This whole forum just seems like one giant circle-jerk for the VS "in crowd."

meh, i don't care. i like to play VS.

becoming a pro player is a bonus to me. gaining money and fame is a bonus to me. gaining friends that share your hobby? that's a different story.

you may want to call us geek. you may want to call us nerd. admit it between bill gates and michael jordan, bill gates makes more money. GEEKS AND NERDS CONTROL THE WORLD!!!!

uhhhm, this is a VS website. of course we would only appreciate the VS "in crowd"

or did you want to use some word like elite? or pros?

some people here just have ego issues. They get all sad when their not the ones constantly up in lights, so instead of taking the time to get there by writing articles or participating in bigger events, they get all angry at the people that actually do.

They could ignore the articles, they could... no wait i'm pretty sure ignoring the articles would do the trick.

But that would be too easy, and people wouldn't get to hear them complain all day about how we worship people here.

I worship stu barnes more as a rapper then a VS player.

you should really hear that guy

Word.

Barn.

There are plenty of reasons to make sure an attack is legal and it's not just for properness. If I've got a ready Dr. Doom I'm probably going to Mystical Paralysis someone. If I have a ready Roy Harper I'll maybe want to Roy one of your guys, and it's always best to do this before attacks are legal so you can't negate it with an attack pump. If I have a League of Assassins character I may wish to play Tower of Babel, which would make your team attack illegal if you tried to declare one.

There are less obvious reasons to wait for a response. If you activate a Birthing Chamber I may wish to respond with an effect. It's best to do this before you draw a card because you might draw an answer to my effect.

If I have recruited Dr. Doom this turn then I'll let your team attack become legal then Reign of Terror your 3-drop. This could result in my character not getting stunned, whereas if it wasn't legal your other proposed attackers would ready and you'd get to redeclare. If there is a discrepancy of sorts (likely if we're playing the game your way), we'd probably backtrack to before the attack was declared. Of course, knowing I'm holding a Reign of Terror you won't make the same attack.

I suppose I could just play all my effects at the start of the combat phase and make attacks really easy for you but I'd rather make the correct play, even if it means you're going to complain at my constant "it's legal", "do you pass?", "enter my formation step" phrases. People don't clarify these things for the sake of being pedantic, this just happens to be a game where the timing of effects is very significant.

I actually think that honor goes to the guy who told MJ to learn to play Force. But yeah, that post wasn't the most well-written one this forum has ever seen. The first post isn't winning any awards for insight either.

And I thought I knew you. Hunter just rolled over in his grave, and downed another fifth of gin.

I love this thread, although I have no clue what it is actually about.

Is it just me, or are people saying that the local scrubs act like pricks because they think "that's how the pros do it"? If that is the case, they need to come to Atlanta. It's gonna be a party.

The other me says that this thread is an homage to the celebrated few who have dedicated themselves to the game. That's pretty good. Can we breed with the best women in the tribe now?

Guess I should jump in, since I've been the poster boy for 'pro-haters' everywhere a few times on here.

It drives me absolutely bonkers when people spend their energy 'talking up' the 'pros'. Even more so when those articles are written by the 'pros' themselves.

Honestly, I have no idea why it makes me crazy. But when someone takes their time to talk about how great they are and how cool and great their friends are just feels wrong to me. I've really tried to figure out why it makes me insane, but I honestly don't know.

I think one of the main reasons is that Vs is just a game. An incredibly minor game, in the great scheme of the universe. The fact that one person plays better than another is pretty much inconsequential in the 'big picture'.

Does this mean that there isn't anything to learn from better players? Of course not. But here's the rub - it's counter-productive for 'pros' to share their knowledge with other players. It's also counter-productive for 'pros' to spend gobs of money to buy cards for this game (since I imagine they would like to earn a living playing Vs, which pretty much precludes spending gobs of money on anything).

So, I guess one of the reasons that I have so many issues with pros is that I don't think that they really contribute to the community as much as they could by helping everyone become better players or by supporting the game financially as much as 'casual' players. They play the game to get more out of it than they put into it. They watch the boards to pick up things that other people post to make their own decks that they don't share with others.

Basically, pros are leeches :)

Put it this way - no one is going to go out and buy Vs cards because of an article about the 'pros'. But people -will- go out and buy Vs cards when they see an article about a new card, or about their how their favorite comic book character shows up in the game.

So why not do something that actually helps the game grow instead of just fueling your own (and your friends') egos?

Your post is excellent, and I agree with most of it.

That quote is, however, in my humble opinion, not true. I remember way back when I was buying magic cards. Finkel and his accomplishments fueled at least a little bit of my interest. The personalities, and their joy for the game, and the money they win, are very strong selling points to get into the hobby. In my humble opinion. Of course, I usually argue how important the casual fun-boy is... but I do see advantages for both.

Some of us hide it better than other though. I only consider myself a geek on the inside.

=)

Hmm.

Another "pros vs joes" thread.

Although there are some valid gripes with some pros... in general... most of them are helpful to the game.

Most of the people here in SoCal got into VS because of the pros. Many of them have improved their skills vastly due to advice from, playtesting with or drafting with said pros.

Although they don't tend to share their tech leading up to a PC (except for MJ), they do open up afterwards and provide tons of information with other players.

And yes... they do buy cards. They draft as much as possible. It would be easier for them to just buy boxes at wholesale (because it's easy to do that here in SoCal) but they'll pay the normal draft price just like everyone else to help support the store. I remember the first time an out of state pro came to the store... he dropped over $100 on singles without blinking an eye... no bargaining... no "give me a pro discount"... just tally them up and here's the cash.

Like it or not... celebrities and pros are crucial to the success of VS.

This is a very interesting point. One that I don't agree with, though. I would argue that the 'Pro Circuit' is crucial to the success of Vs, not the fact that there are actually people out there playing in it. I have had game store owners tell me they won't risk buying new games if there's no organized play environment, because it's the tournaments that keep the product moving and new players coming in.

Put it this way, if there was a pro circuit, but someone different won every time and there was no real 'pros', do you think the game would die? I honestly don't think so.

But a Pro Circuit without players able to consistantly enter and win is an impossibility.

And should there be a rule that "When you win a PC, you can't enter another for a year," it would certainly hurt the game.

So in a vacuum, you're right, but practically I just don't think so.

Just to clarify: I absolutely don't hate pros. I view pros exactly the same as I view any other vs players.

What I do hate is anyone, pro or not, that puts themselves or others on a pedestal and talks down to other people because of their ability to play a game with little pictures of super-heros on them.