Rock, Paper, Scissors
Kai Hortmann
No, this is not a rant about todays tournament environment but a strategy
article about what exactly are the rock, paper, scissors of Magic in
general:
Rock: The rock cares about nothing. In Magic this is a combo deck like
Prosperous Bloom, Academy or Turbo Stasis. This deck has a few key cards
that together form a win condition or an absolute lock. The rest of the
cards in the deck are for getting the combo faster or for surviving until
then. Combo decks exist in almost all colors, usually multi-color.
Paper: The paper envelopes you and smothers you in the end. It’s a control
deck like The Deck or Draw-Go. Whatever the opponent does, this deck can
control the threat. This deck contains only a minimal amount of actual
threats, one Serra Angel, some Stalking Stones or a Millstone. But that is
enough, because at that time your opponent should already be helpless. Paper
beats Rock as the combo deck has few cards that actually need to be
controlled. Nearly all control decks have blue for the almighty
counterspell.
Scissors: Scissors cut you to pieces. In Magic this is an aggressive deck
like Sligh or White Weenie. Every card in your deck is a threat, so Scissors
cut Paper by overpowering its control. A first turn Goblin Lackey or Jackal
Pup against a Draw-Go deck is almost game. But Rock beats Scissors, because
the combo deck ignores the threats and “goes off” with its combo before the
aggressive deck can deliver its 20 points of damage. Aggressive decks are
often mono-colored red, black or white, sometimes green, seldom blue.
When you started Magic you probably played a mix of all three. Threats like
a Sengir Vampire combined with a control element like Terror. You had also
this almighty combo of Royal Assassin and Icy Manipulator in the deck (one
each) that always devastated your opponents. But as the Magic community
evolved, the decks became more “pure” with the time. A “pure” deck usually
beats a mixed deck, so they disappeared by some sort of natural selection.
The Rock, Paper, Scissors system virtually guarantees that there will never
be one deck that beats every other deck. Even the now defunct Academy deck
was not totally unbeatable, it was just an unusually solid Rock. Also the
fact that Scissors beat Paper is only absolutely true if you actually PLAY
Rock, Paper, Scissors. In Magic Scissors beats Paper means that your chance
of winning with your Sligh deck against a Blue control deck is significantly
higher than 50%. But skill and luck are still involved.
But what does Rock, Paper, Scissors mean for the tournament environment? It
means that the pairings you get are often as decisive as your skill or your
luck of the draw. Everybody is trying to “meta-game”. If you knew that the
majority of the players will play Rock, you could take out your Paper deck
and finish high. But usually all three types will be present at the
tournament. Two identically skilled players with the same deck and the same
luck of the draw could finish dramatically different just by the luck they
have with their pairings.
If you tire of that, play a different form of Magic than constructed
tournaments. If you insist on playing tournaments, try limited. Sealed decks
are rarely pure and you can win one game with aggression and the next by
control. I personally prefer multi-player Magic. Neither “I draw all of my
library and Stroke you for 300”, nor “I pay 19 lives for my Hatred” nor a
hand full of only counterspells are a good idea in multi-player. You take
out one player and then get crushed by the others. And so you return to the
mixed decks of your early days of Magic. Wasn’t it more fun then?
Kai.Ho...@Skynet.be
morgan
IseQube
what about the old middle finger draw or the dynamite?? there's gotta some of
those decks that are funny and good but can't really pull it off.