[Trick]

Lee discusses drafting for money, why he does it and why he thinks you should do it. What are your thoughts? Agree? Disagree?

-- Trick

[Lythand]

Wow. I am really surprised no one has commented on this aticle yet. Before I do, there are a few things I want to say.

1. I have a lot of respect for Lee as a player. He has been one of my magic Idols before I ever met him, and when he tore me up at a Mega-con game some 5-6 years ago, I was honored to have played him. With that said, I mean no disrespect in what my comments will be.

2. My comments may seemed to be biased because of my involvment in magic as a casual player.

Here we go

First of all in general, I don't think people should be playing for money. If you want to play for a tournament supported prize, thats one thing, but if you're not doing it in a tournament setting, then you're gambling. I'm not going to say I never bellied up to a table with a few friends and played some poker for cash. But that is what poker is all about. When you here people say they are going to play poker, you already know there is money involved. When my buddies mention playing magic at a friends house, money is never in my mind. It's the whole idea of comparing Magic as a Money game, rather then a casual card game of fun. Introducing money in the game is taking the fun away from Magic, and making it more of a cut throat game, which is where poker is. The whole intention of Wizards is to bring Magic back to its fun state. The reason why the Play Network is going to be introduced offering prize support for more casual formats. Magic should be considered a game of fun where you and your buddies can play unpressured, kick back and enjoy.

One of the statements in the article that disturbed me was this one.

I’ve never really enjoyed playing Magic for “fun”. It just never seemed like a “fun game” could keep me interested enough to put forth my best game.

This is ussualy one of the defining traits I see between casual and tournament players. And one of the things thats talked often about is how magic isn't fun anymore because of the people who are so competative. When you get to this point, then you are playing Magic as a chore, a job, and it shouldn't be that way.

Like I said at the beginning, I have a lot of respect for Lee, and still do, and my opinion may be biased based on my casual feelings for the game, I just don't think this promotes Magic in a positive manor.

Some are probably not going to agree with me and that's ok. It's just my feelings towards the game

[Chopperdave]

I'm not trying to flame this article...but.....
You use way to many quotation marks in this article, I was honestly getting sick of it after a while.
The articles on this site as a whole leave something to be desired.  I would, and i know alot of other people would agree with me, want more(or any) articles written about deck theory, match-up analyse and/or the current *Insert hot format here* meta-game.  I, like alot of people on these forums, have been testing for reigonals, and I would like to get my hands on some theory articles; not just casual/noone does this anymore, type articles.

Just my two copper peices.

[leesteht]

I certainly respect your opinions and in no way offended by them. In fact, I appreciate your comments and feedback.

Lythand - I was a "casual" (sorry Chopper) player once, and I realized that in order to be "competitive" I had to have that environment or atmostphere around me at all times. It's not a policy for everyone, but it worked very well for me. It's not to say that my philosophy is the ONLY philosphy, but I have helped quite a few become pro players (or at least attend a pro tour) and it's because of these approaches.

Look at the people who are asking for Money Drafts at your next local tournament. See if majority of them finish in the top 8 of tournaments are just regular chotchskees.

Chopper - I try to use the quotations for readers to identify some of the lingo that we use. I've had some feedback from many returning players who feel that the articles are helpful in becoming informed on current state of Magic.

Regarding the part of testing. Due to the fact that I hardly test, I try to provide venues that I know can help raise a person's level of play. Majority of the time, education, information and ability to deal with pressure is the true measure of a Magic Champion. The reason why I say that is because it's pretty clear what the best deck(s) in standard are. Basically, let the pros do the testing and you do the winning

[Drafterdot56]

I'm in the middle of this debate. I think that for people to have fun, everybody at the draft has to be on the same page. Some people play magic very casually. Some people like competition. You can't say that magic is just a chore for competitive players anymore than you can say casual players are just shying away from the tournament scene because they're bad players. That would be like saying "you must be bored all the time because you don't do the same things I do!" There are two kinds of magic players, and they both have their own fun and their own right to play the game their way.

Now, drafting will always lean towards the competitive players. That's just the way it is; wacky Johnny things don't happen much in draft and sealed, and if you're just waiting for something crazy to happen it's going to be tedious. Way tedious.

[Lythand]

I'm in the middle of this debate. I think that for people to have fun, everybody at the draft has to be on the same page. Some people play magic very casually. Some people like competition. You can't say that magic is just a chore for competitive players anymore than you can say casual players are just shying away from the tournament scene because they're bad players. That would be like saying "you must be bored all the time because you don't do the same things I do!" There are two kinds of magic players, and they both have their own fun and their own right to play the game their way.

Now, drafting will always lean towards the competitive players. That's just the way it is; wacky Johnny things don't happen much in draft and sealed, and if you're just waiting for something crazy to happen it's going to be tedious. Way tedious.

The problem with what your saying and it has been mentioned in many of articles, is that for Pro players, not all but most, it has become a chore, a job. It has no longer become fun, but a way to make money. Yes I am sure that it is a better job then flipping burgers, and you do have your share of fun participating. But the fun in just the game itself for these people has died. It's the reason why a lot of the big name players drop ut of the tourny scene, only to remerge a few years later to start back up.

[leesteht]

I think you are both right about it being a "job" to some. However, like most anything you can think of, there is a degree of excitement that comes from raising stakes. Much like a parachutist who jumps from a plane for thrills, then finds themselves jumping off of buildings to enhance the thrill or perhaps even drugs. It's about the "thrill" of victory.

I enjoy playing, don't get me wrong. However, I don't know of anyone who doesn't play to win. If you play to win, then you want to know if you can play to win a tournament, and so on and so on. There are many people who find that they need to find a means of measurement. To see where they stand.

MMORPGs are a great example of addiction based on mere measurement.

People need to know how good they are and one of the ways to measure that is by playing for money.