I substantially prefer Limited as a form of Magic to constructed. I don't have to worry about net-decking, or keeping up with the latest trends. I don't have to worry about endlessly and tediously playing the same deck over and over again; either myself or my opponents. Limited is fresher and always hopping.
That has its drawbacks too, no doubt. Limited is inherently more random. Good players will lose more often in Limited than in Constructed, and likewise mediocre players will win more. From my perspective, that where I think I'm pretty good, but definitely not pro level, that makes Limited more appealing, not less. I can go toe-to-toe with a pro if I have better cards than he does. That's only ever going to happen in Limited, or if he's intentionally giving me a handicap.
But what does Limited mean? It doesn't just mean "40 card deck", although that's a big factor in the differences. It is a tough thing to lay a label on. A limited deck can be built out of as little as a single tournament deck. Technically even less! Grab a pack, toss in about 5 lands of each basic type and you've got a limited deck of 40 cards. 15 from the booster and 25 lands. It would be playable, if increadibly painful. It would also be primarily luck. And not just the luck of who can draw the right combination of mana to cast his spells first and who top-decks the game winning card. That kind of luck exists at every level. If a pro has 4 copies of his 'win the game now' card left in his library but will lose next turn if he doesn't draw it and he's got 40 cards left... 10% chance to win. 90% to lose. That's luck. It's a part of Magic. And if you don't embrace it, you will get burned by it. The luck in Limited also comes in the form of who opened the 'better' pack. The cards are more balanced now than they have been in the past, but there are still good cards and bad, and there always will be. It's a design issue. Did I open the Loxodon Warhammer or the Mindbend? Clearly the guy opening the hammer is going to win far more often than the guy with the Mindbend. It's just a substantially better card in the format. That brings us to Rule #1 of Limited.
The fewer cards you have to chose from the more random the effects will be.
That statement is so critical that I'm leaving it all by itself so that it stands out, and I will now repeat it: The fewer cards you have to chose from the more random the effects will be. I will get to the corallary in a moment. To view this in action, think about the two examples above, the tournament pack and the booster pack. With the booster pack, you're upping your land count to 25 just to get to 40 cards, but it's also beneficial because you're going to have cards of all 5 colors. With the tournament pack you can eliminate one color easily, and a second without significant effort. If you get lucky you might even be able to eliminate three and have a playable two-color deck. Automatically your deck will now be more consistent. The odds of drawing the type of mana to cast a spell in hand are improved, the choice to mulligan is clearer, the selection of spells to bring to the table is greater. X>0 as long as X!=0.
I suppose the booster pack deck could also eliminate some colors, and the tournament pack could force a two color deck, but if we're keeping a 40 card minimum you're replacing potentially useful spells, if awkward to cast, with non-functional lands. Some of that might be worthwhile. If the booster pack contains One With Nothing, it probably would be a safer bet to not play it and stick in an extra land. One's a dead draw the other is a bad draw. Some experimentation in this level of ultra-limited play would be fun, but at the end of the day the result that shows up time and again is that limited card choice means increased randomness. Red must be so proud.
The corollary to Rule #1 of Limited is The more cards you have to chose from the more consistent your deck is. This gets right back to the point I started with about constructed. I actually dislike the utter consistency of constructed. Pain lands, sac lands and all sorts of mana smoothers, mulligan rules, tutors and deck filters are all top-level cards because they ensure that the deck does the exact same thing every time it's played. Or at least, that's the idea. Consistency is something like the Black Lotus of constructed. Highly sought after but never quite obtainable, and probably illegal if it shows up.
When you get right down to it, Constructed is Limited. You are limited to the cards that have been printed. The cards that have been printed and not banned, limited to only one of those that have been restricted, limited to a single time-period of the game, limited to recent cards, limited to a single block. Assuming everyone has a sandbox full of 4 each of every Type 2 card in their sealed deck, deck construction would look like Constructed. Except for the 40/60 card decks.
So Limited is the random side of the same coin as the consistent Constructed. But certainly you don't see very many people clamoring to play single tournament deck Limited. Part of that is history and culture, but some of it is that you need a minimum threshold of consistency in order for the game to be fun. Red can't be random unless White gets to impose a little order.
