Disclaimer: due to the nature of this subject, reader’s discretion is adviced.
Skip this:
For the past several years, I’m having troubles fighting my bad habit of playing, discussing and collecting Magic: the Gathering. I tried to fight the urge, but alas, the game has its addictive factor that keeps me hooked, although it cannot be in any way compared to the times when I liked the game; now it’s merely a vice.
Part of the trouble definitely lies in the fact that I entered the competitive scene just because our old casual group broke down a dozen of years ago, so faced with a decission between tournament Magic or none at all, I’ve decided for the former. Yep, in fact I wasn’t that much annoyed by tourney scene (at least until recently), but there were always some things that bothered me.
A small remark: Two years ago I talked with two friends of mine from the other group that I also joined in 1996, and we’ve had a really interesting and kinda important (at least for me) discussion about our MtG past. It surprised me that although we’ve became friends just because of MtG, their lives were completely unaffected by the game, and even though I always thought about them as „those guys I knew thanks to Magic“, the game vanished from their lives and memories totally and in fact it’s nothing more than a marginal obscurity they don’t consider a part of their personalities even a single bit.
Doubting that a man’s life should be filled with anything that ephemere, weird and potentially harmful as collectable magical cards are, their „arguments“ – lets call it like that, although they were far from arguing anything – strenghtened my idea of completely abandoning the game for good, which was especially powerful notion due to an interesting coincidence of that day: one of those friends had a wedding, while I just came from the maternity where my wife gave birth to our third baby. The irresistible need to „become a mature man“ that filled the moment had some other unawaited consequences, and I slided the whole „Quit now!“ idea back into subconscious never bothering with it anymore.
Read on:
Now, with this preface behind us, lets move to the Prague MKM Series! I guess that this looong introduction was an extremely boring read, but I think that it might help the reader to understand some of the motives behind my yesterday’s and day-b4-yesterday’s though decissions.
„With the metagame finally settled, I decided that deck XYZ is pretty well positioned and thus...“ oh no, not that. I haven’t played a single match of MtG since the blue delve spells of Kharns of Tarkir were previewed and in fact I sold most of my cards, keeping only a portion of my „collection“ from which I could (need be) build a deck or two in case that our old casual group reforms, in which context I even made two or three shy attempts of ressurection.
An aside: I finally believe that my sell-out was a major mistake, and I should be extremely grateful to my friend Martin (aka Sloshthedark here on Source) who helped me to mitigate the impact of this decission even back before I started to dissolve the bag; his scepticism of my idea was enough of a deterent that saved me from at least some of the potential (mostly financial) harm. The none other to thank is me myself, as my complete laziness and a substantive hatred of MtG racket left me with at least some expensive stables; needless to say, most of the real cards are gone by now and speaking of any competitively-usable cardboard, I’m left with three blue duals.
So after going a full circle, I’m back there where I was ten years ago: left with a craving for Magic, yet full of despise of the competitive scene with all the associated weirdness, profiteering, OCDs, bizzare personalities, inflated egos, waste of money, time-consuming affairs, I’ve decided that in choice between tournament Magic and no Magic at all, the latter is still a little bit worse choice.
Yeah, looks like I once again went too far away. Nvm, back on track.
The deck (prelude):
Prior to the decklist I need to admit one thing: it’s far from optimal. I could go to great lengths and defend or refute any particular card with an „I like it against 2 cc spells, but it really isn't good against spells that aren't 2 cc“ reasoning, but this will be an extreme example of personal dishonesty. There were no choices at all. Firstly, I took my participation in the tournament asa sort of an experiment. Mind a derail? Ok then...
A sidenote: I already noted that I dislike the competitive scene, but contrary to that, I like my competitive deck of old. It’s elegant (or at least it was before I sold it), and I always had a pleasure to play it, even though it loses steam pretty fast and is unlikely to get out of any troublesome situation once past the turn4 or so. But the free wins (mostly thanks to manascrewing the opponent, but also due to immense and difficult-to-kill threats it sports) were not only funny, but it also helped to mitigate one of my big drawbacks, which is a complete lack of MtG related skills, especially mental endurance.
