Subject: Article - Deck Theft Date: Wed, 17 Jun 1998 01:19:50 +0000 From: "Schrodinger's Cat" To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Hi Frank, I just wanted to write an article, in response to a situation that really bothered me - Giving credit where credit is due. There are some very fine deck builders out there, some very well known and admired such as Jay Schneider, Eric Lauer and Mike Donais, and some not so well known. These people spend many hours designing and thinking about new deck concepts, spending hours and hours that most people will not, and frankly don't have. When I qualified for the Canadian Regionals, I used a U/G version of Jay Schneider's Trap, which I dubbed the CounterTrap. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the deck, it is based on the interplay between Propaganda, Pendrell Mists and Nature's Revolt. This week, Mike Donais mentioned that he had seen some one else posting about using a similar deck, and intrigued, I looked up the report. Imagine my surprise and disdain to find that a 13-year old from New Jersey claimed to have created the CounterTrap deck from scratch. Worse still, his so-called creation matched the regionals deck that I posted card for card, including the cards I put in the sideboard AS A JOKE! (EG: Maze Of Shadows. Seriously.) My point, you ask? Simply this: I have no problem with taking a deck from the dojo and playing it, tweaking it, or whatever. There's nothing wrong with it. I do it on a regular basis. What I have a problem with is trying to tell the world that you created it, after some people put dozens of hours into testing and creating. Take a Deck, play a deck, but please, give credit where credit is due. Many thanks to Jay for the Trap ;) I have you to thank for my invite to Nationals! Tom Byrne Tweaker of the CounterTrap Kylar on EfNet Schrodinger's Cat -And the cat, having gotten fed up with being repetatively locked in a box and occasionally gassed, had in fact dissappeared entirely.