The question is: where's the sweet spot? There's an awful lot of room between the 15 cards of a booster pack and the 45 cards of a tournament pack and an even larger gap between that tournament pack and the same number of cards from a booster draft. That topic alone could fill an article. But the increase from even the powerful booster draft decks to 4 of each card in the appropriate format is almost incomprehensible. There's lots of room for Limited in there that rarely gets touched.
The closest I see is League. League gives you the simplicity of a sealed but also some scalability. It's curious that the League format isn't more popular. It's likely not because of the time it takes. Limited tends to go quick. Booster drafts are very quick. Sealed deck tournaments are a little slower but obviously faster than Leagues. Leagues also get a bad rap; as if they're for beginner players. That's unfair. Since you have a larger card selection it's clearly bridging the gap between Limited which is enjoyed by some pros and plenty of experienced Magic players, and Constructed, the format of the Pro. And what's to stop League from going more creative? Instead of making it go longer, make it go more consistent in a different route. Draft League? Never heard of it? Another topic. Trade League? The possibilities are almost as endless as the game of Magic itself.
So what is the sweet spot for Limited Magic? Is it Constructed? Is it a booster draft? Or is it something we haven't seen yet?
Showing posts with label first post. Show all posts
Showing posts with label first post. Show all posts
Friday, May 2, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
Introductions
I’m cheating a bit and I’m actually going to have three ‘first posts’. This is the second. Expect the third mid-week. Last post I set the ground rules, today I talk about what this will be, and who we are.
First, an introduction of the major Magic: the Gathering players that will appear in my postings.
X: That’s me. I am a fairly intent Magic player. I didn’t start playing until college. To date myself, my first block was Invasion. My first deck ever was red/black and chock full of Invasion and Planeshift creature destruction. It was fun, but as unbalanced as a beginner’s deck is wont to be. Since that time I’ve gotten better and played in a lot of different formats. In college it was primarily Grand Melee multiplayer with between 3 and 7 players, most of whom I continue to play with now in other formats, and will appear below.
X is for Xpovos, my handle, and a sort of bridge to the title of this blog. It’s pronounced “Chronos”, as it’s a transcription, not a transliteration of the Greek. To be strictly accurate, it would be Χρονος. As a result the title of this blog is more accurately “Cro’s Magic”, which is itself a pun, based on the fact that there’s a fairly popular and well known deck of Tarot cards called “Crow’s Magick”; which I also happen to own and use from time to time. The artwork appeals to me.
V: V is the guy who really taught me the ropes of Magic. He’s probably the best player in our circle. He’s also the other one, besides me, who keeps up on current events in the world of Magic: the Gathering. V and I tend to attend events together, in particular pre-release tournaments.
A: A is the one who introduced me to all my friends at college. An odd story in itself, but not related to Magic: the Gathering. A likes to build themed decks that are cohesively impressive, but not necessarily good—like an “Ant” deck—a classic Johnny. That doesn’t mean he’s a pushover, though. In our drafts he frequently does better than most anyone else. A pattern recognition gift makes it so that he sees tangents in cards and in drafts that others don’t.
P: P is the everyman: a very good player, but never the best. He also rarely seeks Magic out, but is almost up for a game when other people are playing. In that sense he’s done a very good job of staying out of the lure of the cardboard crack.
D: D is the Legacy player. He is control and Spike. Though in drafts he’ll frequently go red/green because of the nice combinations they provide in fatties and removal, always potent in Limited. His other big gift is being able to put a plan of action into effect once deciding on it.
K: K just recently started playing with us and re-kindled the joy of Magic, since he hadn’t played in years. As a result a lot of the new conventions and terms are difficult for him to puzzle through, but he’s getting better very fast, and was right from the beginning making the right decisions in most cases.
L: L is my brother-in-law, and a brand new convert to the game. He knew a few bits of the game, but has come under my wing for education for the more complex rules.
TZ and VR: These guys I play with online via a site that I help run. There are others there as well.
