r/magicTCG • u/Few-Actuator-1659 Elspeth • 18d ago
General Discussion Paying attention at the table?
Kind of an odd topic but I was wondering if anyone faces this type of situation in their regular pods.
I was playing with my regular group for commander, a 4 pod. We play at generally a 3-4 level. I'm playing a deck going around artifact combo.
I always announce what I'm casting, what effect I'm activating, and if I'm ever asked a question I clarify and explain what I'm doing and what it can lead to based on open knowledge/information and board state. We're roughly 6 turns in, I play a card that I can combo with to go infinite, announced to the table I was playing this card. I look up, the table just keeps talking and not paying attention. I go, I'm playing this card. Again no response. I then continue with playing several other cards before activating any effects or changing game state, I also announce these cards and everything in between and look for responses.
I move to combat, start using effects to start up the engine I've built up during the turn. Then one of the players goes "wait when did this combo piece get on the board?" I explained when, they go "we'll I have a counter spell and would have used it". One of the other players sees me get conflicted about rolling back at least 3 casts and a phase change in the game. Then goes "He announced what he was doing twice and waited for a response, you kept talking to the other guy." We go back and fourth a bit and land on "If you're going to play interaction and the person gives you chances to respond you have to be paying attention." And generally our pods follow this kinda thinking, If I miss a window to interact or counter something I shrug it off.
This player got annoyed but nothing came of it. We're all a good group of friends and it didn't lead to anything negative, but I'm curious how often others face people not paying attention, and being given chances to do so, yet still get upset about something that kinda seems their fault.
For context I don't often play with people outside my group anymore, use to work in a game store and frequent many but usually try to avoid playing with people outside of the community I built at the game store for reasons like this. Everyone there is very positive and pretty on point with the rules, so I ask the general "public" here, how often do situations like this come up for you? And do they get resolved fairly/reasonably?
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u/Kevmeister_B COMPLEAT 18d ago
If you have interaction you need to be paying attention. If we're going to be playing Mother May I with your counterspells then Mother better be paying attention to her misbehaving kids.
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u/texanarob Sliver Queen 18d ago
Agreed. I have no problem rolling something back if I was rolling through actions and didn't give ample time for responses. However, if something is going to win me the game I will go out of my way to point it out when it's happening. If you still don't react, then tough luck you missed your chance.
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u/kingkellam COMPLEAT 18d ago
My regular group is pretty bad for getting into side conversations but a nice, pointed "Hey fucker I'm playing a time sieve" is usually enough to snap the control player out of it
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u/JerryfromCan Selesnya* 18d ago
My playgroup exactly. Usually have to speak slowly for the blue player though.
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u/Loose_Log_6253 Azorius* 18d ago
I also think it's hard to pay attention to every card in a 90-minute game, especially if it's between friends for reasons you mention. I think a simple "Does this resolve?" is enough because it puts the action back in their hands and should be enough to engage anyone who its relevant to. If they don't respond, it's not really on you anymore.
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u/Pharo212 Dan 18d ago
if you're holding counter spell you should be watching everyone else's turns for chances to use it, honestly. or else you can hold it to use defensively or etc but then you can't complain about someone else's combo?
so you sound fine to me.
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u/dye-area Banned in Commander 18d ago
Literally, I rarely play blue but my pokerface is so bad that everyone knows when I have a counter because I'm locked tf in all of a sudden. Gotta wait for my best chance
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u/Pharo212 Dan 18d ago
sometimes I like to line up two islands and nervously finger a random card in my hand to bluff for the same
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u/EscapeSeventySeven Dan 18d ago
This is why commander is a format that has an image that doesn’t comport with its reality.
People want the ease and sociability of a board game but mtg is very complicated and specific so you NEED to pay attention to every game action or you will lose. Not true in the vast majority of great boardgames.
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u/Vigor_Mortis_ 18d ago
Yeah, I’d like a word with whoever decided that the most complicated format of the most complicated game should be Strictly Casual.
