February 25, 2010
A Day in the Life
Posted by Zachary
Two problems never seem to be solved in this house. The first is that Cody pretty much always reaps what he sows, and by reap, I mean bleed, and by sow, I mean leave ninja stars and throwing knives in every room in the house, usually fixated on floorboards and door handles.
The other problem is food. Ever since college happened we found ourselves in the unfortunate position of putting living expenses in the same realm as cards or new Gamecube controllers. Recent recession wage-to-cost ratios didn’t help much either. I once found myself musing over a pair of Mutavaults back in the height of Lorwyn/Shadowmoor block constructed, asking Andrew rhetorically if the greater tragedy was that a pair of Mutavaults cost as much as a tank of gas, or that a tank of gas cost as much as a pair of Mutavaults.
“Yes” was Cody’s characteristic response, and the word rang as true as it has ever.
We’ve recently discovered deckbuilding, which is a strange thing to say considering the amount of time we’ve put into the game. But a lot happens in between cracking the first starter deck somewhere in the misty 90s and the sleepless, over-caffeinated playtest sessions on the way to a Pro-Tour Qualifier. You might say the ever-shifting limbo of competitive standard took its toll on us. But though a $200 mana base, Tarmogoyf, or Ravager Affinity might push us temporarily from the joyous arena of Standard, for True Believers there is little in heaven or earth that can separate us completely from the game.
Sitting at home without actual metagames to crack meant that we had to find new things to do with the cards. Disillusioned by the repetitive determinism of constructed decks, Cube draft consumed the whole of our focus for such a long time we began to think that the only use in having more than one copy of a card was to have it in more than one Cube. It was right as Clarion Ultimatum was becoming a true source of puzzlement did the rediscovery occur.
Coming back to this part of the game, with these news eyes, has produced a unique set of guidelines for deck building.
The deck must be good, indeed, it must win, but –and here is the catch– the deck cannot be unfun for the user. That is to say, it cannot be boring, it cannot play itself, and to avoid this, it must involve the user as much as possible in the form of (often difficult) decision-making. The more decisions that have to be made, the more engaging the deck is. And while this allows for more misplays to occur, that fact alone becomes the veritable gateway for more growth. In these respects our group has not grown less Spikeish, but far more, and we count this as a very good thing.
In other news, I think college is going to kill us all before we get our degrees. Just saying. Cody’s considering a minor in self-rez for this very possibility.