With this in mind, liking the four-ofs-only structure of the deck, and realizing that I miss the times when I tapped the creatures sideways, I decided to make that already mentioned experiment; for the last time in my life (hopefully so), I’ll undertake a participation in a collectible magical performance, after that I’ll reconsider all my past decissions on MtG and finally settle on some resolve about the deck. And yep, by writing „about the deck“, I’m serious and I meant exactly that: just the deck. There’ll be no more casual piles for (nonexistant and long dead) groups, no future projects, no speculations, no EDH crap, nothing of that. Just me, my deck and the alloted 15(+35) sidebored cards.
So the whole reason of the yesterday was to become to some conclusion what should be done with my life. Even though this might sound silly (after all MtG isn’t that important thing to turn it into a vital affair), I think that the already long and boring enough introduction should be enough to make you understand why it’s important for me. And that’s the only person that matters in this matter, as there’d be hardly anyone else who’d be walking in my shoes.
The deck (continuing):
After systematically slaughtering my former collecion, I was unable to build the deck, but thanks to another friend of mine, Tomáš Vlček, I was able to undergo the experiment; he lent me the whole deck and even went so far that he build me the whole sideboard, a thing that I’d definitely wouldn’t be capable to do at all, as I lack any ideas and experiences about the Legacy metagame due to my year-and-a-half long hiatus. With this in mind...
I need to express my gratitude to Tomáš for lending me the deck! Also many thanks to Slosh who brought me the missing playset of cards without which I’d never dared to enter a „just a turn1 kills“ format. And finally many thanks to Martin Šiling who sleeved the deck for me so that I had a time to write down the decklist and think about the deck and sb a little bit.
Without these three guys I’d never played in the yesterday’s tourney! Many thanks again, guys, and it was nice to meet you after such a long break!
Before moving further and defending any particular card choices, I’ll stop here for a while to make a few notes on the „meet your buddies“ aspect of MtG.
What makes me sad about the competitive scene and particularly about the scene in the lgs I often visit(ed) is that the silt of what (in usual opinion) formes a solid competitive scene, buried the most important part of the game which is as simple as: to have fun. The plethora of shuffling technics visible, the many double- or triple- or quadruple sleeved all-foil fully-signed beta-only decks, the strategical conceptions and tactical analyses, all that should be a spicing; important, of course, but you cannot live only out of that. If the game/scene ain’t fun, then there’s a trouble, and in the long run this will kill the player in the player.
Btw: to my surprise I saw this very thing in another buddy of mine, Tomáš Már, an excellent player and a real trading genius from our area. After the tourney was over, Tomáš was beset by the fact that for w/e he does, he simply can’t win anything in past several months, although he plays „the best deck“ or at least he describes it so. Should I have reminded him of his very own words with which he spoke about his Legacy beginnings with Mono Blue Ninjas? Should I remind him of the joy of playing a home-brew, the joy of collecting the cards for the „real“ decks? Could it be that all his joy is buried under the heaps of foil Future Sight rares, under the burden of The Best Deck? I don’t know. I only see scenes...
The tournament:
To spare you of a tension and to spoil you the surprise: no, I still don’t know how the experiment went. But what I knew from the very first moment when I’ve seen the immense crowd of people waiting for registration, the staff in black, etc., I knew that I should have been elsewhere. „Go home and save the 30 euros in process!“ was an order of the day, but I disobeyed my intuition. There was even a moment of enlightement just before the tournament started when Providence served me a proof that I’m in a wrong place, but for two reasons (and only one of them being my need to undergo this My Last Game of Magic experiment) I did not heed the call, namely when I realized that it’ll be disrespectful to the extreme to my three friends, as they went to a great lengths to help me to play in this tournament, they ALLOWED me to play at all. So I stayed; I knew that I should have left, but alas, I stayed.
A remark on tournament: I find it both weird and funny that the overall atmosphere (and no, I don’t even mean the armpit stench of the crowded hall with gasketed windows) of a great MtG tournaments reminds me of the metal concerts I attended in the last years of previous century. Switch the weirdos behind the vendors‘ tables for some bearded long-hair tattooed guys with piercing and you’d get an approximate idea of how a late 90’s „distro“ looked like; in fact you don’t even need to make the switch, at least not since the hipster mode kicked off. Heck, you don’t even need to exchange the binders, as much of the fuglier MtG stuff might very well pretend to be an MC demo. Do you want new foil Isacaarum? Are you in a need for the latest rares from Genital Gore expansion? A signed beta copy of Malignant Tumour for the real collector in you? We got it all!
We got even the beer. And although I’m not a fan of Staropramen Soap Beer, it was good enough to order one whenever possible. It’s definitely due to Potrefená Husa being the better restaurant out there – although in a different place by this franchise, we’ve already had several family affairs in Husa –, so the Staropramen’s logo couldn’t deter me.
The matches:
First of all, I must admit that I was really really surprised by my opponents. All of them were polite persons, all of them were the kind of people I’d hang around, all of them played well, none of them complained about anything, none of them tried any ugly trick, none of them tried to fish the win. I must especially mention my round1 opponent, who immensely helped me to calm down and to stay there at all; if not for the fact that I played a famliar person, a buddy of mine, moreover a really decent guy, I’d be sitting in my wing chair no later than 11 AM. Thanks, Karel!
Over the course of the tournament my suspection that the deck of choice is far from optimal materialized with much pain. The expected free wins happened only a few times and mostly I was forced into an attrition wars that no tempo is capable to win regularly, much less my particular color combination that offers a fast start, solid double-duty removal, cheap efficient threats, yet lacks in the CA department and in long-term plans. I also severely underestimated my loss of sideboarding skills due to a year-long hatus – this, however, was outweighted by the fact that the metagame consolidated in a nigh-2014 state – and due to a partial misevaluation of field. If, for example, I sported a whole lot of anti-creatures tools, especialy those tools designed to fight the lock strategies, it was of no surprise that these were much of a burden when it came to dig out anything useful from my fifteen to fight a different pile. I went through this pain over and over during the tournament, and if at least five cards in my sb were of no use at all, than I’m not even exaggerating. But as the magic of sideboarding is always linked to the particular event, and the paticular event is always a random experience, it might have been a completely opposite experience and you could have read my braggings about the very well-designed and well-thouht sideboard if only the fortune showed me a more favorable face or how’s the saying. Moreover, the thoughts behind the sideboard are fine – as the sideboard is designed by Tomáš, not by me – it just happened that the matches I played deserved quite a different cards than those that were at my disposal.
If I’ll leave the sideboard aside and return back to the matches in general, I need to admit on surprising thing. Although the games were interesting and (at least sometmies) they were fun, I wasn‘t exactly thrilled at all. This left a sour taste in my mouth, as it simply meant that I payed 30 euros to participate in what could be described as a matter of duty or scientific experiment at the very best. I worked, much less played, if you get what I mean, it was like if I switched into ome semiconscious robotic mode and rather than playing Magic, I’ve exercised, administered, practiced it. With the entry fee in mind, this meant that I worked a night shift to earn money so that I may work a daily shift. In light of what’s next on my mind, this was grossly ludicrous. And I’m finally getting to the deeper reasons of this all.
Now bear with me, please, as we’re coming to a finale.