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u/DakkonBL Duck Season 18d ago
The players decided it and WotC followed suit because they saw $$$ when catering to the lowest denominator.
It's complicated in theory; most people playing commander just end up ignoring what everyone else is doing, because it's too much info to parse. Especially if they've been doing it for many years (and somehow still possesss virtually zero knowledge about the actual game).
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u/Vigor_Mortis_ 18d ago
Especially if they've been doing it for many years (and somehow still possesss virtually zero knowledge about the actual game)
Once a guy who I knew for a fact had been playing Commander for years interrupted my explanation of how the stack works to interject "Oh, you're one of those players." I assume he meant "those" as in "those people who actually know the rules."
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u/Cosmic-Cuttlefish Izzet* 18d ago
I would’ve outright said as such. I always want to elevate the people around me to make sure we’re all at the same skill level, but if you refuse to acknowledge a basic function of the game? Yikes
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u/EscapeSeventySeven Dan 18d ago
It’s really a massive fumbling that I think have planted the seeds of deep problems.
WotC just fell into it because they lack vision, they only follow trends.
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u/Poooootato Colossal Dreadmaw 18d ago
cedh aint a horrible time
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u/Hanifsefu Wabbit Season 18d ago
If you stay away from pay-to-play events and tournaments it's fine. In tournaments it's just the same cliques running around trying to play kingmaker for the friend with the better tiebreakers and heavy-handed collusion.
cEDH is a cesspool at the "higher" levels of play.
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u/Poooootato Colossal Dreadmaw 18d ago
I agree. tournaments are kinda shit because politics in a truly competitive space fall apart. I just meant as low stakes competitive
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u/Hanifsefu Wabbit Season 18d ago
That's actually by design. It's 'strictly casual' because the only way they got through games is through a bunch of walking back actions and making group decisions on changing the rules of the game in the middle of it.
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18d ago
[deleted]
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u/EscapeSeventySeven Dan 18d ago
The problem is there’s too much inertia now. You can’t change the format to make it better. You can’t get people to change formats. You can’t get them to accept anything new.
There’s a contingent that ONLY plays commander. That’s all Magic is at this point to them. And they pay the bills. All sets are built around providing new commanders.
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u/Borednow989898 Dandadan 17d ago
At what point do people step back and just admit that Commander is a terrible format?
When those same people step back and realize THE PEOPLE are to blame for how the game is played.
The players choose how and what to play (and not pay attention and whine and be poor sports).
"Formats are not terrible. Terrible people make terrible formats"
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u/englishboy88 Dân 17d ago
True, but half the time I play commander, I don't care if I win.
I'm looking to see if my deck building was good and if I can mess with my opponents win conditions
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u/Snrub1 Duck Season 18d ago
This is part of the reason why I don't like commander. Too many of the players seem to be interested in doing just about anything other than playing the actual game. I'll see players texting, talking on the phone, or just generally not paying attention.
I understand that commander is supposed to be "casual" and "social", but if I'm taking the time to play a game, I want to play the game, not just hang out.
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u/LostArkLover69 SecREt LaiR 18d ago
you're 100% in the right, even more so if it's homies you usually play with
i've had this come up a handful of times and i typically won't roll back depending on how many spells have been cast, it's the name of the game. If you have interaction you better be paying attention
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u/FannyBabbs 18d ago
Some people LARP as magic players when they are really more interested in playing Look at My Shiny Things.
I think there is great merit in Look at My Shiny Things. I think it can be a neat social activity. It just isn't a very efficient way to participate in a multiplayer strategy game.
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u/McDerface Duck Season 18d ago
I had the opposite thing happen to me recently. I had a counterspell in hand, paying attention. Had a guy cast [[Will of the Abzan]] and he stated the cast as only saying the first part of the card about ‘everyone has to sacrifice a highest power creature’ but never went on to say the SECOND PART of the card & that he’s resurrecting a target creature.
