I think you’ll all agree that I’m a pretty efficient fellow (and, even if you wouldn’t, there’s nothing you can do about it, because I’M writing this article). That statement is proven by the title you so generously clicked upon; you see, I’m actually talking about two things in this article: the NEW StarCityCCG.com and Magic players’ ATTITUDES. Had you going for a paragraph there, didn’t I? Well, whether you were fooled or not doesn’t really matter to me because I’ll never mention this paragraph again. That starts… now.
So, I imagine that if you’ve accessed this article, you’ve seen the new StarCityCCG.com webpage. Let’s have a round of applause for the organizers of this site. I LOVE what you’ve done to the place. Before, if you, for some reason, missed a week of Magic-surfing, you were out of luck. In order to save room on the good ole’ homepage, StarCityCCG.com had to clear things out every week. Now, however, they have the whole MONTH’S articles up on a separate page, and they have a daily updated homepage!
And, the new store is great. If a green player traded all of his Dark Rituals to a newbie and then decided to build a black deck, for a mere dollar, he could order four from StarCityCCG.com instead of hunting them down or buying packs. The improvement of selling EVERY Magic card in print is an amazing one that I commend them for. The only other thing I’d like to see them sell is all the Vanguard cards.
Also, all those links on the right-hand side of the page? Oh, they’re great. Wonderful links. Overall, the whole look of the site is great!
However, not only the aestheticism has gotten better. The content of the site, I think, is also upgrading. StarCityCCG.com has enlisted a huge team of writers, and most of them are really grand. StarCityCCG.com’s writers are witty, informative, entertaining, and creative. The term "Dojo deck" or "net deck" doesn’t apply to decks written about in StarCityCCG.com. When people write about decks on this site, they’re creative, but competitive as well. Before my computer crashed, I had over 200 decks on Apprentice, and probably at least 60% of them came from this site. I could always have a series of fun games not involving three-turn kills.
When they say StarCityCCG.com is the best site on the ‘net, it’s not just hot air. That’s my honest opinion, not spawned because I write here. So, if any of you are just passing through, stay around for a while!
Now, on to the next part of the article: player attitudes. This is not a new subject, nor has it been written about frugally. However, I want to add my two cents to the pot.
When you go to small, local tournaments, you’re probably going to mostly come in contact with fun-loving, nice people. Occasionally, there’s a bad seed, but overall, people are nice. However, when playing online, you can’t always assure yourself that. I’ve had my fair share of ill-tempered Apprentice opponents. Here’s my encounter with a particularly nasty one.
We began to play. As has happened several times, I was pitting a T2 deck against a Classic one. This happened quite a while ago, so please excuse my hazy memory. I was playing with Dark Ponza, the black land/creature destruction deck. All the power of Ponza without the evil Mountain. I forget most of the details. What I do remember is that he was a VERY bad Magic player. First, he drew two cards. Granted, he did put one back. Then, he put a Dwarven Hold into play with a counter on it. I calmly talked him into playing the card correctly. Later, he kept it tapped and put a counter on it. After he drew, he decided he wanted it untapped, so he untapped it and took a counter off. I didn’t really care, so I let him with only a minor comment. He managed to cast a Mana Flare, doubling my mana and allowing me to destroy ALL of his land leaving him with a Mox Ruby out.
As I was waiting to draw a creature, he was drawing diddly squat, all the while cursing and carrying on. Finally, he draws a Firestorm, discards 3 cards to it, and chooses three targets: me, me, and me. At this point, I’m rather fed up with him, but I never lose my temper. I begin to explain to him that he had to choose three different targets. "Read it and weep," he said in the middle of my explanation. I wish he’d have done the same. He got so mad at me for being a "&*#$@%! rules lawyer" and saying I don’t have fun and accusing me of having no life and calling me many other names for asking him to *gasp* play by the rules that he started taking control of all my permanents. I finally disconnected from him.
This is an example of what NOT to do. It’s perfectly all right to not understand a card. However, when you play it, you should accept friendly advice on how to use it. Also, foul language never improves someone’s view of you, especially when it’s directed towards them. Gloating is also a very unsociable thing to do ESPECIALLY when you’re wrong. Overall "jerkiness" is a real no-no.
A good attitude consists of smiles, jokes, and having fun. If you’re at a local tournament and your game-winning spell gets QUASHED, you shouldn’t be mad. You shouldn’t curse your opponent out and tell him he’s an idiot for playing with Quash. Instead, say, "Quash? Who PLAYS with that? Well, I guess you got me good. Good game." Shake his hand and shuffle up for Game Two. That’s a GOOD attitude.
A good attitude also consists of helping newbies and being helped by more experienced players. If you don’t understand a card, ask, and be receptive to the answer. If someone is misplaying Parallax Wave, don’t yell at them. Calmly explain to them how it works, and, if you’re at a tournament, you can even call a judge over to help.
Magic PLAYERS are the best part of Magic. I volunteered at a place that serves food for the homeless once, and I saw someone familiar. He said, "Don’t I know you from Star City?" We had met a tournament, and now, we were meeting at a volunteer station. Pretty neat, eh? I can always look forward to laughing and joking with fellow players when I go to tournaments; that’s the best part about Magic. Jamie Wakefield knows it; do you?