For the Love of the Game
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jkarnes
18 February 2013
2034 views
18 February 2013
2034 views
I'd like to begin that I never thought I would write this article. I've done a lot of things over the course of my Magic career (lackluster as it is) which have brought people into the game longterm. I've studied and tested to become a Judge through the DCI. I've helped settle disputes of an enormous magnitude when it comes to players at both the small, and large, events that are held throughout the country.
I love this game.
It wasn't until very recently that I discovered just how much I care about Magic, the people who play it, and the dedicated group of people who make it. Allow me to share that story with you:
Going to Game 3...
Friday Night Magic is usually a pretty busy time for our local gaming stores. The event scene here is pretty competitive and it's not uncommon to see popular archetypes show up in the semifinals and Top 8 for our area FNMs. To say that the same people (and decks) make the finals on a regular basis would only be halfway wrong. There's a good amount of variation as to who makes what rankings than the pro circuits and the absense of two and three round byes means that rogue builds can upset the "top players'" records.
During the second round of the FNM in question, a tournament (and top 8) regular is seated across from a first-time tournament participant. He hasn't ever played in a tournament before and is borrowing his friend's deck to participate. He is playing an interesting list based around Epic Experiment and Worldfire. The idea of the deck should be pretty obvious: resolve the experiment for at least X=9 and hope that you hit Worldfire and a random burn spell. With an extra red mana (totaling 12 open) and a Geistflame in hand, this becomes more about hitting Worldfire than about praying for a 2 card combo in the top nine spots of the deck.
We have made it to game three with our regular having won the first game and the new guy winning game two after sideboarding. The winner of this game will, of course, win the match. It is an intense game, and while I'm in charge of supervising all the games on the floor, I've taken an interest in this one. The sixteenth turn comes around with the life totals favoring the regular (playing Naya Aggro) at 30 to 4. A Sleep from turn 15 prevents Naya Aggro from winning the game and the regular misses his top-deck Boros Charm or Thundermaw Hellkite to instantly win.
Now it comes down to the topdeck draw of the new guy. His only hope is to either draw Worldfire or Epic Experiment. Just like Gabriel Nassif's called shot of Cruel Ultimatium , our new player managed to tell the Regular that he was drawing the Experiment and casting it to win. Sure enough... he draws the Experiment and casts it for X=9... exactly what he needs for the Worldfire. He flips the cards over one at a time and the regular watches each of them carefully. Worldfire flips on the sixth card... but there's no burn spell yet. Seventh card comes up Steam Vents
, eighth card reveals... Searing Spear. The game is over.
Good Game?
The Top 8 contender is furious. He doesn't even give the new guy a chance to declare his spells or targets. Mr. Top 8 just mutters a "hrumph" and collects his permanents, shuffles his deck, and gets up from the table. As he leaves, he says quite loudly, "Nice explative deleted draw."
Our new player starts to develop tears in his eyes. But why? Why did such bad sportsmanship affect this guy so deeply?
Because he's nine... As in years old.
I was mad. Furious. No. These words don't even begin to truly describe how upset this display of cruelty made me. This guy, our Top 8 player, had the opportunity to encourage the new player on continuing his Magic experience and one day developing his own deck. Instead, he opted to rob this child of his victory and replace that glee with guilt. I could see the look on this kid's face, "What did I do wrong? Why is he angry with me? I was just playing a game."
In what may be a wrong move, I approached the tournament player and immediately issued him an Unsportsmanlike Conduct - Minor warning and told him that he needed to go appologize to this kid. His response to me was to say, "It's just a game, I shouldn't have to appologize for losing."
I lost it.
Instead of following the IPG and upgrading the USC-Minor to USC-Major and a round two game lose in the first game I went to the store's owner and told him about the incident. He really didn't want to remove Mr. Top 8 from the store for the night because he has a reputation for spending large amounts of money when he wins (to supplement his credit). All it took for him to change his mind was me saying, "He brought the kid to tears."
