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Expanding Your Horizons
Obviously, the net is full
of talk about Darksteel this week. We are just over a
week away from its mainstream release and people are
speculating about so many cards. What's so funny is
that so many cards get hyped and then turn out to be
duds. It's amazing that people are so quick to make
judgments.
Before you take someone's
opinion about an unproven card to heart, think about a
few things. What is the player's track record that is
making the judgment? If they've been wrong before,
they might have a good chance of being wrong again.
What is the skill level of the player making the
judgment? There is usually something that makes a
player good. In constructed, it can be largely due to
that player being able to spot something in cards that
others don't see. Does the player making the judgment
favor a certain play style? I'm an aggressive player
at heart. I can normally identify those cards that
fit an aggressive style well quickly. I can play
control well, but I don't build great control decks.
Using that knowledge, if I look over a set, it is
likely that I will miss come good control style cards.
The reason these questions
make any difference at all comes down to two main
things...trading and collecting. These two things
sort of go hand in hand. The trading part is
obvious. As for the collecting, I don't mean it in
the sense of trying to collect a full set. I mean it
more in terms of being selective on which cards you
need to get sets of four of (play sets). You want to
know that you aren't wasting your time. You want to
know what you should value each card at. It's hard to
know these things honestly. Even if you and all your
friends agree that a card is good in a popular deck,
there is a chance that knowledge means nothing. For
example, what if a new rogue deck comes along and
makes the other deck that you want to put the card in
terrible in tournaments? You didn't make a wrong
read. You just weren't able to see the future.
That's part of the reason to need to have other people
that you can turn to or rely on to get information
from.
Let take a step away from
Magic for a brief second. I want to tell you all
little about the sport of cricket. For those of you
that are unaware, cricket has been around for an
eternity it seems. The interesting fact is that it
derives from the same basic game that baseball was.
The difference is that baseball became more of a
pitchers game, whereas cricket became more of a
batter's game. Cricket seems to involve a bit more
teamwork though, which is what interested me. You
play on a field that's between three and four acres
large it seems. You only have nine outfielders to
cover the area, so you have to communicate a lot with
your teammates. Also though, the batters have to work
together, because you always have two people running
with the ball is it. I know it sound strange, but I
don't have the space to explain here. You owe it to
yourself to look it up though.
There are some small
comparisons between cricket in Magic though. OK,
maybe not in a serious sense, but in more metaphorical
terms. Picture the cricket field like Darksteel at
the moment. The field is large with lots of ground to
cover and you have to be ready for hits and misses. A
new set is completely new. Lots of strategies to be
played out. Lots of tricks to explore. In both
cases, you need players that you can talk to. You
need people you can work with to make the most of your
time. There is a lot of ground to cover in both
cases. The more people you have working together on
the same wavelength the better off you will be.
Before I forget, let me
get my alternative game of the week out there.
There's a new game called Film Frenzy that just
released this week. It's produced by Comic Images,
the same great folks that brought us the WWE Raw Deal
card game. These games are completely unrelated
though. Anyway, this game is great, it's a large deck
of cards and each card has an event and a point cost.
You are trying to spot the event on your card in an
action movie that you watch while playing. When your
event comes up, you score the card and reload. For
instance, if you have a card with someone jumping or
falling out of a window, when the event happens int he
movie, play the card. It seems a bit awkward at
first, but it is quite fun. They are supposedly
working on Horror movie and comedy versions, so there
should be something for everyone. It makes
every movie worth watching.
OK, back to more Magic. I
think that everyone is so caught up on Darksteel that
those that are smart can use this time to get some
easy tournament wins. Go do some drafts at your local
store before the new set becomes available. You have
so many people sitting out, waiting for Darksteel that
attendance is most likely going to be low. This
should make for some easy drafts to win. This also
means some easy cards to get for you. Better yet,
clean up at the next couple of Friday Night Magic
tournaments in your area. Remember that Darksteel
doesn't become tournament legal until the middle of
the month, so you get three more Fridays before
everyone shows back up with their new decks. For
those of you that are trying to reach the next ratings
plateau, this can be good times. Take advantage of
it.
