MtG: Self-Analysis

 I spent the better part of 25 years buying Magic cards and playing Magic. If I close my eyes, I can still see the day Terry showed up for game night with a box of Revised Starter decks and encouraged us to try this new game.  Our whole group bought in, then off I went to Jump School.

We had far more free time than I anticipated at Jump School, so I made friends with a fellow student who had a car, we found a game store, and I started the cycle anew.  I distinctly recall seeing a card marked for $5 and scoffing, because who would pay real cash for a single card?

Little did I know what the future held (my personal record is $30 for a Mox Sapphire, which I then turned into $30 and some Underground Seas) with card prices.

Anyhow, through the years, various strategies and playstyles developed and with the explosion of the internet and hobby-related forums, those strategies (and more importantly decklists) grew collectively.

The result of all this is that I have the resources and knowledge to build solid decks for Commander and the more generic multiplayer 60-ish card formats the groups I am in play.  Note that this does not translate into being able to play them all equally well, but I know they are good, because friends borrow them regularly and then win.

My biggest playstyle flaw involves impatience and blue instants, specifically countermagic.  Used properly alongside blue draw spells (those I use mostly properly), a good blue deck has an immediate answer to any threat an opponent plays in the form of a counterspell.  Used improperly (how I typically pilot a deck, regardless of color), the countermagic may be in hand, but the mana is tapped out to play whatever.

That there, is my issue.  I enjoy doing things on MY turn, not maybe doing things on another player's turn.  Not only is it rude to interrupt people, but I want to PLAY MAGIC, which involves casting things on my turn.

In the end, I always have several decks on hand that kick tail when piloted by my more patient friends.

Which, honestly, is fine with me.  I only play just enough that my decks are a refreshing change of pace to an otherwise mostly static game state of known decks.  Plus, at this point, my friends know that most of my decks can win - sometimes in a funny manner - if played properly.

So we shuffle up and laugh as I lose to my own decks.