As you might find in Plzák’s phenomenal Marital Judo, no person should be two-dimensional, we should be three-dimensional beings. What does it mean? We should not limit ourselves (and our lives) to work and family (as those are fundaments of any sane, respectful and healthy human being), but we should have a third axis which is – a decent hobby. Now, even though it might seem strange (to give a same weight to something that peculiar as is hobby, and to weight it the same as the two undisputably important axes of work and family), on closer look this makes sense. A decent hobby is what fills some voids in a man’s soul, time and desire, it’s something that differentiates man from the animal, it even differentiates man from man, and it is an escape (not without dangers) from the everyday’s routine (often times so much futile-at-the-first-sight). In short: a decent hobby is necessary, period.
Once I’ve acknowledged this fact, and once I’ve realized that my hobby is Magic (no matter how I hate it, leave it only to return back, etc.), and how it became an important part of my life (contrary to my friends of the dead groups who consider it an episodes, if they think about it at all), I must have inevitably come to a conclusion that this hobby-turned-duty renders my third personal axis useless the moment it became another work. Thus any further participation in Magic: the Gathering would not only further disbalance my personality, but it would also hurt me more and more (not least because of all the fond memories of times when MtG was a real hobby of mine) and as such it would definitely corrupt all that was (left) nice about Magic. This shaking reveal was maybe the most deserved and treasured win of my whole 20-years long Magic carrier, as it answered at least the same number of questions as it have raised.
Conclusion:
A series of hardship in past few years, several ground-shaking matters I went through in past few months, and a severe change of world-view that I‘ve undergone in past weeks had an unexpected impact on me, forcing me to reconsider every part of my life. In my mid-30’s I’m under a severe attack of a painful midlife crisis, something that I didn’t expect neither deserved so early; that the process was accelerated by issues not under my control is hardly of any help. The last thing to consider is how to save The Third Axis of Man, no matter how important it might or might not to be. Lets not differentiate from an animal then...
And I’m not even opening a discussion on a decency on MtG as hobby. (Remember: Plzák wrote about a decent hobby, not about any hobby.)
The futility and emptiness of Magic: the Hobby stands naked in front of me. And it definitely wasn’t just a coincidence that when I was returning home (after I picked up my wife and our daughters) that I had a weird experience, one that would be funny, if it would not have been a testimony of an utter futility of doing and emptiness of life: there were some three chicks in our wagon of subway, talking the usual nonsense. But the high point came when they were leaving the train and one them, clearly enlightened from above, got this brilliant idea:
„Girls, lets make a selfie on the escalator!“
Coda:
I’ll be active for a day or two, then I’ll freeze the account until at least Christmas. In the meanwhile I’ll try to think out what should be done, but seeing how this whole affair exhausted me and how there’s hardly anything left that makes me thrilled about MtG, I doubt that there’d be any further research necessary.
Many thanks to the three guys that made my experiment possible.
And many thanks to those few who read through whole of this Magic: the Gathering report only to realize that there’s not a single Magic card named; not even Brainstorm.
Cheers, BDP
What the fuck did I just read? So did you play in a tournament? Did you play magic? What deck did you play? List? Did you win? Or are you smoking Peyote?
Originally Posted by Richard Cheese
Life and magic:
I think that the large tournies are decidedly more job-like than the locals. I enjoy collecting because brewing is interesting and it fills "The Engineer" need in me that seems ever the light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel. Despite being a musician, a gamemaster, a hobbyist in models/painting, a gardener, improving the house, holding events, etc.. I always need more thinking.
I can understand his/your futility bit; it can feel lame when the effort you put in isn't worth it; but you have to make it worth it somehow. You have to invest yourself into things or of course they feel empty. If you paint a shitty painting at home for the sake of painting and then throw it away when you're done rather than learn or try your best or what have you; it will merely waste your time in the same capacity as a sitcom. If instead you give yourself a goal you care about, more than just going through the motions as an experiment, you're much more bound to enjoy your successes, and endure or even enjoy your failures.
I'm not advocated you "come back" or not, but clearly you need to structure your life around understanding that despite the futility or purposelessness of it all, you need goals. You need to add purpose if something in this life is going to mean something because it *is* all purposeless.
