Three Shady MTG Tricks From My Old LGS + Why It Sucked
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- Опубліковано 15 гру 2024
- It's finally time to at least give you a small taste of some of the ridiculous BS that went down at my old LGS. It is, BY FAR, the worst gaming store/hobby shop/MTG play location on planet Earth and I will update this description when humans settle other planets.
But instead of just ruining your day with a description of how awful it was, I figured I'd warn you guys about 3 of the shadiest tricks I've ever seen done during MTG play. The worst part is, debatably, all 3 weren't against the rules. Seriously, some people just can't play without being jerks.
Follow me on Twitter for awesome decklist updates, tips, sneak peeks of upcoming videos, etc: / desolatormagic
Desolator,
You mentioned playing Magic in prison being better than your old LGS. Well, I have a bit of a story.
While I was in college (just a few months ago), I was involved with the campus radio station, WCAL. In our FM broadcast range was a prison, and many of the prisoners listened to our station. We started doing a D&D themed talk show after we would occasionally talk about playing it, or about Magic, on our other shows. We also got fan mail from these prisoners. Now you may be wondering where this is going, but apparently in this prison some of the inmates were playing D&D with photocopied books, and even Magic with the card infos written on slips of paper, or decks of playing cards. I don't think we ever got to do it much, but they even asked us to talk about specific cool ones on air so that they could get new ones to play with.
It was very cool. One of them even recommended the band Gygax to me to play on air. They turned out to be a really cool modern rock & roll band from California who writes about nerdy stuff like D&D and Magic. Check out their song Liliana if you need any proof.
Thanks for reading!
This is beautiful, I actually cried. Godspeed maybe see if you can get those men some cards
Checked out gygax love it thank you!!!
That's fucking cool
Gygax is awesome thank you and Godspeed.
Considering going to prison so my dnd players will actually show up.
Wizards should have staff that travels to cities and visit official game stores posing as new players. That'd be a sweet job. Gaming experience auditor.
100% agree. But honestly I don't think Wizards cares that much about their player base. :-(
@@sarahmiller4980 Notice the new $449.00 "Throne of Eldraine Deluxe Collection" with "exquisite" sleeves and other garbage. The cash grab is real.
Oh the sweet sweet innocence. If only you knew what was to come
They do now
Pray the hell store never closes. Those people will be looking for a new place if that happens... maybe yours.
I have had an opponent de-sleeve one of my cards and tear it with his teeth. Japanese fireblast. The store made him give me a replacement, but it was in English...I still hold a grudge.
Lol maybe he thought it tasted like ramen
Man, can't stand sore losers.
He was upset about losing to the card. When he asked to see the card, I thought that he just wanted to see the awesome japanese-ness of the card...
Damn dude, I am so sorry. I legitimately feel your anger. I probably would've slapped that guy across the mouth.
@@jimmycryptids if anyone ever decided to munch on any of my cards they would earn themselves a high five.........to the face..........with a chair.
The full name of any object in a public zone is free information. If you ask "What card is that?" they must answer fully and honestly.
They don't have to tell you what it DOES, but they do have to tell you the name, and then (depending on the event) you can either pull your phone out where your opponent can see it and pull up the Oracle text, or just call a Judge over and ask "Can I get the Oracle text for [CARD NAME]?"
Though technically at Regular REL events (the ones where you'd be allowed to use your phone) even the card's Oracle text is Free information, so if you ask "what does that do?" they have to answer fully and honestly. They can't give an incomplete but true answer (like saying "It's a 2/3" for Nighthawk and leaving out the flying and deathtouch), nor can they decline to answer.
They do have to tell you what it does. The game state must be clear for all players.
I just say what is on the card (almost all of it).
Nice avitar btw
Hey don't leave out the Lifelink either, that's my favorite part
I was under an apprenticeship to become a lvl1 judge along time ago. The judge I was learning from was a lvl2 that ran the lgs. The guy was cool with me, but it was the shady things I became aware during my time at the place that I thought was to much. I learned very quickly that calling them out to my judge was going to make things more complicated for me. We had a group of net deckers that like clockwork would sweep every FNM and most other formats we held. Depending on who was at the event that player would usually win. It turned out that the lvl2 judge would actually allow the use of cards in the stores that they were selling to complete the net decks to maximize the chance they would win. They would usually split the prize pots and the judge would reserve the right to take one card among the packs they would split. You have no idea how bad it is to play against full net decks in legacy because the guys all have duel lands they don't belong to them. This actually drove many players away overtime. I ended up moving to another city and gave up on my apprenticeship after I was told the lvl3 judge was only going to allow me to take my test after I pay him $300 for it. I ended up reporting him as this was not a legal thing to do in the program at the time. I ended up organizing the community in the city I moved to at an lgs that only carried mtg packs. We advertised for drafts of the new sets that came out at the start of the first month. They took a risk and bought a case of the sets for the draft. I ran the events and paid for the prizes packs out of my own pocket. I would even throw in chase cards I had to give to players to pick out for the 4th and 5th place. Later a lvl3 judge came around and started running FNM for them.
My best advice if your having issues at an lgs is organize your community and play at another place. It's not healthy for the growth of the community to stay at such places.
Dam how are you fairing in the modern day?
"...feel free to watch another one of my videos which is all positivity, rainbows, and unicorrns."
*looks to the suggested videos*
next video: "The Netdecker's Rant
me: "Yeah, rainbows and unicorns."
