Hey all!
Went to my second draft ever last night (first was 12 or 13 years ago) and had studied up on Aetherdrift since I’d asked about the event and was told it’s pretty much always just drafting whatever the latest set was.
When I got there, though, it turned out the regulars wanted to do a chaos draft, so I ended up trying to make a deck out of everything currently standard legal. Needless to say, this went incredibly poorly for a relative newcomer like me and I ended up going 0-3 (as expected, I assumed I’d lose since drafting is hard, even for experienced players).
After the first match, though, it was pretty clear that this was going nowhere, and the space was a bit louder than anticipated and I could feel myself getting exhausted pretty early. While I finished out the evening playing all 3 matches to completion, I was wondering what the ettiquite around dropping early actually is. Is it OK to bow out if it’s clear that my picks were trash and there’s no chance? Or if not, can I just let my opponents for matches 2 and 3 know that it’ll be pretty one sided and preemptively concede so they don’t have to waste any time on rolling me? Or is it expected to just take the lumps and play through the whole thing?
It would be different if I thought I could put up a fight even if I lost every game, but I was having trouble getting any amount of damage through, or impacting board state at all. So the whole thing just felt like I was wasting my opponent’s time.
So yeah, just hoping for an ettiquite lesson. Not rules (I know I can technically drop any time for any reason if I let the TO know), but the social angle.
The single most important rule in Magic is this one:
104.3a A player can concede the game at any time. A player who concedes leaves the game immediately. That player loses the game.
This goes not just for games but also matches and tournaments. If you are having a bad time for any reason, you should never let anybody make you feel like you have to keep playing.
That said, I’d encourage you to reframe how you think about the situation.
Like you said, you were probably going to 0-3 anyway due to your inexperience. The primary value you’re going to get at this stage is meeting the regulars and getting your “sea legs” under you so you’ll be better prepared for the next draft. Think of losses as just part of the process.
I don’t know what the prize structure is at your LGS, but last time I drafted at mine, it was “one pack per win”. I like that structure because each round is just as valuable as the others. Even if you’re 0-2 there’s still hope you can win the next one. In large tournaments, players will often drop once they get two or three losses and it’s no longer possible for them to finish well enough to earn prizes.* But small store events are designed so that everybody gets to play for the whole time. You should also get paired against players with similar records, so by the last round you’ll have an opponent whose deck may be as bad as your own.
If you know you’re going to “preemptively concede” your matches, then you should actually just tell the TO to drop you. Don’t wait until you and your opponent get to the table only to concede in person. Formally dropping is better because if there are two drops (or there was an odd number of players to begin with), the tournament software will be able to pair up people who actually want to play.
Assuming there’s an even number of drafters, your early drop does mean that whoever you were going to face doesn’t get to play in that round. That’s a bit of a bummer for them, but if that free win means they get an extra pack, that tends to soften the blow.
If you do continue playing, feel free to tell your opponents “I’m new and my deck is bad”, or keep that info to yourself, as you prefer. Mostly what you’d get out of saying that is letting them know they might need to play slower or explain their actions more thoroughly. I’ve met a wide variety of Magic players; some of them will gleefully stomp a newbie, and some will be happy to take it slow and let you undo (recent) mistakes. You never know which type you’re up against until you get into the game.
Rarely will you meet somebody who will actually get salty about how long it’s taking them to beat you. Those people do exist, but they are jerks and you should try not to stress about making them upset. They were always going to get upset no matter what. If you ever feel like somebody’s behavior is really unacceptable, you can call a judge in the moment, or speak to the TO privately later. And remember the Golden Rule that you are free to leave at any time. Some things aren’t worth putting up with just for the chance to win a booster pack.
IMO it’s poor form for the store to change the format on you at the last minute, but I get that they have to keep all their customers happy. Chaos draft arguably puts everyone on even footing since you can’t really prepare for it and just have to rely on fundamentals, but whether you view that as a good thing or not is a matter of opinion. We’re late in the season right now and people may be burned out on Aetherdrift. In a couple of weeks, Tarkir: Dragonstorm will be out and everybody will be excited to play that. Study up on it and you shouldn’t have to worry about anyone changing the draft format on you for a couple of months.