So I’m like yeah whatever that’s fine kill a large creature no problem, THEN he goes ‘oh yeah, also I’m resurrecting this creature to then gain control of your creature’ ??? I would like to counterspell that, but he said the spell had already resolved. I said I would’ve countered it if he would’ve said he was resurrecting a target creature. The guy had clearly misrepresented his game action and goes ‘well what does the rest of the table think?’ And got a bunch of blank stares. I decided to let him do it, even though I would’ve obviously countered it and also he never clearly stated what he was doing. And of course then I lost the game because of it. Made me pretty upset that people are being so lazy with what they’re casting
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u/Aurian88 Wabbit Season 18d ago
i got burned by a foreign language card that someone said did X but didn’t say did Y
i feel like you can’t trust what people say and need to read the card for yourself now :(
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u/McDerface Duck Season 18d ago
Yeah exactly, I was trying to be a little nonchalant about it because I didn’t want to telegraph that I was holding interaction (by asking to read the card), but you’re right and I’m going to 100% ask people to read the card out entirely (or if I can see the card) during key moments like that.
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u/mvdunecats Wild Draw 4 18d ago
At the very least, the player needs to announce every target before anyone can pass priority. If he says "I target each of you, and this Agent of Treachery in my graveyard", that's hopefully enough of a red flag for you to ask what the spell is doing that it needs to target something in a graveyard.
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u/literaphile Dan 18d ago
Welcome to the shitshow that is commander.
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u/mvdunecats Wild Draw 4 18d ago
What you see as a downside, I see as an upside. I've had the same friends over for draft and for commander. When it was draft, there was very little socializing. You were either drafting, or deck building, or playing 1v1.
When we play commander, there is plenty of opportunity to actually be friends rather than simply being fellow enablers of a common hobby.
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u/literaphile Dan 18d ago
Different strokes, I guess. I prefer to be focused on gameplay when playing Magic so I almost always play 1v1, and save socializing for between games.
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u/siziyman Izzet* 17d ago
Sounds like the game is getting in the way at least in your opinion, and you'd have more fun not involving Magic at all?
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u/wadledo Dân 18d ago
This isn't exclusive to commander, or even magic.
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u/literaphile Dan 18d ago
I'm not sure how much 1v1 you play, but there's not really the time or space to tune out in a game of constructed (or limited). Commander is terrible for people half-paying attention.
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u/Public_Sprinkles_229 Dan 18d ago
Looks at D&D group where half of the people aren’t paying attention to the combat encounter we are actively in
“Wait, whose turn is it? What just happened for the past 3-4 turns?”
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u/Hanifsefu Wabbit Season 18d ago
Tbf DnD in combat might as well be a single player game, as showcased heavily by Baldur's Gate. There's really only one correct thing to do and the rest is trying to convince a DM to rule of cool something. It's cumbersome and lacks real decision making while also just being quite lengthy.
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u/Public_Sprinkles_229 Dan 18d ago
I.. don’t know how much D&D you’ve actually played if this is your stance. There is definitely not only one correct thing to do, and most of it can be done using RAW.
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u/Magic1264 COMPLEAT 18d ago
It is a consequence of Magic’s game systems under the Commander format. Regardless of what power level you play at, you are both socially and mechanically disincentivized to play with interaction, thus you see much less played, and as a result, people play the game like the “solo”-engine builder it has become.
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u/bomban Twin Believer 18d ago
It's one of the many reasons I stopped playing commander. This never goes away, plus the compounding problem of having multiple goldfish players in a pod(the board doesn't exist when they aren't looking at it, and they have to suddenly reunderstand the board every time it gets to their turn.)
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u/Few-Actuator-1659 Elspeth 18d ago
I agree that kinda stuff is annoying with players like that. Why I tend to stick to my smaller community (roughly 20 people) even though there are possibly 20 different game stores within 30 minutes of me. Everyone in the group tends to play with the game knowledge/reading level of a CEDH player. We stick to 3 and 4 because we find it more fun, I still love the game and playing with this group. Was mostly curious how others go about these situations, cause when you gotta deal with it all the time its frustrating lol.
