Hello,
For my first post on my new blog "The Brain Storm", i'd like to explain the purpose of this blog, and then talk about what happens when people take being competitive TOO far.
To begin, the purpose of this blog, along with the articles I do for StarCityGames.com are to help me improve. I can take a step back and look at my mistakes. I want to give the comunity of Magic a look on how younger people (Under 18) think about the game. I will do many interviews, and I want to show people just what younger people think. I also want to give both myself and others a chance to watch me grow as an MTG player. I will discuss limited, legacy, standard, spoilers, etc., and will always take recommendations on what to write about.
Now on to the major point of this article, competitiveness. In life, most people want to be the best or at least very good at something. When it comes to magic, many people want to be the best player or own the more expensive cards, myself included. Even if your whole life is devoted to Magic, if you lead a successful life in your own eyes and have fun doing so, then that is your choice and if it works, it works. There is nothing wrong with this, as long as you stay within the law. Unfortunately, some people want to be the best so badly, they break both the law and the code of ethics people share.
A good example of this is baseball. Some players practice and practice to be the best, but some take illegal substances as a quicker, easier way to do so. This is not only illegal, but unethical. In magic, cheating and theft are the "easy" way out. I guarantee you that most people who resort to cheating or theft are just plain bad at this game and trading.
Why am I talking about this? Well, my most prized MTG possession, my legacy deck, was recently stolen (or badly misplaced, but were pretty sure stolen). Whoever stole the deck probably sucks at magic, for lack of a better term. They can't afford their own cards, or are really bad at trading and felt the need to steal to help make up for their lack of skill.
People want to be the best so badly, they will do it at all costs. Whether my legacy deck turns up or not, no one should ever have to go through or resort to theft. My very good friend Rob had his stuff stolen as well, and as a friend I felt very bad for him. A large amount of time and work all thrown away in one quick grab. Please people, even if you think you already keep a good eye on your cards, keep an even better eye on them.
One last final thing before I go, be sure to check out my articles and videos on SCG. They will usually go up Sunday night at 11:59 pm eastern time, but that may vary sometimes.
Thanks For Reading and Please Come Back! I should write a new post hopefully at least 3 times a week or more. My post updates will be on Facebook. Follow me on Twitter under @AJKerrigan55. If you would like to give a recommendation for an article idea, or just improvements to made on both my Magic and writing aspects, let me know in the comments. I WILL read ALL of the comments.
