Originality sin
May 17th 2009 05:47
First model: I don’t wanna be like everyone else.
Second model: But I don’t wanna be different.
Third model: I just wanna be.
Peter Griffin: What was the name of the bad guy in Tron? . . . Ah, this is gonna drive me nuts.
-- from "A Hero Sits Next Door," Family Guy season 1, episode 5
The phenomenon often referred to as “netdecking” has exploded since the now-defunct Dojo website started publishing decklists in the mid-90s, to the point where players in Beijing and Baltimore might show up at their respective FNM with the exact same 60 cards in their decks. Personally, I would feel weird knowing that somewhere else in the world, my exact deck was being played in French, but it’s increasingly the default approach to even low-level tournaments like FNM. Why are Magic players so afraid to be different?
We’ve heard all the reasonable-sounding explanations. “Some people care about winning, Jose, and they want to use proven decklists.” “If you were in a duel, Jose, would you make your own sword or would you go to the blacksmith?” The analogy is cute . . . for about a minute. Then you realize it’s just stupid, because the sword is just the thing you fight with, and Excalibur itself is no use if you don’t know which end to poke the enemy with – in fact, you’ll probably just cut your leg off. Asking “would you make your own or would you go to the blacksmith?” implies that Magic isn’t a game of skill, and anybody who’s ever been to a pre-release and seen the kind of sealed decks that go 0-4 should know better.
(And besides, if Magic were a swordfight, it would have to play by fantasy tropes, and if you’d ever read a fantasy novel in your life, you’d know that using your own sword is almost always better than using someone else's. Daystar Clarion can summon pure light and fire from the stars – but only when Rhapsody holds it. The Sommerswerd can rebuke undead and smite the gods themselves – but if anyone other than Lone Wolf raised it in anger, it would lose its powers for ever. Aragorn couldn’t become the king until he reforged Elendil’s sword – buying a replacement was not an option.)
Fun is like my favorite elf bard’s fire from the stars. No-one knows where it comes from, and nobody knows exactly what it’s made of – but it burns away the cares of the mortal world, and it is beyond price. Sure, winning can be fun, but it is incredibly presumptuous for the proponents of netdecking to suggest that winning in itself is the only thing that is fun for everyone, and to further imply that nothing else is.
Talking about Rhapsody and her sword is also cute as far as it goes, but considering how prominent the flavor elements of Magic are, it goes much farther. The game is the direct descendant of Dungeons and Dragons, which is about nothing but imagination. Let’s face it – if you don’t like the fantasy flavor, why exactly are you playing? The money? You can make a better profit from playing poker, and you’ll never lose a game because you drew nine lands in a row. The praise? You’d get more from being a YouTube celebrity, and that way you don’t even have to be good at anything. If you find you can’t play anything that hasn’t been on MTG Salvation for more than two days, you might want to look into one of those other options, and leave Magic to everyone who’s not afraid to use their imagination – y’know, the people it was made for.
Second model: But I don’t wanna be different.
Third model: I just wanna be.
Peter Griffin: What was the name of the bad guy in Tron? . . . Ah, this is gonna drive me nuts.
-- from "A Hero Sits Next Door," Family Guy season 1, episode 5
The phenomenon often referred to as “netdecking” has exploded since the now-defunct Dojo website started publishing decklists in the mid-90s, to the point where players in Beijing and Baltimore might show up at their respective FNM with the exact same 60 cards in their decks. Personally, I would feel weird knowing that somewhere else in the world, my exact deck was being played in French, but it’s increasingly the default approach to even low-level tournaments like FNM. Why are Magic players so afraid to be different?
We’ve heard all the reasonable-sounding explanations. “Some people care about winning, Jose, and they want to use proven decklists.” “If you were in a duel, Jose, would you make your own sword or would you go to the blacksmith?” The analogy is cute . . . for about a minute. Then you realize it’s just stupid, because the sword is just the thing you fight with, and Excalibur itself is no use if you don’t know which end to poke the enemy with – in fact, you’ll probably just cut your leg off. Asking “would you make your own or would you go to the blacksmith?” implies that Magic isn’t a game of skill, and anybody who’s ever been to a pre-release and seen the kind of sealed decks that go 0-4 should know better.
(And besides, if Magic were a swordfight, it would have to play by fantasy tropes, and if you’d ever read a fantasy novel in your life, you’d know that using your own sword is almost always better than using someone else's. Daystar Clarion can summon pure light and fire from the stars – but only when Rhapsody holds it. The Sommerswerd can rebuke undead and smite the gods themselves – but if anyone other than Lone Wolf raised it in anger, it would lose its powers for ever. Aragorn couldn’t become the king until he reforged Elendil’s sword – buying a replacement was not an option.)
Read flavor text – you might learn something.
Fun is like my favorite elf bard’s fire from the stars. No-one knows where it comes from, and nobody knows exactly what it’s made of – but it burns away the cares of the mortal world, and it is beyond price. Sure, winning can be fun, but it is incredibly presumptuous for the proponents of netdecking to suggest that winning in itself is the only thing that is fun for everyone, and to further imply that nothing else is.
Talking about Rhapsody and her sword is also cute as far as it goes, but considering how prominent the flavor elements of Magic are, it goes much farther. The game is the direct descendant of Dungeons and Dragons, which is about nothing but imagination. Let’s face it – if you don’t like the fantasy flavor, why exactly are you playing? The money? You can make a better profit from playing poker, and you’ll never lose a game because you drew nine lands in a row. The praise? You’d get more from being a YouTube celebrity, and that way you don’t even have to be good at anything. If you find you can’t play anything that hasn’t been on MTG Salvation for more than two days, you might want to look into one of those other options, and leave Magic to everyone who’s not afraid to use their imagination – y’know, the people it was made for.
| 39 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