Have fun out there!
* The other side of the coin: never let anyone make you feel like you’re supposed to drop, or owe it to them to drop. You are entitled to play to the bitter end if you so desire. You are never expected to concede to someone, and you should especially not entertain any offers to concede in exchange for a share of prizes or other consideration – that could get you disqualified or sanctioned.
This was great, very comprehensive. Thank you!
Yeah nobody said or did anything egregious. I could just see my second opponent getting bored and kind of annoyed even of she kept it to herself. At least I think she was, I’m admittedly not great at reading faces. I think most people had friends there, so I felt like every moment they were spending on our games was going to be time they couldn’t be getting in a real game between rounds. Lots of friendly side games seemed to be happening between rounds. If that’s not actually an issue, then I won’t worry about it if I go again.
And yeah, the format change didn’t really change my odds of winning, but it threw me off and since I don’t really have fundamentals yet, it kind of felt like the floor falling out under me. Not a big deal though, just harder to learn from.
I can only speculate about what your opponent might have been thinking, but if she really wanted to play with her friends then she is also free to concede at any time. Since she didn’t, she must have seen some value in staying in the match. To be fair, some people are not suited for the “patient teacher” role and maybe that was the case for her. But there’s only so much management of other people’s feelings you can do. Also… she has basically unlimited time to play casual side games with her friends whenever she isn’t in the middle of a tournament.
One thing that I, as an introvert, like about sanctioned tournaments is that nobody has to explain or justify why they are there. You are there to play a pre-determined amount of Magic, against algorithmically selected opponents, you will play exactly that much Magic and will stop playing afterwards, and you are entitled to play because you paid your entry fee.
it was pretty clear that this was going nowhere, and the space was a bit louder than anticipated and I could feel myself getting exhausted pretty early.
So yeah, just hoping for an ettiquite lesson.
FLGS owner here, I usually can tell when someone is going to drop. It is always a bummer when it happens. But I never expect anyone to stay especially when they are not having a great time.
During my Aetherdrift prerelease I had a new player join us (she was a long time customer, but has never played in the shop) and I had a feeling she was going to drop, sometimes you can just tell. I was glad she did because I could see the stress on her face.
If the other players give you grief ignore them. I think most shop owners will be understanding about it.
Yeah, I tried to not show that I was wearing down because I know that can dampen the mood. I did reflexively apologize to my first opponent because I assume one sided matches are boring, especially if someone is high skill, but to his credit he said not to worry about it and thanked me for the pack, so maybe I was overthinking it.
If I go again I’ll bring noise dampening earplugs and hopefully weather the environment better.
My suggestion is to either look for a smaller shop, or talk with the owner/manager about smaller events.
At my shop I can seat about 20, but events are rarely larger than 10. With non commander events topping at 6 most times.
A lot of players, after beating your pants off, are willing to look at your deck and offer some advice. This can help with your play, as well as introduce you to new friends.
Yeah I probably should’ve asked for advice, but I knew while assembling the deck that all my picks were garbage. Plus I was intimidated by being the only one there who didn’t already know someone else, so the anxiety took over and I didn’t do a whole lot of talking. The first opponent might have helped me out a little, he seemed pretty nice. The last two were a little scary tbh haha.
And yeah this group had 24 I think. Funny thing is that this is the small shop nearby me. It just happens to have high ceilings so every sound on the floor is amplified.
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On the occasion that I do drafts I also try to bring a pauper or dual decks with me. If ever I and my opponent are seriously mismatched, we play a casual game until the next match up. It spares us the frustration of waiting for everyone else and in cases where I am the one stomping, it soothes the wound and gets rid of any salt they may have.
Ah that sounds nice. Makes me wish anyone played Jumpstart. Cracking a couple of those in a similar way to your Pauper decks would’ve probably kept my energy up after a terrible round!
