However, while it seems quite visible that as a newby one isn't yet entwined in the competitive world of Magic, what is the better choice available: does one stay casual and have fun with friends, hoping that they all don't quit before our newby does, or does one enter the tournament scene and attempt to enter the deep realm of competition? As trivial a question as that may be, I'll look at it from a veteran (that's my ego speaking again...) point of view.

Like I said earlier, I was a newby once. Well, actually twice would be the better explanation. I played around when Ice Age came out, but all my friends quit, prompting me to finish with my beloved hobby. I restarted when Prophecy entered the scene and progressed playing Type 2 to the point I'm at now. As far as my experience goes, newbyism is just the paradox I mentioned earlier. As much as I wanted to compete with the "big guns" of Magic, there was the same amount of love for playing just for the fun of the game and to pummel my friends.

My area harbors a great number of newbies. I play at the local card shop in Type 2 tournies every Saturday (when I can...), and there are always new faces there each weak, struggling to compete against my little state's best players. Now for the rant: it sickens me how callous and blind some veterans act towards the newbies. I constantly hear the "pros" asking newbies "do YOU know who I am" incredulously, and then come back after game 1 saying pompously "Heh, I won't even sideboard." It drives them away from playing at a level that, although it may not be the pro tour, is both competitive AND enjoyable.

Then there's the ideal of casual play. It's essentially the best "format" to play IMHO, considering nothing but pride is at stake. In my experience, however, casual play gets very repetitive and boring very quickly unless one has a very large and dedicated play group. Tournament play allows one to play among many unknown people who, while sometimes much better, could potentially add to the playgroup. I realize that playing people better than you is the prime way to improve skill, but perhaps innocence is bliss after all. Fear of the unknown remains; I have known countless newbies whose playskill belongs in the upper echelon of players, but the fear that playing among the so-called elite drives them from the tournament scene.

So the paradox stands. I'll be honest: I don't know if this situation stands true anywhere else, but if it does I personally think something needs to be done to draw more amateur players into the tournament scene. I know personally that getting smashed by a superior player really diminishes playskill self esteem, but maybe tournaments devoted to newer players could form for this purpose. It may sound ridiculous, as some veterans would probably join for a good laugh, but if it worked it could present newer players to expand their horizons a little. Maybe these newbies would even develop to become on par with the older, more experienced players. I would predict a trickle of erstwhile newbies entering the competitive scene if this sort of tournament was implemented.

And to all of the inexperienced players here on MOTL, have fun with the game however you chose. Magic is a game created for enjoyment; don't play it simply because you desire personal success and wealth from it. Something tells me that as long as Magic exists there will always be those who will find enjoyment in the game under any circumstance. I will try to strive to be one of these idealists.

The Flag System (by which the top X [often 32] players under 1700/1800 or without any Pro points get a prize, regardless of their 'actual' finish)

The Junior Super Series

The Amateur Championships (people with pro points are excluded)

Friday Night Magic (often comprised solely of non-pro local players)

etc, etc. That's just my two cents, though - although I agree that more could be done to encourage newer players, I am sure you are pleased to hear that the foundations for this have already been laid, in the form of the above. Although the problem is bigger outside of the U.S, where there are no Amateur Champs...

*sob*

quote:

---

Originally posted by Boris999:

The Junior Super Series

---

The JSS, is probably one of the hardest places to win/place well in all of the non-Pro/GP tornies.

Sometimes, I look back into my "newbie" days and wonder about going back to it. It seriously is painful to play in a tornament and go 4-2 when you made a total of 0 playing mistakes.

Something that I have realized is that most good players, wether Pro or not are serious jerks to all newbies. I like to give away any free cards to newbies, so that I can encourage them to play more and eventually reach to my height.

My first tornament (that I lost in), was a T2 tornament that consisted of Miami's best players of the time. I lost... Badly... My burn deck got to play vs Pros-Bloom and TW. That was the first time I experienced that this game was not just a game for fun.

Oh yea... and be nice to n00bs

~End of Rambling~

As to the "newbie" factor in these games, there are deffinately 2 groups of players. There are the totally for fun side and the Hardcore P9, timewalkin' four times kind too. I myself will play in any of these groups due to the fact that I'm not intimidated of all the super-combos the big type 1 guys throw out. But I love "the usual group". I see a lot of the same players and since we play on saturday nights, there are always a few leftovers from the type 2 stuff earlier in the day.

in these games I admit the decks can get stale. But i for one have not even gone to play due to the fact that I have not come up with a new deck that week. I do have 1 deck that i play consistantley, but I know that when it "goes off" it really annoys most people. So i limit when I play it.

But this kind of enviroment I think both helps me to become a better deck builder (creativity I don't lack, just skill), and introduces me to cards I have never thought of before. And I also think it helps "newbies" come into the game where it is just that, a game.

yada, yada...new thought...

I can remember one time (probally my 2nd or 3rd time playing where i do) when one of the type 2 guys wanted a game. I said my deck was type 1 and he just shrugged. we sat down and played a couple (that's all it took), and after the third time i destoyed his land, he just got up and said my deck was "insert homo-phobe remark here". Later that night the same kid was crying because he lost a game. Not in the tournement but just a side game.

he is what i see as a newbie that got into the tourney scence before he should have.

did this go full circle or just ramble on?

anyways I liked your article much better written than my response.

Very well written article, I must give you credit. I wish that more articles like this one were written more often. I don't consider myself a newbie, since I've been playing since the time of the dinosaurs (Unlimited), but I'm by no stretch of the imagination a pro. I mean yeah, I've had T2 decks that beat the living snot outta the World Champ Decks I've bought to sample, but that doesn't mean I'm pro. I mean, I have very little tournament experience, not because I haven't tried, but because I live 150 miles from the nearest place that even has decent sized tournaments. I for one thing however do not bad mouth the newbies I play with, infact, I assist them as much as I can. If they need help understanding a ruling, I'm there, and I get questions, which I answer with the best of my ability. Any cards that I have more than 4 of that are commons go to the nearest newbie to me, assisting them with building their decks. Me, myself, I started with only a few cards from a couple of friends, but as I played more, my collection grew and grew. Now I have a closet half way full of cards I mostly don't know what to do with. I at times when I'm not busy, pull out the commons and go through pulling out anything I have more than 4 of.

Later.

__________________
Death is no release, Death is Death, you're dead. You're gonna lay in a grave forever, well, that is till the worms get in and eat your rotting corpse.

__________________
You don't know peace until you've had suffering.

Oorza2001 is an idiot and he is my bitch.

hehe i remember my 1st tourney. i was so shakey.. i was playing a u/w crap deck i made like 10 minutes before i went. still one ONE game out of all my matches .

-subzero

__________________
British Special Air Services (SAS) Best Military Group Ever

"If we do not succeed...we run the risk of failure."
--George Bush (Hey he's still a good guy and people should support him...

__________________
For what are leaves but countless blades
To fight a countless foe on high.
And what are twigs but spears arrayed
To fight a monstrous sky
Skyshroud hymn

I had a conscience once but, allas i seem to have forgotten where i put it.
Chandler

__________________
Insert some random superfluous lineage to all posts here