So, what’s your Magic the Gathering IQ? No, I’m not talking about intelligence. I’m talking about intolerance. Some of us are less tolerant of things than others. In this case, the lower the IQ the better. I honestly think mine is close to zero, though there are a few things that bother me. Let me touch on those first.
I pay a lot of money for my cards. All I ask is that you respect them. So when somebody takes my deck at a GPT or PTQ, and shuffles it like a madman, splitting sleeves and darn near bending cards, I tend to get a little irked.
Another thing that I don’t like is cheating. For crying out loud, it’s a game. Do you REALLY have to resort to cheating in order to win? I’m not even just talking about major events. I’m talking about people who cheat at Friday Night Magic or even, gasp, casual play. Really?
I’m also a bit annoyed by trading practices. I can understand now wanting to trade me your Jace, Architect of Thought ($35) for my Cavern of Souls ($20) but not wanting to trade your Blood Tribute ($0.41) for my Battle of Wits ($0.34) is bordering on the absurd. I have no trouble trading a card that is a buck more than the card I want if I really want it. But some people are so, um, cheap.
You can also get me a bit hot under the collar if you take 3 minutes during your turn to decide that you’re going to play a land and then pass the turn. Really? It took you 3 minutes to decide to play a land and pass? Some people, I get, are naturally slow players. But then you got those who just love to drag the match to time, usually after they’ve won game 1. Not cool.
It’s also not too cool if you’re supposed to be starting a match but you’re outside smoking or hanging out at the bar between rounds. For one thing, it gives us less time to play the match. No, the T.O. isn’t going to give us more time. And while I’m within my rights to declare a forfeit if you’re not there within a certain amount of time, I’m too nice to do that. So please, the least you can do is be on time for our scheduled match.
One thing I have no problem with is the deck you decide to play as long as it’s legal for the format we’re playing. A lot of players hate playing against combo, control, land destruction, reanimator or whatever. In fact, that’s probably one of my pet peeves … players who do nothing but complain about all the decks and cards that they don’t like playing against. I don’t know but back in my day (a LONG time ago) we didn’t complain about those things. We just played the cards we were given to play with. So if you want to combo out against me turn 2, go for it. I’m cool.
So what about you? What’s YOUR Magic IQ? Are you cool with most things are do you get hot under the color with even the littlest thing?
To YOUR Magic the Gathering Enjoyment,
Steven “Land Boy” Wagenheim
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