• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 00:34
CEST 06:34
KST 13:34
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
[ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt2: News Flash8[ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt1: New Chaos0Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - Presented by Monster Energy16ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT30Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book20
Community News
Weekly Cups (March 23-29): herO takes triple6Aligulac acquired by REPLAYMAN.com/Stego Research8Weekly Cups (March 16-22): herO doubles, Cure surprises3Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool49Weekly Cups (March 9-15): herO, Clem, ByuN win4
StarCraft 2
General
What mix of new & old maps do you want in the next ladder pool? (SC2) Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - Presented by Monster Energy Aligulac acquired by REPLAYMAN.com/Stego Research Weekly Cups (March 23-29): herO takes triple herO wins SC2 All-Star Invitational
Tourneys
RSL Season 4 announced for March-April Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament StarCraft Evolution League (SC Evo Biweekly) WardiTV Mondays World University TeamLeague (500$+) | Signups Open
Strategy
Custom Maps
[M] (2) Frigid Storage Publishing has been re-enabled! [Feb 24th 2026]
External Content
Mutation # 519 Inner Power The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 518 Radiation Zone Mutation # 517 Distant Threat
Brood War
General
ASL21 General Discussion Gypsy to Korea How Can I Add Timer & APM Count? A cwal.gg Extension - Easily keep track of anyone BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/
Tourneys
[ASL21] Ro24 Group F [ASL21] Ro24 Group E Azhi's Colosseum - Foreign KCM Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates What's the deal with APM & what's its true value Simple Questions, Simple Answers
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Starcraft Tabletop Miniature Game General RTS Discussion Thread Darkest Dungeon
Dota 2
The Story of Wings Gaming Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
G2 just beat GenG in First stand
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Canadian Politics Mega-thread The Games Industry And ATVI European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion! [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion Cricket [SPORT] Tokyo Olympics 2021 Thread General nutrition recommendations
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
[G] How to Block Livestream Ads
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Money Laundering In Video Ga…
TrAiDoS
Iranian anarchists: organize…
XenOsky
FS++
Kraekkling
Shocked by a laser…
Spydermine0240
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 9469 users

Why Starcraft is just like Magic: The Gathering - Page 3

Forum Index > Closed
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 4 Next All
OrtegaPeru
Profile Joined April 2010
79 Posts
June 02 2010 05:11 GMT
#41
I think the whole thing is a bit of a stretch, especially the part describing the typical three types of gamers. Many people play competitive games at many levels of intensity for many different reasons.
Carthage
Profile Joined May 2010
105 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-06-02 05:36:09
June 02 2010 05:31 GMT
#42
On June 02 2010 13:27 Kultcher wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 02 2010 12:51 Carthage wrote:Once a moderate level of playskill is reached, the game is decided mostly by luck.


If you follow(ed) high level Magic you'd know that this is simply untrue. It is easy to say that a lot of Magic is based on luck but if you look at the records of some of the top players in the game it's obvious that they have more going for them than luck. It's just like poker, really.


High level magic is basically one's ability to not make stupid plays after playing for 10 hours straight, combined with getting some good matchups and some good draws at key moments.

They really don't have much more going for them other than being able to go to a whole lot of events.

I do follow high level magic. Pros are mostly just confirmation bias. The pro who wins a couple events in a year is still regarded as an amazing player when he wins again 3 years later, despite horrible placings in the many other events they enter. You'll see players like Jon Finkel placing in the top 8 a few times, accompanied with many placings outside of the top 100.

You can't dominate magic with play skill like you can with starcraft. The game is simply not designed that way.

