Playstyle

[thefreakaccident]

I am not going to adress myself by a codename like some would, like a
Spike, or a Timmy.

This is not the thread for that.

This is a thread to learn who we are talking to and why.

I am interested in how you guys like to play, and whom you like to play.
-what are the best games to play etc.

I'll give a couple of examples/ideas to spark the conversation/ self descriptions, then my own personal one.





1- "I loved what flash did to the format", "It was just soo broken it was rediculous!"

Do you like just being able to unload something rediculous to win the game? ~Like playing a ringleader and hitting 4 goblins (the right goblins to win), or playing a bloodmoon first turn when your opponent kept a nonbasic heavy hand, the lucky stuff that just feels oh so good.

2- "OMG, good game man!", "It just kept going back and forth, man that game was crazy! It could have gone either way."

~Really get into the game, there is a lot of interaction going on, its' down to the wire, it comes down to the small subtleties, the top decks of both players, and what they do with those draws, you just won because you played the game the way it was meant to be played.

3- (opponent speaking) "Man, he just had me at every turn, it was a total shut out, I didn't even have a chance."

~ Just crush your opponent, he had no chance at all and you both knew it, the game was over before it even started.


------------END CHOICES

Me, personally, I enjoy a longer game, full of interaction and skill intensive thought... I may be one of the few to actually enjoy the control on control games (tempted to say mirror, but that is incorrect), those are the games I actually feel like I have accomplished something (sorta, it is just a game after all). Sometimes scenario 3 can be cool, but it is boring to be either player in that scenario (at least to me).


So, I guess it boils down to a simple question:

To what extent do you enjoy interacting with your opponent?

[Jak]

I enjoy a little of both. I love doing some broken shit (we are in Legacy) and winning in the first few turns. I also love long games where tight play is involved and it works the mind well.

[Hanni]

I'd rather just play a broken ass deck and pwn somebody. I like to win, it makes my ego feel good.

[AngryTroll]

I like a long game that I win on the strength of a lot of small plays. For example, 3- or 4- color Survival versus AggroLoam or The Rock are matchups that takes the whole time, and can go either way, but are always great games, usually won by the better player.

Thresh vs. most decks are again matchups where lots of small plays add up to winning the match. While it is great to win a game where you feel that you have your opponent at every turn, and I never turn those down in tournaments, when I am just playing for fun, or at a small tournament, I prefer a long drawn out game that I win over a short game where I Swords one dude or counter one spell and win from there.

[kicks_422]

I like using underdog decks and beating good decks piloted by arrogant and/or scrubby players. It's so rewarding to beat fully-powered decks with decks which cost less than $200, for example. Or repeatedly beating UGW Thresh with all the combo hate in the maindeck (CB-Top, Mage, Stifle) with Fetchland Tendrils.

[yawg07]

Hey, I'm a combo player, I like winning before my opponent has a chance to think.
But my favorite victories are against Stax and Aggro-Control, where the game draws out longer.

Winning under Counter-Top is much harder than winning under a Trinisphere, but both feel just as good.

[mujadaddy]

"Great losses often bring only a numb shock. To truly plunge a victim into misery, you must overwhelm him with many small sufferings." —Ratadrabik of UrborgThis sums up my playstyle. I don't really like explosive plays ('infinite mana' stuff, any combo that involves you moving a crapload of cards around, Storm is a terrible mechanic) much -- I feel they cheapen the game of Magic.

[Cavius The Great]

I like to crush people, utterly. Losing sucks, I feel all "safe" inside when I'm winning dramatically.

[arsenalpow]

I play to win, i just want to blow people away. I also enjoy the comraderie of going to a tournament with friends but I want to win more than anything. I stopped playing sports after high school and magic is the way for me to keep those competitive juices flowing.

[Bryant Cook]

I guess you can say I'm a Johnny.

[Metaknight]

I like using underdog decks and beating good decks piloted by arrogant and/or scrubby players. It's so rewarding to beat fully-powered decks with decks which cost less than $200, for example. Or repeatedly beating UGW Thresh with all the combo hate in the maindeck (CB-Top, Mage, Stifle) with Fetchland Tendrils.

Agreed. not so much the fetchland tendrils bit, but the first bit definitely. One of the greater feelings i get is after a tournament i here a guy i beat complaining to a friend about how he should have won against me; how he had has every answer to my deck; how he just got bad draws. which might be true, but usually not. it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.

[noobslayer]

I like style one, as it often leads to style three. Although playing CRET belcher vs T is for Tool with threshold and actually seeing relevant interaction was quite fun. Those games were too good. Same with Solidarity dittos.

[Dilettante]

I am somewhat... psychotic when it comes to MTG... I play with my cards fanned out and on the table, never re-ordering them. Usually, how drained I am and the type of competition around me determines my deck choice. I like needing to think... and something like Hulk Flash made an environment that was not condusive to such. If I feel like constant thought... I play something like TES... but I run the issue of overlooking the obvious. If I feel like minimal thought, there's monogreen Berserk Stompy. However, I do enjoy, one way or another, a deck with pure 'blorf' in one way or another. The 'blorf' may involve a lockdown, such as Blood Moon or Stasis. A tantric deck is not my style.

