Looking through opponents' records writing an Atlanta tournament report (pop up when you hover over names in melee), and it was pretty shocking to see that two of my opponents had three unintentional draws in the tournament, and the rest had zero. PSA: It's not okay to consistently be getting UIDs. - ThreadSky

r-condon.bsky.social • 46 days ago

Looking through opponents' records writing an Atlanta tournament report (pop up when you hover over names in melee), and it was pretty shocking to see that two of my opponents had three unintentional draws in the tournament, and the rest had zero. PSA: It's not okay to consistently be getting UIDs.

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r-condon.bsky.social•46 days ago

https://bsky.app/profile/r-condon.bsky.social/post/3lfaslb2c6k2n

r-condon.bsky.social•46 days ago

Of course, they happen, and it's impossible to know completely whether it's an individual's fault during a specific tournament. I cannot know the circumstances that led to this - but I do constantly see players at tournaments playing at paces that are just not sufficient to finish a match in 50 min

r-condon.bsky.social•46 days ago

If you are getting on average more than one UID a tournament, you are significantly above average, and need to actively make this something to work on in your game. It will help your winrate, but it it also the ethical thing to do to create a better play environment.

r-condon.bsky.social•46 days ago

Notably, this does not mean you're not allowed to take a long time on decisions in particular spots. My round 9 opponent took ~3-5 minutes on a crucial combat in our win-and-in, and I think this was completely fine, and said so at the time, because he had played at a great pace leading up to it.

r-condon.bsky.social•46 days ago

Magic is very, VERY hard. Part of the skill being tested is being able to make difficult decisions without having as much time as you'd like to think about them. This does mean you will make mistakes because you rushed yourself - that is not something anyone gets to escape, just try to manage.

r-condon.bsky.social•46 days ago

I do actually wish that this was a skill that was not necessary to test, because I truly do believe that different people think at different paces, and some of the best thinking has to be done slowly - but unfortunately, it is not possible to do this in a just way for paper MTG.

realmaxhandler.bsky.social•46 days ago

Interested in why you don’t like testing this skill — it’s a very important part of chess, for example. I think it’s a good thing to test so long as the time limits are reasonable.

harmonyjwoods.bsky.social•46 days ago

i would go far enough to say that if you get 1 UID on avg a tournament you should probably start checking yourself (same for if you time out like, once on avg in a modo challenge or smth).

sometimes it is genuinely not your fault, but for this it is useful to assume as such to begin w

upthebenstalk.bsky.social•46 days ago

Looks like almost all the UIDs happened on day 1, with several R9 IDs at 5-1-2 tables. The second UID is the one that people should be working to combat, but it is also the most likely to happen since they're in the UID bracket.

mihicular.bsky.social•46 days ago

One of my buddies had the idea (mostly a joke) that one player chosen at random who received an unintentional draw the previous round should be automatically ejected from the tournament to discourage slow play.

r-condon.bsky.social•46 days ago

Terrible idea, but legitimately funny joke :D

mattrl1987.bsky.social•46 days ago

Hey Ryan. I'm Matt, your Domain opponent from Rd 10 (clean 2-1 win for you but I enjoyed the match & meeting you!). I finished 8-4-3 so I believe I'm one of the opponents you reference. FYI - one of the draws was intentional, and Melee should reflect this: so 2 UIDs, not 3.

r-condon.bsky.social•46 days ago

Hi Matt! Really appreciate you reaching out with this correction (and our match, which was fun!). You're totally right, and I actually believe I'm wrong about the other opponent too, I think 2 of his 4 draws were intentional. So let me make a post correcting this.

r-condon.bsky.social•46 days ago

Hopefully I tried to make clear that this is strictly about tournament logisitics, not a personal judgment at all. In fact, I didn't think you played particularly slowly in our match (there was actually a domain opponent on day 1 who I wished I had been more proactive asking for faster play with).

mattrl1987.bsky.social•46 days ago

I wonder if, in reflecting upon our match, you found my play to be especially slow? And, if not (I'm quite confident you would not have: we finished our fairly straightforward three game match with about 20 minutes left on the clock) - does that give you any pause about the thesis here?

mattrl1987.bsky.social•46 days ago

To spell it out: I don't consider myself a slow player (no UIDs at Dallas or DC, playing agro in both cases). But some deck+matchup combinations do, unfortunately, just lend themselves to extended games with complex game states. If two such games happen... the likelihood of a draw goes up.

r-condon.bsky.social•46 days ago

Yeah to be clear, I *really* didn't see your play as slow in our match, and intentionally didn't name names because I didn't want it to be anything more than a general point. I also phrased it as "consistently getting UIDs" because totally possible to get multiple in a tournament from bad luck

r-condon.bsky.social•46 days ago

I do think that there exists a responsibility when playing a slower deck to operate at a faster pace to be able to account for this factor, but it is true that some decks will draw more, and that doesn't necessarily reflect on the player.

mattrl1987.bsky.social•46 days ago

The way the cookie crumbled for me was - I ended up in something like four Domain/Terror matchups; three Domain mirrors; tack on Mono W & and Orzhov control matches - it's kind of a miracle I only had two UIDs. I think it's a bit reductive to assert that multiple UIDs = that player is the problem.

mattrl1987.bsky.social•46 days ago

Magic is complex, has gotten more complex, paper Magic adds to the complexity - and some decks/matchups take it to still another level, which does risk time issues in tournament settings. I agree the player with such a deck has a bit of an added onus to not spend too long in the tank.

r-condon.bsky.social•46 days ago

Also just want to say I agree with this! https://bsky.app/profile/r-condon.bsky.social/post/3lfam2l62ss22

mattrl1987.bsky.social•46 days ago

But I do reject what I think is the underlying insinuation of this thread - that where there's smoke there's fire, and if a player has multiple UIDs, inevitably they're the problem / they've done something wrong. Again, was great meeting you - I'm an admirer of all you've accomplished!

nicoledubin.bsky.social•46 days ago

😬

r-condon.bsky.social•46 days ago

I mean, they will happen sometimes, especially when playing certain decks. It was the 3 for two people vs. 0 for everyone else that kinda floored me and made me realize it might be a thing to talk about

I think if they are consistently happening for you (>=1/tournament), you need to play faster

r-condon.bsky.social•46 days ago

(and learn how to encourage your opponents to play faster in kind and respectful ways, almost an equally important skill!)

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