Thoughts on Magic in the UK

[Dan Barrett]

Have been inspired by pre-release chatter to try and put together a balanced view on Magic in the UK - please reply with any and all thoughts, boys and girls!

 

Ideas to get you started:

 

What is good about UK Magic?

What is bad?

How can the bad be solved, and the good improved yet further?

Are there any heroes (or villains)? 

Are players not travelling enough to other events?

Are players not working together enough (esp those Q'd for PTs)?

What are the good/bad tournament venues/TOs/etc?

Why aren't British players performing better on the PT?

[MarcoOJ]

Pete: I wasn't suggesting that you're bitter, I know u like your crappy version better and would almost certainly have run it even if i had given you our far superior list :P. I was just saying that it wouldve been the right thing to do to give you the list or at least discuss it more, and also give the list to my friends from coventry and to JR, regardless of whether they ended up playing it or not (most people have a weird conservative aversion to playing something other than their deck last-minute even if the new tech is clearly awesome, and so a lot probably wouldve stuck with whatever they were running).

[Matteo OJ]

@Gary "What Pete said, most of the good UK players are up their own ass. They seem to think being good at magic makes them cool"

 

that seemed somewhat of a personal attack tbh, and is the typical attitude I experience a lot from people who haven't even met "the good players". Also did you read that article? it just describes endless incidents of you raging / threatening people with violence / acting like a drunkard - obviously not the way dan meant it, but it definitely just made you sound like an incredibly unpleasant person to those that don't know you. I guess the personal callout was uncalled for and I apologise for that, but I was trying to make the point that what you said in your post is the attitude held by many uk players trying to "make it" and hence a reason why the uk magic community is so separated. 

 

Like Marco said, you can't just randomly discuss all your testing with anyone that isn't going to actively help the group, and so as soon as somebody feels "rejected" they tell people so-and-so good player's a dick, word spreads, etc. Also like marco said we make fun of each other constantly, it's just the way we are, so every now and then someone thinks we're targetting them in particular and, again, word spreads, people build unnecessary grudges etc. The italian community is just a constant make-fun-fest (just google translate some of their facebook threads) and yet, as marco said, they're all extremely close and there are very few "feuds" like the ones found in uk magic - why is that exactly (I don't actually know the answer, I guess it's a cultural thing - americans are even more "delicate" where even an innocent off-hand comment can ruin a friendship)

[Jason Savage]

This thread has become very interesting.

 

@Matteo There is the banter you talk about within the different groups around the UK, but not between the different groups. Maybe it is down to them not knowing each other that well. I would not banter with you as I do not believe I know you well enough, even though ours paths have crossed at a few events over the years, whereas i am happy to rip some of the London players a new one! Even if I am too nice, :-).

 

I know we have talked about magic in the UK before and there has not been enough discussions on that subject and this thread and Dan article could be the kick start it needs?

 

I think there should be a good drink up Nationals and maybe that would help?

[Dan Barrett]

Jason's definitely onto something when he says we don't know you well enough to dish it out quite yet - we're certainly not averse to rinsing one another within London, but I'm not sure I'd be confident making a quip about you or your brother, Matteo.

 

However there is also the issue that some people, no matter how well you know them, just aren't into that kind of humour, and won't ever appreciate it. This isn't necessarily a character fault,  you have to be aware of this and speak to them in a different manner. You have to know when you can push it and when you can push it and when you need to hold back, and some Magic players are just terrible at that.

 

 

As for Gary, yea he can be loud and a bit of a drunkard at times, but it's all in good spirit really - and I think most people read it as such.

[Philip Dickinson]

i like the OJs and dan gardner is one of my favourite magical card players. but then again there are probably people who think that i'm "rude" or whatever as well. i seriously hear "omg dan gardner was a dick to me" every now and again but never actually hear anything that justifies this reaction :s

[Dan Barrett]

There's definitely at least 1 guy that doesn't like me, Phil, remember his look of disgust at TGC last Fri?!

[Gilbert Luciano]

Totally agreee with you Dan props for your article on SGC! Missing gary...

Dan Barrett said:

Jason's definitely onto something when he says we don't know you well enough to dish it out quite yet - we're certainly not averse to rinsing one another within London, but I'm not sure I'd be confident making a quip about you or your brother, Matteo.

 

However there is also the issue that some people, no matter how well you know them, just aren't into that kind of humour, and won't ever appreciate it. This isn't necessarily a character fault,  you have to be aware of this and speak to them in a different manner. You have to know when you can push it and when you can push it and when you need to hold back, and some Magic players are just terrible at that.

 

 

As for Gary, yea he can be loud and a bit of a drunkard at times, but it's all in good spirit really - and I think most people read it as such.

[Peter Dun]

never ever ever ever mention magic-league in a serious mtg article Dan

 

it's a very serious legal issue with wizards and people prefer to pretend

it doesn't exist... it will mean linking to the article to important wizards

people will be difficult. see if you can get your editor to edit it out...

[Peter Dun]

having read the article... it's probably ok... but just something to be aware of in the future

[Dan Barrett]

Thanks Pete, this wasn't something I'd ever considered so will be careful when I write articles all about you in future! :P

[Dan Barrett]

ARTICLE:

 

http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/standard/22276_The_State_Of_Play...

[Matteo OJ]

gerryt namedropped dv8r in a recent article if you didnt know