Magic: The Gathering makes me feel like an idiot (RANT)
mr_bigmouth_502
Veteran

Joined: 12 Dec 2013
Age: 31
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 7,028
Location: Alberta, Canada
Magic: The Gathering is a game I have a rather love/hate relationship with. I think it's an incredibly well-crafted game with thousands of interesting cards, all sorts of different strategies, and a near-infinite number of possible gameplay variations, yet it still tends to frustrate the living hell out of me.
One of the main problems I have with MtG is that as a non-electronic, tabletop game, it inherently requires me to play against other people if I even want to play at all. I do not have nearly as many opportunities to practice as I would like to, and when I do finally get to play, it's usually in a semi-competitive or competitive environment with other people who play on a much more routine basis, and are therefore better than me. I've been playing since at least 2009, if not 2008 even, and I regularly get my ass handed to me by people who have only been playing for six months, or maybe a year or two. I am easily intimidated by players who can play faster than me, and know what all of the cards do off the top of their head, and when I am intimidated, I tend to play even more poorly than I would otherwise.
Another problem I have with MtG is that everyone I play against seems to be faster than me. I am very slow and methodical in my playing style, yet I am not that good at executing intricate strategies requiring lots of combos. Usually, I just try to counter whatever my opponent is throwing at me, and find ways around his defenses so that I can beat him over the head repeatedly. Other people play so f*****g fast it makes my head spin, and I honestly think that by not being neurotypical, I am inherently disadvantaged in these type of scenarios. I should also point out that though MtG is a turn-based game, there are still a limited number of things a person can do during an opponent's turn, and some of the most powerful strategies in the game involve using instant spells and effects to counteract your opponent's actions while they are being performed. In that sense, MtG very much has a real time element.
Probably the biggest problem I have with Magic: The Gathering, aside from having fewer opportunities to practice my skills than my opponents, is the fact that I have a poor attention span, and a sh***y short-term memory. I can only play for so long before I stop caring and stop wanting to play. One game is fine for me, two is pushing it, playing in a tournament with multiple opponents with "best of three" rules is just something I can't f*****g handle. Other people seem to have no problems with it, but for me, I can only pay attention for so long before I need to take a breather for a while. It's mentally exhausting! I don't understand how people can play for game after game and not need a f*****g break. I can't even count the number of times I've basically lost on purpose during the tournaments I've played just so that I don't have to keep exerting myself.
I love the concepts behind Magic: The Gathering, I think a lot of the cards are really cool, and I think the lore is kind of fascinating as well, but my god, playing it can be like f*****g torture sometimes!
TL;DR: Autism and ADHD are ruining much of the enjoyment I could be getting out of Magic: The Gathering.
A couple of things:
Your problems with it being a physical card game is something I understand easily. It's an issue I actually have not just with something like that, but with alot of multiplayer games as a whole, but particularly those that involve local play instead of online. I just have so much trouble tolerating that. There's ALWAYS a heavy social element to that, regardless of the genre of game being played, and.... yeah, you know where I'm going with that one.
That all being said.... that's what the online version of the game is for. And no, I dont mean the Duels of the Planeswalkers games, which I find to be terrible. I mean the actual full game client, Magic The Gathering Online; it's *exactly* the same as the physical card game, including even the prices, but there's a few very, very nice differences:
1. It's not local. Yay! I share your problems in dealing with other people. When playing online, it's often more like it's just you and the machine; sure, there's technically another person on the other end, but without rules being a problem, well, you just dont NEED to communicate at all; many players really prefer to focus on the game at hand. So you're essentially by yourself, isolated by the machine. This, to me, is the biggest benefit by far, as I just cant handle the alternative very well. It makes me nervous and paranoid.
2. The game handles ALL of the rules for you. No more rules arguements, no more being bloody confused, none of that crap. It's SO much better. I remember one time I was playing at some shop or other, and I had this deck that was all about color shifting causing unsummons/resummons, each summoned creature DOING something upon being summoned. I had a single turn at one point.... just ONE turn, not like, 5... that took 30 minutes. Why did it take that long? Because it was absolutely stupidly complicated; I think I activated like half my deck and every card on the table all in one go, and it took AWHILE to explain how it worked to A: the other player, and B: the guy that was serving as the rules judge or whatever for that. Seriously. It took FOREVER. No more of that crap with the online one. It helps A TON. It's a big weight off of the shoulders of both players, since with the physical game, that's one of the things that can make the social aspect go all nasty.
3. Getting the cards you actually WANT is dramatically easier. Physical game, if you dont have friends to trade with.... yeah, good luck getting specific cards. It aint happening; you'll have to rely on luck. Online game, yes, every card pack you open is just as random as the physical game... but there are LEGIONS of these things I've always called "store bots". Just like with the physical game, each card is worth a certain amount; typically, it's pretty much the same prices that individual cards in the physical game go for, including rares being much more pricey. The store bots, though, carry about a bazillion different cards, and you can trade *anything* to them. As a rule, they never refuse a trade because they "dont need the card". Dump whatever junk you dont need at one, it'll pay out in "tickets" (which are used as currency, 1 ticket = $1), which can then be used to simply buy cards from the thing. The prices for cards are pretty much the same across all the store bots (no, I dont know why there are then so many of the things, when they're all basically the same), but unlike the physical version, it makes it very, very easy to find what you want. You dont need even specific card names to find them, either; you can search for effects or keywords or whatever. This makes this aspect of the game MUCH less frustrating. I always hated, in the physical version, not being able to find the sorts of cards that I thought might really help with the deck concept I was trying to make. And no, the "store bots" are not against the rules. They've been around since the very start (MANY years ago), and are considered a useful service, particularly since they all generally keep the same prices (and it's not at all hard to make sure they're being fair with that).
4. There's lots of different modes or game types. It's very, very hard to get alternate game types going IRL alot of the time. If you've played enough Magic in general, you've probably heard about all sorts of alternate game variations, such as Pauper, or Commander, or whatever. There's alot of them.
5. Obviously, the big one is the ability to play when YOU want to. I'm like you in that I cant do marathon sessions of the game. It's not Hearthstone, which tends to have very short games. Magic can take awhile, and I'll often like to do one or two games at a time, and then I need a break. And I can play during the dead of night, too, which is convenient, since that's pretty much the only time I'm awake.
Seriously, I recommend this version of the game to people often, and there's alot of reasons for it. It's easy to find opponents of your own skill level to play, or do... whatever you want. Just like in Hearthstone.
One other thing to keep in mind: You're not the only one that plays the game slowly. Not at all. As I said, this isnt Hearthstone; it's not designed for speedy matches, and some matches can take quite awhile. There's a ton to keep track of, and being careful about your decisions is very important. Playing too fast can make you lose quickly, and plenty of players fall into this trap. Against randoms, you'll often find players that take their turns really bloody slow as well, and that's fine. But with the physical version, you have a VERY limited pool of players to go against, particularly depending on the area you live in. My area, it's basically impossible. We dont even have comic-book stores here. Hardly anyone even SELLS Magic cards here. It's just not the sort of area to find "geek" sorts of things. Which irritates the hell outta me. I've always called it a "jock" area, and that's pretty accurate. So if I wanted to find random opponents around here... there wouldnt be that many of them. There'd be all sorts of playstyles I'd never see, because of this. The same thing can happen with video games too.
I tend to move slowly myself; I'm the min-maxer sort, always have been, and I'll wring every conceivable advantage out of any situation that I can, so I'll bloody well take my time. It really doesnt matter though. Most people wont mind this, as they'll either be that way themselves, or they'll just be used to dealing with it. Seriously, that bit isnt important.
I've forgotten what else I was going to say. Sorry, a bit rambly there, but if I have alot to say, I'll bloody well say it... it's not like anyone HAS to read it...
mr_bigmouth_502
Veteran

