Posted by Josh Lytle on November 17, 1997 at 19:54:21:
By now, all of the regular Dojo visitors have read posts about how luck based the ProsBloom strategy is, and how they "are never lucky enough to play a good ProsBloom." I have also read countless posts discussing how "any deck with counterspells or anti-enchanment cards beats ProsBloom."
These statements come from the experience of Magic Players, and these players believe these statements to be true. Well, to be blunt, these statements mean SHIT. Ninty-five percent of the players out there don't know how the game of Magic works. Oh sure, they do understand how to attack, and they may understand how the intricate timing rules work, but when it comes to seeing the heart of the game, to know the many aspects of what makes a card playable, what allows a certain elite few to continually qualify for the Pro Tour and do well in EVERY tournament they enter, what it means to be on top of the Magic world, they do not understand. The Dojo, a very well organized and informative site, contains 100's of opinions from 100's of players. The problem is, most of the players that traverse the expanses of the World Wide Web do not know a damn thing about how Magic really works. They discuss how Lotus Petal is good, because Moxes are good, and Lotus Petal is the same thing. They continue to revise and mish-mash old deck types that have been rendered useless by new cards. They will always insist that Land Destruction decks actually do something besides have wasted card slots. They will swear that they have won 100 games by using Dark Ritual to play an Unholy Strengthed Erg Raiders on the first turn.
I believe that the very center of these shared thoughts among inexperienced Magic players lie in certain assumptions that players either make, or are told when they first begin to play Magic. These incorrect assumptions lead to incorrect game play and deck construction. Only a select few, who are either taught by masters of the game, or learn from them later on in their Magic The Gathering careers have been able to break away from these assumptions and see the true workings that make up the game that we love.
These are the assumptions that I believe most beginners in Magic cling to:
1. Speed is everything.
This is probably the single most incorrect assumption of any Magic player. Usually, this assumptions is re-enforced when a players sees a "Mr. Suitcase" playing with Moxes and Black Lotus. They automatically assume that these cards are powerful because the speed boost they provide, and they are partially correct. The difference between these classic cards and the modern Dark Ritual, Elvish Spirit Guide, and Lotus Petal is the loss of card advantage. By using Moxes, a player can essentially play more than one land per turn. This advantage is much different than using a card to give yourself a one time mana boost. An analogy can be made between Magic and Chess. Playing a Mox is like taking two turns in a row in Chess, which can be devastating to your opponent in the end. Likewise, playing Dark Ritual is like sacrificing your Queen to capture a Pawn. Yes, you have gained a "piece advantage," but you have sacrificed a valuable resource. By using cards to gain temporary advantages, you are essentially giving your opponent permanent advantages.
Every card that you play with should provide you an advantage in a certain way. This is a very basic concept in Magic, but many players do not actually know what an advantage is. They may think that casting Hidden Horror for three mana gives them an advantage, when it actually does not. By casting Hidden Horror, you are basically saying, "I would rather have my 4/4 creature out one turn earlier instead of having a 4/4 AND another creature." You will not gain an advantage by playing your cards faster, if it means you have to foolishly sacrifice your cards in order to accomplish this.
2. Card advantage doesn't matter if I am going to win.
I have read so many posts about how Sligh and Stompie don't care about card advantage. I believe these statements are made because people don't fully understand what card advantage is. Some think it is having more card in your hand than your opponent. This is not true. Card Advantage is basically having more card in play and in your hand, and using your cards to eliminate multiple cards of the opponents. By doing this, you are gaining a winning advantage.
Sligh and Stompie DO care about card advantage, every deck that actually wins does. You should never sacrifice card advantage for any reason, except in a very few circumstance where that is the only way to prevent your opponent from winning.
3. Counterspells and Direct damage are cheap.
4. Magic is all luck.
Both of these statements tie into each other in many ways. I am sure that most of you that play Magic the Gathering also have played the many Street Fighter and other fighting games out there. These games are very similar to Magic because they allow you choose various characters, and develop strategies based on the moves of those characters. You then pit the sum of your experience against another player, and the victor is aloud to continue playing while the loser has to pay again. I am sure that if any of you are experienced fighting game players, you have heard many beginners saying things like, "That's cheap," or, "It's all luck," or, "It didn't block." Whenever an inexperienced player says these things, us veterans always know that this is not true. Baring bad equipment, the only reason "it didn't block" is because you did not tell it to. As far as "That's cheap," or, "It's all luck," I only have to say this: Everything you don't understand is always based on chance.
Magic is based on these same principles. If you ever hear a player talking about how ProsBloom is completely luck based, it is safe to assume they do not understand it. The cold hard truth is that ProsBloom is the among the most advanced decks ever created in Magic. People who don't think it can win are frankly not smart enough to handle the deck. This does not mean that they are incapable of learning how to play it, but many times they do not attempt to. They are blinded by ignorance, and they will not open their eyes.
As far as Counterspells and Direct damage being cheap, I just have to say this: If you do not take the ENTIRE card pool into account when you are building a deck or playing, YOU WILL LOSE. Most of the players that consider counterspells and direct damage to be cheap have extremely simplistic deck concepts that just can't deal with it. Also, they often times don't know enough to be able to beat the deck in the first place. Some players will actually not cast anything against a counterspell player, and other will just die to a burn deck because they do not know how to conduct creature combat. In the end, they continue to feel the same way, and eventually quit.
In general, the sum of all problems people encounter within the gaming world is lack of understanding. If you do not understand a game, then you cannot play it properly. This is true of any game, and I wish that more people would realize it. But sadly, the American culture does not often reward this kind of thinking. Maybe that is why so many Japanese people, including many of my friends, playing certain games better than most Americans. I don't know.
I hope this article has helped you understand more of the game, and maybe helped to open your eyes.
Josh Lytle