Money and magic
With that I'll say, that for the most part my collection's price has stagnated or increased in value. Cards that lost value being compensated by ones that skyrocketed. Old casual collections being worth roughly dirt or having random "lol this is $10 now?" lets me enjoy whatever random chance engagement comes my way; and probably make a few bucks doing it. Your money consistently loses value in the bank because interest is paultry and inflation isn't; even though it's been low for awhile.
Thusly, having Goods that generally increase in value makes playing the game more like "playing with $100 bills" and less like "I wasted a bunch of money on cardboard." Because the value generally increases over time for staples, having rare staples means they will likely increase more than that 2% inflation rate we have (or did a year ago) and thus your basically playing a game with your CD; which CDs aren't worth a damn right now either.
Legacy Mtg is one of the only hobbies i can think of where the investment is likely going to be less than the return. 40k? You dump thousands into miniatures (or hundreds) and you're likely to make 30-50%, even if you paint them well. Mtg on Ebay? You'll probably make 10-20% if you pick your times on staples that you no longer need, and if you're good, you even win your meager gambling each night.
This to me releases a lot of the burden of having most of 40-duals, most of 40-fetches, goyfs, multiple sets of Force, etc. because I anticipate it's not wasted; aside from my enjoyment and sharing with others. Recent examples are:
-Finally selling my $8 goblin guides for 23 a piece.
-Selling "Extra" $5 Engineered Explosives for 15 a piece
-Selling a $25 damnation for $40
I imagine you made quite the haul when you were selling, which means you gain X% and safely tucked it away; so I imagine you understand my point. As an investment, as long as you're not dumb about it, it seems good; which is a great way IMO to promote the hobby (for myself anyway.) Mtg cards are literally better than savings accounts at banks, etc.. if you're buying things that don't depreciate easily (because of the reprint list or what have you.)
Sorry man but this is the completly wrong area for this post. Dont get this???
Currently playingEldrazi
Did you read his "report"? It's the wrong place for this thread; my post is quite literally on topic in regards to what he's talking about.
He's quite literally talking about being near a mid life crisis, issues with how much cards cost and how to justify it to himself, how the hobby seems empty and draining.
Also, why do you quote entire posts? You could've snipped it or something.
I see your points. It was nice to meet you.
WantToPonder
former: Team SpasticalAction & Team RugStar Berlin
Team MTG Berlin
The Dragonstorm
http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...he-Dragonstorm
I understand your feelings and sentiments, we've talked this topic several times and I can relate to several points of the story... I'm happy I had the opportunity to experience the times you enjoyed the game, in fact you were my first loss playing a competitive deck I was so eager to build and finaly play (losing to a Bosh the Iron Golem in a pseudo mirror match is not easily forgotten), despite/thanks to that, you were the most fun to play opponent I've ever met... Thanks for all! See you in the RL
Totally agree. Keep your head up, BDP.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.
TEAM MtG Berlin
"Dredge isn't a deck, it's public masturbation with graveyard triggers."
Tomáš Vlček let me know you wrote a report and posted it here. He told me to read it and tell him the interesting parts. And I must say I'm glad that he let me know about this report, and I am glad that I read it. I believe I can identify with you, and you had a lot of interesting things to say. So when he asks me what the interesting parts were, I will have to tell him to read the entire report himself.
I had the chance to speak to you at the tournament but I didn't know you (and still don't). So I didn't take advantage of that opportunity, I will be in Prague for a bit longer (I am staying at Tomáš Vlček's place) and maybe I'll have a chance to speak to you because I think it would be a nice experience, and you could maybe help me on some subjects regarding MTG that bother me.
Thank you for the report.
Last edited by Bahra; 10-19-2015 at 02:27 AM.
Yes I read his "report". I did not talked to you and your post, so dont know what you want...
