"MTG players - 8 ways to get your shit together" - a novel by an LGS worker.

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***DISCLAIMER: I know not every Magic player is like this. This is just a collective observation of mine and other LGS owners/workers experiences over the last few years***

Dear Magic players, get your shit together.

I love Magic. You love Magic. We all love Magic. It's a great hobby to have. Magic brings all walks of life together into our local games stores - it's ultimately the place where we can play our carefully crafted decks against others in a myriad of events, whether it be a casual Wednesday night Commander session, Vintage Tuesdays, FNM or a chill Sunday afternoon draft.

I love the atmosphere of working in a store like this. Seeing all my regulars on a Friday, admiring the legacy players' beautiful cards or meeting the newbies make the job so much fun. I mean, I get to sort/pick/talk about/play Magic all day. Seems like a real cushy job right?

It's not that glamorous though.

When you work in an LGS, you get to know all the LGS owners and workers in your area. You get to know a whole network of them all over the world eventually. We talk to each other and we read feedback and complaints from each other. Lately, we've all been noticing the same trends. It's super frustrating and honestly, it's affecting the way our stores run.

The atmosphere of competitive/casual play has changed drastically over the last few years in a really negatively impactful way. It really needs to stop. Desperately. So, here's some tips on how to get your shit together so we can address some of the problems that your LGS might be having.

1. Have some respect

In Magic, we are literally dealing with cardboard that can be worth thousands of dollars. Whether you're an investor, netdecker, jank machine, art collector etc, your cards are worth money. They're worth the time you put into making your deck. The time spent double sleeving or sorting your collection. They're worth the sentimental value. They're worth something.

YOU DO NOT TOUCH CARDS YOU DON'T OWN WITHOUT PERMISSION

It seems like common sense, but we see it again and again in our stores. It is not okay to take/touch/move something that isn't yours. It removes the aspect of trust and ownership on a level. Think about how you would feel if you had a trade binder with a couple hundred dollars worth of cards and someone picked it up without your permission and started rummaging through it?


2. Be kind to new players

We understand that the nature of our LGS' are a place where a lot of people who have felt like they've been 'outsiders' all of their life can come and meet like-minded people who all love and share the same hobby. We make friends, we form our own little groups, we have tables we like to sit at, days we like to play etc. This is great because we as LGS workers/owners love having a place for you to be able to come and have these experiences.

Most people are welcoming and inclusive and respectful and polite. But then there are some that aren't. Almost everyone probably can recall an experience when they've had that one jerk at their LGS that made it a terrible experience for them. Don't be that person.

If there is a new player, you try your best to welcome them. You teach them. You try your best to be helpful. If you have an "I'm here to play competitively, I don't really want to play against a total newbie" attitude, you should respectfully tell them so.

If you really have no interest in the above - it's totally okay to be ultra competitive. We understand. Some of us are - then you respectfully point them to a more constructive place, whether it be another player/online resources/an LGS worker that could help them out with their deck etc.

The amount of new players that have come through wishing they never came in the first place is too high. We all know that the number of people quitting Magic has increased over the last few years. Your LGS depends on long-term players AND new players to survive. Make it a nice place to start, yeah?

3. Clean up after your own damn self

I do a lot of cool stuff at work. But mostly, if you're surprised or not, I clean.

The atmosphere at an LGS is usually very chill when it comes to bringing your own food and drink. It's okay to do it. We know you will buy ours when you can. We're not mad about that. What we are mad about is a lot players' inability to do the decent thing and dispose of your trash properly. It's a very common sense thing that seems to lapse a lot of players' minds.

Almost all of us clean our own stores. This includes everything. The glass, the carpets, the bathrooms, the stairs, the storage rooms, the tables, the chairs etc. You name it, we've Ajaxed the shit out of it.

But when you've ordered a pizza, dropped some sauce on the tablecloth and not wiped it off, it's another load of laundry I have to do. Yeah, we even wash our own tablecloths.

When you're cracking packs and you've left the corner foil piece of the pack on the floor and repeated it with all the packs when we have given you a bag to put your rubbish in, that's a lot of time I have to spend vacuuming.

When you're playing a competitive REL event and you've finished a round and tear off your life total page, scrunch it up and leave it on the table, that's something extra I have to pick up.

When you're drafting and have a bunch of junk left over and you just leave it on the table, it's not being helpful. We're all really aware that it's not worth anything and especially not worth our time to sort it. You ask if the store wants it, otherwise you bin it. Simple.

When the bins have 'Recycling' and 'General rubbish' written on their lids respectively, they're there for a reason. I don't know why this is an issue.

Don't plunk your shit down on the glass cabinets. Don't put your keys on it. Don't bend the binders. Don't smear your dirty fingers on the glass.

And dear god, for some reason if you're one of those people that seems to exclusively come to use the bathrooms - be courteous. If the toilet paper runs out, replace it. Put the toilet roll in the bins provided. If you have shit aim, then mop it. I understand it's embarrassing, but it's more embarrassing for us as a store to have the illusion that we aren't a clean and hospitable establishment when we try our very hardest to be.

