Lonk joins us today to go over a couple different archetypes, PEOPLE archetypes! What are you? Let us know in the comments for a chance to win 5 Mythgard packs!
I saw a response on Reddit that took me by surprise recently. I know, it’s Reddit, nothing should be that surprising. But this Redditor was hoping for sweeping changes in the newest patch because they believed that half of the current set is unplayable. They believed for a card to be “playable”, it had to be good on the ladder.
Nothing could be further from the truth! I’ve said before that everyone plays for their own reasons, and CCGs design cards to appeal to different types of players. Technically, no card is “unplayable” on the ladder, but some cards will be more appealing to certain types of players.
But what different types of players are there? Several years ago, Mark Rosewater, head designer for Magic The Gathering, identified three different psychological profiles of those playing Magic. Although it was developed for a different game, the profiles definitely apply to Mythgard as well.
I’ll give a couple of examples of decks that fit each profile. So as you look these over, see if any of these appeal to you, and see if you can identify which profile applies to you the most.
Also, I refer to the male name for each because that is the original name for each one. But these profiles are actually gender neutral, and apply to males as much as females.
Timmy/Tammy
The mantra for the Timmy is “go big or go home”.
The main objective for a Timmy is to win with style. The term most commonly associated with them is “power gamer”. Whether it’s big creatures or big spells, they’re always swinging for the fences. Sometimes their deck will swing and miss, but that’s ok for the average Timmy. They are generally less competitive than the other profiles, and are more into having fun and the social aspect that comes with playing a game. Along those lines, they tend to be some of the more experimental players and will try new decks out just for the sake of trying them.
That doesn’t mean that the Timmy doesn’t care about winning, or that they aren’t competitive, it’s just that winning is not necessarily the highest priority for them. And if you lose to the Timmy, it’s hard to get mad at them because it’s usually in spectacular fashion.
Jank Timmy: Wholesome’s Fang Alpha Nine
Sometimes the pieces come together for this deck, and sometimes they don’t. But when the pieces do fall into place, this deck can swing in for insane amounts of damage. So it’s perfect for the Timmy who wants to win with some style.
Competitive Timmy: Lonk’s Purple Green Midrange
What? A deck by me? What a coincidence!
But seriously, this deck got me to Mythril, and loves to get really big and really stompy really quickly. A Pentacle of Flavors on an Iku Turso does some wild things. It also feels really good to bring back to minions with one Chort Stag when Five Spirit Gate is pretty sweet too. And Perfect Grade is Perfect Grade.
So this deck is not only competitive, but it also provides plenty of big, power-gamey minions that the Timmy craves.
Johnny/Jenny
The mantra for the Johnny is “my way or the highway”.
The Johnny sees their decks as extensions of themselves, as a form of self expression. So when the Johnny wins, you better believe they’re going to do so in their own fashion. Maybe they’ll exploit an interesting combo (Johnnys are often combo players), maybe they’ll find an unusual card to build around, maybe they’ll find a “bad” card and make it work somehow, or maybe they just want a deck that wins in unusual ways. So the name of the game for the Johnny is experimenting and finding new ways to express themselves.
Like the Timmy, winning is not the most important thing for the Johnny. But again, that doesn’t mean they can’t be competitive. If they find a deck that that wins their way, and wins a lot, then Johnnys can be really dangerous players.
Jank Johnny: Burnmelt’s Explosions Go Boom
Are you tired of your stretcher decks paying out real slowly and unspectacularly? Have you ever wondered what it would look like if Michael Bay designed a Mythgard deck? Then Burnmelt, the jank master himself, may have the solution for you!
This is a Johnny deck through and through. Would Daring Trapezist be a more efficient card than Reckless Vulcanist? Probably. But it doesn’t fit what this deck is trying to do, which is blowing stuff up while trying to burn them out using the stretcher. It’s an odd and somewhat inefficient way to win, but that’s exactly the point. This deck is amazing when it’s able to do its thing, and it definitely finds its own unique way to win games.
Competitive Johnny- Dinobravo’s Mr. Snuggles Reanimator
Both Valkyries and Reanimator are good Johnny type of decks, but Dinobravo has managed to put their own unique spin on red green reanimator. The Sweet Spinnerette/Deported combo amounts to a surprisingly effective removal spell. Usually Mr. Snuggles is not a very good card, but it works well here as a reanimator target. It’s little twists and turns on a deck like this that Johnnys are trying to work towards to allow a deck to serve as a form of self expression.
Spike
The mantra for the spike is “win at any cost.”
The other profiles put other priorities above winning, but Spikes do not. So they tend to play the best decks that they can, and generally aren’t that concerned with how a deck wins, just so long as a deck wins. But that doesn’t mean they don’t experiment and try new things. Some spikes will try to improve upon an already established deck, others will try and identify the next “broken” card or combo and then exploit it in order to dominate a format.
Whereas the other profiles find happiness in things other than winning, the Spike’s primary source of excitement from the game is from the thrill of competition and the joy of winning. They can often be viewed as a wet blanket to everyone’s fun when compared to the other profiles, but we each play the game for our own reasons, and it’s hard to find fault in someone who wants to play the best cards in the best decks.
Jank Spikes
As I said, Spikes like to win, and since jank decks aren’t always the most reliable, there are very few, if any jank decks that would appeal to a Spike.
Jank Competitive- YOG Control
This is a decklist that DavidKC ran at the Heartbreaker Bash, but it’s a build that has been done over and over time and again. It has all the answers, if it can’t punch through with its big minions, YOG will just wait to play a Volition or Dire Benediction on a giant Boneyard Abomination and score a one turn kill. It’s not a very exciting deck to play, but that’s not the point. The point is that it wins, and it wins a lot, so it’s the type of deck that Spikes will naturally gravitate towards.
In reality, if you pick any of the other top tier elite decks in a format, there’s a good chance that there will be Spikes piloting them.
Conclusion
It’s important to realize that most players are not 100% in one profile or another. You could have a Timmy/Johnny who wants to win big, but in their own way. Or you could have a Timmy/Spike who wants to win big and win every time. I imagine that would be a pretty tortured experience, but it is possible. Or you could even be a little bit of all three.
So which profile fits you the best? Having an understanding of where you fit helps you better understand your own personal playstyle and can help you decide which cards you want to use. It also helps you understand why a card that you think is terrible is actually a fun card for somebody else.
And if you still think half of the set is terrible, you may want to keep that off Reddit.