The biggest problem with online Magic is almost immediately obvious to anyone logging on: Many folks there tend to be sorely lacking in even the most common decencies. Perhaps it is not truly the majority of the participants — indeed, I hope that it is not — but simply that the worst of the lot tend to be the loudest and most noticeable. I do not hold any hope of changing this sad fact...People fear change. However, one good comes out of this state of affairs...

...In the darkness, a light shines brighter.

When those who insult and deride their opponents surround you, those same opponents will notice and appreciate it if you are courteous. Over time, you will meet a few folks who share a wish for pleasant games and will be able to seek them out instead of taking your chances with the unknown. There are good folks out there to...They’re probably the quieter ones.

With this in mind, I think it beneficial to compile a list of guidelines for Magic IRC and Apprentice playing. I want to stress that there are guidelines only; I do not claim the right of telling you how to play. However, this piece may give you some ideas about considerations you might show an opponent to make their experience a little better.

Note: This is an entirely selfish agenda for myself as well as those who listen. Opponents who are treated kindly are more likely to be around next time and more likely to return the favor to you. Furthermore, civil and tidy games are less likely to hit rules squabbles, because the timing issues are better defined, and the players are actually listening to each other. Rules squabbles suck.

 

Before you Begin

Get the basics down first before you jump in. There are blessed few individuals who do not mind or even enjoy tutoring new players on IRC and Apprentice basics. I’ve taken the liberty of compiling short tutorials on Apprentice and IRC as appendices at the bottom of the page; please review these if appropriate.

IRC

Handles

First off, choose your handle with just a tad of thought. Obviously obscene language isn’t advisable, as folks might want to get your attention by name, and some wouldn’t want to use the questionable handle and are therefore likely to ignore you altogether. Furthermore, nobody really thinks you are Urza, or Gerrard, or RGarfield. Something with a little more individuality seems preferable. How about JGaryWise?

Channels

The major Magic IRC channels have homepages (#apprentice - www.e-league.org, #i-magic - www.i-gaming.org, and so on). It’s a good idea to check out these pages for the channel rules. These rules may include, among others:

• Advertising frequency limits, usually about five to ten minutes. This means don’t repeatedly ask for games or tournaments. They DID hear you the first time.
• Profanity, fonts, colors, and all-capitalization rules. In a word: Don’t.
• Rules for entering tournaments, usually along the lines of changing your handle to punctuation, score, handle format. The punctuation indicates which tournament you are in. Example: E-League usually runs tournaments using the _ mark, so when the tournament is announced, I change my nick from V_Da_Gama to _0VDGama. If I win a match, I become _3VDGama. If you drop out or are eliminated, you are generally required to lose the punctuation mark so as to not confuse the officials.

Again, there are likely to be variations and other rules. If you aren’t sure, ask politely and clearly. Using a specific question, like ‘What are the rules?’, will get you ignored or referred to the web page — and I’m sure you checked that first, right?

Finding Games

So you’re logged in, on a channel, and ready to mise some virtual savage

beatings. Great. Start up Apprentice and leave it running in the background. Standard practice is to query the IRC channel to see if anyone else is looking for a game. Be sure to specify the format(s) you are interested in playing. It may be appropriate to mention if you are testing for a specific tournament or are looking for a ‘casual’ game in particular. If a new expansion is released or imminent, it’s probably a good idea to specify that you want the current or soon-to-be format. And for Pete’s sake, have at least a preliminary sideboard ready. You can always opt not to use it, but it’s a pain to ask the player to wait while you make one in mid-match.

Example

Dood: anyone want a July T2 game?

This would mean at the moment that Dood is looking for a Standard game with Apocalypse cards legal. If he had said"current" T2, then no Apocalypse cards would legal. If not stated, assume current formats or ask for clarification.

If you wanted to take Dood up on his offer, you’d message Dood and tell him so. If you’re not firewalled, send your IP; it’ll speed things up. He should then tell you sure, or no if he’s already found a game. If Dood doesn’t respond, assume he’s started a game with someone else and isn’t looking at IRC for a while.

 

Apprentice

Startup

When you’re connected, it’d be swell to say some variant of ‘hello,' don’t you think? This is a basic concept, but surprisingly it's not very common. After the pseudo-handshake, ask your new buddy ‘heads or tails' — or roll a die, if you prefer. Sort out the playing or drawing, and pass the turn accordingly. Shuffle up and draw, and be sure to announce your intention to Paris or keep.

In Game - Tablespace

When using the table area, try to leave your opponent plenty of room. It’s a big tablespace, and there’s no need to crowd into the top half. But don’t go too far south or east, as smaller-resolution displays won’t be able to see the cards. If you have such a display, help the opponent out in defining the limits of your view early on; it’ll save trouble in the long run.

Keep your lands well organized, it’s possible to place cards on top of each other and not realize there’s a missing card underneath; also, this helps to avoid colored mana mistakes. You probably want to keep enchantment/artifacts in their own little area, and creatures towards the front of your arrangement. This helps both players keep tabs of continuous effects and helps to line up blocking schemes in combat situations.

Show targeting by placing the spell (or moving the permanent generating the effect) about halfway on top of the target. To target a player, use an empty area near the edge of the board. Multiple targets should usually be typed out. Sometimes it can be easier to move the spell over each target in turn, but if there is some net latency the opponent might misunderstand.