What follows is something so bizarre I couldn't make it up if I wanted to. Our shop owner goes over and talks to Mr. Top 8 (requesting him to leave the store for tonight and to not repeat his behavior on the next FNM). His reaction is to very loudly start talking about how, "some people need to sack up and learn that this is just a game." He sat down and then refused to leave. The store's owner told him that he would call the police for trespassing if he didnt leave. Thinking twice about having an arrest, Mr. Top 8 left and vowed to not return on the grounds that, "This is bullshit, your judge is bullshit, and my loss was bullshit. This is why kids shouldn't play this game."
Maintaining Game State
The first thing I did was approach the nine year old, still with red eyes, and get down on his level. I explained to him what had happened, that his opponent had done a very bad thing, and that in the tournament environment very bad things have consequences. Emphatically, I told him that for the most part, Magic players are good sports and enjoy the game no matter who it's against.
Wiping the tears from his eyes, the nine year old said something that resonated with me. He told me, "I just don't get it. It was just a game. It was fun."
Was. It was fun.
Perhaps I misunderstood our young victor, but I told him that this game is fun and always will be fun. I, very warmly, cautioned him that he shouldn't just quit because of a single bad experience. He nodded his head and told me that he would stick with it.
By the end of the night, he had made it to the Semifinals and had a huge smile on his face. That smile came from playing the game, enjoying his victories as well as his losses, and climbing his way up the ladder.
Seeing him smile like that made my night. I had successfuly maintained the game's state of enjoyment.
Consequences
Please remember that the things you do, say, and intone during the course of a game are not small acts. Everything you do affects the player across the table from you... and some times you do not know what that reaction will be.
I implore you to please keep the game foremost in your mind as you play. Enjoy the game, even when you lose, and be a gracious victor as you would expect your opponent to be if he beat you. Think on almost ever major Top 8 in the history of Magic. Never do you see a pro player flip cards, tables, or drop snide comments on his opponent during the match (or after it). It's not just because they are avoiding penalties... but because they truly love the game.
Bringing new players into Magic is the only way you will ever fight new opponents whom possess different insights into the game than you do. Fostering a hostile environment to new players does not beget new blood. Indeed, it does precisely the opposite.
For the love of the game, jkarnes
wipes tears from eyes
Ahem, as complete and true manly man of manliness, I thank you for playing this game.
February 18, 2013 10:47 p.m.
You are part of what makes Magic so awesome. Sure the cards are cool, the gameplay is fun, but the PEOPLE are what it's all about. People such as yourself make this game a blast to play.
Always play for the love of the game. The day you stop loving it, is the day you should stop.
On an unrelated note do you get payed for being a judge? Do you have to work at a shop to be a judge?
That was awesome to read, you made my night! Thanks!
February 18, 2013 11:57 p.m.
Sweet-Nightmare says... #4
This is beautiful. Thank you for showing that kid we're not all that guy. There's a little girl at our store that plays bant auras and everyone always treats her kindly. I once sat next to her and we shared an evil grin as we both pulled our Invisible Stalker . If anyone ever did this to her, I'd get ALL our judges involved. And bravo to your store manager for deciding sometimes a little kindness is worth more than business.
February 19, 2013 1:05 a.m.
jkarnes you deserve some sort of medal. It's good to know there is still humanity in this world, and across the Planes.
February 19, 2013 1:35 a.m.
I may get upset with getting land-screwed from time to time and might even ragequit tournaments, but I've never badmouthed a fellow player (unless he was blatantly cheating and knew he got caught).
I like to get into the game on a very competitive level at times, but it is what it is - a game. If you can't handle some Timmy's deck occasionally inching out a victory, then how are you ever going to progress as a player?
February 19, 2013 2:44 a.m.
