The Game, The Etiquette, The Fun, and you #4
General forum
Posted on March 18, 2016, 11:13 a.m. by Titilanious
Greetings again all, Today on The Game the etiquette the fun and you, I would like to try something a little different (as suggested by Epochalyptik) I would like to talk about one thing in more detail.
I want to say that once again these are just some thoughts of a simple Johnny that has played magic for a long time and I am not here to irritate anyone, I am just here to perk some thought.
Scoop or not to scoop
This is something that is and odd topic, there are times in a game where one of the players will think they have lost or just get too irritated to play anymore. The person ends up scooping up his cards and conceding the game. Now I am not talking about you are at one life and your opponent swings with some massive unlockable monster and its obvious that you cant do anything. I am talking about when an opponent has a specific string of things that they CAN do to beat you the next turn, or an opponent starts a combo where it is not definite that they will win or can do something wrong, or even you know what a person is playing and decide to skip the match completely. The things that are not definite it is kind of foolish to defeat yourself and give up when there is a chance to survive or even win. Now let me tackle each one of these.
Say you are sitting in a match it is the end of your turn and you have three blockers, no flyers, your opponent has 4 creatures, one is a Birds of Paradise you are at one life and your opponent is at one life, you have no cards in hand your opponent has no cards in their hand and you didnt attack with your 3 creatures because the board is at a stalemate. So before passing the turn you notice your opponent has a Gavony Township you realize that they could simply put a +1/+1 counter on everything including the Birds of Paradise and swing in for the win. Do you scoop? No! dont scoop, dont assume that your opponent will notice will do that, 9 out of 10 times they will notice, but that one time they dont, you survive and get to possibly top deck a win.
Next say your opponent is playing Eggs, and starts to combo off. Do you scoop? No! Depending what combo it is, your opponent could fail at it or just be bluffing and not even have the appropriate cards for the combo. This is a card game, bluffing is part the game, bluff the best you can and make your opponent think differently.Lastly this is an odd one that I have experienced, I was playing Bogles in an IQ of around 100 people, I was 3-1 going in to game 4 and by chance I was sitting with my friends between matches and I ended up sitting next to the guy that I would be playing next match. We were talking before pairings went up and we found out what each other was playing, he was playing Affinity. Now that isnt a particularly easy match for Bogles so I really didnt want to play him but I sat down before I found out I was playing him. He came over sat down looked at me and said Im not even going to play; I cant beat that deck.. This befuddled me, because he really could beat my deck. Maybe it was just not understanding the decks or even something else. But I got a 2-0 victory because of it. Should you Scoop? No! even if you know what your opponent is playing it is foolish to not play. Any deck can have a bad draw and end up losing even if the deck straight up counters the other deck. Play it out, see what happens.
Now for the other side of things, with an opponent conceding you can feel unaccomplished or refused of fun. So is it rude to concede before your opponent gets a chance to play? I think that it really depends on the circumstance. If it is possible to draw out a game that you know you cant win and drawing it out you would give your opponent more information on your deck, then it is likely better to scoop and go to the next game. If your opponent starts combo-ing off and you just pick up your cards out of frustration, it can be considered a bit rude to derive your opponent of some fun.
There are tons of ways to beat yourself in games without even playing, don't over estimate your opponents intelligence. The point is to keep your wits, stay confident, and play it out you never know what can happen.
Thanks for reading!
DERPLINGSUPREME says... #3
@Titilanious you seem to only be looking at this from a 1v1 point of view, so imma offer my words on multiplayer scooping
It happens a lot and for various reasons, but I'd say that in multi, scooping is a better tactic. since most of the time in multiplayer you're casual, ending a game that's gone on too long by the scooping of a bunch of players can be a good idea. Its also good if you don't want someone who's trying to kill you to not get advantages. This means scooping in response to attacks so lifelink doesn't happen
to conclude, I'd say that scooping CAN be okay, but usually in 1v1 its better to give yourself the chance to try to win.
March 18, 2016 6:51 p.m.
SpringingTiger says... #4
While I agree with almost everything you said, there is one reason to concede that you didn't mention, and that's the clock. Managing your 50 minutes of time in the round is important, and sometimes it will be in your best interests to concede a game to increase the chances that you'll finish the match on time. For example, say you're playing a game of OGW draft, the board's relatively empty, both players are topdecking, and there are twelve minutes left in the round. It's game two, you're up a game, and your opponent draws and plays Chandra, Flamecaller. In this case, conceding the game will often increase your chances of winning the match! However, if there were 25 minutes left in the round instead of 12, I would not concede the game, on the off chance that I draw multiple large creatures in a row, while my opponent blanks on his or her next couple of draw steps.
As for what to do when your opponent goes for a slow combo of some sort (and I think this also applies to prison decks), such as Eggs, Storm, Elves, Ad Nauseam, Lantern, or The Four Horsemen, I agree that in general you should not concede. However, I believe that there are two exceptions to this. One's the clock, as I talked about above. The other is more mental/emotional. Say you're playing against eggs, which you hate playing against, and it's the third game of the match. Your opponent starts to go off, and as they continue doing their thing, you get more and more frustrated. In this case it may be best for you to concede, even if they're not 100% to win, so that you can take as much time as you need to relax and refocus before the next round. You never want to put yourself in a position where you're feeling frustrated and/or upset at the start of a round if you can avoid it, because people don't play as well as they would otherwise when they're frustrated.
The last thing I have to say is that in TOURNAMENT Magic, it should never be considered rude to concede, ever. If my opponent starts to combo, I have every right to concede, and am under no obligation to sit there while my opponent finishes the combo. If they want to finish going through their combo after I've conceded, they may do so, but they have no right to make me sit there if I want to hang out with my friends, get something to eat, etc.
I enjoyed the read, and I'm sorry my comment ended up being as long as it is.
March 18, 2016 6:56 p.m.
Titilanious says... #5
DERPLINGSUPREME Yes I was focusing on the 1v1 aspect, and i didnt think about multiplayer, so the points you brought up were very insightful. I also agree with them always fun to not give one of your friends an extra advantage later on in the game. Thanks :)
SpringingTiger I did indeed forget about the clock. The points you brought up are defiantly legitimate. And no need to apologize for the comment being long, i enjoyed reading it.
scopesightzx says... #2
that blood artist gave me feels. The flavor text honestly sounded like something he could have said around the time his wife died
March 18, 2016 12:11 p.m.