4. Creating a clique-y atmosphere is a bad thing

Everyone has their own groups. Your commander players and legacy players might not interact. You might have a group of people that only play standard. You might have a group of people that only like playing pauper. Every store has it's own cliques. This is fine. You have a group of people you're especially into - great! But for your LGS to stay alive, it needs all the different cliques to work together to sustain its product and the organised play that we can offer.

IT IS NOT OKAY FOR YOU TO SHAME AND HARASS OTHER PLAYERS JUST BECAUSE THEY DON'T LIKE WHAT YOU LIKE.

If you are a Modern player because, for example, you think Standard is awful or underpowered etc. that's fine. But when the Standard players come in for FNM and you stand behind them, making snide comments, openly criticising them as a player for choosing to play standard over Modern, you are the terrible player. It's unsportsmanlike. People are allowed to like different things. It's what keeps your LGS alive. The diversity and amount of product we can sell is proportionate to the number of people that come and play in the events we offer - for you to play your product in.

If someone wants to build a shitty bird wizard deck in commander, then let them. If you want to spend $800 on a Top 8 deck, then do it. All players should be allowed to play what they want to play, in whichever format they like to play without criticism or rebuke.

And more importantly, linking back to the overarching term of being a respectful player:

JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE A LONG-TERM CUSTOMER DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU ARE A METAPHORICAL OWNER.

We appreciate your business. The time you've spent here. The friends you've brought. The conversations and games we've had. You are valued and you are always welcome. But you have to realise that just because you've been a patron for a long time doesn't not mean you can manipulate the stores dynamic.

It's almost high-schoolish, the way some cliques can change the dynamic of a store. You have all sorts of cliques. There might be a group of players that are ultra competitive. A group that draft. A group that are newer to the store. A group that only like to play standard. Every store has their own cliques.

But when some cliques get comfortable, and establish a presence, they sometimes forget where they are. This can be a rare occurrence, but it's been happening a worrying amount lately. They establish a weird sort of alpha/popular kid stance over all the other cliques and mould this toxic dynamic. The sort of 'we've been coming here for years so we know that we can get away with a lot of shit' vibe.

It puts us LGS owners/workers in a very awkward situation; because yes, you are a valued customer and we probably do owe a lot of our sales and patronage to you, but on the other hand, you are making this environment that we built up over the years an uncomfortable place to be for people that aren't within your bubble.

It's not okay to do this. Yes, we understand that this store is like your second home and we know it's nice to feel important and known. We appreciate you. But if you really want this to stay your second home, you need to stop strangling us and let in the new players and the new cliques and allow us to grow.

5. Stop fucking trying to cheat

Honestly, if you have to cheat to win a game of Magic, then you shouldn't be playing at all. We have no problem issuing you a game loss or disqualifying you. You can be DCI banned for a very long time. It's happened before.

Our reputations as LGS' depend largely on word of mouth and reviews from patrons and players like you. Being known as the store that 'allows cheating with no punishment' is really shitty and no one wants to be that store.

If you're gonna cheat, expect to get caught. Expect to be shunned. Expect to not be trusted by any of the players. Expect staff and our judges to be harsh on you. Expect to be banned from our stores if you continue.

Just don't cheat. Fix your deck. Fix your mistakes. Buy the proper cards or find a cheaper alternative. We spend all day around the game. We can help you. Don't expect us to not notice it. We always do.

6. Don't assume your LGS is an active part of WOTC

There can be a lot of drama in the MTG sphere. Obviously at the moment, there is a lot of drama happening online - leaks/personalities/cards etc. We all know whats going on.

But whatever maybe happening over in WOTC HQ has absolutely zero to do with your LGS. We order our product from the same place everyone else gets it. We're sorry about card warping and misprints and the ban list and the ridiculous prices - it sucks getting cases upon cases of product and seeing this shit too.

WE HAVE NO CONTROL OVER THE QUALITY OF THE PRODUCT

I can't reiterate this enough. An LGS has no control over any of those above mentioned things. The only thing we do have control over is price. If it's too expensive for you, then sure, you can order online. We understand that not everyone will be able to afford all the cards you need. But do not complain to us that SCG is selling the same thing cheaper by like $1.

An LGS is a brick and mortar store. When you buy from an LGS, you're not only paying that extra $1 for the card, you're paying for everything that comes with it. You're paying for the expertise and knowledge of your LGS worker. You're paying for the convenience of being able to have the card right then and there. Of being able to play with it immediately. You're paying for the lights and the air conditioning and the sleeves and the cases and the card storage and everything else that you see. That little profit margin we have keeps the lights on and the door open. We're sorry that we can't compete with the massive online market and the oversaturation of recent Magic sets.

But we can offer you something they can't - real-time interaction.


7) Netdecking is a big part of the reason why your cards are becoming more expensive, not because of your LGS trying to "rip you off"

Whether you're a brewer, a netdecker or somewhere in between, no matter what your opinion is, netdecking plays a huge part in determining what decks are top tier.

