Rant: When to be a mean player

[Killer Joe]

I recently went back to Blue Star Games (I hadn't been there in quite some time), Friday nights are to be Magic nights at least that's how I helped promte it through the store owner's permission last year.

Anyway, I walk in and buy a Dissension Fat Pack and the three pre-cons for the set. I go to sit at a table and notice there are some guys at another table opening up packs, they were building their decks as they were sifting through the freshly opened booster packs. I mind my own business for a couple of minutes when one of them walk over and asks me what Vigilance means.

I told him and turns and sits back down. I begin to realize that these guys are sort of NEW to Magic. Another one comes over and asks me a different question. Cool. I answer and then get up and invite myself to sit with them and I started asking them about how much they know about playing magic.

My intention is to maybe play a game with them just to feel them out and so I pull out what I call my "friendly" deck; it's my version of BGW Triad Control. I can play it pretty slow if I have to so that I'm pushing/shoving rare cards down their faces, I want them to come back another day to play.

Meanwhile, one 'shark' of the store sits with us and starts telling these guys that they're all wrong about building their decks and that their LAME. The three new guys start to ignore him and me as well since shark-boy came over and slapped me on the back and wanted to know who the "Fresh Meat" is. Heck, I tried to ignore him.

These guys get done and they're about to play a game when I offer to play in a multiplayer with them. They agreed but so did Shark-boy. Having overheard me say let's play a multiplayer game another Shark swam by and started shuffling.

The new guys had Grizzly Bears in their decks and were clearly not familiar with the game. That's okay so i wanted to just see how much they know so maybe I could help them.

Well I did more harm than good. I should've stayed away from them and maybe the sharks wouldn't have come over. The second shark was playing a red/blue deck with Eye of the Storm and he managed to get in play and was playing the gold card that allows you to take another turn if you flip a coin and get heads. He bogged the game so much that the new guys just up and left the store.

I feel bad but I was really mad at myself for not telling the sharks to back off. But I didn't want to insult the new guys.

After they left I did talk to the sharks but it was too little too late. I hope those come back but if they don't, I only have myself to blame.

Damn it!

 

[Spiderman]

I think that if the new guys were already ignoring the first "shark", they wouldn't have minded you telling the shark to back off the MP game.

But yeah, hope they come back.

 

[turgy22]

I don't think you needed to say anything. If there was just one new player there, I would think you'd have to defend him, but since there were three of them, I don't think you need to worry. These guys might not come back to the store in a while (except to buy cards, maybe) but that doesn't mean they won't play. If they're as new to the game as it seems, it would be beneficial to everyone if they maintained a small playgroup and develop their skills and understanding of the game themselves. They'll learn what's fun and what's not and over time, I'm sure they'll get better, too.

Magic's a good game and it should take more than a nasty loss to push interested people away from it. If they don't enjoy watching "sharks" play solitaire, there's plenty of alternatives for them to keep playing and having fun. And maybe someday they'll come back with better decks and be able to compete with whatever gets thrown at them.

I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Killer Joe]

Thanks, but I can't help but feel that "the Sharks" (who are guys I play with whenever I'm there) were thinking I had the same thing in mind as they did for these new guys; to flex their dominance over new players.

The three new guys are seniors from a neighboring school and the sharks are high schoolers from my district. I just felt a little responsible for their actions, that's all.

 

[Nightstalkers]

lol, if you met me in my casual mood you'd know I'm a total jackoink when it comes to new players. I'll intentionally sit in on a multiplayer team of newbies with a one turn kill deck against the store owner's "$1000 deck" and beat off just about everything going on just to keep the newbies in the game.

Yeah, I hate sharks, and yes I am a total ******* now.

 

[Limited]

You could have said something, but I doubt it would have helped. The Sharks are in the water, they are enjoying their misplaced sense of superiority and will probably not respond well to criticism.
The three guys will play amongst themselves and probably not invite other to their game if they play at a store, unless they get the feeling someone is okay.

So all you have to do, is stay okay

 

[HOUTS]

God, you're an idiot.
Get some balls and tell the "better players" to get lost.

 

[Lythand]

At least you have the conscience to feel sorry. That alone makes you better then the sharks. Believe in Karma, what goes around, comes around. Some day those newbs will get thier revenge.

 

[DarthFerret]

Yes, believe in Karma, and all those mean nasty sharks with black decks will hate you!

 

[Killer Joe]

Yes, believe in Karma, and all those mean nasty sharks with black decks will hate you!

Yer funny.

The last part of the story that I didn't mention is that after those new guys left, the three of us had a common draft with stuff ranging from Mirage to Dissension and I 'owned' them without regret.

 

[Nightstalkers]

If you really wanna be a mean player, be like me and pay for laces just to use them for toilet paper.

Seriously, I've done it at the local card shop when they were out of toilet paper. Cost me $5 for a stack of laces and other crap rares to wipe myself over. I think they still have the stack in the bathroom in homage to my blatant act of tomfoolery.

 

[Oversoul]

Build a control deck that can massively slow down two three people. That way if this ever happens again, you can wreck the experienced players for several turns while the newbies build up their armies.

 

[Lythand]

I personally focus on taking the jerks out first giving the newbs time to build up some hate of thier own.

 

[Spiderman]

If you really wanna be a mean player, be like me and pay for laces just to use them for toilet paper.

Seriously, I've done it at the local card shop when they were out of toilet paper. Cost me $5 for a stack of laces and other crap rares to wipe myself over. I think they still have the stack in the bathroom in homage to my blatant act of tomfoolery.

Aren't Magic cards a bit "stiff" to be used as toilet paper? And rather small?

 

[Killer Joe]

The situation was like this: When I sat down with them it was just the three new guys and me, shark #1 sat down when we were shuffling and shark #2 plopped in after the first player went.

I wasn't really interested in taking out the sharks, I just wanted the new guys to have a good experience playing the game. Eye of the Storm is a "Wrecking Ball"

 

[Oversoul]

Eye of the Storm? It costs seven mana and won't kill or even control the game on the turn it hits the board...

 

[Killer Joe]

He had signets for acceleration and that Gold UR sorcery card that allows you to take extra turns if you win the flip or whatever, well, he got the Storm in play and then the next turn he started with the flip a coin card. None of us played sorcery's or instants that the Eye would get a hold of, just because we didn't have any to play.

That turn of his took almost 10 minutes, and he was playing playing fast. That's when the game fell apart.

 

[Nightstalkers]

Why not just toss the UR coin flipper into a coil flip deck with one of them red enchantments that wins you the game?

 

[Killer Joe]

meh. I think his 'win condition' is annoying players with his deck. he definitely won that game.

 

[EricBess]

The biggest concern if these guys were new was making sure they enjoyed the game. They probably won't just leave the game because they bought packs, but first impressions are still pretty important.

I think what I might have done in this situation is, once the sharks sit down, tell them, "these guys are just getting into Magic, so play something straight-forward".

If you say, "casual", the new players might feel a bit patronized, but by saying "straight-forward", the sharks get the idea that you want to keep the interactions simple and the new players feel like you are trying to ease them into more complicated interactions instead of just throwing it at them.

At the very least, when the shark pulls out Eye of the Storm, you can comment (in a good-natured way), "you call that straight-forward?" so the new players realize that the guy's being a bit of a jerk instead of that being typical.

I think the good experience with the game determines how much they play on their own. A good experience at the store means they might be more likely to come back and play there more often.