This is a pretty common problem, and one I was also struggling with personally. Largely resolved by now, mostly by admitting I was the problem and opposing democracy less, but getting others to open up a bit towards the end. A lot of this sort of stuff ultimately boils down to spikiness, the reaction you feel when your deck does a stupid. Choose your adventure:
- "Aw jeez, that was horrible, how do I make that not happen again?"
- "Aw jeez, that was awesome, how do I make this happen more reliably?"
The answer is not as simple as segregation based on this, as the occasional weird tale of Calvinball where removal is banned as it's unfun shows up, and everybody knows the horror stories of uncontrolled arms races. The way forward is communication and concession. And trust me, I've done a lot of conceding. I've been in a group since 2014, and a common problem with my decks is that I'd start up with a rough draft that would play okay and get some level of approval from the others. I'd then follow "aw jeez, that was awesome" and end up with a more tuned up shell with a snappier game plan, and be an outlier within the group. Every single deck I built between late 2015 and spring 2019 ended up in this fashion, most aborted while still Cockatrice test builds, three making it to paper before tripping the wire. My enjoyment of them was outweighed by the group's disdain, and attempts at a compromised nerfed version would leave me unhappy. So they died.
However, at some point, once closer to the level of the others, I stood my ground. WAR brought
Feather, and I fell for the deck in a manner I hadn't in years. The build turned out weaker than all its deceased predecessors, but still offered a pretty reliable turn seven clock. The most vocal complainer started vocally complaining. To what I actually properly barked back. I argued that there are other players' decks within the group at a comparable tempo, which for once gave me an actual concrete angle to work from. The complainer eventually balked. Feather lives, and I get to occasionally walk her. Not often, as she's still probably the strongest deck in the group. The games aren't guaranteed stomps though - last time she came out,
Selenia swapped me down to one life on turn six and I had to win a
Mana Crypt flip to avoid death. RNG was with me and
Zada Hoof closed out proceedings, turn seven like clockwork. But this doesn't happen often, and the guys are warned in advance to pull out their big boy contraptions.
The fact that the concession went the other way for once has actually made it a lot easier for me to cooperate since. At some point last year, I actually realised I'm okay with not necessarily pursuing the ideal game plan always, which has led to a number of meta-specific cuts. Five years in, I took out
Rule of Law effects from
Daxos. A relatively fresh
Ice Cream Monk deck realised how its power spikes and tempo shake out, tried to capitalise with
Expropriate, met backlash and took it out. My primary decks are fully accepted by the group in their current form. The guys do offer some nods back, by the way - at some point most of the decks took out their
Sol Rings, while I kept mine in most of my builds. However, if I've already won a game that night, I'll sandbag the Ring until turn four, and they're okay with this middle ground solution. I've managed to keep
Teferi's Protection. A group member, just asked for comment on the phase-out, described it as annoying but not that bad. I'll take it
All in all, it takes effort and patience, from all parties. From my case it seems likely the outlier will be stuck putting in most of the legwork until the distance is closed, and then concessions can start coming in more readily from other players. The group's the healthiest it's ever been, and regular Cockatrice games have been happening for months. By contrast, we only used to play in paper once a week, and herding people together for Cockatrice would only happen when someone had a deck to test. If that person was me, I'd usually burn the guys out within a week or two. So yeah, I was the problem. But we eventually resolved it.
Sometimes the solitaire game is quicker I guess but the scenario is the same.
