My buddy and I used to play when we were 12/13. We practiced against each other and finally felt we were good enough to enter in a tournament at the Rucker Park of card tournaments at Forbidden Planet. Only the best NYC magic/yu-gi-oh/Pokémon played went there. The store still exists but unfortunately it has since moved around the corner and it's now more of a clothing store. 10 years ago though, it had a prime corner location a block from Union Square. The first floor sold rare figurenes and comics but the second floor was only for tournaments. One day we took the 6 train downtown and we were expecting to shock the regulars with our unmatched decks and style. We expected we would meet in the finals and after a long battle one of us would be declared champion. We wouldn't introduce ourselves. We would just leave quietly with all of the regulars asking "Wow. Who were those guys?"

Well, that didn't happen, we both got bounced in the first round and we went back to just playing against each other. Maybe we weren't the champions we thought we were but we we're ok with that. We found a game we love and beating each other was good enough for us.