Sunday, May 12, 2013

I Have Sold-Out

Alea iacta est.  I have played my first few drafts on the digital plane and felt it's addictive power.  There's no question that it's fun, it's convenient, it might even be cheaper if I can believe some random I "met" in the queue.  It has helped me get some experience with GTC that I wouldn't have otherwise, but my impression is that it's not as helpful as it seems.  After a few games I was letting the computer do more and more of the work, not just the triggers but also the math.  Magic is totally different when you don't have to do any math at all.  Of course, if you don't do some math you might lose, but when you're in a situation that isn't close to lethal why bother counting points of power?  In the real game you can't move on until you add and subtract and get a number written down.

You're actually training your mind to do this whenever you play, you're making mistakes, the wrong number gets put down, arguments happen, judges get called, the brain and the lymph system are getting a good solid workout even if the math is quite basic.  The only deck I ever played competitively (ok, pretty much the only deck I ever played competitively period) that required a bit of math was B/u zombies with Killing Wave post-board.  I think I gave up on most of the complex situations because I'm a lazy player (unless it's a casual game with friends, then I become an asshole) and I liked the "draw-nuts-win" aspect of the deck.  I got to the point where I was choosing to play second just so I could mulligan into an aggressive hand, probably not the right choice, but it worked for math-phobic me.

So playing online is only going to reinforce my habit of not making space in my brain for the simple arithmetic that wins close games.  The alternative is to try and play online like I would in real life.  I don't yet know how capable I am in that regard.  It doesn't help that they clock your tank time as well, even though the only game that timed-out so far was in my favor.  There again though, I don't know if I should have won or not because I was too busy clicking ok to do the combat math.

The other problem that I've noticed is that digital information just doesn't store as efficiently as information transmitted via paper.  I can't say I learned too much from my GTC drafts, unless perhaps I can cough it up when I meet a similar situation.  I do recall playing Forced Adaptation on my Armored Transport instead of Madcap Skills and dying to Killing Glare, but most of my other mistakes are lost in the shuffle.  There's also the fact that I wasn't punished for my mistakes like I usually am, I won more than I should have.  Winning is fun, but making mistakes and paying for them is what sticks in the brain.  I've been trying to explain this to my Maui players when I call them on their take-backs.  Sure it's just casual, but I don't want to have to remind people of their shit all the time.  If you get to take back the same mistake a dozen times you'll make it a bakers dozen for sure.

One good example of the difference between online and analog (reality is analog right?) play was something I saw happen in the ten minutes I had to pop into the shop and see what the new standard looks like.  One dude attacked with his flipped Mayor of Avabruck that he had just soulbonded to a Nearheath Pilgrim.  Defending dude plays Advent of the Wurm while the attacker gives his Mayor double-strike with Boros Charm and then goes to put it into the graveyard, but defender doesn't let him: "I haven't declared blockers."  Fair enough, attacking dude gains six life but still has a wurm to deal with and his Mayor becomes a pathetic human again.  I don't think it's possible to make this mistake online, or you'd have to be very rushed or new to the interface.  Doesn't that make the online game better?  I suppose so, but you lose soemthing as well.

There is no perfect game.  When you put a human against a human you are creating a situation that has more potential for evolution than any other.  Alright, maybe there's an asteroid out there that would put humanity to the test just as much, but maybe not.  To date, humanity's most insuperable challenge is other humans.  That's why people love to play games against each other and love to win.  We use every and any advantage we can get, we cheat or get as close to it as our comfort level goes.  It annoys me to no end when sporting organizations try and perfect their games too much.  Sometimes it is needed, like the basketball shot-clock, sometimes it's less clear though.  One of the great human tragedies was caused by this do-gooder mentality in the 1930's.  Someone invented a new type of bike (recumbent) that was faster, safer, and didn't cause impotence.  But it was so fast that after breaking all the records they banned it and it wasn't seen again until computer modeling was applied to human-powered vehicles decades later.  Who knows what that invention would have done to the world back then when bikes were more of a real thing than cars?  It would certainly have save a lot of boners at least.

I like the messiness of the real world, or at least the messiness of a real representation of a fantasy world.  Magic online may be the "real" game in terms of the intent of it's creators, we can see that trend in the embracing of double-faced cards, a tech that obviously is more suited for the digital game than the table-top one.  Yet, when something truly cool is created it goes beyond the intentions of the creators.  They deserve credit for sure, but in the end it's the grey matter up there churning content out and do we really own our own brain-cells?  We are ourselves mysteries and so it's only natural that we come home to the old card tricks of our ancestors, to that moment of wonder: what's on the top of my deck?  Is it set in stone, as it were, or can we influence the cards?  No matter how rational you may be, there's gonna be a time when you're praying for a miracle!

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