Last fall I was getting back into Modern so naturally I went to the LGS closest to my house. I played a really shit cobbled together homemade Jund deck. No Wren, no cat-oven, no cookie cutter bullshit.

My second opponent was very rotund, had an aroma, anime chick playmat, and a deck full of promos and big money cards, and man was he proud of it. His social skills matched his appearance, which is fine, I’ll do my best to interact with anyone in a positive manner.

He played Meddling Mage, named a card, a card I didn’t have in my deck so I didn’t even mind. He played another and named another card, I replied with an “oof,” he did not like that.

He played a card that revealed my hand and he had a meltdown. He yelled at my asking what decklist was I playing and I said, “none.” “None? I’ve never heard of that, you can’t even copy a deck properly.”

I didn’t understand what he was getting at, I make my own decks. I eventually won and he said it wasn’t fair because I played outside of the meta. I said good game and he stomped his feet as he walked to his next opponent, four feet away. The stench of defeat hung in the air.