I played this one ass that claimed creatures with hexproof could not be destroyed by languish. the judge sided with me and my opponent stormed off and we never seen/heard from him again
Big Gellz you mean blocking with more than 1 creature? How is that possible someone doesnt know that?
My biggest prize is a game day mat and promo I won by beating tier one net deck with the jankiest homebrew I came up with. Player was kicked out of the store before getting his 2nd place prize because he was swearing and was getting aggressive. I treasure that mat not because I won it but because i beat a tier one deck with homebrew and made somebody rage quit.
I appreciate that you're still honorable to keep the store anonymous after all this.
i came back to magic after leaving for years & went to this store downtown salt lake city & it's one of those where if your not spending a couple hundred on your deck your a bad player & nothing to the community... it was during the release of kahns & i made a really fucked up sulti enchantment deck that utilized villainous wealth as my win con i got laughed at when i went to the shop keep & asked for 3 copies of polymorphs jest... i took 3rd in they're tournament using it though it works amazing with Doomwake giant & all enchantment creatures lol. stupid net deckers didn't see that coming. than I'd villainous wealth for the win... let them fight they're own shit.
the issue is that they're the only store that steadily has the singles you need at all times but yeah the players there are the same you just described & the rules seem to go to the biggest spender the owner is a good enough guy but he stays out of the judging pool & it takes some real blatant fuckery to get banned if your a spender, the lgs i go to now is across town & worth the trip... i love it there & are open & helpful to new players & casuals... what's also awesome is it's full of other brewers who enjoy crushing & punishing top tier net deckers with kitchen brews.
Across town? go to 35th and 40th? love that place. *fellow utahn*
+Zelsaus Horuxo i play at game night games now... place is awesome & they're really fair about they're prize pool, good community there friendly to new players i love it there... is the place your talking about the game den? that place seemed awesome too
Sad;y not, Epic PUG twas close, just cant visit often as I'd like. Love making a needlessly big lhurgyof to trample past everything.
Yooo don't talk crap on Oasis. That store is the only LGS in SLC that has cards, singles, and product for reasonable prices. All the people that work there are awesome and the EDH scene there is AMAZING!
As a yugioh player, I have very little knowledge about magic but it seems like an interesting game, and I might start playing. As for the foreign cards ruling, that's really dumb, in an official yugioh tournament, your opponent is required to provide a form of official translation for any and all foreign cards in their deck.
"6th and 7th edition"
"way the hell back in the day". thanks for making me feel old. I bought a preorder box of 7th on ebay for $60.
Seriously - old ornithopter art? Ooohhhh nnoooo...
Scummy move by the other guy, but the old ornithopter art is so good :(
Taking a R1 loss is not in fact a good way to place high...
ok story time. we have this guy who comes in to our LGS, not so much anymore thank God. well he was rude and so much more, to the point of doing things like shaking the table in anger (moving all 6 players things), but I digress. one game I was playing him (sometime around scars/besieged). I had a creature out and I was about to kill him and his turn came up(I'm tapped out). so he casts diabolic tutor and while the deck is in his hand from searching he doomblades my creature. doomblade being the card he pulled out of his deck. I played dumb and said "whoa hold on what's going on" he said "I'm killing your guy." i said "ok well your going a little fast for me. can you do it step by step, so finish the tutor." so he did and then after he shuffled I asked "so now what was it you were casting?" he then proceeded to cast the doomblade again targeting my guy. I looked at him and smiled "so you're doombladeing my glissa, the traitor?", his reply "yes." my response "I don't know if you know this but she's green and black, doomblade says target non-black, therefore she is not a valid target." he was furious. I then won the game. afterwards the judge in training came up to me and said he saw the whole thing, and that I handled it well. thankfully we don't have as many dbags at our LGS but we do have a few (him being one)
As a judge, I must agree, you handled that REALLY well. You simply asked him to comply with the rules without shortcutting, and by doing so, creating only a single rules infraction (Doom Blade targeting a black creature), which is easy to roll back. But the next time you see that judge, please ask him about the LGS's standard for Unsporting Conduct. Shaking a table and distrupting multiple players by doing so would easily go as Unsporting Conduct at an event I was judging, and the player would recive a penalty suited for the Rules Enforcement Level (REL).
At Regular REL, I would give Notice or DQ, based on the severity of the situation.
at Competitive REL, I would give Game Loss or DQ, again based on the severity of the situation
edit: Had to check the IPG (Infraction Procedure Guide), and Unsporting Conduct: Minor is not a Game Loss, it's a warning (this is for Competitive REL)
You handled it well. I used to see stuff like that happen a lot even with my judge that was training me at the time. (Animate Dead targeting Akroma, Angel of Wrath is the funniest one I had seen.) It helps players to clarify interactions like that.
As someone who studied Japanese I do get some JPN cards from time to time and use them in standard, usually in a mixed ENG/JPN set of 4 or simpler cards like Dispel, I took a look at the rules once around a year or so ago to check on it (since I know this isn't like Yugioh where things were changed between tcg and ocg, MTG is universal that way) and from my understanding you are (paraphrased) "allowed to use foreign language cards as long as you have quick access to the native language you are playing in" i.e. gatherer or I've used the spoiler book in the fat packs. HE HAS TO TELL YOU WHAT HE IS DOING.
"201.2. A card’s name is always considered to be the English version of its name, regardless of printed language."
