Luck versus skill in Magic: playing against my son with a new exclusive card from the new Jumpstart 2021 set
Luck versus skill in Magic: playing against my son with a new exclusive card from the new Jumpstart 2021 set
A few days ago I had the great pleasure of stepping on the Webedia Arena to enjoy a match against Raquel, a colleague from 3DJuegos, in a best-of-three match . With a genius designed to make that match as balanced as possible, we had to create our Magic: The Gathering deck by opening packs.
You could be lucky and have huge cards played, or simply have to deal with what was inside in the best possible way, but in any case it seemed the most fair and neutral way to carry out a confrontation. It all boiled down to a fight in which knowledge, skill and, of course, luck prevailed .
Although the concept seemed to me the best way to get rid of the ghosts of money and how much or how little it matters to have the best Magic cards to win a game – after all, this is a fair fight with what you touch – on the way home the only thing I could think about was to what extent could I quantify the importance of each of these factors in a competition and what the dilemma could bring to my Magic Chronicles .
Knowledge, skill and luck: Luck versus skill in Magic: playing against my son with a new exclusive card from the new Jumpstart 2021 set
Can luck compete against skill in Magic ? Does having the best possible deck make you the best player? How important is knowledge, skill, luck and money really when it comes to playing?
After two games in my favor -GO, VIDAEXTRA-, Raquel and I had a last meeting in which, while I was still playing with my winning deck, she would do the same with a super deck created from some of the best cards in the set. of Adventures in Forgotten Realms .
As you can see in the video, in that third game I had a really bad time and, although at all times I hope to draw a card capable of turning the situation around, the chances of seeing Raquel sweeping me out of the game they were towering. Can a deck really turn around such a seemingly clear situation?
In one of those pranks of fate that have been with us so much lately – seriously, I am beginning to think that I have a flower in my ass with this topic – excellent news reaches my hands. VidaExtra, by the grace and grace of my own handwriting, will be in charge of revealing an exclusive letter that has never been seen before.
You can imagine the illusion that something like this does to me.
I have returned to Magic 20 years after having a card in my hands, and it is being a much more special return than I expected
Knowing Jumpstart: Luck versus skill in Magic: playing against my son with a new exclusive card from the new Jumpstart 2021 set
The main culprit of this revelation is the return of the Jumpstart format , a set of cards in which each envelope is focused on a single theme – cats, pirates, knights, angels, walls … – so that you can shape a deck as crazy as possible in seconds.
With 20 thematic cards per envelope , all you have to do is open two envelopes and gather what you have to, for example, create a deck of goblins and dogs in less than it takes to untap all your lands after a game with dozens shifts.
The idea, in addition to looking great to me for balancing a fight between two players – you get two envelopes, I another two, and knowledge, skill and luck decide – also turned out to be the perfect way to carry out my experiment.
I was going to create a deck with all the cards from the exclusive set that I had to present in society, including one of the never-before-seen cards born of this format, and put it to the test against a decimated version of the deck with which I was about to lose. against Raquel.
A selection of the best goblin cards that you can find in Jumpstart 2021 against a deck that already proved to be somewhat lame in that third fight. And as a gift, one last twist.
I would play with those pocha cards, yes, but it would be my son, who has just started playing Magic in my footsteps, who would be in charge of bringing the devastating collection of goblins from Jumpstart 2021 .
Magic has lived up to its name on my return to the Arena (and not just within games)
Jumpstart 2021: this is the new goblin set and its exclusive card: Luck versus skill in Magic: playing against my son with a new exclusive card from the new Jumpstart 2021 set
- Brash leader (Reckless Ringleader)
- Pashalik Mons
- Lieutenant of the Trait Thrower
- Group the Goblins
- Ammunition Expert
- Krenko’s Order
- Warty Warlock
- Harass
- Raise the draugr
- Safe lunge
- Goat kidnapping
- Canyon quagmire
- Head beetle back
- Earth cycle
- Assault
- Bone fragments
- Enter the face
- Shock
- Crawling drink
- Oracle of Shadowhunters
- Burn with rage
Although the idea of Jumpstart is to put together what you get in an envelope of goblins with what is in another envelope – one of, what do I know, dinosaurs! -, for the experiment we would create a deck of goblins from the mythical cards that you have on these lines, including that promising reckless Chieftain that is born from this new set.
The very idea of filling the table with goblins 1/1 thanks to the abilities of most cards, and then playing an Ammunition Expert who with a miserable swamp and a meager mountain can blow up the opponent’s life counter, is one of those synergies that seem easy to see and execute. Could you put a stop to it?
The magic behind Magic: the keys to the designer who has kept the game alive and fresh after more than 20 years and more than 20,000 cards
The reality behind a Magic game
After playing several games in a fun give and take in which I start sweeping in the first fights and end up against the ropes in the last, the formula is becoming clearer.
Not everything is knowledge, not everything is skill, not everything is luck. In the mix of all those factors is the key to success in Magic and, if you hurry me, there is always the possibility that one of those pillars will send you to the mat.
And the money? Well, it is clear that not even a deck with the best cards can do something if there is no one behind it who knows how to play it. And to further erase that ghost, there are examples such as the Draft battles, the magnificent idea of initiatives like Jumpstart , or my first battles against Raquel with a deck created at the moment based on the luck delivered by the envelopes.
With the most OP cards removed from legal tournaments, what you find in a you-to-you between two experts is a mix of knowledge of the current metagame – the cards and synergies that are used the most and how to counter them – the skill necessary to put that knowledge in practice and knowing what to do or not at all times, and the luck that implies what cards you draw and what deck you have in front of you.
How catfish fishing has become my key to understanding Magic (and all the new cards that have now come to my hands)
Over the last few days I have not only learned that a deck alone does not win games , but also that even the best of players, with the best of decks in their hands, can take a misstep that lands a victory.
And what do you want me to say. Knowing that Magic is not an exact science, and that there are a thousand and one ways to play to promote fair and balanced play , awakens me even more desire to continue playing and more interest in sitting at a table in which to measure my knowledge, my skill and my luck. Hopefully I can do it soon.
This is an initiative in collaboration with Wizards of the Coast .
