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"So I got into Magic The Gathering about five months ago and have been hooked. I’ve made some friends playing at my local game store, and I’ve learned a lot. Every Monday, the store hosts a tournament—standard, $5 entry, 3 rounds; winner gets the pot in store credit. I’ve made a few friends there who've been playing every week just like me; let's call them Bob and Dan. Bob has met up with me to play casual matches and such, and we've generally gotten along. Bob and Dan, however, are hardcore at this game—where I like to build my own decks, Bob plays tournament-winning decks made by pros, and Dan puts every top-performing meta card into his deck for a deck that's, in total, to buy the singles, the cards cost about $400. (My decks on average cost about $45). They win almost every week—there’s currently a Cowboy Bebop promo where if you win, you get a special Cowboy Bebop-inspired standard card. I saw one of them talking about getting their fourth (of just that 2-month period’s card). They also commented that they play every week with store credit; they never have to shell out $5 to play anymore. I’m not bitter, but I want to win too. I’d like to get one of those cards. And I make my decks with the hopes they’ll be able to compete for it. And I don’t like feeling like new players are just handing their money over to these guys. This week, I finally did it— I went 3-0 with a deck I made. My final match was against Dan, who was a little salty. He complained that I got lucky and that he wasn’t drawing good cards, which does happen fairly often in this game. When I won our best of 3, I was excited because I’d never gone 3-0 before, and I’d really wanted to. I put my hands in the air and said, “I did it.” (Not loud) and explained that I’d never won a tourney before, so I’m happy to now. I was excited, found friends, and told them I finally did it as well. Bob came over and said, “I haven’t gone 1-2 in a while; it feels bad,” which I responded to with, “It doesn’t feel good, does it?” I was mainly just teasing, but to be honest, it feels a bit silly to complain about winning just one match when Bob goes 3-0 about half the weeks he plays. Also, usually, 1-2 or 2-1 is how well I do. They both left, and I texted Bob after I left, but he hasn’t responded in a few days. I feel bad about the comment I made and I wonder if I celebrated winning a bit too much for their tastes. I don’t know if it’s my fault for gloating or if it’s their fault for being egotistical about the game, or if I’m overthinking all of this. Or maybe I care too much about the game. My life has been a little stagnant lately, and that’s my fault." Another User Comments: "NTJ- People who are used to winning usually really don’t like losing and are bad at it. I know this applies to life in general, but it’s way too common at an MTG table. Stop overthinking it, hit up more casual play nights, try adding another LGS into your rotation if you can, and let Bob text you when he’s done being salty." DichoticallySound Another User Comments: "As a long-term gamer - I'm more board games than cards - I can tell you the only thing worse than a bad loser is a bad winner. Bad winners are just as bad as bad losers because they suck the fun out of it for everyone else with their overdramatic responses. No one wants to play with people who over react. It's okay to be a bit happy at a victory but the socially acceptable thing to do is just to go "great game mate", shake the other person's hand, and move on. You say you are good at making people not like you. Do this a couple more times and I guarantee those people won't like you anymore." throwAWweddingwoe