I've done the counter deck play before. Pre-innistrad came one week with RB goblins because I wanted to play goblins in standard, and every time I played black I'd always have some mainboard Tainted Remedy. This made someone running Zulaport Cuthroat stop on their turn 3...sit...and realize they had to use another strategy because I could outrace him to 0. Then again this was mostly because I was sick of seeing Cuthroat combo decks so I got to sit and laugh a little. I tend to go Magical Christmas Land type decks (Jund Molten Gitrog).
The rule I quoted here is because of this:
2.11 Taking Notes
Players are allowed to take written notes during a match and may refer to those notes while that match is in progress. At the beginning of a match, each player’s note sheet must be empty and must remain visible throughout the match. Players do not have to explain or reveal notes to other players. Judges may ask to see a player’s notes and/or request that the player explain his or her notes.
Players may not refer to other notes, including notes from previous matches, during games.
Between games, players may refer to a brief set of notes made before the match. They are not required to reveal these notes to their opponents. These notes must be removed from the play area before the beginning of the next game. Excessive quantities of notes (more than a sheet or two) are not allowed and may be penalized as slow play.
Players and spectators (exception: authorized press) may not make notes while drafting. Players may not reference any outside notes during drafting, card pool registration, or deckbuilding.
Players may refer to Oracle text, either electronically or in paper form, at any time. They must do so publicly and in a format (such as gatherer.wizards.com, other official Wizards of the Coast sources, or printouts of their sources) which contains no other strategic information. If a player wishes to view Oracle text in private, he or she must ask a judge.
"Ooo desolator, your too negative, you need to stop being so negative, everything is peachy, wizards of the cost never makes mistakes" Lol des nice video.
Someone's been hitting the magic mushrooms too hard lol
@@DesolatorMagic 4 years later and still pure fax
At my old LGS there used to be an intentionally slow player that would play net decks way above his skill level [mainly combo/control, the worst was standard pyromancer's ascension], and intentionally stall: he's tapped out, lands and creatures. I want to attack with creatures that have no triggered abilities, he still hems and haws for minutes at a time over weather to go to the declare attackers phase, with absolutely nothing he could do [the only free spells in the format, the Zendikar traps, could not have been triggered, and the attack triggered traps he didn't have the mana for in his deck, let alone untapped]. He also slow shuffled every time his [or my] deck got shuffled [I think like Yuuya Watanabe at the pro tour a couple years ago, shuffling so slow that both the director and head judge yelled at him for slow play on camera]
I ended up going to a FNM with a buddy of mine at the LGS that he went to. I though the place was decent at first, but halfway though my Deck got stolen. I had been talking to a my buddy before the round started and when i turned back around my deck was gone. I was calm at first and looked at my opponent and asked for my deck back and he plays dumb about it. I get pretty pissed, call a judge and tell him what is going on and he just shrugs and says "tough luck kid". I drop obviously but stick around seeing as my buddy is still playing and he is my ride. So as i go around watching matches i notice that i am seeing some trading in the back. I go look and before the guys can put their cards away i see some of my cards. I flip shit and call them out. Everyone stops and looks over at us as i am obviously pissed off. The staff come over and i tell them what i saw and all they say is where is the proof. The douches do not want to open their backpacks and binders till i literally rip them off of them and do it myself. I find nearly all my cards and sleeves in the bag and all my rares and mythics in the guys trade binder. I point this out as i know what cards are damaged and where. The staff then banns them, my buddy, and me for "cheating, and violence". I still never found my copies of Tower of whispers or beast of burden . God i was pissed off
Some quotes from the Judging at Regular REL document, which seems applicable to this video.
"Regular REL is many players' first experience of tournament Magic, so ensuring a welcoming and inclusive
atmosphere is important. A player whose behaviour may be upsetting others or making them uncomfortable
should be educated and asked to stop immediately. If they make no attempt to correct their behaviour,
applying a Game Loss may reinforce the seriousness of the issue. If this does not stop the behaviour, or if a
player is being threatening, aggressive or harassing other players, these situations are Serious Problems. "
"Certain actions will not be tolerated under any circumstances. Every effort should be made to educate players
before and during events; however, ignorance is not an acceptable defence of these actions. Any player
engaging in the following must be removed from your event and, at the Organizer's discretion, removed from
the venue entirely:
Aggressive, violent, harassing or abusive behavior (physical or verbal).
Intentionally and knowingly breaking or letting an opponent break game or tournament rules, or
lying, in order to gain an advantage. “Bluffing” about cards opponents can't normally see is permitted."
Hello, I'm an L1 from Chicago. I'd like to give some helpful info for the situations that you described here. As for the first incident. It's completely up to the FMNs T.O. to decide on if a player can participate in there event. The best thing for you to do is to calmly and politely express your concerns to the T.O. and let them handle it. As for the second incident. Unfortunately there are players like that. I've come across some throughout my MTG career as a judge and player. My advice would be to just do your best to avoid escalating the situation. I personally like to tell my LGS players to be a good opponent when playing magic. Have fun, joke around, socialize. If you come across a player with the characteristics that you describe, just play your match and leave it at that. Now for the third incident. It is actually perfectly legal to use official cards with alternate arts that were only available to a specific country. However, proper communication must be kept when playing magic. As a player, you are entitled to know the name of a spell that's being cast. If a player is refusing to provide the English name of a foreign card, call over a judge and have the judge handle the situation. As for the slow play. In a competitive event, a slow play violation is penalized with a warning. If a player is to receive a third warning for the same infraction, they receive a game loss in stead and so on. At an FNM, penalizing players is rarely an option. Regular REL events are intended for players to learn at a moderate level of gaming. In this situation, it sounds like the player was playing at a decent rate of play during game one, however, I was not there to see this. But with the information provided in the video I would not, as the head judge of the event, apply a slow play penalty. Overall, you did the right thing in every situation. Unfortunately, the experience for you was bad, and the head "judge" there didn't make things easier. We're not all perfect. However, I do hope that you've found a better LGS to attend and continue playing magic.