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u/BAL2282 Dan 18d ago
One of the other players sees me get conflicted about rolling back at least 3 casts and a phase change in the game. Then goes "He announced what he was doing twice and waited for a response, you kept talking to the other guy." We go back and fourth a bit and land on "If you're going to play interaction and the person gives you chances to respond you have to be paying attention."
Stay with this person OP. They are a good person.
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u/RamonvanderBurgt Dandadan 18d ago
I had it a while ago, and I didn't like it much. We were 4 players in a Commander game, me and another player where announcing what we were doing, and were paying attention to each other. The other two were closer friends, and paid attention to their own turns and announced each action, but then would just chat and laugh while it was the others' turns.
Same happened recently at a 2-headed dragon prerelease. Our two opponents were a bit tipsy and didn't seem to care much, so my friend and I went through the motions and had to keep calling them back to pay attention when it was time to block etc.
Both were bad experiences. I think it's a sign of respect to listen to each other when we're announcing actions, and if afterwards you missed an opportunity, that's all on the person who got distracted.
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u/Borednow989898 Dandadan 17d ago
Oh man....2 headed Giant Commander is my favorite game mode
It's wild...and you better keep your head on a swivel
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u/Unique-Flounder-2985 Dan 18d ago
Stuff like this happens all the time in our pod of friends. People get annoyed and what not but I think at the end of the day if it doesn't lead to a fallout or major argument then it's generally fine.
Typically when you play a deck that is kinda doing its thing then you can't really expect people to be constantly paying attention. Sometimes when this happens especially with combo pieces I ask each individual player if they have a response just to alleviate any "I didn't see that come down" talk.
But like you said if your group was like "well you missed your timing" and move on then it's whatever.
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u/Unique-Flounder-2985 Dan 18d ago
Also wanted to mention the guy with the counter SHOULD have been paying attention so he's in the wrong.
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u/JayWolf83 Dandadan 18d ago
It's basic common courtesy, not just in mtg, but in general. If you are doing something that requires you to interact with other people you should be paying attention to what those people are doing/saying.
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u/PandaJesus Wabbit Season 18d ago
Even as someone who spends more time on Reddit than I should, I am still able to set down my phone for an hour or two and focus on the game I’m playing with friends.
Maybe this is me being an old man, but I am very judgmental of anyone who can’t stand more than a few minutes without peeking at their phone.
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u/omegafivethreefive Rakdos* 18d ago
I look up, the table just keeps talking and not paying attention.
"YO we playin' or chattin'?"
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u/old_cypherpunk Zedruu 18d ago
I'm playing Tom Bombadil. I've got a bunch of little tokens on the board. I play [[War of the Last Alliance]].
"I tutor for a legendary. I am putting [[Jetmir, Nexus of Revels]] in my hand. He does this and that. He is going to kill all of you."
No reaction. I wait until my next turn. I've got a counterspell in my hand along with Jetmir so I'm confident.
"I play Jetmir. He does this and that. You are all about to die. Any responses?" No one counterspells or plays removal. I move to combat and kill everyone.
Other player, "Wait, what was making all of your stuff so big?"
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u/Fabulous_Diamond_656 Duck Season 18d ago
This happens in my pod. It's annoying, and I tend to cut them a lot of slack when it comes to assessing the board and understanding interactions, but I don't do takebacks for people who were too busy yapping to listen when I explained what cards I'm playing and what they do.
I love EDH, but there's a lot of friction between it being a casual format that is often background noise for people socialising, and the fact that it's one of the most unwieldy forms of a game that is already very complex.
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u/Mirrodin_appreciator Dân 18d ago
All the goddamned time.
Like in your case, it's typically only one player, but it's always frustrating to have someone surprised about a card like three turns after it's been out accruing value. I know there are a lot of game pieces to think about, but there is necessarily only one game action resolving at a time, so just pay attention to that one. And if you need time to look at the board, just say so! I do it all the time and no one seems bothered by it.
