I'm shameless stealing the title from this Reddit post because it's a great title and even better story.

You can check out the full post here (and it's well worth reading), but I wanted to share this story because I think it illustrates one of the best things about our community: that it's (for the most part) welcoming to newcomers.

I remember my first-ever PTQ, I get paired up against some 10-year-old kid in the first round. I felt awkward because here I was, at my first "real" tournament, and I get paired against a kid in the typical "no-win" situation. If I win, I beat a kid. If I lose, I lost to a kid. I was playing Living End, and after I cycle one card this kid tells me exactly what deck I'm playing.

I went on to win, but for the rest of the day my opponents are confused about my deck as I made my way to the finals. In this swiss rounds, it was only that kid who was actually knowledgable enough about the format to know what he was up against. Gained a lot of respect for that kid that day, and I'll never forget that.

Of course, the joke was on me, because the kid, Kyle Morlock, qualified for the Pro Tour before I ever did after he won a PTQ when he was 12 years old. Pretty nuts.

So when I hear a story about the community welcoming a kid into the game, I want to make a note that sometimes kids know more about the rest of us. Age is truly just a number, and stories like this are key to the continued growth of Magic. If the game becomes a bunch of 40-50 year olds playing, we're doomed. It's new blood that keeps the game going, and taking every chance you have to welcome kids into the game is a task worth taking the time to do right.