In Game — Phases

Phases can be somewhat of a gray area, as some players like to keep things tidy by continuously updating the phases, while others prefer the speed gained by largely ignoring them. You should develop a system you are comfortable with, and be prepared to compromise a little if your opponent disagrees. However, a couple of rules are hard to dispute.

• You should certainly use the turn change button when you are done; this both tells the opponent done and keeps the log file straight.
• If you plan on using your upkeep phase often, or if there are some upkeep effects in play (like, say, fading cards) you should mark that phase. Likewise, if it appears the opponent likes to use your upkeep, you should give them the opportunity (usually when an opponent has an active Rishadan Port). If you want to make sure the opponent stops in his or her upkeep before drawing, you might want to say so before passing the turn.
• These rules generally apply to the combat phase and end phase as well, if fast effects are expected, the phase should be marked.
• At all times, if you are unsure as to the timing or unclear as to how a sequence progressed, please ask for a backup with phase markings.

In Game — Ending

Let your opponent know if you’re scooping, don’t just disconnect or bring up your sideboard. If you’ve lost the match, congratulate the winner, even if they are a clueless random net decking non-savage mizer, unlike your tight self. If it’s a tournament, wish them luck in future rounds. They did just beat you, after all. If you’ve won, you should at least offer a ‘good game’ to the lesser mortal beneath your feet.

If it is only game one, make sure the opponent is ready to continue and sideboard. Things come up, you know. If something comes up for you, apologize before cutting out.

If you won convincingly and have some time to kill, maybe you could offer some deck advice? And if you lost, lots of people would be happy to share ideas if you found some of their choices interesting. Mise well learn something, or teach if you can.

Let’s make the online game a decent experience, eh? We have a good thing going, and I’d hate to see it fall apart for something as pointless as incivility.

Cheers,
Vasco Da Gama
Team Hacked

Apprentice Basics

Deck Editor

The first feature you should try out is the Deck Editor, so you have something to play when you finally get all this. There’s a fairly simple interface here; you have several filters to weed out cards, and a search field to find the specifics. You can right click cards to view the text. Use the buttons to add or delete cards, and notice the difference between adding cards to the deck and the sideboard. Give the deck a name for some flavor, and don’t forget to save it! I find the Apprentice deck editor fine for building decks you are already sure of, but less useful for building decks from scratch when you still need ideas. For that, I recommend Magic Suitcase.

IP Addresses and Firewalls

To play Apprentice, you will need to be able to find one of the player’s IP addresses. Apprentice now tells you your IP when you enter the connection screen... But it’s not always correct, and there are other ways to get it. To do this from Windows 95/98/ME, use your Start Menu, Run, and type winipcfg. The popup window will display your adapter address; this is what you’re looking for.

Note: You may have to select the correct device from the popup menu. If you are dialing into an ISP, select the Dial-Up Adapter. If you are using a high-speed connection, select your Ethernet card instead.

On Windows NT/2000, instead use ipconfig /all from a command prompt.

To get the IP address of an IRC user, type /dns nickname in a channel window. The IP and some other information will show in your status window on the client.

Note: Many AOL users report that Apprentice, winipcfg, and the IRC /dns command used on oneself will misstate their IP address. They should have their opponents use the /dns command to get their IP.

If your ISP has a firewall (usually from business accounts or some universities), or have configured your own personal firewall, you may not be able to receive Apprentice connections. You should, however, be able to connect to the opponent. If you are sure they have the correct IP address but opponents still cannot connect to you, this is the most likely reason.

Apprentice Shortcuts

The Apprentice screen has a lot of hot buttons — of note from left to right are the New Game and Deck Editor buttons, Untap, Draw, the Phase markers, End Turn, Increment, Decrement, or X Life buttons. Above your hand are three icons representing the Library, Graveyard, and Out of Game; these can be dragged and dropped from and to.

Keyboard shortcuts:

• Ctrl-S = Shuffle your deck
• Ctrl-F = Flip a coin
• Ctrl-I = Roll a die
• Ctrl-D = Draw a card
• Shift-double click on the library = draw X cards
• Ctrl-N = New game

In addition, there are ‘macros,’ or set phrases you can assign to keyboard commands. You might want to use ones such as ‘Heads or Tails?’, ‘Play or Draw’, etc.

Learning these shortcuts will cut down on your playing time considerably and stop opponent frustration. Try them out in solitaire mode before starting a game.

IRC basics

I’d recommend mIRC as a first-time user’s client. It’s a fairly idiot-proof client, is very common (which means you can more easily get help with it), and has a workable interface. I don’t wish to duplicate the help files of the program — but in short, enter a handle and the other information asked, select a NewNet server, connect, and select a channel (#apprentice, #i-magic would be good places to start)

IRC Commands

• /join #channelname = join the channel
• /nick handle = change your nickname to ‘handle’
• /leave = exits the current channel
• /dns nickname = gives the IP of ‘nickname’
• /kick nickname = kicks nickname from a channel, you must be an operator of the channel to do so
• /msg nickname = send a private message to ‘nickname’
• /me some action = displays the text as an action. Example ‘/me stares in disbelief’ displays ‘V_Da_Gama stares in disbelief’ in a noticeable color. Actions are generally OK to use in most channels, just don’t overdo it.
• /quit = closes your connection
• /topic #channelname text = changes the heading of ‘channel’ to ‘text.’ Again, you have to be an operator to do so.