Joined: 12 Dec 2013
Age: 31
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 7,028
Location: Alberta, Canada
To be honest, the main thing keeping me from playing MTGO is the idea of paying real money for virtual cards. It's a mental block I just can't seem to get past. I know that the real cards are just fancy pieces of cardboard, but still, I have thousands of the things, and I like collecting them. But I guess if I want to play more often, switching to MTGO might be a good idea.
Another thing is that I do actually have a semi-decent hobby store where I live... albeit one that's poorly managed and not at all making any money. I'm friends with the owner, and he clearly has no idea what he's doing. He also plays in the tournaments sometimes, and I usually beat him when I play against him.
Like I said, MtG is something I have a very love/hate relationship with, and it probably doesn't help that my dad's been playing for over 20 years, and that I've grown up around it. If I had just discovered it a few years ago, I wouldn't have the same attachment to it likely.
Another thing is that I do actually have a semi-decent hobby store where I live... albeit one that's poorly managed and not at all making any money. I'm friends with the owner, and he clearly has no idea what he's doing. He also plays in the tournaments sometimes, and I usually beat him when I play against him.

Like I said, MtG is something I have a very love/hate relationship with, and it probably doesn't help that my dad's been playing for over 20 years, and that I've grown up around it. If I had just discovered it a few years ago, I wouldn't have the same attachment to it likely.
That store you mention kinda sounds like the last one that was near me, a bazillion years ago. Used to go there frequently, way back when; it was Yughioh that was the popular card game at that one. Not the best game, that, but it's okay. Either way though, yeah, there wasnt really enough done to ensure that the shop could continue going, so.... it did indeed fall apart, and there's never been another one.
Oh, and as for the virtual cards: They sorta foresaw this one when designing the game from the beginning, as one of the features that was there from the start was that if you really want to, you can do this: Collect 1 of every card in a given set (given the trade things, this isnt hard to do, and most sets arent actually that big), and you can redeem those, all at once, for physical copies of those cards instead. Which makes sense.... as I'd said, the prices of these things are *exactly* the same. I have no idea if you have to still pay for shipping and handling, but I think to most collectors/players, that's not really going to matter much. I could see it as being a very useful feature for those that play both the physical and virtual versions of the game, since it's MUCH easier to put together a full "set" online than it is with physical cards (where it's nigh impossible without extreme luck or a willingness to spend a damn silly amount of money buying individual specific cards to finish it). Makes good business sense too, come to think of it.
But yeah, considering everything you've said and, well, all the autism stuff in general that I also understand, it's definitely the best option if you want to play the game. And possibly find opponents who wont bother you with an insistence on speedy play. Which again, isnt really the best idea anyway.... I know it'd get on MY nerves. I've actually not encountered that many players that do that; it IS a game about thinking things through, after all. You're supposed to take your time. Hell, even in Hearthstone you dont go into a difficult situation and just spray cards around at random and hope to win. Of course, every now and then someone will try doing that anyway...
There's a couple programs for playing MTG online, but they're uniformly horrible. I tried Forge to play with an online friend and found it to be unusable after just a few minutes due to a combination of crashes and general UI clutter.
I've considered using the official MGTO or sucking it up and trying to find a group to play with offline, but I feel like I'd have to go out of my way to play.
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