KrazyCaley says... #7
I would add, if you can't enjoy it at least a little bit when some ridiculous Timmy thing happens to beat you, take a look at yourself. That's FUN, at least a little bit, yeah? I remember one time I was playing a then-newbie who had never seen counterspells before, and running (of course) a heavy control deck, and just countering spells and killing creatures left and right (during ALA-ZEN standard), but her crazy homebrew deck with tons of one-of creatures finally burned through all my control, and she just had a 1/1 token of some kind left, but it got Polymorph ed into Emrakul, the Aeons Torn with the one copy of Polymorph that she ran, and I was like, man, that feels good even being on the wrong end of it.
February 19, 2013 3:08 a.m.
KrazyCaley, those are the moments I live for, when the stars, planets, and cards align just right for something completely ridiculous to happen.
February 19, 2013 11:20 a.m.
I'd like to point out, in case the hypocrisy wasn't apparent to readers, that the Regular who became upset and unsportsmanlike did so as a result of that game. He then told jkarnes, in effect, that his opponent did not have a legitimate right to be upset about a game, and yet his own right to be upset was valid. Seems silly, doesn't it?
It always bothers me when people use this exact excuse to justify their own cruel or otherwise bad behavior. We may all be guilty to some extent at times, so please remember: it may be a game but you are playing with real people. Why would it be less important to remain a good sportsman playing baseball than it would while playing Monopoly?
February 19, 2013 1:21 p.m.
Sweet-Nightmare says... #10
sewellius hit the nail on the head. What the guy didn't want to understand is that he was being told to appologize for being rude, not for losing. If anyone tried to pull this bullcrap with me, I wouldn't need a judge to settle it, and the person wouldn't be messing with me any more.
February 19, 2013 1:28 p.m.
Gatecrashed says... #11
I remember the biggest argument that has ever went down at my lgs. They had just cut to the top 8, and it was my first time making it. The "pro" of the store, thought he new better then all other 7 players, and insisted on getting olives on the pizza we were going to order. Needles to say we weren't pleased, and eventually reached a compromise of he can buy his own damn pizza, if he wants olives :D In seriousness, this is really ridiculous, and unacceptable. I honestly almost feel sorry for mr. top 8, because of the shitty life he is going to have/ living. Anybody who treats kids like that, and gets that worked up about losing a tournament that is supposed to be played for fun, and also cost like what $5, $10 to get in? Is either going to have to really reevaluate what his true priorities are in life, or be stuck in momma's basement forever. We have all been in the moment, even in casual play where you get upset, and feel like your decks purposefully conspiring against you, and we all do things in the heat of the moment, and out of rage. But if my actions make anyone literally cry, then I would apologize.
February 19, 2013 1:43 p.m.
jkarnes you are awesome. I can't believe the guy would be such a jerk. Also, it's pretty sweet that a 9 year old made top 8, because I'm 12 and the highest I've gone is 9th place.
February 19, 2013 2:19 p.m.
SupremeAlliesCommander says... #13
My daughter is only two years younger than the winner in that match. Puts some perspective on the whole encounter. Kids are resilient and sometimes people are cruel. The first does not dismiss the second. Well done, jkarnes.
February 19, 2013 5:42 p.m.
I have a child too. My child is six and is learning to play as well. I have two degrees in education, so I kinda care about kids developing into functional members of society one might say.
I think you did the right thing. I would not have. If he said that to my child, she would probably stop crying and ask why the mean man was bleeding so much. But I have bad reactions to such things.
This is why I hate playing in any events. I play kitchen table games because people are just not cool at these events.
I think the top 8 player in this situation said one thing right. It is only a game. If only he acted like it. I am tired of people talking smack about mistakes in game or other people's deck. I am tired of $700 cards to a game.
Thank you so sharing this story. I hope that it actually effects some of the people that might act like that.
Regardless of my attitude towards competitive magic, I used to play competitively and had a great many gracious opponents, but these types are the ones who got me out of it.