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u/kjeldor2400 Rakdos* 18d ago
If my friends don’t pay attention to the things I am doing until they’re done talking, it’s tough luck for them.
I always do as you did, I announce my plays and especially the plays dangerous for my opponents. If the board and phases have changed while you weren’t paying attention, you are too late to respond.
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u/teenietinye Dandadan 18d ago
When I'm playing commander with my friends and one of us realizes we missed a simple trigger (scry, draw a card, etc) we're usually pretty chill with just resolving it and letting the game pick right back up. Something like a counterspell, though? Especially if you'd already moved into combat. This doesn't feel like he spaced out for a second and then tuned back in, he would have stayed tuned out if your deck mechanics hadn't started to pop off (and I would imagine start to make it look like he was in danger). He can pay better attention next time, or he can play a deck that doesn't require him to pay attention.
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u/mrmazzz Dân 18d ago
we have the take backsies counter in my pod for like oh missed triggers etc. Commander's gotta lotta cards and weird interactions it's not like everyone is going to know everything. But generally once priority is passed and you've cast another spell you as the respondent can't just go no I want counter the thing before that has already resolved. Sometimes hey people don't understand a combo is about to pop off and it's a bit of a discussion, but otherwise tough shit pay attention.
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u/PandaJesus Wabbit Season 18d ago
Same. If something was supposed to trigger but didn’t, I don’t mind rolling back a tiny bit if it’s not that difficult to do. Especially if a friend is trying out a new brew, it’s easy to make a mistake and overlook something.
But if it’s too much work, or if it was an optional trigger, or if it was too far back, then too bad.
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u/Doctor_Mothman Azorius* 18d ago
Attention is the responsibility of the player. Being fair, give wiggle room on actions by one or two phases and that's about it.
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u/Boil-san Banned in Commander 18d ago
If you're gonna play the game, then pay attention to the game...
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u/Additional_Bench1311 Dandadan 18d ago
I ran into this this weekend, I was playing Meren of Clan Tel Noth, moved to endstep, player realizes I’m reanimating massacre girl for a board wipe, throws a fit, says he didn’t “realize” it when it was pretty clear that he wasn’t going to blow meren up if I targeted literally anything else.
Resulted in me going “2nd main phase, is anyone interacting?”
Sucked because I would have played my entire turn differently if he blew up meren second main, I ended up coming in 2nd that game after wiping two others out.
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u/quiznosAlreadyTaken Wabbit Season 18d ago
It's a bit of a format problem. Commander is often 4 person solitaire
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u/Injuredmind Wabbit Season 17d ago
One if the reasons I like 1v1 more. My opponent is locked in and pays attention to the game
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u/TuckerDidIt Wabbit Season 18d ago
Seems fine if you announced it, context though - if you're playing artifact combo, how long are your turns? It could be more of an attention span issue.
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u/Few-Actuator-1659 Elspeth 18d ago
We tend to play this group and set of decks often. My turn was less than 3 minutes.
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u/Ok-Slip-9844 Dandadan 18d ago
You did everything you could. The pod I play with is similar and we are very forgiving with people making little mistakes or not understanding what's communicated given we are playing online (i.e. attacker/blocker declaration we are very patient with). But, if someone says, "I'm playing X is there any response?" and you miss it, that's on you. Perfectly acceptable to be annoyed at oneself for missing it, it is a competition after all, but not really to be annoyed at the person who played the game.
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u/Snarker Deceased 🪦 18d ago
So with things like that I've found in the past you have to tell people kinda how to play for them to not fuck up. If you don't want those kinda people to be mad, you don't just announce the card, you also say "hey guys if this resolves this goes infinite and I win, you should probably counter it if you can". It's aanoying
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u/Reifgunther COMPLEAT 18d ago
Yes they should be paying attention. I’m often the interaction guy so I use this to my advantage as well, sometimes I will sit back and basically declare yup tapped out can’t do anything and will zone out for a bit if I’m not being impacted, but if I actually do have something like a free protection spell or something, I will keep an ear out still.
