Dear Mike.

I have been reading and appreciating your articles for about half a year now and am a first time submitter. I don't know if this qualifies for either the article or the podcast, but I'm writing you nonetheless.

Please let me apologize in advance as English is not my first language. I am one of two female, Asian players at my LGS and the store's community is well aware that I used to play cEDH before retreating into the lower brackets as I grew bored of competitive play and wanted to once again indulge in the realms of possibilities the format seemingly offered when I first got into EDH. I enjoy interesting games in which the tide of battle is ever-shifting and I don't mind sitting down for longer games.

Most games I get to play nowadays are unfortunately ruined by "White Knighting" and "Queenmaking." This isn't done by a single individual, but instead by a larger group of players, both old and new. I tried talking to a few of them before informing them that I can hold my own as I used to play cEDH and that I'm also not single, which sadly was in vein as they continued to use their game actions in my favor; and no, I'm not talking about them using their removal to remove something that coincidentally hindered me the most, but they instead ignore my threats, counter removal targeting my creatures, remove obstacles that only hamper my game plan, and so on, without any gain of their own.

Sometimes it even seems as if they are fighting over me, which isn't just annoying, but also makes me feel quite uncomfortable, something that I also expressed when I talked to them before. The reason I still play there is that there is no other place nearby and that I also got some friends in that store's community, who, however, aren't always available due to their schedules. Playing online isn't really an option for me either, since I don't want to spend even more time holed up inside my apartment. Also I know my other female Asian friend playing there is suffering from the same issues, but we cannot always play together due to our schedules.

Since my attempts of talking them out of it failed over and over again, I built a high-powered Y'shtola, Night's BlessedY'shtola, Night's Blessed deck and brought that to the LGS yesterday. I pulled it out as soon as the usual Round Table of White Knights assembled. As much as they don't seem to mind making me uncomfortable and the games unfun for me, they seemed to get salty after I crushed them three times in a row. One of the guys had seemingly taken it quite personally as he cursed a lot and packed his stuff with tears in his eyes. I was shocked to see that kind of reaction and while I don't really regret what I have done, I can't help but wonder if there would have been another way even though talking failed and avoiding them wasn't really an option.

I actually don't know how the rest of the bunch will react to me when I go there next time. The guy made quite a scene, so word will surely spread.

Could what I have done be considered an educational measure or am I simply the Bolas? Also is this something other women have experienced independent of their ethnicity? Thank you in advance.

Yours faithfully

Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer