If you are really capable of playing Magic competitively if only you had the cards, etc., I would be glad to start you up, and you can pay me back whenever. But I would need to know that e.g. you are up-to-date on what decks/strategies work, tournament formalities (so you don’t lose because of using the wrong “done with turn” indicator or tapping rotation angle), etc.
(I made this offer over a year ago, but was strongly criticized for having the proviso that Crono put his karma at stake to indicate seriousness and as a motivator.)
I’m not yet capable of playing professionally. I might be able to reach that level, but I’m not there yet. And by “playing professionally” I don’t mean “play well enough to make a living at it.” There are very few people in the world who have ever made enough money from Magic tournaments to live on, although the number of people who at least manage to make back their expenses is much larger. (The “several thousand dollars a year” figure is an upper bound and doesn’t take into account potential winnings.)
I actually do have a plan to get better, though; if I can put up a good showing in a few tournaments, Zvi Moshowitz will let me join his Magic playing social circle. (I think.) The current plan is to wait for the next Pro Tour Qualifier season to start—it’s Sealed Deck with the soon-to-be-released Scars of Mirrodin set—and just attend as many as I can get to while also getting in plenty of practice by playing on Magic Online.
I once knew a gamer, indeed an MtG player, who made a decent (though certainly not extravagant) living out of playing online poker. Smart guy. I never observed his poker skills first hand but he certainly kicked the shit out of me in MtG.
I don’t know how difficult it is to use poker as an income source but you probably have the basic skill set (math/rationality/gaming) required for good poker playing.
...and I once calculated that it would cost me a few thousand dollars a year to play Magic: the Gathering competitively...
Unless Crono’s disregarding his potential winnings, your question about whether he thinks he’d be able to earn money that way seems to have been answered.
Yes, but from earlier discussions he had suggested he’d be able to play professionally, so that’s what I interpreted him to mean here, and the cost is gross rather than net, so he’d only need the first year’s expenses to be self-sustaining.
So I was indeed sneaking in assumptions from earlier exchanges.
If that is gross, sure. I did mention that he might be disregarding potential winnings. It seems odd to me that he’d word it that way in that case, though.
If you are really capable of playing Magic competitively if only you had the cards, etc., I would be glad to start you up, and you can pay me back whenever. But I would need to know that e.g. you are up-to-date on what decks/strategies work, tournament formalities (so you don’t lose because of using the wrong “done with turn” indicator or tapping rotation angle), etc.
(I made this offer over a year ago, but was strongly criticized for having the proviso that Crono put his karma at stake to indicate seriousness and as a motivator.)
I’m not yet capable of playing professionally. I might be able to reach that level, but I’m not there yet. And by “playing professionally” I don’t mean “play well enough to make a living at it.” There are very few people in the world who have ever made enough money from Magic tournaments to live on, although the number of people who at least manage to make back their expenses is much larger. (The “several thousand dollars a year” figure is an upper bound and doesn’t take into account potential winnings.)
I actually do have a plan to get better, though; if I can put up a good showing in a few tournaments, Zvi Moshowitz will let me join his Magic playing social circle. (I think.) The current plan is to wait for the next Pro Tour Qualifier season to start—it’s Sealed Deck with the soon-to-be-released Scars of Mirrodin set—and just attend as many as I can get to while also getting in plenty of practice by playing on Magic Online.
I once knew a gamer, indeed an MtG player, who made a decent (though certainly not extravagant) living out of playing online poker. Smart guy. I never observed his poker skills first hand but he certainly kicked the shit out of me in MtG.
I don’t know how difficult it is to use poker as an income source but you probably have the basic skill set (math/rationality/gaming) required for good poker playing.
Right now, I’m pretty bad at poker, and I never found it to be all that fun when I played it with my brother and his friends.
Just curious, do you name Zvi Mowshowitz because he comments here? :)
Sort of. I see him at the NYC LessWrong meetups.
Erm...
Unless Crono’s disregarding his potential winnings, your question about whether he thinks he’d be able to earn money that way seems to have been answered.
Yes, but from earlier discussions he had suggested he’d be able to play professionally, so that’s what I interpreted him to mean here, and the cost is gross rather than net, so he’d only need the first year’s expenses to be self-sustaining.
So I was indeed sneaking in assumptions from earlier exchanges.
If that is gross, sure. I did mention that he might be disregarding potential winnings. It seems odd to me that he’d word it that way in that case, though.