[FoolofaTook]

I like to play decks that I've built or in some cases made major tweaks to an existing archetype. I have no interest at all in winning with a deck that somebody else has proven to be great. I do like to play against those decks though.

My ideal game is a soft-lock from turn 1 or 2 on that developes into a dominant winning position after the deck has expressed some of the options available in it.

Originality is less important than unique composition. I'm not deluded enough to think that I can turn Jhoira of the Ghitu, Festering March and Living Plane into a Legacy playable deck.

[Nihil Credo]

I like choices. And learning from said choices.

[Versus]

I like having the answer to everything they play. I want to Force their Force, kill Bob before upkeep, and EE every fucking token they generate. I don't want to dump my hand and Tendrils someone on turn one while they have that deer-in-the-headlights look on their face. I also don't want to explain to them why they lost like with Aluren for example. I want to crush them and I want them to know precisely why.

Unfortunately the above always seems to happen to me. Go figure.

[Thehunter820]

Personally, I like to completely stomp people, or have a close game where you have to think alot, both are fun, but im not a fan of long games, I get bored after like turn 7 or 8.

[Pinder]

2- "OMG, good game man!", "It just kept going back and forth, man that game was crazy! It could have gone either way."

~Really get into the game, there is a lot of interaction going on, its' down to the wire, it comes down to the small subtleties, the top decks of both players, and what they do with those draws, you just won because you played the game the way it was meant to be played.


This.



I like a long game that I win on the strength of a lot of small plays. For example, 3- or 4- color Survival versus AggroLoam or The Rock are matchups that takes the whole time, and can go either way, but are always great games, usually won by the better player.


Also this.

I like a lot of interactions in my games. This doesn't mean that I don't occasionally shut my opponent completely down or go for broke, it just means that the most fulfilling games, IMO, are the ones that I have to fight tooth and nail for (though not necessarily with Tooth and Nail :tongue:). In fact, it's not at all unusual for me to enjoy a really close game that I lost more than a complete blowout that I won.

Take for example my match with AngryTroll during the Mirkwood Tarmogoyf tournament. Game 1 I took very quickly on the back of Threshed Mongeese and burn to his bad draws. Game 2 I actually lost, but it was still the best game of Magic I played all night. I enjoyed it much more than the game I won.

So, in short, the games I find most satisfying are the games where I know I earned the win, or in the case that I lost, I made my opponent earn the win.

[Shtriga]

I don't like goldfishing a deck for the win, maybe when I'm playing alone, but not when I'm sitting across someone.

and I'm not a fan of control (back in 98 I played, for fairly long, a humility/orim's prayer control deck that could pull off 1 hour matches that put me off control forever). black based disruption decks like old necropotence or the newer pikula variants are what excite me the most, I'm a very energetic person and that shows when I'm playing, I can't just sit back on my counters. I like putting him off balance and swooping the win in a pair of swings. I don't like full aggro decks though like goblins, elves, affinity, burn (I particularly hate burn), or other likewise linear decks like reanimator, and others

[xsockmonkeyx]

Choices are kinda of loaded IMO.

[TheKingslayer]

I think it is boring when all either player has to do is get a turn one chalice of the void down to win.

I love going balls to the wall, and just curb stomping my opponent. It is fun to play against control, as the game gets dragged on a bit longer, but still I just overwhelm my opponent with the right plays and too many threats. Aggro decks,like reanimator, affinity, and mainly ichorid, are the most fun to play with. It is still fun to lose, when you know you put up a really good back and forth fight, then, it comes down to the topdecks. I played an deck in standard a few years ago that used burn, and seizan. It hardly ever won, but it got extremely close every time. Very fun.

God Bless ichorid.

[GiantGrowth]

I like games where I come away knowing something I didn't know before. not necissarily rules related, but just walking away from the table as a better player. That being said, the best kind of win for me is a game that I wouldn't have won unless I was playing a really tight game. Like if I hadn't played the cards in the right order at the right time I would have had no chance. I guess you could say I like it when my opponent is almost assured his win, but with a couple of skillful plays I turn the tables and pull a win out of the depths of defeat. Not that it happens very often, especially considering I wouldn't call my self a "generally skillful player." but yea thats what I like.

[Pltnmngl]

I like to think I embody the deck I play. If I'm playing aggro, I'm really aggresive and going for the jugular at all times. If I'm playing combo, I think objectively and rarely interact with my opponent. If I'm control, I'm patiently calm and calculating.

[clavio]

3

Few things are better than playing a B2b and multiple propagandas against thresh. Or a prop against ichorid.

[mercenarybdu]

I like interesting games over ZTK games where whoever draws draws out their winning hand first wins the game. That is so not interesting rather than strategicly winning the next few turns.

[emidln]

I like decks that are unforgiving of mistakes. I feel a lot better when I win a difficult matchup (for example to Fetchland Tendrils mirror) after 30 turns of draw, go, test some defenses, etc than when I simply blow someone out with Serenity. Part of the reason I like playing SI is for its ability to probe defenses for turns on end until it finds a small weakness that I can exploit. The puzzle of playing through an active Counterbalance or a hand full of blue cards is more interesting to me than blowing people out with turn one kills. I love playing blue control mirrors for this reason.

