Discussion Forum

depends on the game.

Scooping when you just don't have an optimal game, or when you are on the loosing end but still stand a chance is not cool.

Scooping when the game is clearly lost is just common sense. A lot of casual players can't see that but a game can be over long before your life total is down to 0.

My brother is one of the players who hates scooping. He will play a control deck that will kill you by turn 50 and meanwhile prevents you from playing anything. It's just his type of game. This is not fun. There is no reason why anyone would suffer through such a boring one sided game.
I learned this by playing a lot. When I started out I didn't like scooping either, now I know when a game is over and when it's not.

If you play one on one for a few hours maybe keeping score is a nice way to let scooping feel more as an actual loss. Play 20 games, keep score, a scoop is just another loss. The looser buys the winner a drink.
This way your opponent will only scoop when he has truely lost and when there is no point in continueing.

one of my main opponent use to scoop all the time, as soon as things didn't go his way he'd scoop.

every time i'd try to convince him to keep trying of course by then he had destroyed the board position.

it pisses me a LOT, totally ruins the game and steals the victory away from you.

when i got fed up my solution was that when he'd prematurely scoop i would grab my decks and leave.

it took a few sessions but he got the message.

[QUOTE=Seras]one of my main opponent use to scoop all the time, as soon as things didn't go his way he'd scoop.

every time i'd try to convince him to keep trying of course by then he had destroyed the board position.

it pisses me a LOT, totally ruins the game and steals the victory away from you.

when i got fed up my solution was that when he'd prematurely scoop i would grab my decks and leave.

it took a few sessions but he got the message.[/QUOTE]

lol ive been thinking of doing the same thing.. or just playing two turns then scooping.. then playing another game for two turns, scooping.. and repeat

but I live with the guy.. I think he's very much a sore looser :(

just tell him that if he's not interested in playing games to their completion that you aren't interested in playing at all.


I would note that we play with unlimited free mulligans(within reason) which helps curb over-scooping.

if you're playing by strict rules and you get shit draws till you're down to 4 cards and you risk playing it but still don't get mana after 2 turns then ya.. i would scoop too.

[QUOTE=Seras]just tell him that if he's not interested in playing games to their completion that you aren't interested in playing at all.


I would note that we play with unlimited free mulligans(within reason) which helps curb over-scooping.

if you're playing by strict rules and you get shit draws till you're down to 4 cards and you risk playing it but still don't get mana after 2 turns then ya.. i would scoop too.[/QUOTE]

If he mana screwed then it doesnt bother me.. its when we have had a good fight and then mid game and I have overcome his cards/tactics and then he scoops, rather then letting me put in a few killing blows :S

But then I say "Why are you scooping for?? It ruins the game bit.."
and hes like "Im going to loose"
and im like "Well you don't know for SURE"
"but theres no point playing if I cant win"
"..."

lol

I only scoop whenever "shit gets crazy" and there's not a card in my whole deck that can help me...

Honestly, it's best if a play not scoops as they might pull off a combo that you weren't aware of. Best way to elaborate on this is I was playing a top tier goblin deck and his first turn was a memnite then sac it for koldotha rebirth. I then knew that it was imperative to kill the memnite as that 3 damage that I usually can't handle turn 2, 3, or in bad cases up to turn 4 it makes a difference to stop it early.

Depends, when playtesting we make it clear we are playtesting. There is no point to scoop if you really want to test out how well you are going to play. When it comes to actual tournaments and such, if I combo out the other player, especially newer ones, are not going to want to sit through it and move on. When you blatantly sit there and make yourself draw your victory out before them turn after turn, it can be considered disrespectful and demeaning in some ways like making it sound like your better than them, or all you really are doing is enjoying beating people who can not win. It depends, I would just think about it carefully.

I only scoop after I know for sure I am dead on my opponents next turn, and that I have no answer to delay, or turn it around.

Man I hang out and play a guy who scoops at the drop of hat then gets mad throws his decks and quits all together. At least once a month. He tries to say I suck but I got the deck amongst my group with best win/loss ratio it's lost like 4 times outta like 100+ games. Unless I am bashed and dying ( figuratively ) in game I don't scoop. Not to mention I have like 3 decks most my palls won't play. Hell I coerced him and his exroomate into quitting before the game started, on multiple occasions, without revealing my hand. But I digress To Hell with scooping early.

that sounds like a pretty bad gaming environment.

It's funny how different a game of magic can be from day to day, it's almost like you are playing a different game. I know one group of players that every time I play with those guys it's fun, doesn't matter that I win or loose, I have tons of fun (format is always EDH with those guys). Then there is my own group and the level of fun varies from week to week depending on who's present and who plays who (we usually split up into 2 groups of about 4 to 5 players). When I play against my brother it's almost never fun.

The reason the one group is always fun is

a. the guys are fun, easy going, a very positive bunch
b. they play EDH and they play almost zero denial (= counterspells), zero discard, almost zero land hate (except to remove lets say maze of ith or Volrath's Stronghold), no combo

this just makes a world of difference. Magic can be so much fun when your goal is not to prevent your opponent from playing. Some people just don't get that.

I'll admit it, I scoop. Only when I know that I'll be dead the next turn and there is nothing I can do to prevent it. Mainly because my one roommate has a Mill deck which can put a lot of decks down to an empty library, and my other roommate uses a Polymorph deck with his only two real creatures being Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn (Besides things to build 1/1 counters). When those come out its pretty much over once he takes his second turn and annihilates a good majority of permanents.

But playing constantly against decks like those kind of ruin the fun, just like Seth said. When the polymorph deck can take you out in 3-4 turns it becomes discouraging. And constantly discarding cards from a mill deck just becomes annoying. I had to build a control deck just to keep them at bay so I could even think of doing anything.

I usually don`t scoop, but there are these rare times when the game just doesn`t work because of mana shortage. That`s when i scoop and call for a rematch. My friends do the same, not worth playing if you know for sure you`re going to lose without putting up a last struggle.