Subject: Re: Making Excuses
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 00:32:39 EDT
From: DEF1AE@aol.com
To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com

Well, it seems Cathy has touched upon yet another subject near and dear to my
heart.  Everybody wants to be a Pro-player, yet everybody seems to have
forgotten the most important thing:  PROFESSIONALISM

I can remember the game I had at the Stronghold Pre-release tourney.  I sat
across from the guy (can't remember his name, sorry) and did my shuffle, cut,
etc and drew seven cards.  I had one land, but that seemed okay, I had 3 one
casting cost creatures and figured that gave me 3 opportunities to draw the
second land I needed.  Well, it was a bad move.  The land never came.  And
that guy pounded me.  He even apologized, and seemed sincere in doing so, but
rather than tell him I could have beaten him, rather than getting angry, I
simply shook his hand and told him "That is the way the game go sometimes" and
left.

I can't stand mana screw as much as anyone else.  But truth is, it is a part
of the game.  And rather than make a scene and be a jerk about it, I choose to
accept it as such.  I try to do the best job possible of shuffling, but
sometimes that happens.  The biggest problem is when I play another person who
is experiencing such a problem.  Now, I want to win, but there is no real joy
in beating someone senseless when they are doing NOTHING about it.  But there
is even LESS joy when that person is snickering, bickering, and otherwise just
being a jerk about it too.

There is more to be gained by being a gracious loser in the eyes of your
opponents than a whining one.

Tony Engel
Redmage of Team Shivan
http://users.netonecom.net/~shadow/