Sometimes people come up to me and say, "Hey Olav. You just kicked my ass at Star Trek the Card Game." This is often true. They continue by saying, "And yet, you've never played the Worlds." This second statement, is also unfortunately, true. They follow up their two premises with the logical question: "How come you've never made it to the Worlds if you're so damn good?"

        "Well," I will reply, "there's a funny story about that... you see when I was three months old, my parents accidentally ran over a gypsy princess. The princess's godmother, who was a witch, cursed me in vengeance-- she placed a curse on me that I would never make it to Seattle, and that I would never play in the Star Trek card game Worlds. While I don't mind these two aspects of the curse all that much, the third clause, that I am doomed to read every William Shatner novel causes me great anguish."

        While this isn't true, it's easier than confronting them with the truth-- That I have a strange fascination with Bill Shatner's oeuvre, and that I'm not all that good-- the reason I won against the other players is that they are terrible, and I am slightly less terrible. It's not an easy realization to come to terms with, but I've been to D-Con-- I've played against a variety of people, including (but not limited to) Kenneth Tuffts, Jason Drake, Kate DeStephen and Ian Vincent. I know what good is, and I ain't it baby.

        If I tell someone this, the general reaction has been: "But I'm from [enter name of city] and I've heard of you, so you can't be all that bad!" The reasons why someone has heard of me are simple. I have a very good press agent (Allen Gould), who is well known on-line and has apparently been telling people that I am good-- he is mistaken-- I am the best player in his small pond. The second reason that people remember hearing of me, is that the name "Olav" is one hell of lot easier to remember than "Dave".

        Good isn't just having an interesting concept (I can do that part), it's also building it well, making it stable, and playing it well. These are skills I lack. Being good at a collectible card game also requires being able to read your local environment, or the environment you will be playing in. I am not good at this.

        Now I know what you're saying-- "What does this have to do with me?" To begin with, if you are the big fish in a small pond take my advice and don't get a swelled head about it. And if you are the small fish in a small pond, enjoy the game, and know that the big fish isn't all that big, he's just a player who has a little more experience than you.

        I'm headed off to GenConUK, where I plan on attending the STCCG opens and putting to rest, once and for all, the rumour that I am a "good" player-- by facing some of the best in the world.

-Olav