Ruling New Jersey- Volume 2, Issue 1

When I posted this on the "Good Card, Bad Card" thread on trekcc.org it reminded me of the old Ruling New Jersey articles. So I figured, what the hell, let's give it another go. 6 1/2 years later, divorced, 37 days in jail, back with my original 'baby momma', two more kids, a house, a dog. I would hope I have a new perspective on things now. But I'm sure I'm still pretty much full of crap. Here's what I posted:

I was wandering the internet like a hobo and I came across this article: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/A ... aily/mr11b

It list 3 different types of players. It reminded me of this article I wrote 6 1/2 years ago: http://rulingnewjersey.blogspot.com/200 ... sue-4.html

True, there's a lot of crap in most of those articles, but that was one of the good ones. Jesus, that was a long time ago..... so old....... Btw, the female in that pic is now called "She Who Shall Not Be Named".

The point of the articles were kinda the same, players play for different reasons. Got me thinking on what types of players are left in Trek.

The "ultra competitive" players (like myself back then) are pretty much extinct. There are no more big prizes, so you don't get the pure gamer who just wanted to win anything. They are the type that played any deck. They begged, borrowed, stole ideas until they made up the best possible deck and won. I think this is why you don't see anybody that wins Worlds stick around. Once they accomplished that goal there was no reason to continue. I'm kinda the last of the Mohicans now, and I'm not quite sure why I stuck around. Sure, I never won the big one, but other guy just gave up when they failed. Trust me, winning Worlds would be great, but at this point it wouldn't change anything. After all these years playing, I don't think I'd just walk off into the sunset like most Worlds winners do. I would probably just make a post that said "Suck it Clowns!" and then go lose a game to Len on my kitchen table.

I think most players now are the type that just want to make a deck they came up with and it to work once or twice in a 4 round tournament.

The others fall into my category, they want to win with what they make. Deckbuilding is just as an important part of it as playing. 3 out of 4 is acceptable, but they want to win the tournament.

Then every now and then, before worlds, groups of a few guys get together, put their minds into the combinations of cards that beat the game. They usually succeed and then you get your Worlds winner.