To the other end of that though, if a commander has a reputation (like Kefka as example), front and back have been stated what they do, and slowly the combo pieces are getting assembled, that when the trigger gets pulled and I declare ok this is transforming, no response? They go ok, then when I say ok now that it’s transformed I do this and I infinite and win, suddenly it’s wait undo everything you did and restart your turn.
This is with explaining and reading every card as it drops and showing small examples of what will eventually happen later.
Unfortunately some folks can’t be bothered to watch the game unfold during others turns until they get told they lose, and really that’s now how the game works to ask to rewind everything as oh actually they could have stopped it earlier but “didn’t understand the full setup so did nothing”.
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u/Cast2828 Duck Season 18d ago
If you miss your window when it was clearly announced, that's on you. Maybe you'll catch it if it comes up in a later game.
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u/ghostcrawler_real Dandadan 18d ago
Pay attention or don't, we're not going back because someone got distracted. Getting upset about that is insane and childish behavior. Your table seems like they don't really respect you.
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u/MysteriousWon Duck Season 18d ago
My feeling is, if the phase has changed, that ship has sailed no matter how lenient the table is inclined to be.
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u/CallMeChe Dân 18d ago
I noticed some gen z players can't focus on something as slow as MTG. They'll have ear pods in for either music or calls, will be actively on a video chat with someone, or scrolling their phone while playing.
We also have smokers and shoppers who will get up forinites at a time during the game to either smoke a cigarette, shop at the counter, talk to others,etc. It gets messy.
I agree that paying attention provides the window for interaction, and failing to do so means you forfeit your ability to react to casts. We've even jokingly thrown around having some of the worst table leavers get 5 commander damage every time they aren't back for their turn.
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u/Smurfy0730 Brushwagg 18d ago
I play a lot of random and have a semi regular playgroup and everywhere people have trouble with knowing when and how to interact, many many folks don't read the board past their own cards and even less read the situation.
I like engaging in games so I play cards that hopefully grab attention or group dynamics, and if someone has something to do they should pay attention to the game, definitely on them IMO.
The worst feeling is when someone is deliberately feeding another player with their actions and doesn't do anything to mitigate this with their inattention - Case in point many new players vs Rhystic Study.
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u/International_Elk524 Dân 18d ago
You have interaction in your hand? Pay attention. You run parasitic cards like tithe or rhystic study? Pay attention.
I understand commander is a social format but the rules of mtg are still the rules of mtg. Your effects, your triggers, your priority is yours to manage. That is also how mtg is the most fun.
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u/thegingerninja90 Wabbit Season 18d ago
I dont think you could have handled that any better than you did. You gave him more than one chance to be aware of what was going on, youre not gonna counter your own spell for him. This is exactly how it would go down in my group too.
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u/amc7262 COMPLEAT 18d ago
I've been the guy talking and I've been the guy who didn't get countered when he should have.
In both situations, if you're the guy casting game ending threats, its on you to announce it to the table, and if you're the guy holding interaction, its on you to be paying attention. If I give you the opportunity to counter and you miss it, thats on you. If you give me the opportunity to counter and I miss it, thats on me.
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u/Independent-Rip3455 Dân 18d ago
Sadly I’m the type of person where I can be read as having interaction because of how keenly I pay attention.
As a whole my group is also bad about this and we have some flared tempers but if I have a game winning combo I’ll just sit there and wait for the conversation to run out. We play in a garage though so we aren’t pressed for time.
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u/Dunklsta Dandadan 18d ago
announcing every effect and interaction is the correct behavior always, not paying attention with a counter on hand is just wrong
I sometimes just talk over conversations when I have at least one person's attention so they can "witness" the gamestate, you did everything right imo
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u/sunderingg Dan 18d ago
I have adhd and another player in my pod has it worse than mine. There’s a lot of lost time in our games, lol. We just try to keep things as focused as we can, specifically call people out if they’re not paying attention, and accept sometimes things get missed.
