-----Original Message-----
From: Brad Pironciak [mailto:sorrybutyourewrong@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2005 4:54 PM


Newbies and tournament etiquette
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It's the big day, your first tournament as a VS newbie. Your deck is 
covered in nice, new sleeves, and you're excited and nervous. We all 
experienced this day at one time or another, and what a day it was.

As a newbie, things can be difficult. There are times you won't know 
what you're doing, or even what some of your own cards do. The best 
thing a newbie can have at this time in his VS career(or any card game 
for that matter) are friends. Training from the best players in the 
world can't equal to what a good set of friends will do for you.
People that can help you get started with some leg up cards, can help 
you train, and can always pick you up when you fall.

When I entered my first tournament, I did so with a constructed revenge 
squad deck. I haven't been in this game as long as most people. The record 
from my first two tournaments was 2-2 and 1-3. By no means are those 
records good, but the point is, I had FUN. One of the major reasons I 
had fun, is because I was surrounded by players with good TOURNAMENT 
ETIQUETTE. These are players who would explain cards and rulings to me 
without being nasty about it, and wouldn't mind when I had to take every 
other one of their cards to look at and read. Players like this were 
important in my development as a VS player, and it is especially important 
to encourage newbies, in a game as relatively new as VS.

Only about 3 weeks into my VS career, I entered the New Jersey 10K (for 
some stupid reason or another) with a spider-evasion deck finished the 
DAY of the 10K, and without one round of play testing.
Needless to say, I was an excited and nervous newbie. I came with a lot 
of the people who had played with me at the 'shop back home'.
Unfortunately for me, I made the mistake of thinking everyone at that 10k 
would be those same type of kind people I had played back home.

Before every round started, I told my opponent that I was new; in they hope 
they would bear with me when I stopped to read every card placed on the table. 
Everything seemed fine until about round 7, when I played my second carbon-copy 
titans deck of the day. He seemed arrogant from the start, as I had to almost 
force the man to shake my hand. After telling him I was a newbie, I saw a small 
smirk that quickly subsided.

 For my second match against (arguably) the best deck in VS, I had done pretty 
 well for myself, making it to turn 7 with a 7-drop spiderman and a pretty full 
 hand. I reached into my hand to pull out four cards, which were obviously going 
 to be the cards to exhaust his titans. He tells me he is declaring an attack 
 on my 7 drop spiderman.
I tell him to wait, and that I am exhausting his field. He says that the attack 
is already legal, and it is too late to exhaust. An argument ensues, and a judge 
is called over. I tell the judge that my opponent rushed into his attack without 
giving me a chance to respond.
My opponent lies, and says to the judge that I declared the team attack legal. 
My opponent declares me incompetent in the game, because I am a 'newbie'. This 
really hit me hard. Eventually, the argument ended with me getting a warning for 
misplaying, and a chance to redo the move. I exhausted his field, and won the 
game.

He finished the match declaring what *I* did 'Bull***' and delivered me a final 
few curses before signing the sheet and walking off. After the round, I am called 
over to a judge. He and a judge ask me again if I declared his attack legal. When 
I won't admit to what I didn't do, my former opponent hurls his deck box across 
the lobby of the Clarion.
This was one of the worst examples of tournament etiquette and treatment of newbies 
I have ever seen, and is one of the things that can stall the forward progress of 
any card game.

To wrap it up, I say to all you newbies out there, make some good friends, and 
always treat more experienced players with respect. To you more experienced players, 
always treat newbies with the same respect they give you, bear with them if they 
play slow or make mistakes, and always try and help one out. Who knows? Maybe one 
of those newbies will become an experienced player who will remember what you did 
for them, when they have that one card you've needed for weeks, like me.

I'm always open at SorryButYoureWrong@gmail.com