining a conversation, and also doing something else, is just simply HARD for some people.
So if you are naturally social and only have to devote 1% of your thoughts to talking and your opponent has to devote 25% to keep up with the conversation?
This edge is exactly why some people do it. I've seen this at the GP and PTQ level a few times but not really in a FNM setting.
If you are playing against the guy, say, "please be quiet, I need to concentrate, no offense" If you are someone else tell him that directly, you don't even need the judge unless he just refuses to after asking. It's FNM. I don't understand the hurt feelings and deep pondering of what to do. If you are old enough to play MTG you are old enough to resolve a little problem like this.
I am a generally verbal person, but I draw the line at inane chatter. I will talk with my opponent about the game at hand or MTG in general and if the conversation veers off to something else I will keep it up as long as it is not vapid small-talk. That kind of thing is just noise pollution that is not social in any way, rather it is an empty verbal approximation of social interaction. If my opponent does not seem interested in conversation then I will keep my speaking to specifically the game at hand and I have no problem with that either. I find that behavior that people use to try and get an edge in the game by tilting or distracting their opponent in MTG is the worst sort of douchy poor sportsmanship. If that is what you need to have an edge in a game then perhaps your time would be better spent improving at the game rather than resorting to cheap tricks.
Reprint Opt for Modern!!
FREE DIG THOROUGH TIME!
PLAY MORE ROUGE DECKS!
teysa ftw
No one is forced to listen to or participate in chit-chat during competition.
We even joke about our picks and passes all draft giving out info we shouldn't.. it is really relaxed.
I was paired up against a chatter box..... he talked about lots of things... anime (which I don't watch), comparing Ascension to MTG (which I don't know anything about).... and about how bad his deck was and how he didn't really know what he was doing (as I beat him in two quick games) by the end of it though...
He said "you hate me don't you".... "I can see it in your eyes".
How do you respond to that?... am I actually too quiet? interacting too little?
I tried to reassure him.. by telling him my best friend is more annoying than him. Which is true.. at least this guy isnt complaining about blue and whinning when I countered things. But that kind of seemed like "saying some of my best friends are black" when being accused of being racist.
I want to play the game with the cards not the game with the mind. I wouldn't play mind games. But I am known to in casual games to repeatedly ask people the number of cards in thier hands.. and they say " you have rakdos return don't you"... and they are right.. if I made asking about thier hands more common it would improve my bluffing.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
If this is the intent it would be quite arguable to say this is unsportsmanlike conduct and should be at least given a warning and gameloss and eventual dq.
I don't mind people talking when playing (in fact I'll chat if the opponent feels up to it) but if you are trying to get an advantage from irratating the opponent through your actions you are not "next leveling," or "jedi mindtricking," you are cheating, you are trying to abuse a situation to your advantage that has nothing to do with the gamestate. This is just as bad as slow playing at the absolute least.
Not to mention if you don't shut up someone and piss someone off enough they can charge you with harassment.