"I don't know. Probably." LMAO! Best line the whole video. The visual I made of that judge is hilarious.
Desolator can you make a video about the card undergrowth scavenger I have a deck based around it and I want to know how to improve it
I so Identified with your story. My ex-LGS had all the shit you described... and more. To the poitnt the judges would be actally plaing in the FNM and reciving rewards if they scored highly, whitch they always did since the store patronized their decks so they could farm... and of course, thats the tipo o the iceberg... sad times.
Our judges did that. They also lied about the rules to try and beat me in a game. Sorry, Anger of the Gods doesn't kill Master of Waves (I won anyway).
I play at a very small, lgs. On normal fnm without any events there's only 8 or 10 people for the standard tournament so the store owner, his two employees, the judge and their kids join in just to populate the tournaments. Nothing wrong with the judge playing in the tournament, at least in this case.
+McKenzie Zobrist Sure, in my current LGS the judge frequently plays too when there is low player count, but that was not the case in the other stor, there could be 30 people and the judges would still be playing, whith perfect netdecks, with the solen prupose of farming packs, sometimes abusing the rules. This kind of thing exists, it sucks, but it does.
***** offering higher awards in FNM to bait players and have judges compete with patronized decks is not ilegal, but is immoral. Having them judge their own matchs is wrong. Anyway, I no longer go there, so it's no longer an issue for me
i judge and play at my LGS, although i only play when the player count is low or uneven (want to prevent bye's)
i'm not the only organizer/judge present tho, and we help/fill eachother in if we're unclear about anything.
in no match, EVER, will i if i need a judge etc fix the problem myself.
the moment something happens, the other judge will help us clarify, same goes the other way around.
promote fairness of play in your LGS, and MOST OF ALL a fair, fun and casual play area.
laugh with your opponent when he does something insane, be able to share joy in victory AND defeat.
If you are not able to build relationships with your customer and playerbase, then your store doesn't stand a chance.
The only time we nitpick about rules, is when we organize a COMP REL event, and then both judges are prohibited from playing.
The idea that throwing the first round on purpose is advantageous is just plain silly.
Yo Des, Here in 2019. I have a friend who got out prison not too long ago, for reasons, and he actually played magic in prison and from what he tells me, THERE ARE PRISON GUARDS WHO TRAINED TO BE L1 JUDGES SO THE INMATES COULD PLAY CONSTRUCTED MATCHES AND PLAY FAIR AND BY THE RULES. The guards automatically liked you if you play MTG and you we're slowly but surely filed as a compliant inmate and you get treated better, had better success on appeals, etc. Sounds like magic is better in prison.
Hey desolator, where is your store and what’s its name because I might want to check it out.
JUDGE! I'd like to preemptively disqualify _ButterGod from the UA-cam channel on the grounds of... let's say "being a likely candidate for cheating, trade sharking, shadiness, and overall scumbaggery." Yeah, that has a nice ring to it. :-P
by the rules you must declare the card name when you cast it, especially foreign cards, ESPECIALLY them. recently i got called out for a standard game for using a foreign Olivia in red black vampires and the guy got so mad when i had an english copy nearby[not in the deck or in sideboard]
Yes, he did have to tell you the name of the spell. The rules require all players to truthfully and accurately answer any question that pertains to the state of the board. For instance, you don't have to say what's in your hand but you *are* required to say how many cards are in hand. What a spells' name and what it does are both entirely pertinent to the board state - him claiming that he didn't have to tell you was a breech of that rule.
Also, that not-judge-anymore was some quality material. "I don't know; probably." 10/10 - IGN
MTG Tournament Rules under section 4.1 Player Communication, you have the right to know "The Name of Any Visible Object." So that foreign card playing opponent certainly wasn't polite and the former judge didn't know common courtesy rules.
The biggest problem with my LGS is that maybe 10 people show up for FNM. 8/10 of them use the same deck. Needless to say, I take second or third every week.
shit, we use to have a guy come in that didn't support me LGS, But would come in on FNM with one of the top 8 decks at that time. but were talking the original Ravinca block, coldsnap, Time Spiral, just before Loywrn dropped. This guy was just Pompus, and that's unstating it. Half way thur a match with this guy, and your start thinking to yourself. "before the end of my turn, I'm going to bust you in the face." So we as the "Knights of truth and justice" start called other stores to see if they know the guy. we found his store and asked wha cards he was buying and stuff, so we would get a leg up on him, and build decks just to crush his hopes and dreams. he went 0 and 4 for a month. Hell even the owner of our store pulled "Her Knights" as she liked to call us. And said "Ok one last Hu-Ra for Rav Block. If you can kill him with poison counters, ill throw in a extra pack of cards as part of your winnings. " We got our packs......When he found out he wasn't advancing to the next round. He accaully came up to us and asked when did he do to piss us off. Afer a few chuckles of disbeleave of just how clueless this jerk was. we blasted him with what we didn't like about him, and his attitude, and his play style. no supporting the store you play at. etc etc etc. we were gentlemen and out. Sportsman like conduct and all.
Musta been some crazy amount of pompous to warrant that. Example?
