Subject: Making Excuses
Date: Sun, 19 Jul 1998 17:58:29 PDT
From: "Catherine Nicoloff" 

It seems like everyone's making excuses these days.

It's so commonplace that I'm genuinely stunned when an opponent of mine
behaves like a gentleman (or lady).

In 1997 Florida Regionals, I played versus Taer Bluett in the
quarterfinals.  He and I had already played that day, so I'm sure he was
aching to avenge his earlier loss to me.

Game one was a total massacre... of me.  He was playing U/R and I was
playing 5CG.  At any time, he probably had 3-4 removal spells in his
hand.

Game two was harder for him.  I think I finished him offwo was harder for him.  I think I finished him off with Winter Orb
+ Maro.

Game three started off very strangely.  Florida Regionals 1997 used the
all-land/no-land mulligan rule.  Taer began game three, did nothing, and
told me it was my turn.  Confused, I reminded him that he could mulligan
on no land.  He just said, "You'll see."

I drew, played a land and cast some dumb green creature.   Taer drew,
did nothing, and then it was my turn.  Next turn, Taer draws, looks a
little relieved, and plays an Island.  I've got a bit of a swarm on him
by this time.

The next turn Taer draws, exhales, sacrifices his Island and plays
Soldevi Excavations.

So that was it!  Taer's opening hand contained no basic land and only
the Excavations, preventing him from taking a mulligan.

I've never felt as bad as I did when I won that third game and the
match.  I was so sorry.  All I could think about was how un-fun that
whole situation was for both of us.

To my surprise, Taer didn't complain.  He chuckled, shrugged it off, and
didn't even yield to the impulse to show me his hand out of frustration.
He didn't tell me just how dead I would have been.  He didn't explain
his sideboard to me while he pulled the cards out of his deck.  We shook
hands, he wished me luck.  Not a trace of bitterness.

I remember that so well because it is so rare.

In these times, the criticisms of Magic are many.  The randomness of the
game seems so apparent at higher levels.

And we haent at higher levels.

And we have become a group of players with an excuse for everything.

I would like to think that the practice of making excuses is only for
the benefit of the losing player... a way to re-motive himself to do
better next round, a way to depersonalize a bitter defeat.

As such, these excuses are best kept to oneself and swapped with
friends.  Sit around at dinner with your sympathetic teammates and
relate how you missed top 8 because of mana screw, or a top-decked trump
card.

It should make you feel better, and that's the point.  It shouldn't
simply be a weapon to rob a player of the value of their win.

Dave Price won PT LA, and the air was abuzz with the news of Dave's
fortunate pairings.  He didn't play a single deck all day that could
beat red until the top 8.

Frank Adler won PT Atlanta and everyone who was anyone knew it was
because he kept getting Torches in his sealed decks.

I was pondering this the other day because I've done it to people, I've
heard it done, it's been done to me... this mean-spirited practice of
devaluing a good tournament performance.

I took a mono-black Necro deck with 3 Juzams to a local 1.5 tournament
and won.  Two guys standing around snorted about how "money wins Magic
games".  I should have offered to take the Juzams out and replace them
with Black Knights, just to show them what a thrashing feels like.

I didn't, I guess because I was too saddened and stunned that someboddened and stunned that somebody
would say that to my face.

The things people say to devalue others are very common.  Complain about
mana screw.  Complain about a bad draw.  Accuse them of cheating.  Tell
them they got lucky.  Tell them they got perfect matchups.  The effect
is all the same.  You're telling that person "You don't deserve to win."
We all know that these things exist and that they affect games.  We've
heard it all before.

But it doesn't change the fact that you lost.

The next time somebody sniffs at my deck and tries to tell me that luck
or money wins Magic games, I'm going to look them straight in the eye
and ask them:

"Is there something wrong with saying 'Congratulations'?"

- Cathy Nicoloff
  Team Legion