[Michael Keller]

My playstyle is simple:

I mind-fuck my opponent without a condom, everytime.

[Pulp_Fiction]

Much like TheKingslayer, I like the balls to the wall playstyle and I play combo decks because they generally lend themselves nicely to that style of play. I love playing decks that are all or nothing. For example: I would rather win big or lose big, I could never play a deck that had equal matches everywhere. A deck that has amazing matchups against most of the field and almost auto-loses to a small portion of the field is what I like to play. Plus with a deck like SI or Fetchland Tendrils it takes a LOT of thought to play and I love decks that constantly make me think. I also agree with emidIn in that I like playing decks that punish mistakes because I think those decks make you a better magic player because you pay even more attention to what is going on all the time.

[Sek'Kuar]

It all depends on my mood at the time. One day i may want aggro, the next i may feel like control. I rarely play combo.

My favorite decks are Eva Green, The Truffle Shuffle, Fairy/Demon/Dragon/Angel Stompy, and Red Death. I'll occasionally play R thresh, and on rare days I will play belcher. I'm Bi-polar, and my Fiancee likes to joke that my deck changes with my mood.

In short, my response would be I play in many different ways with many different styles. I think this helps against my friends because they never know what to expect.

From balls-to-the-wall, to slow and steady, i run the gamut.

[Kadaj]

Basically, I never play straight aggro. But I am fully willing to play just about everything else. I've played Meandeck Tendrils, Aggro Flow, MUC, Tide-Stax... I guess I'm a combination of 1 and 3. I despise longer games that have tons of interaction because that means I didn't get a firm foothold on the game quick enough and gave my opponent a chance. I don't mind interaction in general, but I usually like it to be quick and decisively in my favor.

[Bovinious]

God Bless ichorid.

QFT, I love playing Ichorid because its not like playing real magic, Im "drawing" like 5-6 cards a turn, and making creatures and doing stuff in many non-counterable and non-answerable ways. Its also really fun to play from your graveyard rather than hand, it just makes for the kind of dominating non-interactive games that I strive for :wink:

[TheKingslayer]

I know, dude. It feels so great to have so much card advantage, yet no cards in hand. You are just constantly dominating your opponent with zombie tokens, ichorids, and 23/23 trolls, and the whole time you are raping their hand away from them. You lose nothing out of doing so. My friend hates playing me when I use it, because it is non-interactive on his side, and he thinks it is boring to just watch me put cards in my graveyard when there is nothing he can do. That's why affinity comes in a close second. You empty your whole hand on the table, for practically nothing, and then you just move counters wherever his blockers are not(while he takes it up the ass from disciple of the vault.) Ichorid is just more reslient, explosive, and can empty your opponent's hand. I love it.

Edit: I would also like to add that I do enjoy dabbling in non-blue control at times. As a finisher, I love to play rude awakening, for that same wonderful killing finish that I get with ichorid.

Oh, and I only play naked while covered in maple syrup.

[DeathwingZERO]

Here's a short list of things I've played since I started with 1.5 (pre-Legacy)

Dragon, FCG, MUD, ATS, Hulk, Welder Survival, Belcher, TES, TJS, IGGy, Landstill, Vial Goblins, Thresh, Solidarity, Deadguy Ale, Ankh Sligh, Flash, and Ichorid.

Basically, I want my opponent to realize within the first few turns that I really don't care that they are on the other side of the table. I want my deck to blast them in game 1, and in games 2 and/or 3 show that it's not just a one trick pony deck. If I can't race them, I'll make them regret every play they make.

The best games come out of ones like these, because then I run into people who have answers. Those are challenging, and more interactive than any other games I've ever played.

Storm being the exception to this, but I just love storm too much to not play good versions of it. Combo player + broken mechanic = repeated affairs on other decks I've built.

[rodgon666]

competent players are who i like to play.

i play for competition, and its hard to find really good players. there are always descent players, but good players are hard to come by.

[dlevsApiJ]

I love to play Ichorid too.. It's so cool to look at your opponents face game 1.. Cause they dont expected a deck like Ichorid .. I also like it when they think/say that you play a unfair deck or something, and when you played a normal deck, they had won ofcourse :rolleyes: (most of the time, these players are Threshold players...)

I also love storm combo, and unexpected control decks (like my rifter, with cool cards like Moat, Humility, Blood Moon, who can give you auto-wins). Those decks are also cool to play because of the reaction of the opponent

But sometimes I like to play a deck with more interaction.. Most of the time a strange version of an existing deck (A)

[Afro]

I like throwing burn to the dome. It soothes me.

[Citrus-God]

I have tendencies to outplay players. Decks I played in the past are Meandeck Gifts, Control Slaver, T1T, Dredge-A-Tog, random Control variants like Fledgling Dragon Control, Threshold, and other sexy mistakes.

Right now, I play GAT and Threshold. Occasionally I'd switch up between Slaver and GAT, but Threshold stays the same... but I change colors a lot.