First of all I’m competitive at anything I do. Whether it’s sports, trivia, or Rock-Paper-Scissors, I play to win. My interest in Gaming began with “friendly” card games with my family. I quickly became dominant at Crazy Eights, Hearts, and Euchre. I started entering Euchre tournaments when I was 16. As soon as I was legal to gamble I studied Poker, and Blackjack. Friday night Dealer’s choice Poker games became a pretty lucrative sideline for me. I taught myself to count cards in Blackjack, and studied shuffle tracking. I had a lot of fun at casinos as a player before switching sides, and getting my Dealer’s license. I dealt Blackjack for a couple of Dealers placement companies. Then spent my summers dealing at the CNE Casino in Toronto, Ontario.
It was another card game that had the greatest affect on my Competitive spirit though. Magic the Gathering was the perfect mix of Cards, Skill, and Gamesmanship. It combines card drawing probability, with complex mathematics similar to Chess (another game I enjoy), and the ability to bluff or deceive from Poker. As an additional bonus the individual cards were Collectible so they had value. I made enough money buying & selling, trading, and winning tournaments to open my first Gaming store with a friend of mine. Other Collectible Card Games followed, but it wasn’t until the release of VS System by Upperdeck that the perfect design in my opinion had been reached. Every other game including Magic the Gathering had a significant enough luck component that could ultimately decide whether you won or lost. VS System was the first Collectible Card Game to reduce the luck component to such an insignificant level that winning or losing was entirely in your hands. Needless to say I studied that game and ran with it.
Unfortunately Upperdeck ran into some licensing and legal issues with the game and it was abandoned. I still miss my time playing that game competitively. I still play Magic the Gathering, although not nearly as much as I used to. It’s difficult to go back to something that you know doesn’t hold the same sway over you as it used to. It’s like getting back together with an Ex, after the person you really wanted to be with dumped you and moved to a foreign country. Every now and then I’ll come across a new card or two that allows me to break the game ever so slightly. I’ll put together a deck, and enter a tournament. I’ll finish in the top 8 and by the next day the secret is out. In my opinion Internet duplication or “netdecking” if you prefer has ruined the game. I’ll get into that with you another day.
For now though, just know that I will be discussing more than Card Games. I’ve owned every generation of Playstation. I’m very particular about which games I buy these days having been burned by some very lacklustre titles in the past. Boardgames are another Hobby of mine, and I’ll discuss some of those as well. Bottom line is, if you are a fan of gaming I’m sure there will be something for you.
