This happened yesterday, and may use a lot of Magic the Gathering terminology, so please bear with me.
So I was invited to a social event happening at the local game store. About eight people (myself included) got together to play Magic the Gathering Commander in groups of four.
I was playing a Rosa deck. The other people were playing Tifa, Rydia, and Y’shtola.
We are playing our second game. Tifa was already eliminated. It was my turn. I choose to attack Y’shtola, as they were at 30 life while I had 7, in the hopes of getting some life back, as there was almost no chance of Y’shtola killing me on her next turn.
It’s now Rydia’s turn. She gets off a wild combo of cards that cause both Y’shtola and I to both die, giving Rydia the win.
Tifa is fuming. Tifa tells me that I should have attacked Rydia since they were at 3 life, but Rydia had open blockers. The fact that Rydia had 3 life remaining is the only detail Tifa repeats.
The thing is that whether I attacked Y’shtola or Rydia, I would have lost either way.
Tifa continues to berate my decision, repeating the fact that I *should* have attacked Rydia and made them lose. They say this to me over and over again.
As a bit of backstory, I do not get to play Magic in person often. This was the literal *fourth* time I have had an opportunity to play in a means not called "Magic the Gathering Arena" this *year.* in two of the other three times, Tifa berated me for what they consider a misplay that caused them to lose.
Today was a day though that I was not having any of their crap. I grabbed my things, called a taxi, and went home. I was not going to spend the next four hours listening to being berated for making a display that Tifa had zero stake in.
Also, just in case anyone asks, this was not a tournament. Whether Rydia won or Y’shtola means absolutely in the long run.
I am now being treated like I am an asshole, because I chose to leave instead of staying because I let "the wrong person" win.
AITA?
I think Tifa is taking it all too seriously. I would have left too… NTA
People forget “the Gathering” part of MtG. Magic is meant to be fun. If it’s not fun for you, feel free to peace out. NTA.
Exactly this. The whole point of Commander is to have a good time with friends, not to dissect every play like it’s a tournament. Tifa wasn’t even in the game anymore and still felt entitled to critique your decisions—that’s backseat gaming at its worst. You made a reasonable call based on the board state you could see, and honestly even if you’d attacked Rydia, there’s no guarantee the outcome would have been different. Walking away when someone’s sucking the fun out of a casual game is completely valid.
NTA (i also play magic). people play inoptimally often. this is a complicated game with new rules seemingly every release these days. you don’t yell at people for making mistakes that hurt your gameplay. that’s just the game.
there are a LOT of immature people playing, and a lot of people go to shops because they drive away the people around them (not everyone, but it does happen).
you may want to consider telling your lgs what happened, since this event caused them to lose a customer.
The store didn’t lose a customer. I’m just not going to play there. I have other places I can play, including several friends’ houses that Tifa won’t go to for various (and stupid) reasons.
The issue is that Tifa *is* an employee of the LGS, and has yet to be called out on their crap yet.