Muchos de vosotros habréis oido hablar de Michael Long, el polémico proplayer icono de jugador tramposo en magic. No es por esta polémica faceta por la que nos reunimos hoy aquí, si no por una jugada legendaria que se le atribuye. Según se cuenta, en la final del Pro Tour de París de 1997, Long jugaba un prosperibloom con un solo drenar vida como condición de victoria, y en una partida tuvo que empezar el combo prematuramente (perdía al siguiente turno) y para hacerlo tenía que retirar su único drenar vida, así que disimuladamente lo hizo (la mayoría de los probloom llevaban dos drenar vida, así que su contrincante (Mark Justice) no tenía por qué saber que Long no podía ganar esa partida) y empezó el combo y cuando estaba claro que había conseguido combar le preguntó a Justice "¿tengo que seguir con el resto?" ante lo que Justice ¡abandonó!, sin que Mike realmente pudiera matarlo, pq no tenía ninguna carta con la que matar.

Bueno, eso es lo que cuenta la historia, hoy vamos a contaros qué pasó en realidad...

Wikipedia: At the 1997 Pro-Tour Paris, Long was playing Mark Justice. Mike realized that he would lose the next turn if he could not get his "engine" to go off this turn. However, in order to get his combo to go off, he would have to discard his only win condition - a single Drain Life he had placed in his deck. He decided to do so anyways. After drawing a large number of cards with a large Prosperity , Long asked his opponent "Do I really have to go through all the motions?". Before the days of well-known and circulated internet decklists, Justice didn't realize that Mike had no way of winning the game, so he said "No" and conceded the game

Brian David-Marshall (en la web oficial de WotC): Mike employed one of the game's all-time mind tricks while winning that tournament when he asked Finals opponent Mark Justice if it was really necessary for them to finish the game once he demonstrated that the deck's engine was humming. The only problem was that he had discarded his only remaining win condition to get it kickstarted.

Mark Rosewater (Head Magic Designer WotC): Long was planning a combo deck known as Prosperous Bloom (considered by many to be the first tournament caliber combo deck). The deck won by creating a large amount of black mana used to Drain Life the opponent out of the game. But Long only played one Drain Life (a very risky, Long-like thing to do). But Justice did not know this. So, one game Long gets to the point where he is able to win. He has all the cards he needs to draw the rest of his deck and all the mana to play any spell he wants. But to get there Long had to use his only copy of Drain Life. And Long knew this. So once he had all the pieces to “go off”, he showed it to Justice and convinced him he had what he needed to win prompting Justice to quit.

Starcitygames: Long was playing Justice in the quarterfinals at a major tournament, Mike realized that he would lose the next turn if he could not get his "engine" to go off this turn. However, in order to get his combo to go off, he would have to discard his only win condition - a single Drain Life he had placed in his deck. He decided to do so anyways. After drawing a large number of cards with a large Prosperity, Long asked his opponent "Do I really have to go through all the motions?". Before the days of well-known and circulated internet decklists, Justice didn't realize that Mike had no way of winning the game, so he said "No" and conceded the game.

Moxes: Jugando la final contra Mark Justice, Michael Long había descartado en un momento dado su único Drain Life con lo que le resultaba imposible ganar. Long, pese a todo, siguió combando como si tal cosa hasta que juntó cartas suficientes en mano para ganar con un Drain Life. Entonces Long le explicó a su oponente que estaba perdido, y que si de verdad quería ver todo el proceso. Ante la explicación, Justice concedió ante un oponente que no tenía posibilidad de ganar.