Subject: ISSUE-i Talk about a BUNCH of issues, please print Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 15:30:30 EDT From: XvXaPeXvX@aol.com To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Magic. When I think of that word, I think of a great card game. But lately, Magic isn't all that great of a game. When you think about what magic used to be, you think what happened? Back in the day, Magic was all about fun. Yes Fun, a word that doesn't really stand for much in the current Magic community. Back in the day magic was all about huge decks, games that lasted for hours, and fun. Remember when your deck was your collection? Weren't those the days? But no. Current Magic is all about beating your opponent within say 3 turns or 5 minutes. Where is the fun in that? And with the advent of the DCI, I think the game took another wrong turn. Although the DCI might be great and all for keeping up your ratings in the different formats, they created the Pro Tour. When players saw that they could make a good sum of money on a card game, games started to drift away from playing for fun. They started to become competitive. And when they became competitive, the fun factor plummeted. When was the last time you entered a big tournament and lost, yet still had fun? Remember back in the day? When you lost, it didn't matter, you just kept on playing. But when you lose nowadays, you feel terrible, especially when you paid $20 to enter a PTQ. Another thing that spawned from the Pro Tour is a rise in cheating. Back in the day, there was no need to cheat. Nothing was really on the line to lose. But in the Pro Tour, when the prize money is in the thousands of dollars, there is plenty to lose, and win with the proper cheating "skills". Yet when a player is caught cheating, even if s/he is a Pro Tour player, nothing, I repeat nothing is done about it. Mike Long, the notorious cheater, did it just recently. What did the DCI do about the "bloom" incident? Revoke his winnings? Suspend him for a Pro Tour? Ban him for Life? Nope, Nope, and Nope. Nothing. They did nothing. Does this look good to see a cheater prosper? Does this discourage young cheaters from their future life of crime? Nope. All they see is that the DCI is ignorant about the topic of cheating, and that you can get away with cheating. The PT players should realize how lucky they are to be the stars of our favorite game. Its like baseball, the fans look up to the players who play their favorite game well, but do they like it when their star player does something unheard of? Nope. At least baseball has the right idea to fine unruly behavior. Now I'm not saying all PT players are horrible demons and minions of Mr. Long. I have many favorites, Hammer, Poulter, Chapin (Mr. Janky himself =), Finkel, Rade, and Countless others. These people should be the spokesmen of Magic, not the Long's of the game. Another thing is why does WoTC, insist on releasing so many sets to keep the game "fresh". The whole Mirage/Visions/Weatherlight block was introduced way too fast and the Tempest/Stronghold/Exodus one even faster. If this is WoTC's way of "freshening" up the game, then its not working. The only thing its doing is making us the players change our decks more frequently, and buy the latest sets packs/singles just to keep up with everything. You can spend a month getting the cards for that Tradewind Bounce deck when Tempest was released, only to have to deal with more decks and the fact that Awakening Bounce is much more effective. Also, buying cards wouldn't be so bad if WoTC would take the time to think about what cards they were making. Who the hell would ever use some of the cards in the past 3 sets? Magnetic Web? Dream Halls? Oath of Mages? I mean all these cards might have a use in sealed deck/drafts (although I cant think of one) they still waste space in the new sets. To show you that I'm not all gripe I do however like some of the newer cards in Exodus. Equilibrium is a neat new card, Coat of Arms is also fun, as well as Pandemonium. There is that word again, fun. And then there are some cards that were released lately that make me think is WoTC on Crack? They printed Cursed Scroll? They printed Hatred? Isn't Channel Banned? Now its back in Creature Enhancer form. Great, way to go WoTC. Although I might sound like a non tournament player, I am. I have been playing since the days of Revised (Those were the days, weren't they?). I attend all the PTQ's and play at all the local game tournies. I too get competitive, and sometimes find myself wishing I could make all the money as the big boys do but would I go to the lengths of cheating to get there? I don't think so. I couldn't live with myself. All I want to get across is that the DCI and WoTC need to look at their current strategy and fix its flaws, all 629 of them. The biggest issue though is to keep the game fun. Fun is what makes players return to the next game. Not getting beaten in the 3rd turn as many of todays decks are geared to do. And also, please deal with the cheating, its getting WAY out of hand, just ban Mike Long and get on with the game. Good Luck to all Players in upcoming PTQ's and good luck to all of you lucky enough to be on the PT and JSS. Tim Conklin, the fat guy who gripes too much. Email me at Wood Elder@aol.com PS: I realize I'm asking for all kinds of responses to this article, if you write, I will try my best to answer them all. ] Props to all my Clark's Trading Game d00dz: Matt, Chris, Dan, Geno, and Alder. And May Tony Palumbo die and rot in hell. -- Tim Conklin XvXaPeXvX@aol.com