I own a small FLGS, i mean small. 1 employee, me. Sometimes my wife or son watch the places for me for a few hours. Small town too, <9,000 population.
I have had a player coming into the shop for about a year now, he was new to magic. He is one of those WAAC (Win At All Costs) players. He has recently decided he is no longer going to buy magic cards, only print them. A while back he asked me about doing this. I explained the difference between a proxy (when you own a card, but play with a fake because the card is valuable, or possibly damaged) and a counterfeit (you do not own the card, and play with a fake). It is against Wizards’ rules for WPN/Play stores for us to allow counterfeit cards for any sanctioned event.
Tonight was my shop’s first night hosting the new Two-Headed Giant Commander format. I was playing with a friend vs this guy and another customer. This guy was sitting diagonally from me (and my eyesight is not great) so i could not really see his cards. I cast something that allowed me to destroy up to two artifacts, so i was looking at his cards to decide what to destroy, when i realized every single card he had out was a fake.
When I kicked him out, he did the typical “but i buy a soda every week from you!” BFD, I make 50¢ off those, 75¢ if i get them on sale,
In almost 7 years of being open i have kicked out 3 players, and banned 2. This guy being the second ban, the first one shit himself and ruined a chair.
Good on you. You warned the fucker, and he didn’t listen. Now he won’t ruin the game for the others playing. Part of these games is the actual chase for the good cards, even though it may not seem like it. Is there a significant advantage to being able to purchase individual cards for your deck piecemeal? Of course, and that is why wealthy players have an unfair advantage, but that is true with most games such as this, and that’s why the cards are sold in a blind box fashion. The chase is part of the overall game itself, and some folks don’t see the fun in that.
If you want to gamify the chase for good cards play limited. I want to enjoy the game without spending $200 on a medium mana base.
And you can totally do that, but not in an officially sanctioned tournament. Even a small one, that’s still not allowed.
I am aware it’s not allowed, and I wasn’t asking permission. It’s why if I play in a sanctioned setting I use counterfeits that won’t trigger any bootlickers.
I push casual at my shop, that is all we play. But this guy wants to bring a bracket 5 deck while everyone else is playing a bracket 2 deck.
When this guy first started playing two of my most experienced players took him aside to help him build a deck, which his at that point were 99 seemingly random cards that shared a color identity with his commander. They asked him, what kind of deck he wants. His reply was “one that always wins.” He did not care what color, or what mechanic, or play style, he only wanted a deck that always won. I should have known then this guy was going to be a problem.