The Magic - Part One

As I started to write about why I enjoy magic so much, and what makes a pro player out of a casual gamer, I realized this was going to be a long one, so I'm breaking it up. Here is part one:

As all of you, I'm sure, have realized, Magic: the Gathering is a large part of my life. Games in general are very important to me and actually I think Magic is largely responsible for that fact. A lot of you have encouraged me to talk about the difference between a casual magic player and a professional, or at least highly competitive, player. To do that I think it's best to start by explaining what it is I love about Magic, and all games really. I think you'll start to see the divide emerge from that discussion, and also how it relates to my progress in the Peak Condition Project.

There are two types of games: casual games and competitive games. Let me explain how I determine these categories. Casual games are ones where there's only so far you can take the strategy. Usually these games have a fair amount of luck to them, or more extremely, they can pretty much be played without the players and still have an outcome. An extreme example of a casual game would be the card game "War." For the most part you could sit there with two decks and flip cards until they all end up in one pile. The game is still fun, and makes a great time killer, but there's no point in thinking about strategy.

Competitive games are those where there are maximum opportunities for the player to influence the game through skill, be it a physical or mental one. An extreme example of this would be Chess. There is no luck in chess. The game does not go without a player controlling the game pieces. The depth of strategy one can pursue to get an edge over the opponent is near limitless. Any sport would also be a competitive game in that it is almost entirely determined by the skill of the players.

Most games fall on spectrum of casual to competitive. Monopoly, for example, has a very strong luck element, but there are strategies that are applicable as well. It's also important to acknowledge that any game can be played in a casual or competitive manner. I know several people who put a lot of thought into their monopoly playing and there's also the hordes of Magic players that never read a single strategy article or even consider building a deck specifically to counter their friends' decks. Some people even play chess in a very casual way, slinging pieces willy nilly to see what happens when the smoke clears. Due to the limited strategic depth, I will not be talking much more about true casual games.

With games, as with many things, there is a progression of understanding. Most casual gamers focus on the tactical. That is to say, they think "what move is good right now?" A lot of time they'll make the choice of "what would be cool?" At some point, usually after you've played the same game several times, you start to have the thought "what worked well last time?" At this point you move from tactics into strategy, long term planning. This is a crucial point. It is at this point that you can start to think about the game productively even when you are not currently playing. Once this point is reached, there is no going back.

This is the crucial turning point where one begins to cross from casual to competitive. This is the point where a player is no longer just thinking about what will be fun, but is genuinely focused on how to win.

This can be dangerous however as this is the point when interest in the game is either deepened, or lost forever in frustration. How is it lost? Let me use the example of fighting video games, I'll use street fighter as an example.

The progression of a Street Fighter player has 3 levels in my mind, the button masher, the intermediate, and the master. The button masher is exactly what it sounds like: the player who knows, at most, the basic buttons, and basically just presses things at random. The next level is the player who has learned all the basic moves and is starting to figure out how to string them into combos and special attacks. At this point they have set goals, and they are always trying to use what they've just figured out, but their fluency in the controls is not yet there and they get a sort of tunnel vision. They have the knowledge but not the "feel" for the game. Finally is the master. The player who knows a character inside and out and can easily and fluidly string together combos and counters and knows intuitively without thought, what move to use when.

The intermediate player will almost always loose to the master. But they are usually learning new things when this happens so they are encouraged and their hunger for understanding of the game deepens (unless the master is a jerk). The intermediate will also loose, with frustrating frequency, to the button masher. They are expecting to play against certain tactics that are only used by other intermediate and master players. Thus, they are at a loss when faced with a random chaotic opponent. It is not uncommon for this player to get frustrated and give up at this point.

The thing is, once you start down that intermediate path, there's no way to turn that off. There's no way to forget the stuff you've already figured out. So you can't go back to being a casual button masher. You know too much. So the choice is to either keep going and push through the frustration, or give up on the game entirely. If you push through you will be rewarded with a the ability to properly apply what you've learned and be able experience the satisfaction of legitimately succeeding on skill.

This progressive understanding is what has me hooked on Magic. Understanding a new concept in Magic is just like the feeling of mastering a new guitar chord, or perfecting your lay-up technique. It's exciting, and satisfying, and it makes you wonder what's next!