Not a lot of other black people play magic that I met so it's fun to see heads turn when I walk in and it suddenly gets quite
That's hilarious. Allegedly Wisconsin is soooo racist but whenever someone of basically any race comes to FNM nobody even acknowledges it like it's a thing or treats them any differently. Maybe it's because MTG players are intelligent and most racists are stupid?
+DesolatorMagic that's pretty much everywhere. The level of racism that liberals and millenials like to pretend exist, is more of a figment of their imagination than a reality
*****
You know how you prevent that? Do what my school did. Anyone being racist gets expelled instantly.
Hope it's not like what goes on at the casual tournament near me. We have 1 black guy playing and like 9/10 times we call him by what he calls his deck. He doesn't mind but still
+Anna Harrison I've never taken people calling me by something other than my name offensive. Some people aren't great with names, myself included.
I have terrible verbal memory. If I haven't played against someone (So that I see their name written down for an extended period while I track life), I often don't retain the information well and just use pronouns.
My LGS has a cool owner and great EDH crowd but I won't dare draft or play FNM because if the attitude of the regulars. I kid you not, I played FNM and beat this guy who net decks and made the prize rounds with a cheap aggro deck I made up and he then proceeded to sell his deck afterwards because he was so appalled that I could beat him. The last time I drafted I was unfamiliar with the set and the player I would hand packs to would say unsportsmanlike things like "omg I can't believe you'd pass this card to me..."
Oh my god-- once I went against this one kid who played werewolves... he literally asked the judge on every card I played if it was legal... one card was reprinted, and their network hadn't updated if for some reason... and I got a loss for it and lost the match... what the hell tho? First loss was because I had a good starting hand (3 land, 4 low cost spells then just got mana flooded... lol).
how about this one, went to a lgs in my town where for there sanctioned modern tourneys. the guy running the register was also the judge, played in the event, opened a credit for his friends to enter at no fee, didn't pay for his own entry and adjusted the pairings so he could play his mana weaved t1 net deck against decks not prepared to deal with it. suffice to say I stopped playing modern after that given it is the only lgs less then an hour away.
Someone at my LGS threw one of his opponents cards under the table and then call the judge for not having 60 cards. Also, someone who was using foreign cards pretended that they did something that they didn't.
Yeah, the last story doesn’t really make sense because unless he is telling people the wrong thing because they are in a different language you can easily either look up on your phone or go ask somebody else what the car does if you do not know. There is nothing that says that you can’t do that even if he does try to tell you that he doesn’t have to tell you what it does, which I believe he does have to tell you, you have every right to go and find out so yes that’s a dirty thing for him to do because some players May decide not to find out for whatever reason
A few years back I tried to get into the game and I had a pretty bad experience as a new player at a game store in Madison, WI. I'd been playing with friends cards for a few weeks and didn't own any of my own yet. We thought it would be fun to buy some boosters and play a draft. A few of the regulars who were friends of the staff offered to join in and the next thing I know we're drafting and one of the players from the store is furious because we're not picking the "right" cards to make our decks, or I'm picking cards that are "too advanced" for a new player. Needless to say we were constantly reminded of how poor my choices were while I was losing games, and how this player would have placed higher if the good cards hadn't been wasted on our picks.
Hearing all of this makes me feel glad that I live in a small town where my LGS is so small, every new player counts. Veteran players really take the time to teach new players how to play, the owner never markups stuff and almost everyone is willing to play against everyone, even the experienced players bring decks that are balanced against newcomer decks so that they can play fair and most importantly, fun matches. Yes, there are a few bad apples, but since they are the minority they either only play each other or the friendly experienced players bring out the big guns whenever they get too cocky.
could you build shared fate?
what should I do if my lgs is not giving promos, and selling them. no buy a box promo. nothing. I want to rebel please help!
@DesolatorMagic, one time i went to a local game store and i needed a deck box for my friend who just started so i grabbed a handful of like 6 2-4$ cards and brought to the counter to try to get a few bucks in trade in for a box. the guy at the counter grabbed my cards and without looking away from his game of thrones shuffled them in his hand and said "sorry dont need these"
I was a judge for a small store in Los Angeles. I had someone do foreign cards BS for weeks. He pulled the "you don't know what it does". I told him that he will give me a deck list with English names of every non-English card he intended to play or he will be DQ'd at the start of round 1 every Friday until he does.
Damm that store must suuuuck. You should report it to wizards.
I've heard about Wizards absolutely stomping on embarrassing LGS
With foreign cards, a rule I played by, always have an English version to show what the card is.
Based on all of your horror stories at your LGSs, I must have been blessed in the area. Been playing for close to 5-6 years now, and my LGS is full to the brim with really honest players both young and old, new and veteran, some of them even playing in the pro tours. Staff is extremely friendly, and while we usually run with only one or two judges, there are usually never any judge calls each night.
There may be a few bad eggs (one to three, but they don't show up too often), but they are nowhere as hellish as you describe everyone in these stories. Definitely one of the best gaming stores I've been to.
You can definitely report bad LGSs to WotC, because they will do something about it since those kind of things make bad names for themselves.
Just out of curiousity is it normal practice for LGSs to use Rochester Draft with the booster rewards from Standrard Showdown or Modern events? (open all boosters then the first place picks one card for himself, then the second place till the last place then again the first etc). I've found it pretty unfair for new/returning players since if you didn't netdeck your best hope for reward would be some bulk rare.
