Magpies

I grew up, for the most part, in rural Alberta, in Western Canada. The screech of the magpies as they attacked other birds still stands out in my mind. Their propensity to crap all over my dad's car as soon as I finished washing it still makes me shake my head. Their attraction to shiny things baffled me growing up. How stupid was that? Divebombing bits of foil on the road, attacking the glass birdfeeder (my mother liked having robins around, but the magpies ran them off all the time).

How stupid were these goddamn birds?

And then I got into Magic.

My first post explains how that went down, but the astute reader will notice I made mention of a foil Preeminent Captain I pulled out of a Morningtide booster at the end of that first FNM. The card is okay, nothing fantastic, but LL, my opponent, new friend, and cardshark, took immediate interest.

He offered to trade me for it.

In hindsight, I suppose I could have just traded it. But, I can't deny having some attachment to the card. I politely declined, and luckily he let it go. He still asked after it from time to time after, but it was no big deal. I later learned that LL referred to himself as "The Magpie" sometimes, due to the reasons I've alluded to.

I had a foil! And people wanted it!

I knew that foils exisited for most modern-era cards. DK's enthusiasm for the game stemmed in part from him opening a foil Cryptic Command at a draft. CB had cards from years ago, and got us both into the game, but the demand for the Cryptic really seemed to pique DK's interest in the game.

From the moment I opened my Preeminent Captain, I was hooked on foils. It wasn't like YGO, where only some of your cards could be foil. In Magic, I could have foil lands? Hell yes! Sign me up!

I began to understand the magpie (both annoying bird and Magic player) a little bit.

Nothing wrong with enjoying shiny things.

As with any hobby, enjoy with some degree of moderation, and don't overdo buying into foils. As well, LL taught me a great lesson. Not one I needed, myself, but assuming you stumbled on this blog to actually learn something, and not because you know me, I'll spell it out here.

LL Wanted to trade, I said no, and life went on.

Too often, you see guys that don't take the hint (more on that in a later post) and try to bully, coerce, and otherwise pressure people into trading.

Un. Sat.

Any kind of pestering, bullying, and other manipulation can't be tolerated if we want this game to endure. I can't even recall all the times I've been playing a game and some guy has sidled up to the table to trade with me or another player.

Take-aways from today: collecting shiny things: good. Being annoying: bad.