"Magic:The Superstition"

"Logo ng Starbucks....Sa Ravnica..."

"Magic:The Superstition"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. 

     The lack of wins usually induce a lot of weird things from Magic Players. The most logical response to a loss is to assess the situation and retool so that you are able to compete more. However there are a lot more illogical responses that usually come out and in my opinion are more interesting than acting like a well oiled machine in your head.

    My friend for example gives his deck a real good talking to. As you would talk to a person. After a string of losses he would normally say something like: "Umayos ka kundi eh babaklasin kita." Of course this is said after the full pieces of a deck are acquired and when bad draws and mana flooding or mana droughts are not the causes of failure.

"Ganito ako mag cut!!!"

    It is probably normal to see some players try to summon a card to go to the top of their decks before they draw by constantly hitting or tapping the top card. Its for that Top deck effect. However I still find it weird when people whisper to their decks and plead to it for a mass removal at times but then again I have my weird ways so I am in no position to judge. Whatever floats your boat man its all good.

    Sometimes when I go to games regardless of the format , I always bring the same set of Sleeves , Dice and Lands with me. It is like a break in this pattern would cause me to lose for some reason and I don't want to increase the odds of losing in any way. There are shirts that I consider Lucky and Unlucky when playing.Anything for the win I guess.

"Umayos ka deck...babaklasin kita!!!"

    Being in a country where superstitions abound it is normal to see the same superstitions carry over in our every day lives, even in our playing of Magic. We don't do it overtly enough but we do have certain tendencies when we play. We shuffle in a certain way. We cut our opponents decks in some unique manner. We lay our cards a certain way maybe because it can be more fengshui that way? I know a player who does not place his graveyard below his library because he does not want his graveyard pulling his cards...Hmmm...I still enjoy playing with him.

     We attribute certain events to our losses too such as disappointment of a parent  , wife or GF. (Or for our female players husband or wife). Karma when we do something good or bad in our personal lives also affects our games. Given that Magic is a game of the mind but emotions also affects us in a lot of ways. We get more distracted or easily upset.I have a friend who believes that being honest to other players even if it means losing would result in good karma and it is something that has served him well. Of course some players are not as honest but as I have said to someone once there are more ways to victory than one. If you and your conscience don't speak as much in real life why should you talk to each other in games right?

     Before I end this post though , my friend who threatens his deck when he losses ended up Winning 2 seperate EDH events in a row. Given he is a great player but I think there is something about this "talking to your deck" that I might want to try...