Muppet Habits...

et65, on 09 March 2010 - 01:31 AM, said:

Muppet Habit 1: If a muppet's opponent is playing counters, the muppet will automatically assume the game was set up and his opponents are team decking.

The muppet you're indirectly referring to who spoiled your game with his whining was already in a bad mood from facing "teamed counter decks" that sitnoveter and I were playing, and he assumed you and your partner were doing the same (your partner was playing Hunting Grounds without any blue).

sit had invited me to a game. When sit told me what he was playing, I judged it to be an above-average powered deck, so I asked him to put game warning "warning; anything goes; no whiners". Of course, some people, like Celpix, don't read, join anyway, and cry about us playing teamed counter decks after I played a single counter (mana drain) on a Mystical Tutor (because he broke sit's standstill, I had 8 cards, and I don't like discarding so "what the hell, i'll just waste a counter on that"). Teamed counter decks.

I didn't bother picking something that would fit sit's deck better because I wanted to see how well he'd do on his own to track his progress. I felt like playing a casual multiplayer tezz deck, which I felt was flexible enough for me to hang back and chill, but not be a liability to my partner. I had a grand total of 4 counters in it (mana drains). Sit didn't play a single counter until the very end. The opponents (the whiner and his partner Alex Kidd; who was courteous enough not to whine) got to play out the vast majority of their cards, and Alex got to play out his energy chamber + lightning coils mini-combo. A grand total of 2 spells were countered out of close to a dozen spells cast. (A dozen spells being cast, and none of them doing anything to change the state of the game, really makes you wonder if counterspell or not, they would have won against any other opponents?)

I ask Celpix why he's angry. He tells me that if we're going to run teamed counter decks in "casual" I should give a warning first. I'm guessing he means something like the "warning; anything goes; no whiners" that he missed. Basically, it's the same argument "the only multiplayer room we have is strictly for 'casual', whatever that means" that we've all heard. He then makes up some crap that 2hg is for casual, that team decks are for 2v2 (20 life, no shared life totals), because people who play those bring coordinated decks, while casual players like himself stick to 2hg. After I called his BS on that, he then says that he just doesn't like to be facing 500 USD decks with his 20 USD decks. Finally, he's being honest, and it's a fair statement to make. I don't mind... but the fault still lies with him for not reading the damned game description/warning label.

Two points I'll add about these "muppets":
1. They will never appreciate any bit of courtesy you've shown. I don't jump tables, and I ask my partners what they are playing and whether they want a preplanned/coordinated game, and choose my decks accordingly and ask them to put up game descs if I feel it's necessary. Even in mild cases, I still asked him to put up a game desc (I felt sit's deck was strong enough to 1v2 most random teams; so even though I deliberately picked something that wouldn't compliment his deck, I still felt it was necessary to tell him to put up a game label; esp since we were in same clan and people might jump to conclusions). I don't like having my time wasted and don't like wasting others' time. After all that, muppets will still complain and assume they are being cheated/slighted. If warnings are not sufficient, then maybe they should just ignore the warnings on some anti-freeze, chug some of that. Would be more productive than whining to me in private chat. Save us all the time.

2. Muppets believe they are always entitled to more than they are given. They read from an imaginary set of dogmatic codes. Sort of like Moral Codes. I'll list some that I've discovered.
a) To muppets, the multiplayer room is "casual". (... though technically the multiplayer room is as "casual" as the Tournament Practice room. Both belong in Casual Play.)

b ) "Casual" to most of them means there is a budget limit for decks. Different muppets will have different limits. The one described above set the limit to 20 USD (his own deck being an upper-bound). This is a result of the next...

c) The poorer a muppet is (in terms of collection, play skill, or social skills), the more he feels he is entitled to. (Might be a reflection of how they are offline? I personally don't mind if your collection is poor, and have argued with a number of buddies on that point. I don't even mind much if your play skill is poor if you still have a decent attitude and don't mind cooperating in a multiplayer game... but if you think your lack of finances, poor attitude, or cluelessness in game entitles you to anything more than the next guy is entitled to, then you have less respect from me. Anything extra you get is a privilege, not a right.)

d) For muppets, two players on the same team cannot both be playing counterspells. If one player plays a counter, his partner's right to counter spells is abrogated. If both players on the same team played a counter spell, then whining or stalling is the appropriate response. This should punish offenders and possibly discourage them from playing counters in the future, and is for the greater good of all MTGO. This only applies to opponents, of course. If a muppet is playing counterspells himself, he and his partner are exempt from this rule.

e) Muppets have an ever-changing hierarchy of taboos. For one muppet, Land Destruction is the ultimate taboo. Sloth1599 blocked me long ago for wastelanding one of his lands. He finds combos to be ok, because he uses them. One muppet will tell me his counterspell is OK, because he uses it mostly to stop land destruction (a greater taboo than counterspelling). Another muppet will say his land destruction is OK, because it reduces the amount of mana his opponents have to cast counters (a greater taboo to him than LD).

f) It's never a muppet's own damned fault for losing a game. It's always the fault of someone or something else. Maybe the opponents brought too strong a deck, and didn't properly warn them (a game description is obviously not enough, since muppets don't read anyway). Maybe the opponents are too hell-bent of ruining others' fun. Maybe a card is too broken. A combo is too abusive. Land destruction/counterspelling/discard is too gay. Net decks. Team decks. Your mom.

Can a card be broken/overpowered? Yes. Can a combo be a bit abusive? Yes. But better players know that if their ability to change the given environment is limited, then they would be more productive by focusing their efforts on changing themselves.

This highlights the muppets' greatest weakness: "Stubbornness". They will never learn to accept their own faults/flaws and are likely to develop extremely slowly or be stuck in their current myopic state forever, never evolving.

FiatLux, on 09 March 2010 - 05:59 AM, said:

d) For muppets, two players on the same team cannot both be playing counterspells. If one player plays a counter, his partner's right to counter spells is abrogated. If both players on the same team played a counter spell, then whining or stalling is the appropriate response. This should punish offenders and possibly discourage them from playing counters in the future, and is for the greater good of all MTGO. This only applies to opponents, of course. If a muppet is playing counterspells himself, he and his partner are exempt from this rule.

My favorite is the ones who apply this rule in the same game that they are being exempted from it.
Also applies to LD, Discard, combo's, aggro, control, cloudposts, etc...