Competition.
You can expect to find it in nearly everything you do. Whether it’s seeking employment (As most of us MTG players should be doing… Come on guys, give mum a break!), playing football, or rockin’ a Pro Tour, you’ll be constantly upping the ante to be the best there-is to be.
While you evolve, so will the competition around you. At some point, the inevitable is going to happen. You shouldn’t shy away from it. You shouldn’t let it crush your spirits. You just accept it, and try to figure out how to avoid it in the future. That’s right, that inevitable thing we all curse and blame for life’s misfortunes… UTTER DEFEAT.
It happens to everybody at some point in their life and you should be happy for whoever it is that brought upon the ruthless beating you received. After all, you learn quite a bit from losses, more so then from victory. And, if you can’t take the trophy home, at least you’ll at least be bring home a load of character at the end of the day.
That being said, I have quite a bit of character. A lot. Quite frankly, I’m a terrible magic player. I lose all sorts of tournaments, pre-releases, kitchen table games.. In fact, I think the only thing I’ve ever won at a magic event is a pin they were basically given away to everybody at the Dragon Maze Pre-release event. It can really hurt sometimes, especially when you sink so much heart and soul into something, and all you have to show for it at the end of the day is this lousy pin. But you need to never let it get the best of you. You should be embracing the person opposite of you, and be ecstatic for them. Even if it is a complete stranger, who has the look and personality of Ben Stein that doesn’t even look amused at the outcome. At the end of the day, it is just a card game.
And that’s what I’m getting at with this article. It’s just a card game. I go to events, and see people who don’t look like they are having fun. Who get downright frustrated. Who drop from a tournament because they have lost their chance to take home a piece of the pie. I see people who play the game mechanically, and without enjoyment. This is wrong.
Magic, has always been just that. Magic. It’s about appreciating the cards design, immersing yourself in the fantasy, getting pumped up when a Garruk hits the table, then blaring Rammsteins Hau Ruck to accompany him (changing the words for appropriateness of course).
It’s about having fun.
If you aren’t having fun, then it’s not playing magic anymore... it’s working magic (which admittedly, does sound misleadingly cool). Nobody should get into the game for this reason. You’ll end up spoiling a great, and wonderful thing for yourself.
It’s not all about winning. It’s about the actual game. It’s about the great competition you’ll find in the game. It’s about all the interactions, both between cards and people. What are we, if not our interactions and how we choose to exercise them?
Some Food for thought.
