Magic the Gathering is cool. It has a great game mechanic and intense thinking. Yugioh is a bunch of childish pictures. In Magic you get 20 life, and monsters do small damage like 1, 2, etc.. In Yugioh they have to do 200000 damage to make it seem awesome. I don't know why, but for some reason that turns me away from the game. Also, it has a cartoon series which is stupiod.
Magic is the only trading card game worth playing. I used to play Magic in "big money" tournaments years ago, and my friends and I could pick up literally any other TCG and win tournaments the first time we played it, because they were so simple compared to Magic. That is not an exaggeration. Every other TCG is pretty much a kids' game compared to Magic, especially Yu-Gi-Oh. The first time my friend played Yu-Gi-Oh, he played in a decent-sized tournament and didn't even know what any of the cards did, yet he won the whole thing because of the skills he learn from Magic. It's like a Classic player going into a Version 2 server.
But just to be clear, I am not trying to promote Magic. Even though it's the best TCG, it's still bad because it's still mostly luck-based. You can be the best player at a tournament and there's still not that great a chance you will win first place. If you are the second best player, odds are you won't even finish in the money. I don't want to waste time playing a game where skill doesn't even pay off until you get to a sample size of like 100 games.
Sure, Yu-Gi-Oh is nice to play, but it's not meant to be highly strategic or complex. The games are suposed to end rather quickly. It's pretty obvious if we look at the small min. deck size ( 40 cards if I recall corectly ) and the powerful cards wich allow you to get massive force to the field very quickly.
I too think that Magic is the most competitive TCG out there, or atleast I havent played anything that could compare to it. It takes a lot of effort and experience to master and it always is fun. As for luck, it sure starts to matter when you play in a tournament with only very experienced players who rarely make a mistake.
I stoped playing 'cause it is too expencive to upgrade your deck all the time. I still take part of seald deck tournaments (magic... drafts, prerelease tournaments) from time to time though.
I usually sell what I get from the tournament so it compensates the entrance fee :P
There's different types of luck in trading card games. There's the luck of the draw of course, which is actually not as big of a factor as I implied. It usually doesn't decide games, but over the course of a whole tournament, it does become likely that no matter how well designed your deck is, you will lose simply because you didn't draw as many right cards as your opponent in at least one game. If it happens more than once, it could push you out of contention for first place even though you might be the best player there. Of course, it also depends on what deck you are playing. A standard control deck or aggro deck doesn't have as big a problem with luck of the draw, but a combo deck is entirely based 100% and needing to draw the right card every game. This is what most people think of when they talk about luck in TCG's, but it's not even the biggest problem.
My real problem is the other type of luck in a tournament, and that's luck of the matchup. No matter what deck you are playing, there is always a deck out there that is designed in such a way that it beats your deck almost every time. It doesn't matter how good your are or how good your opponent is. He could be some scrub and you could be Kai Budde, but his deck just beats yours, and the only possible way you can win is by getting A LOT more lucky than him with your draws. Basically, every round of pairings is like a super-complex game of rock-paper-scissors. In some cases, both decks have a chance. But in just as many cases, one deck is just designed to beat the other deck, and there's not much the players can do. Also, sometimes it's not just the decks. Let's say you are the second best player there. If the pairings happen to put you against the best player there before finals, then him beating you that round can push you our of finals, and thus the second best player doesn't get shit.
Anyway, in conclusion, every TCG is going to have some element of luck in it. My friend is currently trying to design one that gets rid of as much luck as possible. When confronted with the "Magic is all luck" argument, the most common response is "then how are there pro Magic players?". The answer is sample size. Within one tournament, being the best player doesn't make it that likely that you're going to win. You'll have slightly better chances than everyone else, but not by much. However, over the course of 1000 tournaments, that small advantage yields much bigger results, and lo-and-behold, you win enough of those 1000 tournaments to be a pro player. IMO, fuck that.
Comments
Captures the REAL Tribes element.
and thread should be renamed YUGIOH lol
But just to be clear, I am not trying to promote Magic. Even though it's the best TCG, it's still bad because it's still mostly luck-based. You can be the best player at a tournament and there's still not that great a chance you will win first place. If you are the second best player, odds are you won't even finish in the money. I don't want to waste time playing a game where skill doesn't even pay off until you get to a sample size of like 100 games.
I too think that Magic is the most competitive TCG out there, or atleast I havent played anything that could compare to it. It takes a lot of effort and experience to master and it always is fun. As for luck, it sure starts to matter when you play in a tournament with only very experienced players who rarely make a mistake.
I stoped playing 'cause it is too expencive to upgrade your deck all the time. I still take part of seald deck tournaments (magic... drafts, prerelease tournaments) from time to time though.
I usually sell what I get from the tournament so it compensates the entrance fee :P
http://www.annihilation.info/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8252
who is up for some pokemon tourneys?
My real problem is the other type of luck in a tournament, and that's luck of the matchup. No matter what deck you are playing, there is always a deck out there that is designed in such a way that it beats your deck almost every time. It doesn't matter how good your are or how good your opponent is. He could be some scrub and you could be Kai Budde, but his deck just beats yours, and the only possible way you can win is by getting A LOT more lucky than him with your draws. Basically, every round of pairings is like a super-complex game of rock-paper-scissors. In some cases, both decks have a chance. But in just as many cases, one deck is just designed to beat the other deck, and there's not much the players can do. Also, sometimes it's not just the decks. Let's say you are the second best player there. If the pairings happen to put you against the best player there before finals, then him beating you that round can push you our of finals, and thus the second best player doesn't get shit.
Anyway, in conclusion, every TCG is going to have some element of luck in it. My friend is currently trying to design one that gets rid of as much luck as possible. When confronted with the "Magic is all luck" argument, the most common response is "then how are there pro Magic players?". The answer is sample size. Within one tournament, being the best player doesn't make it that likely that you're going to win. You'll have slightly better chances than everyone else, but not by much. However, over the course of 1000 tournaments, that small advantage yields much bigger results, and lo-and-behold, you win enough of those 1000 tournaments to be a pro player. IMO, fuck that.