Now that you know the major players, here’s a little more about what you can expect from this.
Every post will be a little insight into the recent goings-on in Magic for us. The topics will range from in-depth draft coverage of a recent draft between friends, to rants on mechanics, to event synopses. These will primarily be about Limited events, because I have neither time, nor patience, nor money to play Standard.
The primary purpose of this is to provide a consistent perspective from an actual player’s point-of-view. Not a pro. Not a WotC employee. Not even a paid columnist. As a result I can tell it like it really is. If I see a card, I can talk about it freely. I don’t have to try to pump it up, or downplay it. I can say almost anything I want without fear of anything but losing readership, which, seeing as there’s currently none of you, isn’t a factor either.
The secondary purpose of this is to provide another outlet for my hobbies. I enjoy writing and I enjoy playing cards. Here they fit together nicely. And I get to spend more time on Magic than I would otherwise. I can read all the posts that are made, two a day, five days a week over at Wizards, and sometimes it’s not enough. Sometimes I want more information. Well, I’m not a great new information source, but I can rehash the old information and repost it into a format that no one else has seen yet. And the new information I do have fits back into category one. The ground-level player’s perspective of the game, as it happens.
Again, I encourage feedback. If you want more of a specific style of story: tell me. If you think I’m full of it: tell me. If you think I’m dead wrong, for goodness sakes: please tell me! Sometimes this site may help you become a better player, but I’m guessing far more often it’s going to help me become a better player.
First, an introduction of the major Magic: the Gathering players that will appear in my postings.
X: That’s me. I am a fairly intent Magic player. I didn’t start playing until college. To date myself, my first block was Invasion. My first deck ever was red/black and chock full of Invasion and Planeshift creature destruction. It was fun, but as unbalanced as a beginner’s deck is wont to be. Since that time I’ve gotten better and played in a lot of different formats. In college it was primarily Grand Melee multiplayer with between 3 and 7 players, most of whom I continue to play with now in other formats, and will appear below.
X is for Xpovos, my handle, and a sort of bridge to the title of this blog. It’s pronounced “Chronos”, as it’s a transcription, not a transliteration of the Greek. To be strictly accurate, it would be Χρονος. As a result the title of this blog is more accurately “Cro’s Magic”, which is itself a pun, based on the fact that there’s a fairly popular and well known deck of Tarot cards called “Crow’s Magick”; which I also happen to own and use from time to time. The artwork appeals to me.
V: V is the guy who really taught me the ropes of Magic. He’s probably the best player in our circle. He’s also the other one, besides me, who keeps up on current events in the world of Magic: the Gathering. V and I tend to attend events together, in particular pre-release tournaments.
A: A is the one who introduced me to all my friends at college. An odd story in itself, but not related to Magic: the Gathering. A likes to build themed decks that are cohesively impressive, but not necessarily good—like an “Ant” deck—a classic Johnny. That doesn’t mean he’s a pushover, though. In our drafts he frequently does better than most anyone else. A pattern recognition gift makes it so that he sees tangents in cards and in drafts that others don’t.
P: P is the everyman: a very good player, but never the best. He also rarely seeks Magic out, but is almost up for a game when other people are playing. In that sense he’s done a very good job of staying out of the lure of the cardboard crack.
D: D is the Legacy player. He is control and Spike. Though in drafts he’ll frequently go red/green because of the nice combinations they provide in fatties and removal, always potent in Limited. His other big gift is being able to put a plan of action into effect once deciding on it.
K: K just recently started playing with us and re-kindled the joy of Magic, since he hadn’t played in years. As a result a lot of the new conventions and terms are difficult for him to puzzle through, but he’s getting better very fast, and was right from the beginning making the right decisions in most cases.
L: L is my brother-in-law, and a brand new convert to the game. He knew a few bits of the game, but has come under my wing for education for the more complex rules.
TZ and VR: These guys I play with online via a site that I help run. There are others there as well.
Now that you know the major players, here’s a little more about what you can expect from this.
