Despite wanting to stay in bed, I went to the Magic Origins pre-release a couple of weekends ago, mostly since I had already pre-registered, and I felt like some people were persuaded to go because I said I was interested. I bundled up, umbrella in tow, and headed out into the storm to collect my pieces of cardboard.
I have a pretty big umbrella. My mum was very fond of those cheap umbrellas with a collapsible handle, but after years of having an umbrella turn inside-out mid downpour, I finally got fed up and bought myself a $30 umbrella which is bulky to carry around, but at least I can rely on it to keep me dry when it rains! However, walking around with it can be a bit of a pain in the ass sometimes, especially when it's crowded, or it's a narrow walkway.
On my way to the games store, I was on a collision course with another person, but they politely moved into an alcove to let me pass, and I smiled, thanked them and moved on. The same thing happened further down the same street, and the same thing happened. I don't know what it is about people who don't know you doing something nice for you, but it put me in a good mood for the rest of the day.
I didn't pull any good cards during the pre-release, so my deck was a bit of a mish-mash of cards I thought were cool, but had no real theme to it, or combos. The pre-released was a sealed format, which means you get six booster packs and one seeeded pack of your colour, and you need to put together a 40-card deck to play with.
Every single one of my games was really close, and I ended up going 2-2. However, my second last game really stood out to me. I lost my first two matches, and the way that the matches work is that you are always matched with someone who has the same number of wins as you. So in my third match, I played against someone who had also lost twice. His deck was much better than mine, it had a lot more synergy, it seemed to do pretty well against mine, but I ended up going 2-1 against him. Mostly because on the turn before I was about to die, I managed to top deck the one card in my deck that would have saved me and ended up winning the match on that turn. My opponent displayed great sportsmanship the entire time. Even during our matches, he talked over optimal playing order with me, and reminded me of triggers that I had forgotten about. It's highly probably that I would have lost 0-2 without the help and reminders.
While playing my final match, I noticed my third round opponent sitting at one of the tables by himself looking downcast and sorting through his deck. At the end of the game, I went down to collect my winnings and bumped into him and his friends. I decided that I would give him the booster packs that I had won. He was hesitant at first, but I said that he should have them as he was going to get more use out of them than I was (that was going to be my final M:tG event for now), and that I thought he was a good opponent. I said that it was very nice of him to remind me of my missed triggers, and that I really enjoyed playing with him.
I don't know if I came off as a creeper or not. He and his friends looked to be about university age, and though I'm nearly 30, sometimes I can pass for younger with my Asian appearance, but I can never tell who does and doesn't know my actual age.
To be honest, I feel like people who behave well are almost never rewarded. I read so many stories from /r/talesFromRetail about customers who complain about things and are given discounts from managers who don't want to have those complaints go up to corporate - even if the customer is an idiot and the thing they're complaining about is something caused by their stupidity. Then you have the good customers, who never complain, and as such, end up paying full price for everything. Doesn't seem fair, does it?
With the two people who moved out of the way of my umbrella putting me in a good mood, I felt like I wanted to reward that guy for being a good sport as well, so that is why I wanted to give him those booster packs. I'd probably have just opened them and chucked them in the pile of cards in our closet that has slowly grown over the past couple of years, not to be brought out again until the next time the M:tG bug bites me again.
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