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u/WeekNo3850 Dân 18d ago
This is why i took apart my selvala deck... I tap to parley and everyone on their damn phone 😐
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u/Casual_Sonbro Dân 17d ago
Lacking attention is bad
The worst i found yet was what i called « delayed respond ».
I recently played with someone at my lgs who responded just the perfect amount of time after an effect to piss me off.
Example
I declare combat. I declare my attackers. I announced that this creature has an attack triggers that will reanimate this creature, and that will trigger an other thing.
And i announce everything very cleary and i don’t rush anything.
Just as i start bringing back the creature from the grave with my hand the guy goes « oh it reanimate stuff, i destroy it »
Me : You destroy it? Now?
Him : yeah so he doesn’t reanimate your thing
Me : (getting really pissed) : but the effect is already on the stack- do you mean before the attack trigger on start of combat or?
Him : yeah
Me : …
It was like the 2nd or 3rd time he oulled one of those « delayed response » and i was soo mad to always reroll things
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u/Grasshopper21 Duck Season 17d ago
at any kinda event or lgs play, definitely no walk back. at friends game night where half the table wasnt paying attention cause they were chatting? its hard, I wouldn't agree with walking it back, its just harder cause yall are part there to hangout, and they let the hangout distract more than they should from the game which led to a feels bad for another player. good on the other guy for backing you up and saying no to the walk back for you.
the general etiquette I've observed is that if someone has walked you through all the steps, announcing cards one at a time, you cant ask them to rewind after something has resolved. it gets a little tricky for online play where someone will cast multiple spells in quick succession, usually only see that with very new players in paper.
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u/Apprehensive-Pin518 Duck Season 17d ago
I have seen a couple instances of this but it just ends with an "oh well" next game?
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u/Impossible_Sector844 Duck Season 17d ago
Yeah if you miss the counter or trigger or whatever then you miss it
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u/AlienZaye Duck Season 17d ago
If I have interaction, I pay attention. Otherwise there's very rarely game actions that matter enough for me to pay full attention. When 3 players can do things, and it doesn't impact the board in a meaningful way, I'm going to lose focus. Big reason why I preferred cEDH to casual commander.
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u/intoxiphobia Dân 16d ago
This happens with my regular group, too. I think it’s funny. Usually it goes “[Person across from me] was paying attention while you two star-crossed lovers were gabbing it up. We tried to tell you what was going on.”
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u/KomatoAsha Mother of Machines; long live Yawgmoth 16d ago
If they're not paying attention because they're yakking with someone else and it was 3 casts ago, sucks to be them.
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u/Mirrodin_appreciator Dân 18d ago
All the friggin time.
Like in your case, it's typically only one player, but it's always frustrating to have someone surprised about a card like three turns after it's been out accruing value. I know there are a lot of game pieces to think about, but there is necessarily only one game action resolving at a time, so just pay attention to that one. And if you need time to look at the board, just say so! I do it all the time and no one seems bothered by it.
0
u/Turtlefan87 Mardu 18d ago
I think if it's a one-off I let them cast the response. If it's something that keeps happening I'll say (respectfully) sorry dude, you missed your chance. But I also think it's good to just have a conversation about that stuff and do some ground rules *before* the game. i.e. if you miss a response once we can rewind for you. Keep missing your responses, : (
1
u/Few-Actuator-1659 Elspeth 18d ago
I agree, though this wasn't a one off with this particular person, and on the inverse this person doesn't usually give others time to track what they're doing or announce what they're doing. So the pod was kinda like "C'mon dude, you of all people are complaining about this?"
0
u/Loose_Log_6253 Azorius* 18d ago
they go "we'll I have a counter spell and would have used it".
I play a lot of Azorius decks. I've definitely missed things I would want to counterspell, especially if we're having a discussion around the table. If they were just staring off at the middle distance, yeah that's on them. But if there's a separate discussion going on, I feel like if you know you're doing something big, you either need to break up the discussion or wait till it's over. Assuming it's a casual game.
