Subject: issues forum: Sportsmanship & Rules Date: Mon, 02 Nov 1998 15:22:33 -0700 From: Chris Tobler To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com You're playing at a high K-Value tournament. You just won the first game of the duel. Your opponent seems to be a nice person. You and your opponent just finished shuffling, cutting and drawing your initial hands. After seeing his hand, he seems upset and states that he sideboarded an incorrect number of cards in/out. What do you do? Keep in mind: -You really want to win. In fact, you need to win to make top eight. -The rules level enforcement is high. -You are not too confident that you can beat your opponent again. -You don't know him, but your opponent has been friendly. -This is the only error he has made so far. I just told him to mulligan and take the extra cards out before reshuffling. After all, he did see his hand. I think I made a good decision. I think it was fair, too. Personally, I concede a game if at any time I realize that I forgot to desideboard or sideboarded incorrect numbers of cards. Many Duelists ago, Richard Garfield wrote an article about the different kinds of gamers. He listed many types of players: rules lawyers, whiners, winners, losers and also the type of gamer that I want to be: From the Duelist: "I've never met the "perfect gamer," but assume the perfect gamer (PG) exists. PG is friendly and chats with all participants before a game begins. If someone makes a silly mistake early on, PG just says, "Go ahead and take that move back." PG, on the other hand, never takes a move back so as to remember to think before making a bad move in the future. He or she plays with a lot of intensity and everybody knows they're playing with somebody who really want to win." .... "And win or lose, the perfect gamer says, "Thanks for playing. That was fun." PG even offers to go over game strategies if you have the time." ... Play nice, Chris Tobler Up and coming Master of the Universe Likes to play blue without Counterspells