A report about a midlife crisis, thoughts etc. is ok but it´s not a tournament report in my eyes and dont belongs in this thread, but ok, dont want to fight here. I´m quite now.
Currently playing
I've had the exact same experience. The friends I grew up with, who I played with all that time ago, in 1996, have not a care in the world for the game any more. Thinking about it though, while I've stayed with Magic as my hobby, they have moved on to other things, like video games, and in the other case, drinking (and he admits that life is not what he would want it to be). As you talk about later, you can really never get away from having a hobby, you can only just exchange one for the other.
Indeed, everyone comes in to the game for different reasons (even if some of them are similar) and the popularity of the game has lead to all sorts of different reasons to be involved at all, many independent of actually playing the game.
Doesn't sound silly at all. In fact, sounds like the most important possible thing. While you are right, Magic is no "vital thing," you know full well, as do I, that this report is not about Magic, even if Magic is a topic here. This report features Magic, yet, this is not about Magic.
I think many of us, who play often, can get caught in this trap. We play and have "fun" when we win. You are right though, fun and winning should not be linked. If they are, I think you are often in for a bad time, because luck isn't always with you.
I think that's the case with many "hobbies." People are largely interchangeable when look at with a large enough lens.
Well, if your life is only two dimensions, you can only see the one from the other. When you introduce a third aspect, you can now frame each from a totally different perspective. Consider:
Only work and family:
Work, from the family perspective.
Family, from the work perspective.
Consider work, family, hobby:
Hobby, from the family perspective.
Hobby, from the work perspective.
Family, from the hobby perspective.
Family, from the work perspective.
Work, from the family perspective.
Work, from the hobby perspective.
While I am the kind of person who likes a great deal of constant, consistent routine, having more perspective, having something that allows for a greater appreciation of the things that really matter in life, tends to help, at least for me.
Well, not every hobby is for everyone. In fact, hobbies really aren't (well, shouldn't be) lifelong things. We change, circumstances change. We learn, we experience new things, we find a better understanding of what we like and dislike. We learn, more importantly, what works for ourselves and what doesn't. What was good 10 years ago, necessarily what is good now. I think at the end, what is most important is to do what makes you happy. I think you've learned when it's time to not just turn the page, but when it's time for a new book.
Like I said at the top, I think this report is far more important than any list of cards could ever be.
While I'm sad to see you realize that something you enjoyed is now something exhausting and a vise, I think you are smart and introspective enough to realize that what is going on has nothing at all to do with Magic, so for that, I am glad, because that gives me hope that you'll find your way through. Life is often a grind, we are left to find what we can to take solace in. I sure hope that part of that is you're wife and kids, even if work is maybe not something that brings you happiness (I know my work surely isn't).
In the end, I don't know that any of these are "good words," or that my sentiments are beneficial to you. Cliche, but life (like Magic) often unfair. In it, we often have to go where we would rather not, learn what we'd rather not know, see what we'd rather not see. We are present with hard choices we'd rather not make and have to do what we'd rather not do. In between, we have to find how to live with what we have, with what we can do. Happiness is not a found object, it's a state built.
In the end, I'm no one, I live in the middle of nowhere. I'm not some wise sage, I don't know your whole situation and we live in vastly different parts of the world. Even so, if you need or want someone to talk to, drop me a line, maybe I can be of some help. Either way, good luck with whatever you decide to do.
"The Ancients teach us that if we can but last, we shall prevail."
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
Let's see if I interpreted this correctly.
You started out as a casual player.
You moved into tournament magic when your competitive group dissolved.
You sold most of your magic stuff at some point...
Yet you continue to find yourself drawn back to the game.
You used to enjoy owning enough cards to brew your own decks,
but you had to borrow a deck for this event.
Your opponents were fine, the tournament was fine, the deck was fine - but not well tuned.
At some point, however, magic became more financially oriented.
With high entry fees and expensive decks, you find the game has turned into a job more than a hobby.
