Subject: Re: Stop Printing decklists
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 1998 04:39:11 EDT
From: Ilira@aol.com
To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.COM

I wanted to add my two cents to this discussion, and wanted to key in on a
comment that Ryan Miller made:

<<By the way, is it the aspiration of every magic player to be a serious
tournament player?  Not by a long shot.  Again, I refer to the diversity of
Magic players.  Being a serious tournament player requires a huge time and
energy commitment.  Most of us are unwilling or unable to put forth such an
effort.  there is certainly nothing wrong with this, because Magic, after
all, is only a GAME.  Articles and decks on the web help the rest of us
keep up.>>

I would submit that the vast majority of Magic players are in fact non-
tournament/casual players.  For those of us who fall into that category, the
Dojo and other similar sites provide an excellent resource for us to further
our _hobby_.  I freely admit to not being a great deck designer, and I love
being able to come to the Dojo, get an idea for a deck, and either play it
straight up in my play group, or tweak it a little.  I would never try to hold
up such a design as my own -- my play group knows by now that when I say I
have a "new deck to try", odds are I copied it with little alteration from the
Dojo.  The point is that I have fun trying to make these decks work, and I
gain new insight into the game in the process.

By the way, the idea that one can simply walk into the Dojo, copy a deck, and
then walk into a tournament and clean up is ludicrous.  As an example, I have
been fascinated recently by TurboZvi, and have been playing it ad nauseum
against friends.  The commentary on the Dojo leads one to suspect that this is
an incredibly powerful deck idea, and I have no doubt that this is true.
Nonetheless, I have yet to make the deck work, because I am _not_ a skilled
player.  But the more I play it, the closer I get to making it work.  Someday,
that will happen, and for me, it will be as much of a triumph as winning a
tournament is to many other folks.  In the meantime, I am having a hell of a
lot of _fun_.

I guess my point is that the Magic community encompasses a huge variety of
people, all playing for their own reasons.  I suspect that a big percentage of
that community finds real value in the deck postings on the Dojo, either for
tournament preparation, or, like me, to gain more insight into the game.
Please keep them coming.

Paul Miller