Freshman Year: Live and Let Live (Part 2)

TFH was the second floor RA in my Freshmen dorm, "Egypt" (See Part 1 here). I got a chance to talk to him when we were walking to our first dorm event, a dorm versus dorm freeze tag match in the Stanford quad. We exchanged some pleasantries and discussed our chances in the freeze tag match. I explained that I never get too hung up with losing in freeze tag as people are apt to unjustly unfreeze themselves. TFH shrugs and tells me "If you're not cheating, you're not trying." It was at this point that I realized TFH would be a very different RA experience. You see, Spamus, G$, and I were the evil influences in Gently's life, constantly chatting in her room, distracting her from work, or causing havoc in the halls. And that's how it's supposed to be. We're raucous Freshmen, she's the responsible Senior. Fortunately or unfortunately, it never worked this way with TFH. TFH sending us down "the other path" would be a common theme throughout the year.

What started it was the discovery that TFH was a Magic: The Gathering player. You may have heard of it – it is the same game that many boys played while they were in middle school (for me, it was around 1995-1997). This fantasy card game pits (typically) two players against each other, who assume the role of "wizards" that summon monsters, cast spells, and use artifacts all in an effort to reduce their opponent's life total from twenty to zero. TFH had a bunch of cards for us to play with because his dad worked for Hasbro and sent him a few free boxes each year (this is the same way we got our light sabers in Part 1). Magic wasn't even hip when I was in middle school, so you can imagine it was positively women-repelling when I picked it up with renewed vigor in college.

TFH was looking for gaming partners, and like any drug dealer with business sense, he broke us in slowly. He convinced G$, Spamus, and I every once in a while to browse his cards, throw them into fun concoctions, and play. We were more than happy to comply. After not playing for 4 years, walking into TFH’s room to see his collection of cards was more exciting than I’d like to admit. As I was in a long distance relationship at that time, I had the perfect excuse to ignore the rest of humanity, including the other main attraction on TFH’s floor – a hallway full of college girls of all shapes and sizes. While social life happened outside, I was methodically flipping through TFH’s collection and pointing out old cards like past lovers. Ah yes… Hypnotic Specter, I’d say, I remember that card was pretty sweet.

As TFH had been playing more than us, it soon became apparent the way the rest of us played the game – carelessly and impulsively – was no longer competitive. TFH was eager to teach us how to play better so we talked Magic theory and analyzed games after they had developed (I was particularly susceptible to this pastime). We even created our own dorm Magic league with numerical rankings based off the ELO Chess rating system. TFH updated the website after every night of matches so it reflected our new rankings; the website also functioned as an archive of results of every game we’d played.

As the competitive aspect of the game became more appealing, TFH and I eventually began going to local Magic tournaments. I won’t get into those here, but as a preview, our first excursions had mixed success. This prompted even TFH’s dad to get into the trash talk. “I don’t understand why you guys don’t just win. Not only am I paying $30,000 for your education, I’m sending you boxes and boxes of cards for free!”

As another way to improve, we began looking up Magic decks that have won recent tournaments on the internet. TFH built a now-classic deck known as the "Keeper.” He beat us all for a bit, but then G$ and I researched a decklist called “Old School Expulsion,” or OSE. OSE was created just to beat the “old school” Keeper deck, specifically on the back of a card called “Misdirection” (which, like the name suggests, redirects a positive spell from the Keeper player to the OSE player).

G$ was the chosen pilot for the OSE deck; not because he was the best (he is happy to remind me he was “dead last” on our league), but because he was the best against TFH. It seemed every day they would play, TFH would be slowly and skillfully winning the game. Then, he would try to play the spell that would seal the deal. “Ancestral Recall?” TFH would hopefully ask. G$ would let the moment simmer for just a bit, before shaking his head. “M-M-M-….MMISDIRECTION!!!” he announced with fanfare. G$ would then “windmill slam” the card, which involved taking the Misdirection in the palm of his hand, standing up, rotating his arm a few times “like a windmill,” then slaming the card faceup on the floor. TFH of course would go on mega-tilt from the display, but G$, Spamus, and I would be in absolute stitches.*

By the end of the year, it was not unusual to spend 4 or more hours playing Magic in TFH’s room each night. We frequently slept through lunch, so you can imagine what attendance on our morning classes was like. Unfortunately, the amount of school work we had to do steadily increased as the year went on, and it didnt take a genius to see that something had to give.

While all our academics cracked a bit, TFH suffered the most. The night before a midterm, he half-seriously wrote on his whiteboard “If you still see this message tomorrow morning at 8 AM, please knock.” That message and a conscientious student were all that was between him and a fifth year at the Farm. Even so, his performance on certain classes, notably statistics, left something to be desired. The details are gory, but let's just say he "passed" the course in only the most generous sense of the term. To this day, the ultimate rejoinder to TFH inspired trash talk is to say "please – you understand this game no better than you do statistics.”

Sadly, TFH moved to North Carolina, so I do not currently get to see as much of him as I’d like. Though this might be a good thing from a work and career perspective, I’d gladly trade a few points on the real world ladder for the unadulterated good times that Freshman year was. That said, TFH and I are still good friends. Since Freshman year, has TFH continued to be a strong influence in my life? I will leave you with this discussion regarding online poker we had just a few months ago.

Me: I itch to buy in for real money, but I'm kind of scared where that path leads.
TFH: yeah, me too -- exactly my sentiment
Me: I am looking to you for guidance... meaning, to push me into the wrong direction.
TFH: HAHA
TFH: when have i ever done that!

Do I even need to say that we eventually both bought in for real money, TFH first, me following?

* A variation on the “windmill slam” – taking the card, pretending to use it to wipe your bottom, then presenting it to your opponent – actually got “Magic bad boy” PTR (search for "Searing Flesh") disqualified from the Pro Tour.