First tournament I ever played in was a Rav-Rav-Rav draft. Got cheated by my very first opponent (and to my knowledge it's the only time I've ever been cheated in 6 or so years of playing). Opponent played turn one bounce land and said, well no lands to return, so I don't have to.
Honestly though, tournaments tend to be a lot fun. Most players are very sporting and will be friendly to new players.
As for being African-American, I don't think you'll see any problems, and if you do, that behavior won't be tolerated by the community at large.
Anyone whose post begins with "I'm sorry, but..." needs to just leave. You're as condescending as the If I were a poor black kid article and you are doing nothing to help the poster, nor are you providing him with any retribution. You're just providing how you'd be SO MUCH SMARTER in the situation. Stop it.
And yes, every single one of you is engaging in Blaming the Victim which is the exact same mentality as "it was her fault for being sexually assaulted. She shouldn't have worn that dress/been in that place/gone to that party." It IS shame on the thieves, it is NOT shame on the OP for not being ultra-paranoid. There's a reason "paranoia" is a psychologically defined disease.
You can still be a victim and have behaved negligently. Just because people shouldn't do bad things to other people, doesn't mean that we should release people from all responsibility to protect themselves and their property. We should both focus our energies on catching the criminals AND getting people to take at least minimal steps to protect themselves from the criminals who are out there, because it's a lot better to prevent crime before the fact than to do something about it ex post.
So basically, I truly am sorry about what happened to the OP. You don't deserve to get robbed just because you're slightly careless. BUT, this should serve as a lesson to OP and everyone else, to be careful when you're carrying around valuables. As has been pointed out by others, a Magic card is not much different than cash. It can be easily and quickly sold, and can't really be traced if the thief is not an idiot. Treat carrying large quantities of Magic cards the same as if you are carrying around large quantities of cash.
I think the correct ruling for it should have been a game loss for drawing extra cards (which he did when he drew for the turn he was supposed to skip). Sorry, but you should not be able to "forget" something as huge as skipping your next turn.
When you factor in the dealers, there were probably upwards of $15 million dollars worth of cards that are easily transferrable into cash in that hall, and there was no security. That is completely insane. In fact, it's the type of score that could make it worthwhile for armed criminals to storm the place. That's Vegas casino type of money, and God knows how much firepower they have on hand to deter and thwart attempted robberies.
This is something that has to be addressed by Wizards. For constructed GPs, they HAVE to get armed security on the premises, and not just a couple rentacops durdling around. Seriously, would you feel safe hanging around in an unguarded area with millions of dollars in cahs around? I sure wouldn't.
That's miserable. I was at the GP in Baltimore, where thievery was apparently rampant. I was good about keeping track of my backpack when I wasn't playing, but during matches I would put it down by my side and not pay any attention to it because I was engrossed in the match. So thankful it wasn't stolen, because it had my laptop in there.
Still, people tend not to be careful enough with their Magic cards. The fact that it's Magic cards makes people act differently then if it was Cash, despite the fact that they are for all intents and purposes the same thing (you can easily convert Magic cards into cash). People walk around with their binders that have 4 of every standard legal card in them. Don't know off the top of my head, but I would guess that the value of a standard playset is somewhere around $5,000. If the average person withdrew $5k out of their bank account and was walking around with that cash in their wallet, they'd likely be looking over their shoulder constantly and always keeping a hand on their wallet, and generally feeling incredibly nervous. People don't behave like that with regards to magic cards though. I guess my point is, think of the value of the cards you're carrying around, and act the same way as if you were carrying that much cash. Don't bring your $15k collection with you to a tournament. You wouldn't carry aroudn that much cash for any possible reason.
Honestly though, tournaments tend to be a lot fun. Most players are very sporting and will be friendly to new players.
As for being African-American, I don't think you'll see any problems, and if you do, that behavior won't be tolerated by the community at large.
You can still be a victim and have behaved negligently. Just because people shouldn't do bad things to other people, doesn't mean that we should release people from all responsibility to protect themselves and their property. We should both focus our energies on catching the criminals AND getting people to take at least minimal steps to protect themselves from the criminals who are out there, because it's a lot better to prevent crime before the fact than to do something about it ex post.
So basically, I truly am sorry about what happened to the OP. You don't deserve to get robbed just because you're slightly careless. BUT, this should serve as a lesson to OP and everyone else, to be careful when you're carrying around valuables. As has been pointed out by others, a Magic card is not much different than cash. It can be easily and quickly sold, and can't really be traced if the thief is not an idiot. Treat carrying large quantities of Magic cards the same as if you are carrying around large quantities of cash.
When you factor in the dealers, there were probably upwards of $15 million dollars worth of cards that are easily transferrable into cash in that hall, and there was no security. That is completely insane. In fact, it's the type of score that could make it worthwhile for armed criminals to storm the place. That's Vegas casino type of money, and God knows how much firepower they have on hand to deter and thwart attempted robberies.
This is something that has to be addressed by Wizards. For constructed GPs, they HAVE to get armed security on the premises, and not just a couple rentacops durdling around. Seriously, would you feel safe hanging around in an unguarded area with millions of dollars in cahs around? I sure wouldn't.
Still, people tend not to be careful enough with their Magic cards. The fact that it's Magic cards makes people act differently then if it was Cash, despite the fact that they are for all intents and purposes the same thing (you can easily convert Magic cards into cash). People walk around with their binders that have 4 of every standard legal card in them. Don't know off the top of my head, but I would guess that the value of a standard playset is somewhere around $5,000. If the average person withdrew $5k out of their bank account and was walking around with that cash in their wallet, they'd likely be looking over their shoulder constantly and always keeping a hand on their wallet, and generally feeling incredibly nervous. People don't behave like that with regards to magic cards though. I guess my point is, think of the value of the cards you're carrying around, and act the same way as if you were carrying that much cash. Don't bring your $15k collection with you to a tournament. You wouldn't carry aroudn that much cash for any possible reason.