February 19, 2013 6:10 p.m.
thedemonsday says... #15
I can say without a doubt we all love this game, but sometimes we forget how others feel. At the Gatecrash Prerelease I got paired against my pseudo-team leader; thinking that it was two early to give him the match we decided that it would be best to just to see how it played out. I want to point out that I have never beaten this guy in a match and he is our local "Mr. Pro" placing in the top 4 90% of the time. To make matters worse we were both plying Gruul, I splashed white for Naya, and he Domri Rade and Rubblebelt Raiders while I had very little as far as bombs go save for a single Boros Reckoner . I was scared shitless. I figured this would knock me out of the top 8 and deny me any sort of prize for the night. However, I decided I was not going to give up and at least go down fighting. First game goes horribly, he beats my down before I can gain any sort of position. Game two he gets flooded after the first draw and I win right as his cards start coming back in. Game three starts and I look at my opining hand, and sitting right in the middle is my Boros Reckoner , I keep and the game goes on like normal but with my new threat slowing his attacks. However, by turn ten the board is in his favor with eight lands, a Rubblehulk (summoning sickness), Skarrg Guildmage (tapped), and ten life while I have six lands, my Boros Reckoner , no cards in hand, and five life. If I dont topdeck a way to win this turn I have lost. He ends his turn, I untap, and draw. Its Furious Resistance . In my head a bulb lights up, I laugh and then declare my attack with Boros Reckoner . Thinking I have some sort of bloodrush shenanigans going on, he nervously blocks with his rubble hulk. I slap Furious Resistance on it and that ends the match. After recapping the game to a few guys in another room who applauded my win, a friend told me that the guy I beat was pretty upset about the loss. I went to talk to him and found that while I was worried about losing my top eight chances it had never crossed my mind that I had hurt his. We made up, but since then I am much more alert to how I treat others after a game. Sure I never made a kid cry, but I think my story was worth sharing.
February 20, 2013 12:25 a.m.
ArantirTheDestroyer says... #16
Much the same happened to me once, though it was admittedly Round 1. We're both playing Simic, Him playing Master Biomancer and me playing Biovisionary + Infinite Reflection . I win Game 1 easily, but he aggros me out in Game 2. Game 3, we were evenly matched, with each of us getting similar threats at the same time. I finally get my Biovisionary into my hand, that already includes two copies of Infinite Reflection . I play Biovisionary , then Infinite Reflection . He responds by Simic Charm ing my Biovisionary back to my hand. On my next turn, I play Biovisionary , and chuckle a little as I play the second Infinite Reflection , expecting similar shenanigans. My opponent exclaims, "You gotta be expletive deleted kidding me."
We both laugh, knowing that it was just good fun, and I go to report. This is what the game should be about, but I find it's become more of an elitist "club" where people who can shell out a lot of $$ win. It needs to be more about the camaraderie of the game and less about always winning. Sure, it's fun to win, but it's also nice to have a little fun once in a while.
February 20, 2013 2:50 p.m.
ThEdUnCeCaP says... #17
damn dude wtf... got beat by a kid and complains? id give him props for even getting there!! you feel no shame in stepping in honestly id just be like wtf man.. in stepping in legally, and issuing a punishment that is deserved, but just on a commonsense side this is ridiculous. id have no respect for any person doing this would be the understatement of a lifetime. just on a human being level let alone as a magic player. honestly thats just sick
February 20, 2013 4:46 p.m.
ThEdUnCeCaP says... #18
id say that aside from the rediculous aspect of tis particular story, sportsmanship to use the word generally is something ive been afraid of when it comes to magic. i pay attention, and love tothe games strategies, trends and more. ive never spent much money on a deck and never played too competitively but i would nopeit wouldnt impact the way people play. i cant stand whne people get mad about losing or playing a certain card, because it reflects a poor understanding of the game. it seems some people hide around their expensive cards and expect victory out o f purely that. i give you all respect for talking the kid, but i cant imagine that happens very often- the real problem lies with the man, and this attitude
February 20, 2013 5:11 p.m.
