We can, if we try......

[arhar]

Don't you guys think that recent accomplishments of such "famous casuals" as Friggin Rizzo (Two (I think) PTQ Top 8s), Antony Alonghi (PTQ Top 4), Kurtis Khan (GP Top 8), and last but not least The Ferrett (PTQ Top 1) prove once and for all that casual players are just as good as the pro-players, and all we need to do is really try?

 

[Gizmo]

Oops, premature postage. Always embarassing when that happens, but an understanding girlfriend helps.

 

[Thallid Ice Cream Man]

Yes. However, I think you should make the word "if" bold and italicized and underlined and 60 sizes larger than it used to be and rapidly changing colors.....

Many casual players aren't as motivated as the tournament players, because they play Magic casually.

casual adj. 1. accidental; due to chance. 2. not regular nor permanent; temporary; occasional. 3. a. unconcerned; uninterested. b. made or done without great care or thought. c. acting carelessly or unmethodically. 4. (of clothes) informal.

Players who are casual in the true sense of the word probably don't stand much of a chance against pros as attuned to this game as the guy on Attunement - of course, we know they aren't all like that; that guy in the picture didn't happen to make everything work by bribing or through "insufficient randomization," I suspect.

Someone will undoubtedly say something better than how I said what I said. In essence, yes with an if.

 

[Gizmo]

This whole article was really funny, but I think that his impression of the Ferret was apt for this thread, pay attention to such numbers as '35', next to 'players' and the like. Possibly Ferret didn`t have to pass quite such a strenuous trial to make it onto the PT.


Taken from, http://www.meridianmagic.com/submissions/20010304094347.html

I am a rodent or something. At least, that's what I call myself. Isn't that clever? I also happen to be the webmaster of one of the best organized MTG strategy web pages, where I make sure to insert my own commentary into many of the articles written by others. Know why? Because I'm really really smart. I'll make sure to remind you of that every few minutes, so you don't forget. I don't like Pros. Nope, not one bit. I like casual players. I am a casual player. But I do think that anyone can make it on the Pro Tour. Here, I'll give myself two years to get on. Oops! It's only been two months, and I'm on. I am good, though. That's the reason. I'm also smart. Clever, even. I don't know how I did it. There were over THIRTY-FIVE people at the PTQ! A monster PTQ! Where only over 20% of all attendees would automatically make the top 8! And the three best players in the area didn't show up! That was a stroke of luck, now wasn't it? I mean, they are so deadly, they all have sky-high ratings that could almost get them an ENTIRE BYE at a Grand Prix! So, I ended up struggling through FOUR ENTIRE ROUNDS of the Swiss, to make the Top 8. There, I played with bad cards like Questing Phelddagrif (That IS a bad card in limited, right?) but somehow won out, even with horrible cards like that in my deck! I'll make sure to make fun of myself for including horrible cards like 4/4s for 4 mana with 3 special abilities in my deck! I'm so bad! "Who the hell plays with that crap?" See, this isn't so tough! I mean, the PTQs that you play at are exactly like this one. They only have 35 people. The best players won't show up. You will get a God deck. Thereby proving my point that anyone can get on the Pro Tour if they try hard enough! Of course, my analysis of what is contained in winning, and honesty about my own mistakes, and the mistakes others made against me, along with my ability to recognize just how important a role Lady Luck played that day does probably make me one of the most honest, down to earth PROFESSIONAL PLAYERS in the game at the moment. But let's make sure to gloss over all of that with all this other crap, to appease the "I Hate Pro Players" crowd that flock to my website like bees to flowers. I am smart. Of course, I don't know why I mentioned that I wouldn't be finishing in the money at Barcelona. After all, in my previous article about my Quest for the Pro Tour, I did say that if I ever got invited, I would decline the invitation. Now, it's time to see just how honest I am. I am a Pro now, after all

 

[arhar]

Gizmo, this is not towards you at all, since you have qualified for the Tour yourself, but to everyone who criticizes the Ferrett because there were only 35 players, it wasn't in Boston but in Alaska, etc, etc... Unless YOU have won a PTQ, you have NO FREAKIN' RIGHT to say anything about the "credibility" of Ferrett's win.