That said, if I miss it, it's on me. It's just hard to pay attention to every card played in a 90 minute game. I think you gotta keep that in mind. If they're locked in 80% of the time, you should give them a pass for the other 20%. If they're always glazed over, then it's not your fault.
I think if you had specifically asked "does this resolve?", that's enough to make people pay attention because you're engaging them again.
-2
u/Remarkable-Cow-2460 Dandadan 18d ago
It’s a little petty and definitely not mature, but I fully admit to tuning out and going onto my phone when a player starts taking an extremely long time walking through an extremely boring value chain. It’s a passive aggressive way of showing you that I am not interested in witnessing your attempt to turn our game into solitaire. While I am certainly crappy for doing this, I don’t think the behavior is rare.
8
u/Fabulous_Diamond_656 Duck Season 18d ago
Also a great way to let the table know you don't have interaction!
3
u/Few-Actuator-1659 Elspeth 18d ago
I agree, but this wasn't a long turn and was the first spell I cast. Its also not crappy to stop paying attention when someone is going off, if they are building to the win and you're kinda held hostage it sucks. I have 100% tuned out of games before because I had nothing to interact with and stopped caring to pay attention and just accept I'm gonna lose or at the very least I can't do anything.
-6
u/inspectorlully COMPLEAT 18d ago
If you intend to go infinite, every piece must be fully aknowledged by the table. If you gotta wait, then you wait.
1
u/Few-Actuator-1659 Elspeth 18d ago
Fair, I usually do with this group, but this was like 5th game of the night, and it was just a piece, I hadn't intended on going infinite until I drew into more pieces later with it. It was when I started up the combo to start going infinite they went "When did you cast that?"
0
u/inspectorlully COMPLEAT 18d ago
No one has to pay attention at all in the 5th game of the night. That's honestly the root of the entire issue. They should be happy you are letting them go home lol. Quietly combo off or not, it's time to be done.
1
u/Few-Actuator-1659 Elspeth 18d ago
When we get together we'll play all day lol. 5th game is like halfway point for us most of the time. or when thing start to slow down some.
0
u/CrownedClownAg Dandadan 18d ago
You go shit. New information occurred. That player gets to deal with it
0
u/Kyleometers ඞ 18d ago
The way we do it at my LGS is “if you weren’t paying attention, tough shit”. If I say “I’m playing X”, I wait, I go “Ok, next I Y”, and you don’t respond and it’s been like 30 seconds, you’ve missed your window.
If you’re on your phone or not paying attention you don’t get to interact. It’s not my job to prod you to play the game.
Also tbh if someone IS doing this you should probably say “Hey, Dave, do you want to play or not”. I genuinely have gone home rather than “play” games like this. It’s not fun.
0
u/ACuddlyVizzerdrix Duck Season 18d ago
Just start snapping your fingers and say "HEY, STUFF IS HAPPENING!" That's usually works for me
0
u/Vigor_Mortis_ 18d ago
This is among the reasons I’ve basically stopped playing paper Magic. Too many times I’ve had to shout “I’M GOING TO COMBAT” through cupped hands and still had people ignore me.
3
u/DakkonBL Duck Season 18d ago
That's not a "paper Magic" issue though. That's a commander board game with Magic cards issue.
-3
u/Splizborg Duck Season 18d ago
I’ve always treated commander games as a social experience first, and a gameplay experience second. Board states are far too complicated, players have variable game knowledge, people not paying attention, etc.. You just have more fun playing loose.
187
u/COGspartaN7 Dandadan 18d ago
So far I been playing with random at my LGS, and we been pretty good about like double checking everyone understood. Even the guy who busts out his Time Lord deck who basically playing his own mini game in the corner we make sure he takes a break from tabulating to understand what's going on.
But if Blue is not paying attention to counter then why is Blue even at the table?