Poker is different from magic in that it is a game that gives the player a great deal of control that magic cannot offer. It allows the player to minimize their losses with bad hands and maximize their winnings with good hands when the player knows what they are doing. Poker can go on for a very long time as well, letting the better player gradually pull ahead. Magic has no such features outside of deck construction. Constructed tournament Magic is sort of like going to a poker tournament where you only get to play maybe a couple dozen hands.
Luddite
Profile Blog Joined April 2007
United States2315 Posts
June 02 2010 05:46 GMT
#43
On June 02 2010 10:59 accaris wrote:

Johnny: Johnny is the "combo" or creative player. This player has decided that the game is a form of self-expression where he can display brilliant knowledge of otherwise little-understood game mechanics. Johnny is almost always innovative, uncovering quirky, overlooked interactions between cards (in Starcraft, interactions between units) that result in mind-blowing wins. He doesn't always win, but when he does, it's usually in a totally unexpected and hard-to-counter way. Additionally, the most unique "cheese" strategies probably fall under Johnny. In professional MTG circles, Asian pro-gamers tend to be predominantly Johnnies, although that's not a hard and fast rule. Incidentally, the same thing applies to Starcraft.

guys that play like that in Starcraft tend to suck.
Can't believe I'm still here playing this same game
Grend
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
1600 Posts
June 02 2010 05:56 GMT
#44
The three "archetypes" display a severe lack of understanding about the sc community.
The part about Timmy who likes to turtle because he wants to have the most FUN is ... What is the fun in spending 20 minutes making carriers and then roll your opponents? Thats the opposite of fun. Unique builds that are risky =|= korean play
♞ Against the Wind - Bob Seger ♞
USn
Profile Joined March 2010
United States376 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-06-02 06:17:39
June 02 2010 06:17 GMT
#45
On June 02 2010 14:31 Carthage wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 02 2010 13:27 Kultcher wrote:
On June 02 2010 12:51 Carthage wrote:Once a moderate level of playskill is reached, the game is decided mostly by luck.


If you follow(ed) high level Magic you'd know that this is simply untrue. It is easy to say that a lot of Magic is based on luck but if you look at the records of some of the top players in the game it's obvious that they have more going for them than luck. It's just like poker, really.


High level magic is basically one's ability to not make stupid plays after playing for 10 hours straight, combined with getting some good matchups and some good draws at key moments.

They really don't have much more going for them other than being able to go to a whole lot of events.

I do follow high level magic. Pros are mostly just confirmation bias. The pro who wins a couple events in a year is still regarded as an amazing player when he wins again 3 years later, despite horrible placings in the many other events they enter. You'll see players like Jon Finkel placing in the top 8 a few times, accompanied with many placings outside of the top 100.


Yeah I hear the argument that there must be a ton of skill because the same people have t8ed over and over again...

to which you can reply

A) Billy Moreno making t8 once is a strong argument against skill
B) If you flipped a coin for each match, given the number of tournaments something weird would be going on if there weren't a lot of repeat high finishers.

I wanna repeat though that limited is legitly skillful, at least compared to constructed.
NeoLearner
Profile Blog Joined January 2010
Belgium1847 Posts
June 02 2010 06:35 GMT
#46
I approve of this analogy I agree with the Red/Black for Zerg. Those are my favorite colors in Magic and my favorite race in SC. How do you see the green? Ultralisk?

Terran probably a great bit of blue (defense), white (Bio) and some green (Thors, siege tanks and BC's are huge Timmy units).
Can't really seem to define Protoss in colors...

I guess you could draw this analogy with quite a few games with a lot of depth but I can correlate a lot to this one.
Bankai - Correlation does not imply causation
TheAntZ
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
Israel6248 Posts
June 02 2010 06:42 GMT
#47
Awesome post, great read!
I loved playing around with my MTG cards
43084 | Honeybadger: "So july, you're in the GSL finals. How do you feel?!" ~ July: "HUNGRY."
NeoLearner
Profile Blog Joined January 2010
Belgium1847 Posts
June 02 2010 07:07 GMT
#48
On June 02 2010 14:56 Grend wrote:
The three "archetypes" display a severe lack of understanding about the sc community.
The part about Timmy who likes to turtle because he wants to have the most FUN is ... What is the fun in spending 20 minutes making carriers and then roll your opponents? Thats the opposite of fun.