Every post will be a little insight into the recent goings-on in Magic for us. The topics will range from in-depth draft coverage of a recent draft between friends, to rants on mechanics, to event synopses. These will primarily be about Limited events, because I have neither time, nor patience, nor money to play Standard.
The primary purpose of this is to provide a consistent perspective from an actual player’s point-of-view. Not a pro. Not a WotC employee. Not even a paid columnist. As a result I can tell it like it really is. If I see a card, I can talk about it freely. I don’t have to try to pump it up, or downplay it. I can say almost anything I want without fear of anything but losing readership, which, seeing as there’s currently none of you, isn’t a factor either.
The secondary purpose of this is to provide another outlet for my hobbies. I enjoy writing and I enjoy playing cards. Here they fit together nicely. And I get to spend more time on Magic than I would otherwise. I can read all the posts that are made, two a day, five days a week over at Wizards, and sometimes it’s not enough. Sometimes I want more information. Well, I’m not a great new information source, but I can rehash the old information and repost it into a format that no one else has seen yet. And the new information I do have fits back into category one. The ground-level player’s perspective of the game, as it happens.
Again, I encourage feedback. If you want more of a specific style of story: tell me. If you think I’m full of it: tell me. If you think I’m dead wrong, for goodness sakes: please tell me! Sometimes this site may help you become a better player, but I’m guessing far more often it’s going to help me become a better player.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
First Entry
Greetings to anyone who finds this little slice of the web.
As this is a first post, I feel it is important to introduce the subject matter fully. This will be a blog about Magic: the Gathering, the collectable and mildly addictive card game invented by a mathematics PhD and developed by Wizards of the Coast, now wholely owned by Hasbro.
As this is a high-level IP type of thing, I will only reference cards by names, with links to www.wizards.com/magic for specific images of cards, rules, and other fun things. That should keep the lawyers off my back for the most part.
As for myself, I am a just a player. I happen to be OK, I'll win often enough to come home with packs from events I go to, but I don't play competitively at any high level. Nor am I some shill for a website designed to sell cards. I will never sell my own cards here, nor is this an audition for a regular column with some site. I post here because I want to write about the game and think I may have some interesting things to say.
Lastly I intend for this to be an excercise in my writing, particularly in picking a deadline and sticking with it. Therefore, I will post a column to this blog weekly, starting this week. The new post will be up prior to 11:59PM Eastern each Sunday, and viewable for you Monday mornings. The length of the column is not set in stone, but I expect each will be between 1000 and 5000 words. Generally if they start getting over 3000 I'll probably break them into two-parters. Though I may post the second part of those not on a Sunday to keep on my weekly topic schedule. The schedule may also be changed at some point, but I will make a notice about it.
I encourage a response, and will leave comments open. Feel free to contact me with ideas for columns or other items.
As this is a first post, I feel it is important to introduce the subject matter fully. This will be a blog about Magic: the Gathering, the collectable and mildly addictive card game invented by a mathematics PhD and developed by Wizards of the Coast, now wholely owned by Hasbro.
As this is a high-level IP type of thing, I will only reference cards by names, with links to www.wizards.com/magic for specific images of cards, rules, and other fun things. That should keep the lawyers off my back for the most part.
As for myself, I am a just a player. I happen to be OK, I'll win often enough to come home with packs from events I go to, but I don't play competitively at any high level. Nor am I some shill for a website designed to sell cards. I will never sell my own cards here, nor is this an audition for a regular column with some site. I post here because I want to write about the game and think I may have some interesting things to say.
Lastly I intend for this to be an excercise in my writing, particularly in picking a deadline and sticking with it. Therefore, I will post a column to this blog weekly, starting this week. The new post will be up prior to 11:59PM Eastern each Sunday, and viewable for you Monday mornings. The length of the column is not set in stone, but I expect each will be between 1000 and 5000 words. Generally if they start getting over 3000 I'll probably break them into two-parters. Though I may post the second part of those not on a Sunday to keep on my weekly topic schedule. The schedule may also be changed at some point, but I will make a notice about it.
I encourage a response, and will leave comments open. Feel free to contact me with ideas for columns or other items.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)