You've lost interest in that part of the game and are leaving the forums/game until at least January to address personal issues (midlife crisis).
I wish you the best. It was certainly an interesting read.
Tusk up.
(Not so) Current Decks: GB Elves, GW Maverick, GWb Maverick, LED Dredge, ANT, TES, Jund Storm.
I'm really thankful for all the responses. I'd love to continue in our discussion, but as I'm really tired from the job, and I need to get up at 4:20 AM, lets keep it for tomorrow.
I'm glad that you enjoyed the "report" and I'm also grateful for all the advices and ideas. (And the peyote offer...)
I already got a weird feeling like if some thought sprouts in my mind, but lets not frighten it away.
Well, there's a trouble with brewing, though... With Legacy being as streamlined as possible, and the DtB/DtW part of metagame being powerful to the extreme, brewing might very well turn into a "purposeless" affair, unless you're brewing just for the sake of brewing and don't care of results. (Which is a bit painful experience once money are on the stake.)
I enjoyed brewing with Questing Phelddagrif and Tainted Aether (or Jokulhaups and Iceberg), but these were on the more casual end of spectrum...
Well, just six weeks ago I'd undergo the pain to disagree, and I'd even defend a worldview completely different, moreover one that's not exactly popular today, namely on Source. But right now I'm not in a mood and position to defend anything.
But it still hurts.
Yeah, you're both right. In fact I wouldn't be upset or surprised if mods would move this to Community board; in fact I'm glad that it didn't end in Mish-Mash... or worse...
A pleasure shared!
I'm glad we've met.
I'm also a bit sad that except for Pavel none of our lgs guys know "the real" me from before the 2011's notorious affair that changed me drastically - both for the better and for the worse - and turned me into a negativistic, grumpy, irritated and irritable person I am now. (And even Pavel haven't seen me a minute in betwen 1997-2007).
That's also why I asked you to not introduce me to anyone, as I'm even more crappy companion than I was, as was well illustrated when I left the pizza just because of a family matter that I highly overestimated and that in fact didn't really deserve my attention, not to speak of my very presence. I'm sorry for that.
Btw, I'm 100% certain that we're doing ourselves a big harm when we're going to Rytíř by the car. We need to relax in w/e pub we go to and we need to drink beer after the tournament. (Shame the Thursdays, too.) We won't release the stress of the tournament (or at least I don't), and that's bad, it's another reason for a post-tourney sour taste. I am the first one to admit that as a father of three and the head of a family I got some duties, but if I won't blow off the steam and rather bring all the stress of the tournament back into the car, home, work, weekend, than maybe it's better to not come at all.
And a last note on this: it's not exactly helpful that while most of you live the life that happens in 5-2 rhytm, my life goes in a rhytm of 2-2-3, moreover one that's everchanging.
Thanks!
I guess that it's too late now, and the tomorrow's Legacy won't happen anyway - seriously, why do they reconstruct the lgs just on the day when I wanted to play after a year long pause? -, but maybe we'll meet on the next year's GP Prague?
Considering the advices: I'm too cheesed off to give any reasonable advices, and ever since one of my life's pillar crumbled, I'm far too eager to be overly negativistic, but from what experiences I got thanks to my repeated MtG sell outs, I believe I could speak a pair or threesome of reasonable sentences.
The trouble with MtG is not only the financial aspect, but any of the crappy design, loss of originality, loss of spark, worsened and nightmarish art, logistic problems with extensive collections, Justin Bieber types and casual weirdos, OCDs, fragmentation of community (when was the last time you simply asked "do you wanna play Magic?" and the answer was "yep, lets play!"), and about ten thousand other matters.
But lets keep it for the post-GP discussion.
Many thanks for your kind words!
Thanks and cheers! Stay negative!
And now: onwards to the longest and most thought-provoking of the replies!
Yes. Otoh, in past few years I thought that the time has come to move further from hobbies, as they drain me. Moreover, the fact that I cited Plzák doesn't mean that I completely agree with him. I'll return to that later.