I actually have a sc-friend I used to call Timmy because he plays like that. His favorite way of playing would be without an opponent so he can build his base exactly like he wants while building a 200/200 army of "cool" units. None of that bio crap. He plays against the very easy computer, kills him off except the extractor and keeps on playing.
He used to spend hours in Starsiege: Tribes building defenses all over the base.

I'm thinking of making him a simple UMS / tower defese style map which gives you half an hour to get your tech and defenses up, before waves of enemies advance. I don't think he would actually play anything else.
You could call Timmy the 'casual' player if you want. You've probably never seen them because even IF they are on the ladder it would be quite low AND they don't show up on TL. No 'casual' gamers here
Bankai - Correlation does not imply causation
TryThis
Profile Joined February 2007
Canada1522 Posts
June 02 2010 07:32 GMT
#49
On June 02 2010 11:56 Nevuk wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 02 2010 11:44 fabiano wrote:
lol

i remember those magic days:

me: tap 3 forest and 2 plains, summon some 5/4 beast.
friend: counterspell.
me: motherfucker, tap 2 forests, 1 plain and summon some 3/2 beast.
friend: counterspell.
me: what a fag... tap 1 motherfucking forest and 1 plain to summon this beast shit
friend: counterspell.

I have a friend who plays with no creatures(technically I think he has 2). He never wins, but he doesn't care. He'll just counter spell the fuck out of you, and if that fails, chainer's edict x8.

(I've repeatedly seen him chainer's edict to get rid of suntail hawks)


I play a psychatog deck in tournaments back in the day, i did fairly well with a few first places in local ones. it only ran three creature cards. man, i miss the tog.
Dwell
moopie
Profile Joined July 2009
12605 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-06-02 08:18:18
June 02 2010 07:42 GMT
#50
[image loading]

Anyway, as far as the analogy, it works for a lot strategy games (as some have mentioned). And the gamer archetypes are more varied than that.
I'm going to sleep, let me get some of that carpet.
NeoLearner
Profile Blog Joined January 2010
Belgium1847 Posts
June 02 2010 07:55 GMT
#51
On June 02 2010 16:32 TryThis wrote:
I play a psychatog deck in tournaments back in the day, i did fairly well with a few first places in local ones. it only ran three creature cards. man, i miss the tog.


Psychatog was a beast

Low creature decks, what about Tooth and Nail? It basically had units it actually used (Not counting Sakura Tribe Elder)
Bankai - Correlation does not imply causation
pyr0ma5ta
Profile Joined May 2010
United States458 Posts
June 02 2010 08:00 GMT
#52
As a (formerly) pretty competitive Magic player, I found this a very interesting read.

On June 02 2010 11:14 TheYango wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 02 2010 11:11 AlecPyron wrote:
What would be the sideboarding?

Sideboarding is hard to draw an analogy to, because you're not required to play the same build all 3/5 games of a Bo3/Bo5. Sideboarding exists because of the fact that competitive play requires you to play the same deck in a Bo3/Bo5, so that matches don't turn into rock/paper/scissors.


I'd say something like a tech switch would be a sideboard. Opponent's going all in Marauder? I'll sideboard into my Void Ray tech. Opponent overcommited to Immortals? I'll side in my devastating Circle of Protection: Red Ghosts.
"I made you a zergling, but I eated it." - Defiler
Nah
Profile Joined February 2010
Poland50 Posts
June 02 2010 08:14 GMT
#53
This article is totally not for Magic the Gathering players, because they already know what is what in M:tG. Furthermore, you create a metaphore but you do not use it to provide any conlusions or to give any insights.
Protoss wins it all
nihoh
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Australia978 Posts
June 02 2010 08:19 GMT
#54
Spike is the one most worthy of respect.

