Winning isn't "Griefing"
One view of competitive players that I'd like to dispel is that competitive
players are synonymous with "griefers". Some casual players feel that competitive
players ruin their game because the competitive player with a competitive will
repeatedly beat a casual player's pet deck without mercy. While
repeatedly losing usually isn’t anyone’s idea of fun, repeatedly winning a
zero-sum game doesn’t fit within the definition of “griefing”.
When one looks at the origin of the term “griefer” it usually refers to an
individual who intentionally plays a multiplayer game in such a way to
interfere with the enjoyment of the game.
The usual Magic game, by its design, is a game that leads to a winner
and a loser; it isn’t a roleplaying game where one can decide to pursue goals
that don’t include “winning the game” or a team based multiplayer game with
support roles. Because “winning the
game” is core to Magic, attempting to frame “playing a winning strategy” as a
form of griefing is disingenuous.
Competitive players attempt to insure that their strategy for victory will
either be as quick or inevitable as they can possibly make it. For example, if a casual player designs a
deck that wins on turn eight, on average, but the competitive player’s deck is
designed to win on turn four, then the casual player is likely to lose long
before they ever get to play their win condition most games.
While the above scenario may feel like the competitive player is stopping
the casual player from “having fun”, the reality is that the casual player’s
strategy was just too slow for that competitive player’s strategy. While it is possible to design a deck that to be a
“griefer’s tool”; this is usually a project taken on by a “Johnny” type player
who wants to play mind-games with their opponent.
Examples of decks that are designed to cause grief would be
a Commander Deck nicknamed “The Mathematician’s Wet Dream” that was designed to
generate as much math as possible by changing casting costs, damage dealt, and
other effects to frustrate their opponent.
Another griefer deck would be a deck that used the card “Soldier of Fortune”
to abuse another person’s cards with rough shuffling back in the days before
card sleeves, as both players were required to randomize a deck in a
competitive setting.
To be intellectually honest, a deck is only
“griefing” if its primary win condition is centered around extracting a
concession from the opponent as opposed to achieving a win condition available
through the rules of the game.
