Subject: [ISSUE] RE: Academy Decks Date: Wed, 18 Nov 98 15:36:41 PST From: "Ken & Altine Roberts" To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Can you stand one more thought on the issue of Academy Decks? I thought that Mr. Ali's points about learning to play against the Academy deck instead of whining about them were applaudable (it does seem like a lot of whining is going on), but in this case not applicable. I think that the main problem appears to be not in the strength of the deck, but the speed. For any deck to be able to "explode" in the first round, touching off a combo that kills your opponent before he/she even has a chance to play their first card is inexcusable (in my humble opinion). How are you supposed to "shatter Lotus Petals" or "Pyro Time Spiral" when you do not have any mana on the board? How many people can truthfully say that they can have fun playing a game where they may lose before they actually participate (if we exclude the shuffle process)? I do not understand how WotC allowed this one to slip through the cracks. If it is because their playtesters do not have the ability to see in advance that this can happen, they should find more qualified playtesters. If the playtesters did discover this, and WotC did not take measures to ensure that each game would at least reach round two (or better, round three) then I say shame on them. I am not experienced enough to claim I know which card(s) needs fixing, but something clearly needs to be done. It would appear that WotC is trying to get M:TG recognized as a sport/game contest with the same level of respect that chess has.....well I do not think that if a chess player could checkmate his opponent in the first move that chess would be so well respected, or so widely played. WotC needs to think about it. So who am I to make all these comments? I am nobody. I am just the average Joe. I recently got hooked and made the jump up from Portal to the real game with dreams of playing in tourneys and meeting my Magic idols on the PT. Now I think I may just go back to Portal..... Respectfully, Ken Roberts asenn@hevanet.com