For now I'd love to share a few words on decency of MtG as a hobby, but seeing how I'd just copypasted myself from a few paragraphs above, lets not start that.
Thanks for understanding me that well.
I think that for this reason alone, the fragmentation of community has its purpose after all. Tired of Legacy? Try a different format! Tired of constructed at all? Then draft! Tired of competitive scene? Try casual group! Tired of playing? Enjoy the collection! Tired of Magic? Try to sell out, then! (Just don't come back a year later to pester the Source with your whines...)
So, here it is... Lets try the best I can.
I don't think that the third axis that Plzák wrote about should be hobby. Hobby is not giving your life a purpose. (Unless we're not talking about hobby but about idolatry.)
What gives to your life a purpose, and the only thing comparable to the axis of work and family, must be something different. Some people call it spirituality, others call it "searrrch forrr trrranscendency" - a reminder to myself: find some nice I-got-four-ears-and-eight-chin photo of Václav Havel -, another people call it worldview, but it is (or should be) something that gives your life a deeper (and preferably: also a higher) purpose. (I admit that there are people who find this purpose in their hobby, and I don't find anything bad about that, especially if it's a decent hobby.) I'll take the risk and quote one of my compatriots who wrote that "a horizontal axis of human life gets higher meaning only thanks to the vertical beam of Cross". And even though you might differ and disagree about thruthfulness of a particular vertical/3rd axis, I hope you will agree that the people who live such life will always find purpose in it and in each part of it.
Same here.
Not only that this is very true, but you've unintentionally hit the nail on head with the "new book" part. But it's so damn painful I won't even start on that.
At least for me.
However, lets satisfy the communal thirst for knowledge!
RUG Mongoose:
md:
54 stock
2 snare
2 pierce
1 forked bolt
1 dismember
sb:
1 pyroblast
1 reb
2 flusterstorm
1 cage
1 needle
2 subemrge
1 kgrip
1 destr. revelry
2 sulfur elemenatl
2 rough//tumble
1 sylvan libr.
Attention Legacy palyers, final results after round eight: 3-4-1. (Not exactly near-money...)
Many thanks for your kind words, for the time you've spent reading the report and of course for the time you've spent answering it. It really helped me to view things differently and it really helped me to view the tournament as a necessary experience, even though not exactly nice.
Surprisingly enough, it took me just a few days to realize what I might do with this damned hobby of mine. And although this time I'm not going to spoil the surprise, I'll leave a hint or two: wouldn't it be nice to have one's own deck and to try a luck at GP?
Before I'll leave...:
When I was writing the report, I was afraid that people will be dismissive about it, but it was a nice pleasure to realize that many of you liked it. I hope to meet you in a better times.
Until then, take it ea...
I guess I forget that some people have a more religious view on things (if I read that right.)
I have no issue with that; I just assumed a position it sounded like you held.
Regardless, I've felt the same way many times in my life where my mind opens in the same way as when you get that "deep" look at space and for a brief second you comprehend it until your mind closes back up at the sheer magnitude of insignificance. That feeling is so similar to that "my eyes opened" as I peer into the seemingly useless hobbies I delve into at all hours of my free-time, but I always just hush it up, have a drink, and get back into the swing of things. The utter fear of that much of my life being voided by nihilism and stagnation seems motivation enough.
Even if we disagree on the higher level of things, this is a commonality with or without it; and how I deal with it (I just don't.) Eyes always forward unless I'm enjoying what's in the moment.
Too many times have I considered time to be "wasted" or lost; when really our clocks are all ticking down to different numbers. Some of us have years to waste for free, and some of us die tomorrow. Fretting over seconds or hours or years lost is ultimately self contradictory (it's a waste of time in itself) and thus not worth thinking about.
Actually, you still can. But I concede the point that it's tougher to than in years past.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Reply With Quote
