Subject: Hi Frank
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 16:12:25 -0400
From: Andrew Wills <AWills@Pathsys.com>
To: "'fkusumot@ix.netcom.com'" <fkusumot@ix.netcom.com>

Hi Frank,

Just a little note on the Magic is Dead thread.  It's mostly a response
to Mr. Pikula's submission.

>I've been discussing the situation with some other pro players 
>and we all feel that if everyone avoids posting decks and such for 
>the first few months of the new format, everyone's weekly 
>Standard tourney will be fun again.

My own sensibilities won't allow me to take the position that the world
of competitive MTG can be improved through ignorance - even in the heads
of 'chumlies.'  There has to be a better way.

Magic is still young.  It's easy enough to make the argument that the
game theory (employed by wizards R&D) is not enough yet to allow the MTG
Theory (employed by pros and chumlies) to overpower the influence of 7
cards + 1/ turn.  The result is that match results are a little more
random than they 'should' be.  The line between a pro and local
competitor is too fine to draw without unacceptable variance - or so the
logic goes.

FYI, I also oppose the school that wants to overcome this variance by
fine combing match protocol until they can convert the sloppy play of
the less experienced into forced errors.  Again, there has to be a
better way.

At least for the purposes of mechanics, the sets get better and better.
Perhaps shortly we will have a card pool that can't be mastered quickly
or easily - no matter what resources are available on the web.

Skol,

Andrew Wills
awills@pathsys.com