StealthyGunnar says... #19
I completely agree with you. I can get pretty cocky sometimes, but I absolutely hate unsportsmanlike conduct. This guy had no right act that way, regardless of who he is. I probably would have flipped as well, and since I'm new to the game, feel for the kid.
February 20, 2013 7:56 p.m.
One of my first experiences included a multiplayer game in which my swinging for lethal damage was responded to with "I will not die by your hand!" The opponent then proceeded to force himself to discard until he lost to another player's Megrim deck. Why? Because he didn't think I deserved to play at the same table as him.
I was pissed, but I was also about 20 years old when I first started playing. What that guy did was atrocious and hopefully he learns from his actions that night. Truthfully I get almost as much satisfaction out of the occasional losses to Timmy as I do beating some regular's netdeck...almost.
February 21, 2013 3:31 a.m.
This story is disheartening.
As an aside, if this is FNM, then it is Regular REL and you should not be following the IPG and should not be handing out warnings. You should be following the Judging at Regular REL document. His behavior does not fall into a Serious Problem, but it is definitely something you should approach the player about and, if the player responds poorly (as he did), then talk to the store owner. If this is not the atmosphere you and the store owner (or Tournament Organizer) want, then the store owner has every right to refuse service to the player.
February 21, 2013 10 a.m.
Thank you for sticking up for the kid, and encouraging a welcoming environment.
February 21, 2013 11:42 p.m.
Human_Rogue_21 says... #23
We as a Magic Community need more people like you... I am 14 and the reason my friends and I play Magic is because of people like yourself... I know people that are like the guy that lost and the only reason it happens is because they lost to a kid? That seems ridiculous and people that are like that shouldn't play Magic... Every one at my LGS knows each other on a first name basis and are extremely friendly to each other, adults and kids... This is a very nice thing that you did and you should be proud of yourself!
February 22, 2013 4:55 p.m.
Thank you for talking to the kid and showing him what Magic the Gathering is all about. We all could have lost a great new player who was just looking to have fun by the actions of that regular. Good on you to stand up for him like that. Kudos.
February 22, 2013 9:50 p.m.
My friends kid beat me at a gamesday, and while beating me used a phrase that still echoes around whenever he plays, "10 damage you're dead!" Followed by the biggest toothy grin i had ever seen, one of the moments in magic that makes me really glad to be part of a pretty decent community :D
February 24, 2013 12:25 p.m.
I had just dropped a pretty penny on my brand-spanking new Standard deck so I could play in GtC Gameday, and in the very first round I was paired up against a 10 year old kid who had just started playing Magic. No disrespect intended, but I was looking forward to the nice and easy 2-0 win. He was playing a $20 Izzet something or other deck he built out of a fatpack to my $600 Jund deck. I beat him pretty handily Game 1, and proceed to get my butt handed to me the next 2 games because of 20+ mainboard counterspells and Guttersnipe . I was pretty damned upset, but I refused to let that show to my opponent. I shook his hand, and walked off calm and in control of my emotions. It's not that difficult, and I find it horrible when I see other people in the same situation completely tilt out. I've flipped my fair share of tables before, but with friends who know that I'm just messing around and not actually angry. If your playing a game just to win and beat others, you don't need to be playing a social game.
February 25, 2013 6:28 p.m.
miracleHat says... #27
that was pretty moving i must admit, and that dude was such a doush bag beyond belief!
February 27, 2013 1:43 p.m.