Context: I'm spanish but I love asian cards and almost half of every deck I own is in japanese. I do netdeck, because we're in the information era and not netdecking (even if you change the list after some games, which I do) is literally doing worse on purpose. While I try to be the best player I can, I don't do most of the shit you called out in the video, because that's just shady stuff and not actual MTG strategies. I can tell when a player is new vs. when a player is experienced, and I play and talk accordingly. I help new players, I don't rule-lawyer new players, that kind of thing.
About 14:50 and card names: in regular REL (FNM, prerrelease and similar) the oponent needs to tell you both free information (card name) and derivate information (what a card does). Even in competitive REL (GPT, PPTQ and higher) they have to tell you free information (again, card names). In competitive REL, your oponent doesn't have to tell you what a card does but if you don't know, judges will give you its oracle text.
Des, if you ever encounter one of this competitive-wannabe dudes in any kind of tournament, and they refuse to give you free information, call the judge and give that fucker a warning or whatever the penalty is in that REL.
a fun story from years back at fnm. I played a contagion engine with 10+ mana open. On the enters the battlefield effect, said something like "counters for your creatures" ( english is not my native language so its all translated ) then right away, tapped four more mana and said "and two others for all of them" he started to roll up the dice on his creatures, and a planeswalker, saying i didnt specify what "all of them ment" even though it was a clear referrence to the sentence "counters for your creatures" i said just few second earlier. We argued about it for a while and then he actually called a judge on me saying that i said "all of your permanents" or something like that. judge didnt even side with me at first before some one outside of the game commented on it. best memories... what makes it funny, is that at the time I was like 16 or 17, and my opponent was maybe 30+ so... yeah...
I swear to fuck, I'm going to eat someone's card before I die.
Faithborn Exigency I ate my swamp once. Like actually chewed and swallowed it.
In the middle of a game. (Not at fnm though, just a casual one with friend.)
This video was very helpful. I will make sure to throw the first round to give me a better chance to win and drop if I 0-2 to give you a worse chance to win.
btw I'm doing this with my $3000 russian alt art foil tournament netdeck and I spend all my downtime searching mtgtop8 and other decklist sites without talking to people.
9:05 XD coming here after a deck tech video were you said "well if i went first i would have won so we'll call this a draw"
Hey Desolator, I'm trying to use Xmage but whenever I use manamorphose I can't use the mana it generates. What am I doing wrong?
My LGS is over 20 years old (just celebrated that milestone last year) so they have a lot going for them and a big reason to keep the games fair and fun. There are a few people that are rude and what-not, but as far as i know no one cheats. One player i had was extremely rude, because i was only about 5 weeks into magic, i just made my own deck by myself, so i knew i wasnt playing the cards everyone else did, so sometimes i would play something, and no one else played it, so they asked what it was, so i just got into the habit of explaining my cards. But this guy, when i did that, he would give me rude remarks. Not something like "oh that card, ya i know it". i would get "this isnt my first game of magic". my next match (i lost) was against our rule enforcer, since they allowed him to play fnm. I told him, and he basically said that they dont like it, but they cant make him not say it. he appologized, and i know him pretty well, and hes an honest guy, but ya at some levels the shop doesnt have power.
19:44 more like certain states. i live in NC and can comfirm it's a pretty nice law. generally. if it's below a 90. pivot 180 degrees. kick out the door. and run as fast as you can. failure to follow this protocol will most likely end with you getting ecoli
I understand people who do these things on purpose.
as someone who collects alternate art variants I've had others call me out for running a Ravnica and odyssey syncopate, innistrad and mirage dissipate. not even foreign but making my games a lot less enjoyable simply because I like having different artworks.
At our local gaming store before it lost the ability to hold fnm we had one simple rule about 4 in cards if you have the card you must have an English copy in your possession during the tournament whether it's in your deck or in your trade binder you had to have an English copy
That's brutal. I'm glad that my LGS isn't like that. I had a couple crappy employees who have been arrogant schmucks over the years, but nothing anywhere near your experience. Thanks for the video.
i used to go to a lgs in dominican republic where part of the staff was used to help cheaters to get the best card in draft. It wasnt a big store so the staff knew how the players plays, so they help almost everyone to "fix" their decks and suddely only the same 4 people where the top 4, all with deck and sideboard desing to beat everyone else
some time ago in my LGS was the gameday (eldritch moon), there is a facebook group where we discuss about our fnm, when to meet and play. When we talked about gameday, the store almost made players to pay entry fee and not give out any prizes outside promocards and playmat. People said that the promos do not belong to the lgs so they gave out prizes like normally. Anyway, after updating about prizes someone commented on the update that "so the prizes are not wizard, so playmat and promocards" BUUM He got banned from the store for the rest of year.
Last friday during the second round i had someone who was having a conversation with someone during his game. He swings with his 1 flyer and continues to have a conversation(never passed the turn) so im sitting there waiting and he goes is it my turn? I say yes and he untaps everything and draws again. And just took and extra turn
I want to find a Friday night magic in or near kent. are these held at any cardshop?
Most card shops have FNM. However, if you're not sure you can check the Wizards of the coast website. They keep track of that and you can search via zip code. The other option is just walk in and ask. In my experience most shop owners are very friendly people. Don't be worried about sounding like a "noob" or anything, generally shops want more players and are totally willing to answer any questions.
Sweet thanks
Most shops have a schedule they setup to allow different formats a chance to play as well. Best way is to ask the shop owner, even better is to test out the environment before playing a tournament. Just go down and play a casual game or two so you know some people to talk to during a tournament.