The thing that makes
working with other players hard for some is that
gamers as a whole (not just Magic players) seem to
have superiority issues. A lot of them try to use
games or their gaming knowledge to validate
themselves. I'm not saying that all of use do, but a
lot of use do. That's a bad thing. It blocks your
ability to accept knowledge. It makes people believe
they are correct and are the end all be all. I've
even watched people with this type of what shall we
say... gamer's complex...lose a game, because they
spent more time worrying about losing to a "bad
player" instead of just playing the cards at hand. I
find this whole concept humorous. But I ask you to
think about it seriously. You will be able to most
likely identify tow or three people like this in your
local play group.
Also, trading at
pre-releases is crazy. Sometimes cards you want go
for a ton. Sometimes cards you want go for nothing.
It totally depends on the play groups from place to
place. Some players from one area may not value a
card high at all, while players from another area
value it like gold. This can make trading very
difficult if you aren't prepared for it. Just be open
minded. Don't gripe are people. No value it too high
or too low. Just accept the values for what they are
and then just leave if you can't come to an
agreement. That's part of the deal when you are
offered a trade. This information won't be
immediately useful to you, but you can still use it at
your next big event or prerelease.
The next round of
qualifiers start next week. Don't miss out. It
should be a fun qualifier season. It's sealed and
this round of qualifiers gets you qualified for San
Diego. It looks like the JSS is going to be in Kansas
City this year and be completely independent of the US
National Championships for the first time. That's in
interesting decision. But as a reminder, if you are
eligible to play in a JSS, go do it. If you are able
to get to a tournament and you have the entry fee, you
are all out of good reasons to not play. There are
too many positives to this whole thing. Another point
of interest is that WotC is having another team event
added to the Pro Tour this year. Pro Tour Seattle
will be a team sealed event. This is going to make
for one helluva busy summer this year for Magic
players. That's great though. No one should be
bored.
My pick of the week this
week is Weathered Wayfarer. This is a bit of a
forgotten card. It's good in multicolor decks with
white. It lets you fish out ANY land, so you can go
get artifact lands or even a land that turns into a
creature if need be. It's only one to cast, so it
comes out early. It's very interesting to say the
least. It doesn't fit into EVERY deck that has white
in it, but it's definitely worth a look next time
around. This is slowly becoming a forgotten card.
Don't forget to swing by
and sign up on our brand new message boards.
On another note, don't
forget to stop into your local shop at least once a
week and play a few games. I'm not even telling you
to go spend money (even though that would obviously be
preferred). On my game industry forums, I know of
three stores that are closing up shop within the next
thirty days or so. That's sad. We need to support
our local retailers. Without them games die and
things get very sad. We don't want that to happen.
Support your local retailers, seriously.
I just realized that I
didn't prepare a deck for you this week. I thought
that with all the talk of new cards, someone else
would have given you one. That's what I getting for
assuming. I guess I'll definitely have to make it up
to you some time.
How many of you out there
have checked your DCI rating lately? It's not all
that important if it's not really high or if you
aren't at any ratings thresholds to get byes at Grand
Prix events. However, it can be fun to set small
goals for yourself to complete. You know, like trying
to reach 1750 within three months. Or maybe trying to
reach 1850 is more of your goal. If gives you another
reason to go to tournaments and try harder. It's
something we do around my store that is fun and
competitive.
Anyway, that's my time for
this week. There's not telling what I'm going to
offer your minds next week. I am still planning
something special if I can land it. I'm just having
trouble getting all my scheduling down right with
travel and new sets and such.
Until next time,
DeQuan Watson
a.k.a. PowrDragn
PowrDragn on IRC
PowrDragn on MODO
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