Yeah sportsmanship is bad for the community as a whole. I started off playing magic very casually. The first tournament I competed in was something I did on a whim because I was bored. It was towards the end of alara - zen (I think m11 had just been released) standard and I went with some janky bant midrange deck that I threw together based on my collection at the time. My first opponent was a dick. Highlights including saying "no offense but you can't win" to me before the first match even started, saying I should just give up because he was drawing Dark Tutelage, making every excuse in the book about why he lost when I beat his ass game 1 (you've heard the drill "you only one because I kept a bad starting hand, got bad draws, made bad plays, and the planets were aligned correct. All it was was luck.") and then walking off in a huff at the end of game. Even though I was 21 at the time it left a bad taste in my mouth for competitive play even though the rest of the guys I played against were fairly cool.
February 28, 2013 6:32 p.m.
Yeah sportsmanship is bad for the community as a whole. I started off playing magic very casually. The first tournament I competed in was something I did on a whim because I was bored. It was towards the end of alara - zen (I think m11 had just been released) standard and I went with some janky bant midrange deck that I threw together based on my collection at the time. My first opponent was a dick. Highlights including saying "no offense but you can't win" to me before the first match even started, saying I should just give up because he was drawing more cards than me off of Dark Tutelage, making every excuse in the book about why he lost when I beat his ass game 1 (you've heard the drill "you only one because I kept a bad starting hand, got bad draws, made bad plays, and the planets were aligned correct. All it was was luck.") and then walking off in a huff at the end of game. Even though I was 21 at the time it left a bad taste in my mouth for competitive play even though the rest of the guys I played against were fairly cool.
February 28, 2013 6:32 p.m.
minisnapple says... #30
It's a shame people act like that. Some people have a real sense of entitlement, but nothing gives a person the right to make a kid cry like that. Let alone over a game.
I've been playing Magic for less than a month now, pretty much as an excuse to get out of the house more and meet people in the big city. I went to Gatecrash Gameday on Sunday and got my butt thoroughly kicked. But I enjoyed every minute! It was so cool to see the different mechanics people played against my paltry Simic deck. One opponent had me beat in 4 turns or less in both games. And everyone was extremely friendly and offered me advice about my deck. I'm taking my improved deck to FNM this week and hopefully I'll do better.
February 28, 2013 9:38 p.m.
Kinetik615 says... #31
Just wanted to say I was very moved by this. I am a recently returned to the game player. I first started playing back in Onslaught and jumped straight into competitive Standard (Type II at the time) without knowing anything else witha goblin bidding deck, going to major cons and tournaments around the south,east coast and midwest with my friends. after Onslaught rotated out I backed off the tournament play a bit and played more casually. then i realized how big of a "jerk" or "elitest" I was because that was the atmosphere at the LGS there and I didnt know any better, but my casual friends who had never played in a tournament hated that my deck was so powerful or that I "rules lawyered" everything and at the time I didnt understand so I got out of the game sold all my cards etc I was 16-18ish at the time
Fast forward to now, I just recently relocated to just outside Iowa City and found a huge MTG community up at my work and they convinced me to pick the game back up casually so I did, when I was invited to a LGS FNM for the first time I flat out refused because I didnt want to go back to that "elitest" type of atmosphere, but I was assured this place wasnt like that so I went, everyone was extremely helpful in showing me the current meta the new cards, explaining the rules changes (no damage on the stack? WTF!?) I have even witnessed playersduring FNM matches deliberately not play a game ending card or swing for lethal when playing against new players/kids to allow them to enjoy the game and also to explain and show them tricks and opportunities with their decks.
This type of behavior bewildered me because I have never seen this type of environment at a tournament. I have to say though that now 3 months into my MTG career revival, I am throughly enjoying the game at a level I never have even though Im not playing a top decka nd winning every week.
I love seeing this kind of stuff and i cant believe i played in that other type of atmosphere for so long without seeing the other side of it.
I hope the kid still plays and loves the game and I want to share this article with every MTG player I know.
Thank You
KrazyCaley says... #1
You did exactly right. The behavior of that guy was pretty tragic, and I hope that what you did salvaged our budding Planeswalker's love of the game.
February 18, 2013 9:21 p.m.