 

[Gizmo]

I think it`s almost certain that they guy who wrote this is a PT regular.

 

[Baskil]

Actually, I think it's almost certain that the guy who wrote this is Alex Svhartsman. Write under a psuedonym so he doesn't look like a hypocrite for ranting about writers he doesn't like.

 

[Istanbul]

I don't care who wrote it. It was rude, infantile, and unnecessary.

 

[Gizmo]

Nah, it was hilarious - like he said, you`ve got to be able to laugh at yourself and he succesfully lampoons each of his targets. PLus I don`t think it was Alex, it`s not his style - he`s happy to stand up and tell somebody what he doesn`t like to their face.

Mise! Tight Mise!

 

[Spiderman]

I think this is veering in two different directions so to address both of them:

Regarding arhar's original post: Did they qualify/win/whatever using their own "rogue" decks or "net" decks?

Regarding Gizmo's cut-n-paste: Was that written by The Ferrett? Or someone posing as The Ferrett? Or someone else posing as someone else? I got confused by y'alls exchange there... to me, it reads as FrigginRizzo's 7th Review: rather gentle sarcasm and self-deprecating, trying to make nice, amusing fun at qualifying/winning/whatever.

 

[Zadok001]

That was written by someone just dissing a bunch of writers, and, IMHO, was absolutely hilarious! It wasn't meant as insulting, merely as a joke, I believe... Read the intro section. The Ferrett's was especially humorous. Put simply, I respect his win, competition aside. Look, we're talking about a skilled playerr who qualified - All other things aside, I say that meants congrats.

 

[Duel]

I agree, here. Getting into a PT is an accomplishment. If you met someone who qualified for a PT AT the PT, you'd have to respect them as a good player, you're simply expecting The Ferret to rise above. Now, this is not too arrogant of you, but, may I remind you, if you or I had a chance to make a PT slot by playing in a tourney of 35, I'd be on it in a second. how about you?

BTW, I'd say Flores' was funnier..... At least, I hope it was flores'

"Here come my infinitely tight miseing men."

 

[John`O]

Random thought:

Most of the StarCity writers have been improving their
magic games enormously by exchanging ideas
with people who know what they're doing.

I think already they have moved on from being
terrible players who write onto being bad players who write.

If things continue progressing in a few months we
will have a group of good players who write,
which will be very odd.

But then they will all Q for the PT and will
be good players who don't write and things can
continue as normal.


John

 

[Gizmo]

lol

 

[arhar]

Originally posted by John`O
Random thought:

Most of the StarCity writers have been improving their
magic games enormously by exchanging ideas
with people who know what they're doing.

I think already they have moved on from being
terrible players who write onto being bad players who write.

If things continue progressing in a few months we
will have a group of good players who write,
which will be very odd.

But then they will all Q for the PT and will
be good players who don't write and things can
continue as normal.


John

Are you John Omerod or some other John O?

 

[Duel]

John: Dammit, you're right.

Fortunately people seem to be responding to the ferret's cry for help. Maybe the pros will begin to get decklists out there soon.

 

[John`O]

Originally posted by arhar


Are you John Omerod or some other John O?

Dammit my covers blown.
Should I call myself Beetleperson
or RandomTortoise or something so this
doesn't happen ?


John

 

[Spiderman]

It's the invasion of the animals!

Nah, they sound too close to Yellowjacket () and Chaos Turtle. You need something different, something that differentiates you from the crowd... how about SaltSlug or something?

 

[Duel]

Um, just curious, who are you? You're ranked as "Coach" so I assume you have some special standing thingy?

 

[Spiderman]

"Coach" doesn't mean any special standings or anything.

Any user can change their ranking that's in black by going to User Option on the menu on top and then Edit Profile (that's why I'm the Man In Tights )