My Future Sight – Extending A Helping Hand
18 Apr 2010 | David Li Wang
If you think about how you started playing Magic, I’m positive that the majority of you learnt from your friends when you were young and at some point loved slamming down some of your favourite bomby rares. Some of you have developed and changed drastically from those days, now playing competitively, forgetting about those casual games and the FNM’s, and have been concentrating on that next PTQ you want to win or top 8. Let’s not forget that Magic isn’t just about playing and winning.
Remember opening that first booster pack ever? Remember pulling some awesome rare that had you excited for days? Remember playing your first game? Remember that awesome victory off a crazy comeback? Those experiences were probably some of your greatest experiences. Magic is about these experiences. Creating these experiences for yourself, your friends and even for people you might not even know.
I can guarantee you never became the quality player you are today on your own. Neither will some of the young players out there. They need help with making that right play, learning the right rules and building a better deck. Although some guys may be stubborn and refuse help, most Magic players are willing to learn and improve. If it’s teaching them not to make a misplay, it can potentially help them win more games in the future and retain their interest in Magic.
Magic isn’t as simple as we all first think when we start playing and rules, mechanics and how things some things work are often difficult for some new players to deal with. When I started several years go for instance, didn’t know how priority worked for the first 5 months I played the game, and neither did some of my friends. Take the time to help out a guy you see at a store who’s broken a rule. Teach them to untap before they draw and get into good habits of not missing triggers. It’s these little things that we’re taught that can make a massive difference and teaching them to others will do the same.
With deck building, I know there are plenty of new players who refuse to net deck, believing in their own creativity but sometimes their decks aren’t exactly perfect. Help them make those little tweaks and the reason behind it and they could potentially become a lot better deck builders.
There also might be some people with great potential out there but have never played Magic. Don’t hesitate to introduce them to the game. Just do it! There’s no better time with the release of Rise of the Eldrazi. New good players in the game keep the game healthy and competitive. Keeping Magic alive, healthy and competitive is one of the few things we can do as Magic players.
Finally I want to leave some of you with a few questions. Do you still see yourself playing Magic in 10 years? Who will become the young ‘pros’ in that time? How will they become the ‘pros’?
Hope that was a good read!! Good Games! Good Times! GG!
By David Li Wang aka RedBluePlayer on Good Games Forums and MTG Salvation
For discussion.