Experiences of Discrimination in the Magic the Gathering Community
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Posted on Oct. 8, 2014, 7:59 p.m. by PasorofMuppets
Hey everybody,
A few judges are working on a project to help make the Magic community a more diverse and welcoming place. If you or anybody you know has any stories about the community being less aware or welcoming than you would like, please share it with them! It's totally anonymous, and it would be extremely helpful.
Thank you for your time!
PasorofMuppets says... #3
I have definitely noticed ableism being a huge, often unmentioned, problem in the magic community.
October 8, 2014 8:42 p.m.
VampireArmy says... #4
Honestly, it's this air of elitism I've noticed. Those who build good decks and win alot just grow an ego. Obviously not everyone but observable enough a lot of people
October 8, 2014 8:47 p.m.
Lots of shit talking at my LGS, not much actual discrimination that I've noticed though.
October 8, 2014 9:28 p.m.
i've been around a few places and i've noticed that all of the people shit talking are the try-hards who built a deck card for card copying a list they found online then preen and boast when they're doing well and talk shit and throw cards when they're not.
October 8, 2014 10:03 p.m.
Servo_Token says... #7
My shop is owned by a lovely old couple who don't take any shit. Anyone who looks to cause a ruckus at our place gets the boot, or at least a stern talking to, and all the regulars are lovely people.
Not trying to brag or anything, but I'm just trying to point out that even though there are stories of discrimination, ill-will, and general douchebaggery, there are cool places where this stuff doesn't happen too. If you see problems like this in your area, recognize it and do something about it. Often times just bringing forward the fact that something that is wrong is happening will cause it to eventually stop.
October 8, 2014 10:43 p.m.
People who complain about "netdecking" are the worst lol
October 8, 2014 10:53 p.m.
Dalektable says... #9
I'm really glad my LGS doesn't really have anyone like this...all of the regulars at my store are pretty great.
October 9, 2014 8:14 a.m.
I took a 12 year break from MtG and went to my first FNM event with a deck that was not considered Tier 1. I was mocked all the way through the first game as my opponent beat me. I sided and then game 2 and 3 went to me and I was not met with an apology or at least a "GG". Rather, he continued mocking my deck saying that he couldn't believe he lost to a "pile of pennies" and that it didn't matter because he would still top 8 and never have to see my crap deck again.
I did top 8, so did he. He beat in the tat match up and it was as if match 1 never happened and he went on and on about how he couldn't believe some deserving decks lost their top 8 spot to me. Now, this was a small FNM event, but it was still a very unwelcoming experience. I guess Johnny Never-Loses felt it was his duty to keep anything not Tier 1 net decked out of ":his" venue.
October 9, 2014 8:41 a.m.
HorrorAvengers says... #11
I play highly competitive EDH, and while normally I play a casual rug walkers deck, every now and then some cocky SOB walks in with a 3000$ deck and gloats about it the entire time. Now, my deck is about 200$ max, my Prime Speaker Zegana deck, and it's a legend in the area, because of how vicious it is. The last time it hapenned was a guy walked in with a russian foiled out niv deck, all the combos, control everything. Game 1 I tucked his commander turn 3 and combo killed him turn 4, through 3 counterspells. Game 2 he tucked zegana, I tutored it back, combo killed him turn 5, through a counterspell. Game 3 I decided to have some fun, drew my entire deck, paired eternal witness and navigator, made infinite mana every turn, and infinite counterspelled him. Until he decked out by drawing. I set it up on turn 3. The guy was livid, and it was the funniest shit. I love using unconventional decks to wallop on meta assholes. (not that I dislike meta decks; my buddy plays damia control, and playing against it is always really fun. I just hate the people that flaunt it more than a child molester's penis.)
October 12, 2014 6:03 p.m.
Femme_Fatale says... #12
That is why I enjoy being a feminist bitch in FNM VampireArmy, gets those bastards off of their high horse.
I hate netdecking xlaleclx. I hate it ... with a passion. With the burning fury that is the depths of my soul!
October 14, 2014 7:39 a.m.
VampireArmy says... #13
Femme_Fatale : Nah, fighting fire with fire only gets everyone burned. Instead, I made it a point to tutor him and his little brother every time we played. Every FNM, before it started, they'ed come up to me and ask me to rework their decks so I did with whatever they had then we'd sit down and play a practice match. A few weeks in and he was getting pretty close to beating me. I ended up giving him and his brother 2 buy-a-box promo Nightveil Specter
s just to keep their spirits up.
On the other hand, whenever I played against the D-Bags, I made it a point to play as competitively as possible and if I knew I was going to lose to find a way to kill myself that way they can't walk away feeling like they earned the victory :)
October 14, 2014 10:57 a.m.
HorrorAvengers says... #14
Shit, that reminded me of another thing. We have a particularily shitty guy at our lgs. I play at 2 places, comic grapevine and the lounge at delta collage. One of the girls that plays at delta we refer to as lounge mom. Great person, there for everybody there, and pretty creative with what she plays. Anyway, she went to the LGS, and the asshole there's first comment was, "stupid c*nts shouldn't be playing magic."
he was promptly kicked out in the middle of a higher-cost tournament and treated as a drop, and his binder went "missing". I don't know who did it, but if I did, I would send them flowers and starbucks gift cards for life. Long story short, there is discrimination, but the vast majority of players don't put up with that shit.
October 14, 2014 4:40 p.m.
Femme_Fatale says... #15
Never had that experience. I expect to eventually though.
October 14, 2014 5:12 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #16
I just want to know how you set up Witness + Navigator on turn 3, and also how you combo killed on turn 4 through 3 counterspells. Sick deck.
I've never played in a competitive tournament, but thankfully the people I do play with who are competitive are very nice and willing to talk while they play instead of the jerks who won't even say anything when they cast a counterspell or other form of interaction. When you use your Thoughtseize to point to my card instead of saying it out loud, you've got problems unless it's a language barrier.
October 14, 2014 5:35 p.m.
My old FNM was known for being rather elitist. The first time I went there I top8ed and the guy I had to beat to make it in the top 8 got rather pissy about getting beaten by "some token deck". I talked to some of the other guys there and apparently he was one of those tier 1 netdeckers that couldn't handle being beaten by a tier 2 deck. Elitism could be a problem every now and then, but I had an overall very positive experience though. My overwhelming experience of the magic community has been very positive, it's just the black sheep that ruin the experience for everyone and give the community a bad rep every now and then.
October 14, 2014 5:44 p.m.
At the last few IQ's and PTQ's I went to, the head judge made a huge point about discrimination. He said that anyone caught doing this by making fun of someone's gender, race, age, etc will be immediately disqualified.
But my LGS is full of great people, and they have never done anything like this.
October 14, 2014 5:49 p.m.
HorrorAvengers says... #19
GlistenerAgent this is an ancient list of the deck, since i have put in about another 600, between fetches, a tropical island, FoW, and others. Granted those draws were pretty nuts, but not far off the norm. The Path of Progress; Now without Maros!. If you want I can update the build. The advantage of it is no one piece of my combo is nessicary, other than nav. If navigator resolves, my opponent can counterspell until they run out of hand and it might delay the combo a turn.
Of course, it doesn't help when I have an psuedo-infinite mana setup (I stop counting after about 500), and can just recur everything countered. Doubling Cube is busted when built around.
VampireArmy says... #2
Any time i walk into.a competitive environment, there tends to be a group of people who band together and mock those with less skill...
The worse case was when a mentally impared 13 yr old got hit by a car crossing the street on the way into the shop, they laughed and cheered about him but being able to attend fnm for a while and called his mother a crack whore
October 8, 2014 8:37 p.m.