To be Spike you have to understand your deck, even if you netdecked it. Great artists steal. The same goes for SC2.
Dont look at the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.
Grumbels
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
Netherlands7031 Posts
June 02 2010 08:34 GMT
#55
Those concepts are more cutesy. Everyone likes to win, everyone likes big explosions and everyone likes being creative and inventing things, so what's the point of the personality types?
Well, now I tell you, I never seen good come o' goodness yet. Him as strikes first is my fancy; dead men don't bite; them's my views--amen, so be it.
omninmo
Profile Blog Joined April 2008
2349 Posts
June 02 2010 08:40 GMT
#56
i dont think most of the kids here remember the last of the real sets like URZA block. i hope i am wrong.
Salteador Neo
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
Andorra5591 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-06-02 08:43:40
June 02 2010 08:42 GMT
#57
On June 02 2010 17:19 nihoh wrote:
Spike is the one most worthy of respect.

To be Spike you have to understand your deck, even if you netdecked it. Great artists steal. The same goes for SC2.


The Spikes in the MTG world tend to be extremely easy to hate in my experience. Its the type of gamer i respect the less.

PD: Also, Urza block was crappy in both balance and design. The only good thing of it are the memories lol.
Revolutionist fan
SmoKim
Profile Joined March 2010
Denmark10305 Posts
June 02 2010 09:11 GMT
#58
On June 02 2010 11:44 fabiano wrote:
lol

i remember those magic days:

me: tap 3 forest and 2 plains, summon some 5/4 beast.
friend: counterspell.
me: motherfucker, tap 2 forests, 1 plain and summon some 3/2 beast.
friend: counterspell.
me: what a fag... tap 1 motherfucking forest and 1 plain to summon this beast shit
friend: counterspell.


me: tap 15 mountains, use Meteor shower
friend: tap 1 more plz
me: can't, used them all
friend: countered
me:... brb, getting my axe

Curse those Blue players
"LOL I have 202 supply right now (3 minutes later)..."LOL NOW I HAVE 220 SUPPLY SUP?!?!?" - Mondragon
Angryhorse
Profile Joined January 2010
Sweden387 Posts
June 02 2010 09:24 GMT
#59
Dude... Magic is so old school, love it haha<3
Don't cry blood, the world doesn't revolve around you
ELA
Profile Joined April 2010
Denmark4608 Posts
June 02 2010 09:25 GMT
#60
Please stop, I know it all started with the Chess-analogy, but this is getting out of hand..

Starcraft =\= MTG, Chess, Yo-Gi-Yu, Bowling..

MTG has more in common with Solitare than Starcraft... And I bet none would like that analogy
The first link of chain forged, the first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably.
Prev 1 2 3 4 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
The PiG Daily
21:00
Best Games of SC
Reynor vs Zoun
SHIN vs ByuN
herO vs sOs
Maru vs SHIN
Clem vs Bunny
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
WinterStarcraft504
PiLiPiLi 118
Ketroc 53
StarCraft: Brood War
Sea 6241
Sharp 221
ggaemo 104
Backho 101
sSak 62
910 54
Jaeyun 42
Dota 2
NeuroSwarm114
LuMiX1
League of Legends
JimRising 574
Counter-Strike
Stewie2K567
Other Games
C9.Mang0161
ViBE133
RuFF_SC2131
Fuzer 80
Mew2King56
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick915
BasetradeTV157
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 16 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH211
• musti20045 23
• practicex 21
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• Azhi_Dahaki38
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Lourlo1012
• Stunt321
Upcoming Events
RSL Revival
5h 27m
Maru vs MaxPax
BSL
14h 27m
RSL Revival
1d 2h
Cure vs Rogue
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
1d 9h
BSL
1d 14h
Afreeca Starleague
2 days
Wardi Open
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
3 days
Kung Fu Cup
4 days
[ Show More ]
The PondCast
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Escore Tournament S2: W1
WardiTV Winter 2026
NationLESS Cup

Ongoing

BSL Season 22
CSL Elite League 2026
ASL Season 21
CSL Season 20: Qualifier 2
StarCraft2 Community Team League 2026 Spring
RSL Revival: Season 4
Nations Cup 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026

Upcoming

CSL 2026 SPRING (S20)
IPSL Spring 2026
Acropolis #4
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSLAN 4
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
CCT Season 3 Global Finals
IEM Rio 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.