Heads up, this is a long post, bit of a ranty one as well I guess. But it is so because I love this game with all my heart.
Anyway, title sums it all up I think.
In my magic career i've had my sums of good luck and bad luck over the years, just like everyone else. But lately, say, past 6 to 8 months if not longer, i'm getting an insane amount of bad luck shoved down my throat. Last night it got to the point where, I wasn't even annoyed about it anymore, I was just lethargic.
I know bad luck, and good luck is part of the game. But it's not just a few moments of bad luck, it's the contineous amount of unfortunate outcomes for me, night after night, game after game. After a while it just starts to feel unfair.
2 of the most recent examples:
- I tried out a new simic elves tribal/scry deck with Galadriel of Lothlorien as the commander. Already had about 8 to 10 games under my belt with it at that point. We played 5 games (3 of us), I won none. Which granted, is fine, I'm trying the deck out, as long as it performs okay i'm fine with it. And if it doesn't perform fine, I can tweak it accordingly.
Of those 5 games, about 2 happened where I had to answer stuff of 1 of the 2 opponents, while the other unfortunately drew no removal or interaction. And as a simic elf/scry tribal I can only run so much removal. Well, I basically drew nearly all (lucky on my part), but all I did was keep someone in check in order for him to not run away, while the other crept back in the game. While I in the meantime, don't crawl back as much, because I spend a lot of my resources into keeping another guy in check.
In 2 of the other games I had good draw and was a threat, but got my board responded to (okay, my deck performed well, I didn't win, but that's fine). In the 5th game, I had pretty lackluster draw and basically did nearly nothing all game, sat with a near empty hand all the time (these games happen, that's what playtesting is for).
It really felt like all I did those games, in the end, were deciding who of my opponent wins the game. Bit of a sucky feeling, but we move on. Then, the final game of the night. I did enter this game with the intention to win. I always hope/aim to win at least 1 game at a night, any more than that is just a bonus.
So I pulled out probably my strongest and meanest deck, Lavinia Stax (yes, I do enjoy it alot and yes i am that kind of scum xd). Game started out well, had a Cursed Totem in my opening hand against 2 commanders with activated abilities, good curve in hand, fine amount of lands, all I lacked was a consistant draw source. I kept the hand, and I ran away with a quick lock on the game and stax. Lavinia eats removal, so does ghostly prison. But that's fine, I had a Vexing Bauble and Teferi, Time raveler as backup in hand, so Lavinia wasn't needed for the combo. With insane luck, I ended up drawing a Knowledge Pool for a infinite lock with lavinia (or the other 2) at like turn 4 or 5. I only drew from the top deck at that point (hence, insanely lucky). Casted it. It exiles a goddamn Beast Within from the second player, which he obviously uses to remove my knowledge pool (as he should, and what I don't blame him for at all), after which he plays a creature that destroys all artifacts which wipes my 3 rocks and cursed totem leaving me with basically only lands. Mind you, all of us were at about 86 to 90 cards still left in the deck. Yet I already got served 3 targeted removals, and a one sided wipe which ruined me hard.
This one agitated me hard. Here I am, game after game trying to salvage a game and not let 1 guy run away with multiple games. Seeing almost bare none removal from anyone else. But the second I can claim a quick win, i get 3 removals and a 1 sided wipe thrown at me, in like the first 10'ish cards. What are the odds of that.
- Last night I tried another new deck, Bre of Clan Stoutarm against the same 2 friends. First game, drew nearly all lands, unlucky, first time I tried it (deck runs 35 lands, 37 with mdfc), it happens, we move. Second game, I start slow, the others play cascade slivers and Arcades. The game went okay for all of us. They had a bit of a back and forth with board presence early on, I build a bit slower but accumulated value over 2 or 3 turns and suddenly had a board with 5 creature's with each +9/+9 counters on them at end of turn. I had mana open for a boros charm for protection, and 0 cmc flare of fortitude, 2 solid protection cards, I have 6 cards in hand, they each have 3. The arcades guy topdecks a wrath (he runs 4) that makes everyone sacrifice which circumvents my protection cards. Sigh, i'm obviously a bit triggered by this, like you can't make this up, but I try to move on. The cascade guy does his thing, my turn and I see that the arcades guy has a pretty good board with only 2 cards in hand. I played a farewell, the guy pulls out an offer you can't refuse, one of the 3 counterspells in his deck, his deck has still 82 cards or so left mind you.
At this point I wasnt even angry anymore, just lethargic. I continued my thing, not saying much, lost and we talked a bit like normal after the game about non magic stuff.
I wasn't mad at him or anyone, I'm annoyed by the amount of badluck I have to face. And it's much more than these 2 examples. The odds of this stuff happening in such a consistant manner are very low.
I know, it's more than luck. They're both better at card games than I am, and I accept that. I'm not shit by any means, but I know they're just a bit better. They're better at deckbuilding too, so I always talk about my decks with them and we edit them together.
But sometimes it would just feel nice if I could catch a break and the others had some of my bad luck.
Anyway, sorry for the rant. And if you've made it this far, kudos and thanks. I suck at explaining, so apologies for that.
I still love this game, and always will, but we're not feeling each other rn.