I'm being dragged to a Magic The Gathering Friday night magic session and I barely know how to play and am not competitive. Every time I go to these things I accidently cheat somehow (look at my cards when I'm supposed to sneak a card back in without looking, use a card that still has summoning sickness, forget to take damage, do math wrong, shuffle but forget to cut and let my opponent complete) and some turbo nerd gets bent out of shape. There seems to be almost no casual scene for MtG, just big sore losers with deep pockets to keep up with The Game.

I'm a tabletop nerd but I clearly lack whatever autismo powers a lot of people have, because my goal is fun and immersion, not being ahead in The Game (buying shit) and studying strategy like it's chess when it's YuGiOh.

I just want to be around people within 10 years of my age who are chill and not mentally ill- is this really so hard to ask? Am I the last person under 25 without ADHD or depression or anxiety or social media brain rot?

I really have low expectations that sound like "don't be on crack", "a little schizophrenia is okay", "don't care if they're neet so long as they're maybe on disability", "can be physically disfigured sure" but I just can't be friends with someone who talks constantly about how gay they are, and apparently everyone is gay now.

It gets so stressful to have no buddies. This is why God lets me have TWO in-head brothers.