How to Win Victoriously

Hello Everyone!

I have a sad confession to make: I have not played a single game of sanctioned Standard since RTR came out. Unfortunately I have been so busy at school that my magic playing has been restricted to mostly just playing on Cockatrice, which naturally lends itself to Legacy because that's my favorite format. I have been playing a huge variety of decks online: UBr Storm, Epic Experiment High Tide, Metalworker, Goblins, RUG Delver, White Merfolk, Goblins, and Zombies. Outside of magic I have my classes, but I have also been playing a bunch of sports - club Ultimate Frisbee, Intramural Ultimate Frisbee, club Underwater Hockey, and Intramural Soccer.

Today I had our second Intramural Soccer game of the season, and it was very thought provoking. We won 12-0, but the game was cut short because of the mercy rule. I spent the whole time jogging, and switched into goalie for almost half the game, but still scored 6 of the team goals.

I try very hard to be a nice person to everyone, even if I REALLY don't want to. While there is the whole "you never know when you may cross paths again" reasoning for never having poor relationships with people (which I have already had that happen numerous times to me!), I feel that it's always better to leave a positive impression on people.

So now we reach our moral dilemma: how do I maintain being a nice person that doesn't boast but still celebrate with my team? I don't want to play in such a way that completely obliterates my opponent, but at the same time I don't want to change my play skill dramatically down so they know I'm going easy on them - that's even more humiliating.

I ultimately played pretty soft over the course of the game, and sent myself back to goalkeeper for as much as I could. While goalkeeping I made a point to never catch the ball but just bounce it back out and I would try to send it to the middle as much as possible to allow for maximum scoring opportunities. When playing on the field I wouldn't attack the ball in between their legs, but instead back up a little bit and just capitalize on a mistake. I kept all celebrating to simple high fives.

I feel like I did the best I could to remain humble and not incite issues over the course of the game. No one likes to play against someone who is a bad sport. I'm sure we have all been there - they beat you and act like douchebags the whole time and rub it in your face. Or they lose and they blame a million irrelevant reasons why they lost and start insulting you for that loss.

The parallel to magic here is pretty obvious as magic is often seen as an intellectual sport by those who play. Sports incite competitiveness, and there can often be a dichotomy where a very competitive person goes against someone who really doesn't know what they're doing. In a tournament, where you are thinking win or bust, this can often lean to some unsportsmanlike conduct, but you can't lose 10 yards in a Magic tournament. I remember a while back I read an article on channelfireball which included this expertly drawn graph:

In case if the picture doesn't go through clearly the axis on the graph are "Niceness" on the Y axis and "Skill at Magic" over the X axis. The dramatic low point is the PTQ grinder that can't quite make it onto the Pro Tour.

This is a very simple, yet amazingly elegant display of how I feel about competitive magic players sometimes. There are obviously always exceptions - one of my friends finally qualified for Pro Tour Return to Ravnica and there was much rejoicing because he is a huge friend to everyone, and is never a douche. He made day 2 and finished with a 7-8-1 record, which is very respectable in my opinion. There are, however, many players I know to be complete assholes. One of them made Pro Tour Avacyn Restored and went 1-7 and I felt vindicated.

So bringing ourselves back full circle - how can we win and make ourselves better at magic while at the same time not dropping ourselves down that trench? There's all kinds of little things that you can do over the course of the game that I feel makes it more pleasant for both players. Here's a couple things I have picked up:

1 - Respect your opponent. Beat them too, but also respect them as a person.
2 - Friendly banter before a match is always a good idea. Don't just try to get a little information about their deck before the match starts
3 - Explain why you're calling a judge before you do so that they aren't suspicious of your motives
4 - Don't be overly dramatic with any play, especially when you topdeck the win. Tricky plays or combos should be done in a friendly manner, but never in a rub-in manner
5 - Be clear in all communication, and avoid shady behavior
6 - At the end of the game, always offer the hand and GG if you lose. If you win, only shake their hand if they offer it first. Some people may see the hand shake as a rub-in if they are angry about their loss
7 - If you want to make fun of your opponent after the game, don't do it in the venue where they or their friend could overhear you
8 - If you want to talk about the game afterwards in the venue, especially if they're within earshot, make them out to be an honorable intelligent player
9 - Don't gloat, brag, or complain. You can get your feeling of victory or frustration out of you, but do so without being too animated and inciting others

Some of this stuff should be intuitive, but I feel that every time I go to an event I see almost every one of these points broken, and people getting pissed and tilted. Aren't you glad you won? No one likes you now. Oh you lost? Now I'm never going to hear the end of it.

I think an amazing example of great sportsmanship is Stanislav Cifka. Here's his finals match vs Yuuya Wantanabe He was playing the most non-interactive possible for the Pro Tour, but did so with a charismatic smile and never gloated. When comboing out, when it is clear the opponent has nothing he played his hand face-up and dramatically increased the speed of his actions. Neither he nor his opponent would have to suffer too long once the combo went off. The biggest thing I want to point out though is when Yuuya disrupts the combo with his Deathrite Shaman in the finals at 1:46:00 Cifka did not get frustrated and angry. Instead he just looked at the life, declared Yuuya was at 1, and then continued as if nothing happened. The players were miced up so you could hear their (limited) conversations, and so we all know there wasn't any aggressive banter between them. After Cifka set himself up to win again Yuuya conceded and Cifka was friendly about the match. That's the right way to win.

It's interesting how winning can actually be so much harder than losing beyond obviously gameplay. Sportsmanship is an essential part of the game, and being able to eliminate that trench is essential to help Magic have a better public reputation. That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack