Outside of chess and poker, the game I’ve played the most is Magic: The Gathering. In Magic you have a deck, which is basically like an opening in chess, but every time you learn a new one you have to spend hundreds of dollars on new cards. It’s a lot of fun.
As someone who is lucky enough to play OTB once a week, I do see online as practice. But I use it to practice opening lines. In this article, you have opened my online practice to go beyond opening lines, and practice other aspects. Thank you or that!
Aww MTG is so nostalgic for me; I started in 5th grade, when Ice Age and 5th Edition were the latest expansions, and my best card was something like a 5/5 flying for 8 mana that you had to sacrifice something to keep alive, haha. At least we don't have power creep in chess (buffing the pawn to move two squares perhaps?). I'm still surprised by the overlap in these communities: lots of poker players and Nepo an avid Hearthstone player. HS was my gateway to chess: I was reading about how it uses the Elo system, which reminded me chess was a thing, and I've been hooked ever since. I currently use my casual Friday rapid games at Panera as a chance to experiment wildly (and throw any club members off my opening trail ;) ). Definitely keeps it fresh to mix it up in a lower-stakes setting.
As someone who is lucky enough to play OTB once a week, I do see online as practice. But I use it to practice opening lines. In this article, you have opened my online practice to go beyond opening lines, and practice other aspects. Thank you or that!
Also love the nod to Spinal Tap with the picture.
Aww MTG is so nostalgic for me; I started in 5th grade, when Ice Age and 5th Edition were the latest expansions, and my best card was something like a 5/5 flying for 8 mana that you had to sacrifice something to keep alive, haha. At least we don't have power creep in chess (buffing the pawn to move two squares perhaps?). I'm still surprised by the overlap in these communities: lots of poker players and Nepo an avid Hearthstone player. HS was my gateway to chess: I was reading about how it uses the Elo system, which reminded me chess was a thing, and I've been hooked ever since. I currently use my casual Friday rapid games at Panera as a chance to experiment wildly (and throw any club members off my opening trail ;) ). Definitely keeps it fresh to mix it up in a lower-stakes setting.