Subject: My volley in the never-ending conflict Date: Thu, 08 Oct 1998 17:25:21 PDT From: "Dominick Riesland" To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com When last we left our intrepid adventurers, wildebeests reported the latest war news as follows: =================================================================== I feel it is necessary to express my discontent with "The Deck's to Beat " section of the Dojo. There have been countless arguments about how they are degrading the game, and I, myself; must agree to a certain extent. [snip] You know ask, "What does this have to do with the Dojo?" Quite simply, the regular posting of "Decks to Beat" on the Magic Dojo lead many people to follow the tracks of other people's creativity. I will emphasize here the phrase, "Other people's creativity," quite simply because that is what is occurring. People are becoming more material about their gaming, and depending on what everyone says can "win" tournaments. No longer are many people making their own decks, but decks made by the creating geniuses like Darwin Kastle and Brian Weismann, and other original thinkers. =================================================================== I take it then, that you don't play tournament chess. MCO (Modern Chess Openings) has been a staple of that scene for decades. As people complain here that there aren't any original decks, so you find certain chess players complaining that their events boil down to whether you've examined the Najdorf Variation to the 24th or 25th move accurately enough. =================================================================== Another keyword here would be "Original." I am sure that every single one of us has tried outing a Sligh, Suicide Black, at for lack of a more disgusted term, controlling deck. I agree that we all like to test ideas, however shouldn't we be looking farther than that? A great people buy magazines, read articles online, and watch games to find out what is the "hot" deck of the present. At that depth people stop. Further than that, and I would have to believe their heads would explode at the thought of not using a "cliched" deck, and actually thinking deeper. =================================================================== Don't paint everyone with the same brush. I get people who ask me repeatedly to tell then what deck to play in a tournament, because they know they can't build one well enough to do anything. Others operate on a time factor: I needed a Rath Cycle deck and didn't have one two days before I thought I was going to a tournament-- guess what I did then. And it's always good to have a clue as to what the opponents are playing, as it makes my job easier. I don't know how many people realized that Survival of the Fittest and Recurring Nightmare work well together. But does that mean that everyone who plays those two cards together is copying a Dojo deck? Hardly! Spike Girls, Horsecraft, and Finkel Death all use those same cards to different ends. And when Urza's Saga becomes Standard legal, expect to see even more insanity developed at the same time from different places. =================================================================== Here is a solution: We can stop printing original decks on The Dojo, and preserve them from being tainted with the term of being "run-of-the-mill." As much as they can inspire, they are degrading the game at the same time. =================================================================== That won't work. The newsgroups and WotC-run mailing lists have been around for ages, and if the decks aren't published one place, they'll move somewhere else. =================================================================== A second solution is this: In some way or another, push people to think farther than "Burn" or "Control." There are tons of out-of-print and in-print cards that are being overlooked. If many of actually attempt using such cards, perhaps more idea would circulate, leading towards dozens of original ideas instead of two or three. =================================================================== If that's what you want, you'll have to take the lead. Make the Sleeper Agent Deck From Hell and show us how to abuse it. Win a 64-player Standard tournament with your Okk deck. Lead, follow, or get out of the way, in other words. Complaining about the state of events only aggravates it. Dominick Riesland, "The TURNABOUT Guy" Somewhat Official Milwaukee M:tG Rules Guru DCI Level I Judge (and climbing) ======================== "Begin at the beginning, and go on until you come to the end; then stop." -- The King of Hearts ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com