I just got into Magic but haven't went to FNM yet. Is trading required in some way? I don't mind trading I just don't have a lot of cards yet.
I usually play MTG online, but after a few years I was like sure why the hell not and buy a few packs of modern masters and just check out this magic store which is apparently pretty big and nice.
I bought a pack of modern masters from the guy for $15(australian dollars). I opened a karn and was all excited and obviously people around me including the people who run the store saw that. Then i went to buy another pack 10 minutes later to just try my luck again for the hell of it because I already made my money back - and now there's a different guy at the register and he goes 'yea that will be $20 thanks'. I was like oh, ok. And walked the fuck out of that store. A few months later for the EMN prerelease I went back with some friends because they go there even though i hate the store now, and after the event we didn't get our promos or prize boosters (I went 4-0). Yep. No promos or boosters. They just said yeah there's no additional prizes you're just paying for entry. Which is bullshit because I know how to read what the prizes are and I know how prereleases work.
Then the final thing that killed me is I went back to it the next day(Last time i went) and this is what really pushed me over the edge. Is that I walked in and they were literally sorting through fnm and prerelease promos at the desk. I just don't even know, that shit is so shady. I know they feel they can get away with it because, at least here in Australia where I live no one plays magic and everyone that goes to these prereleases is at most an amateur casual player, so they just push them all around. Also you should see the prices of sleeves there compared to all other stores in the area, Appalling.
I'm so happy to have such a good game store, I've only been going for about half a year and they've become like a family away from home
I look forward to these videos, Des. The way I look at it, these are things for me to look for in the future. These are more like PSA's than just rant videos.
There were two people at my LGS a long while ago that "just started" playing MtG. They'd show up constantly with expensive netdecks, crush people in draft and oddly both had legacy decks. Good news though, I made them leave after playing crappy Discard/Slaughter Games decks four weeks in a row. Hard to play a net deck when it's ripped from your grasp ;)
Dude, Desolator, I can so relate to the underestimation part. So, in Kaladesh Standard, I played U/R Dynavolt, so Counterspells, draw spells, and burn, simple. This guy played the Mardu Refurbish Gearhulks deck, where you pitch gearhulks to cathartic reunion and tormenting voice, then reanimate them, EXCEPT, ALL of the Gearhulks, I mean it, ALL of them, were Masterpieces, and there was at least 8 total. and he got pissy with me, because I countered every spell that mattered. After game 2, which he conceded on turn 2 btw( I negated a Cathartic Reunion), he said something about how counterspells are stupid, to which I replied, "If counterspells are stupid, then you're a hypocrite", because, not even a week ago, he played against me in a 3 round eternal masters draft, which I beat him in, and HE was playing Jeskai, and I was playing Gruul, where I had to fight through his counterspells to BEAT HIM. Then, the guy gets up from the table. Mind you, the guy is 300+ lbs and 6 ft 6 in, where I'm around 200 lbs, and 5 ft 11 in, so he's towering over me, and then I said, "You're really going to get that mad, OVER CARDBOARD." at this point, there are a couple of people staring. Thankfully, the guy just walks out, no further arguing, but man, he was so confident in that deck, that he blinged it out with masterpieces, where my only bling at the time, was one foil take inventory, LOL.
given that we live in the same state, mind letting me know which store to avoid in the future?
@ 18:30 Reminds me of those Air Bud dog sports movies where a judge says:
"There's no rule that a dog can't play basketball!"
I suppose there's no rule saying a dog can't play Magic.
One dood at our LGE rage quit before the draft even started!
My friend would also play 5 color each draft picking out thee very best bombs and removal. It was brutal to be downstream of him.
I rage quit and then later apologized to that guy i rage quit on.
Here in Alaska we show out for commander but not constructed standard.
Ok, but can I play skullclamp in modern?
Desolator I found you recently from your MTG mistakes and I really love your videos! While I'd say I know almost all of the rules you taught me a few new things that not many people know about... What I'm trying to say is keep up the great work and your channel will surely grow much bigger!
Oh crap I have a advanced math program right before fnm and I my deck started wining more I thought I made a good deck because was the best at my middle school but now I know it's because I come late what should I do
There was a CMG (collectable minis game) using the battletech lore. we had five or six game stores running it every week. I played OP almost every day and would hit the releases and big events multiple times.
three or four of the judges colluded constantly so they would win the valuable prize in each other's games. they were all military industrial software nerds and were good players but their cheating ways had them ranked 13, 14, and 15th on the national ladders.
they would rig match ups, fail to report loses, and they even contested a store that reported things correctly to get results thrown out. they would sell prize figures online so they power minis would be unavailable to the local scene, drive off other judges and good players, and generally be turds in an otherwise great environment for that game.
They were dicks but I gave them as much trouble as I could and it was satisfying.
I had people call my decks garbage or stupid, frequently after I uttered the words "...I mill you for 36, gain 9 life, and pass turn."
General rule of thumb, if you're not playing a deck you enjoy at FNM, you're not playing it right.
Ryan Stewart - I built a crazy Exalted deck in Standard and beat a WU miracles deck on turn 4. He kept complaining that his cheapest card cost more than my entire deck! Lol!
What is the store that you own called? I think I might have seen you before st a store while in a car.
My worst two experiences were: 1. Just all the cases of me being young and new to a game, not knowing how much certain cards were worth, and getting ripped off for it. Giving me trades that were not worth it by any means, or outright stealing stuff from me. 2. I had this kid just walk up to me, after eating chinese food, all covered with soy sauce, and just pick up my deck with white sleeves. I was never able to get all the soy sauce off.
