Definitions and General Concepts
This section attempts to standardize the vocabulary for
discussing Magic, at least within Schools of Magic, by defining some
of the more difficult concepts. If you have issues with any of these
definitions or wish to include others, please email them to me.
- Resource
- Something which allows you to play the game. In Magic,
there are the following resources: life, cards in hand, cards in
library, cards in graveyard, permanents in play (which is further
divided into creatures, artifacts, land, enchantments). In tournament
situations, you must add time as a resource. In higher level play, I've
found that only three resources really count -- life, cards, and mana.
- Speed
- Actually a rather complicated concept which is explored in my
series on Theories of Deck Speed. Its components are briefly broken
down into Resource Speed, Offensive Speed, Defensive Speed, and
Strategic Speed. Please refer to the chapter on Theories of Deck Speed
for further exploration.
- Offense
- Offense relates to those elements which will make it possible for a
deck to win. There are currently a number of ways to win a game of Magic
-- reduce your opponent's life to zero, give your opponent ten poison
counters, run your opponent out of cards in the library, win a concession,
win by adjudication (i.e., be ahead in life when time is called), win via
your opponent using Final Fortune, win via the Amulet of Quoz, etc. Of all
of these ways, only two -- killing your opponent and running him out of
cards -- are serious strategies at this time.
- Defense
- A surprisingly nebulous concept which I describe as
"disruption". Obviously, staying alive despite opponent efforts is
disruption of their game. But things like card-denial or a first-turn
Black Vise or Strip Mining their crucial color lands are also disruptive,
and therefore defensive.
- Efficiency
- Cards
- A concept which covers the effect and utility of a
card given its casting cost. A Savannah Lion, therefore, is more
efficient than a Squire.
- Decks
- The ability of a particular deck to utilize every card
as soon as it is drawn. A weenie/blaster deck has high efficiency
as it can bring out just about every card drawn, while a blue
permission deck with Mahamotis cannot be said to have particularly
high efficiency.
- Strategies
- The ability to implement primary goals compared to
the time and resource cost of implementing those goals.
- Flexibility:
- Cards
- The ability of a card to be useful in multiple situations.
Disenchant is more flexible than Divine Offering, for example,
since it can handle enchantments.
- Decks
- The ability of a particular deck to deal with multiple
opposing strategies. To me, this is more of a defensive concept,
perhaps taking the cue from the Fortress school. The issue is,
can a deck defend against different offensive strategies
(weenies, blaster, big creature, millstone, etc.) and
disrupt their game, while remaining able to implement its offensive
strategy against a variety of defensive measures.
- Strategies
- Because deck flexibility deals with the idea of handling
many different types of opponents, I associate the concept of
strategic flexibility with the ability to have multiple ways of
implementing deck flexibility, if you will. That is, in terms of
defense, a pure permission deck that tries to counter every spell
of the opponent may have greater deck flexibility but a combination
U/W deck that can either counter or disenchant/stp later has greater
strategic flexibility. Also goes to concepts like a varied offense,
non-reliance on key combos, etc. although those are not dispositive.
- Active/Reactive
- The concept covers the idea of how the deck plays.
Active decks try to take charge right from the beginning, while
reactive decks usually attempt to respond to opponent threats and wait
for the appropriate opening.
Go to Principles of Deckbuilding
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Last modified Mon Oct 30 1995