We all know that building top tier decks are expensive. A mana base for Modern can seem like it's 50% of your cost. I mean, look at EldraziTron. That's an $800USD deck alone.

Regardless on your position on netdecking - whether you're a member of Brewaria or Netdeckistan - it has an established place in MTG and probably always will. Netdecking serves a few key purposes. It allows players to see what the top tier decks are - a super useful tool for competitive players. It allows players to adjust their decks accordingly against all the matchups that are going to be played because there is a very likely chance that all those decks will be the majority. With all the technological advances that sites like MTGGoldfish and TappedOut etc. have, you can see these decks and their meta breakdowns which is incredibly useful information to have if you're seeking to play.

So Netdecking is beneficial to players. But it's also the reason why your cards are expensive. It's as simple as supply and demand. Sure, you can buy it online cheaper, but you know when you go to your LGS that you can get everything you need in one place, and instantly. You know the condition of the cards and you know that you're supporting a local business.

We check and adjust prices daily. We know when a leak happens or a print is announced that we need to move fast to adjust our prices to avoid being hosed. We know when someone is trying to manipulate our pricing times by putting in buy orders in the small timeframe between announcements and daily price rotation. We know that we have to take the hit when the price plummets. We know that you can get this card cheaper online, but we also have profit margins with a larger overhead than somewhere like SCG. What little you pay more pays for the space that you get to play in.

Sometimes a card will spike from .77c to $3.00 because of some crazy new pauper deck that become top list on TappedOut. And you may wonder why you would pay that much for a common and it seems like a complete ripoff etc. but we have to keep up with the changes. To keep our doors open and keep providing a place that you can call your second home, it's very necessary for us to maintain price matching with the industry.

Not everyone can afford a top tier deck. We understand this. That's why we try our best to recommend decks or formats or alternative cards for you - something I firmly believe you couldn't get anywhere else as comprehensible as you would at your LGS. It is worth the extra few cents or a dollar a card for this knowledge. There's no point in investing in a top tier deck if you'll never be able to complete it.

In summary of all this, as long as netdecking is a thing, certain top tier cards will always be expensive and your LGS has to keep up with the pricing as well as their own profit margin.


And finally...

8) Respect the rules

This seems like a no brainer - but every now and again some simple rules seems to be overlooked or missed and it's important to understand why they're important

-Slow play:

If you're playing 4 rounds in an event and you're going to the last 5 turns every round at an LGS event (especially non-competitive), you need to re-evaluate your strategy and/or play style. No one likes a slow player. It's frustrating for everyone involved. It disrupts the flow and time structure of tournaments/events. If you are issued multiple slow warning plays by a judge or by an employee of the store, please do not be surprised if you are issued a game loss and you find agitated opponents.

- Judge callings

You know the rules. You have the right to dispute a ruling with a head judge, but don't be that person that is constantly undermining the judges authority. Judges undergo testing and have a set of rules and requirements that they have to meet to become and remain judges. They are knowledgable and do what they do purely for the love of the game. They are not there to personally victimise you. They are there to point out the ruling and nothing else. If you disrespect or harass the judge, you should expect all penalties given to you.

- Harassment in general

Just don't do it. Your LGS strives on fostering an inclusive space for all people to come and do what they love. Why do you get to ruin that just cause you don't like something?


- Unsolicited advice

No one likes being told their deck is shit by anyone. Constructive criticism can always be seought out and offered willingly. Unsolicited advice can come across as offensive and rude.

- Discounts and free product

We all know that every now and again your LGS owner/worker can hook you up with a discount or maybe throw in a pack of sleeves etc. But constantly asking/expecting this from them isn't cool. We do this occasionally as a way to show appreciation to you as a customer and as a friend of the store. Just because we did this does not mean you are entitled to it. It's awkward having to tell you that it was a gesture, not an invitation.

- Leaving reviews

Your LGS loves a good review. It really helps out the brand of the business whether it be on Google/Facebook/Forums etc.

But if you have had an unpleasant experience at your LGS with a certain player/s, or have had problems with the establishment itself etc. then please TALK TO YOUR LGS OWNER/WORKER first. It is the most direct way to sort out a problem and almost always can be fixed. I can guarantee your LGS staff will be extremely willing to help. Leaving negative reviews on social media can impact the business more negatively on a larger scale than you might think, when the issue could have been resolved more efficiently in-person.

- Wear deodorant

It's just sometimes really awkward to have to ask someone to have better hygiene next time they come.


If you read to the end, thank you.

This has been on my mind for a while now. After a particularly rage inducing cleanup after my stores RPTQ on the weekend and a few hours of reflection, I just started writing it all down. This all seems like common sense, but I feel like some of this is just completely overlooked.

Let me know if you disagree or have any comments or opinions or anything you'd like to add. Maybe I'll write it into an LGS etiquette novel xd

GLHF

<3 your friendly neighbourhood LGS worker

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