I have two foreign cards, Atraxa and Sorin Markov, but as I cast them I read out what they do and what they are
I remember playing at a store in Springfield, Mo. played against a guy who drafted mono green elves in morningtide. not saying he was cheating, but he did work at the store and had access to the cards before the pre-release event...
was that store Talkin Baseball? because they were rude to me when I started :(
lol, eat your opponent's card, wait a day, give it back so its not stealing
the LGS my brother and I used to go too was terrible for trade sharks. this is when we played yu-gi-oh! They would prey after the younger kids, like us because we didn't know any better. Or, another trick was for them to say "let's play for keeps." Knowing very well there deck was all ultra and secret rares ready to blow yours out of the water. -_-
What's the name of your old gaming store? Mine's Tupelo Sports Cards
1995: when an LGS star tournament, get rewarded with a searched pack of Antiquities.
the worst ive seen is a lgs buying cards at Canadian prices and then selling them at American prices and converting to Canadian. which at this current time is a markup of 25-35%. because of this if i take cards in i do not bank the value, I trade right there, so i get true dollar figures because they cannot switch in the middle of the transaction.
I was playing at my second ever prerelease one time and I had won my first round. I was still pretty new to magic. In the second round i was playing this guy who had a really strange personality. He seemed cool sometimes and rude others. I won game one. He won game two. Game three was super close and his girlfriend came up and said they needed to leave early. I made a misplay and he forced me to stick to it which i don't think is that big of a deal, but it caused him to win on his next turn and he proceeded to report his win and then drop and leave. He didnt really do anything wrong but it really made me mad as a new player because he saw i had the win and showed me that he could win because i screwed up only to drop
i hate bad lgs. i was going to one for about 4 months but i eventually stopped because the judges and store owner became so toxic that i would literally make excuses to my friends not to go. they only went there because it was the closet one to us. luckily me and my friends found one close by enough and it is amazing the store owner runs it with his wife and i remember a couple months ago the old lgs was actually shut down because they were stealing from people. like no joke would just take a couple cards from someones binder when they werent looking.
One guy who was an MtG champion in China would play and he would cheat. He used alternate art lands that barely covered Waifus as the art but the thickness of the card showed in his deck so he could predict his draws. He would use cards improperly by subtlety adding abilities to the card.
The foreign cards are legal, but objects in public zones like the stack are public information; he has to tell you the name of that object. He does not have to tell you what it does (but can choose to do so to save time, and if he lies, judges and the DCI will nail him to the wall in a few different ways;) the judge is required to provide Oracle text for it if the opponent doesn't. At Regular REL, you can look it up on Gatherer (in view of the opponent.)
Hell, I play foreign shit like that, Korean FNM promos, FBB 4th basic lands, FBB 4th signed Wrath of Gods, random Russian foils, etc, but it's not to get an advantage, I'm completely open about what those cards are (not because the rules require it, but because I'm not an asshole.) There are quite a few players who want their decks to look good, these are good ways to do that, and the vast majority of them aren't like that asshole who had Japanese BB 4th Ornithopters, etc against you.
You also mention white border cards; there are a few white-bordered, extremely glossy Japanese 7th Coro-Coro promos like Shivan Dragon that have alternate backs. None of those cards are tournament legal, but none of them are also good enough to play in any sanctioned format, so you shouldn't have to worry about it, but if you see a Japanese 7th nonfoil Shivan Dragon, ask to see the back and call the judge if the opponent says no.
Bottom line: the foreign cards aren't the problem, the assholes who use them to get an advantage are, and those guys eat bans for it all the time.
What is the name of the store?
My lgs is well known for letting people during prerelease and release weekend build and use illegal decks. They get their packs undo or draft them etc. Then during deckbuilding they go and add cards from previous releases and make this amazing deck with cards they've gotten earlier.
Now after hearing about your old LGS, I really have been taking my LGS for granted
This is why I play casual commander. Like any otger hobby, MTG becomes a salt riddled mess when you get people who are super competative. Sure, commander has its fair share of people who are like "turn 3 and I havent won?! *RAAAAEEEEG*!" but if you get the right casual playgroup, everyones free to build whatever jank they want. Youre not discouraged from running black blue zombies with the olsen twins from eldrich moon because 90% of the decks are "Nekusar Mana Crypt Paradox Engine Wheel" decks. For some reason its a lot harder to get that in 60 card formats.
hey Des I work at a prison in Texas and they do play magic and they are a hell of alot better than lgs
Unicorn Tribal is possible. 13 Unicorns. It'd either have to be a Vintage, Legacy or Commander deck
Well you don't have to trade or help anybody ...............
Mrfox aos couldn't you just tell them to read the fucking card? And if they don't understand, that's on them right? The game can't stop until someone understands every in and out of storm or what have you
Pimptastic 420 nope. There's a rule to make everything that is desired completely clear between both players (because of a pithing needle accident)...
After hearing this, I feel blessed that my LGS has great staff and regular players. Thanks for helping me realize.
If they stormed off after round 1 how does it negatively affect your score? Wouldn't it increase it because they took the loss
I think his lgs had a system that also ranked you by your opponents' scores. So, if you beat someone who won a lot, clearly you were probably better than someone who beat a person who lost every round. I don't know the specifics, and I only really play casually or do pre-releases where my lgs gives prizes solely based on win:loss ratio, so I could be wrong on the reasoning.