New Player Perspectives: Session 2

[New Player Perspectives is the ongoing story of my non-gamer girlfriend's introduction to Magic.]

A month had passed since Freyja's first game. Not ideal, I know, but both of our careers require a ton of extra work around Christmas. (She's a choral conductor; I'm a baritone.) I offered to recap the rules, but she elected to jump right in and pick things up as she went along. We used the same decks as in the previous session. 

In the first game, I kept a shaky six, she curved out, and things were over quickly.

For our second game, we played with hands unrevealed for the first time. It was a nailbiter, but she squeaked out a win from 1 life. 

In general, Freyja remembered and understood the rules just fine. The one major exception was combat math; she didsn't have an intuitive feel for power and toughness and how they interact with each other.

What did you enjoy about the games?

There's some amount of luck to it, depending on your hand. If you get a really good hand, that gives you an advantage, which is kind of nice.

In general, do you think games need some luck factor?

I think it's nice when you're first starting out, so you can either be, "Oh, [CENSORED] it, it was the game's fault," or "Awesome, I won a hand!" Whereas if it's completely skill-based, you're kind of [CENSORED] until you have your strategy worked out.

The phenomenon Freyja's talking about is called the self-serving bias. In a nutshell, humans tend to attribute their successes to internal factors, but their failures to external factors. However, this is a lot easier when there are obvious external factors to point at. In a game of chess, if you lose, you have nobody to blame but yourself. In Magic, there are myriad random factors that can be responsible for your loss. "If only I'd drawn that land one turn sooner!" "If only he hadn't pulled his one copy of that card exactly then!" This is important because it allows players to lose without feeling dumb or unskilled, which might turn them off from playing in the future.

Her second sentence refers to another vital aspect of game design: beginners need to have a chance of winning. If you've been playing Go for a year, there is literally zero chance that a first-time player will defeat you. In Magic, a first-time player can beat LSV if she draws well. Hooray for variance!

What did you not enjoy about the game?

Well, when we were playing closed hand and you whipped out your... uh...

Giant Growth?

*laughter* Yeah, that's what she said.

You didn't like that?

It gave it an air of unpredictability which was disconcerting, yet exciting.

When I actually cast Giant Growth mid-combat, she was horrified and said, "No! You can't do that!" It's interesting that her gut reaction also had a positive side to it. Tricks are indeed important for keeping combat unpredictable.

What was the favorite card of yours that you played?

The Bathetic Giant.

She meant Benthic Giant, but "bathetic" is a real word!

Why?

'Cause it gave me a really clear advantage at the end of the game. I was really able to knock you down fast. Also, I like that Haazda Snare Squad. That was handy.

What was the least favorite card of yours?

I liked them all. I guess the less useful one was Runewing, but it was useful anyway because I drew another card. I didn't like Griptide since it didn't really do anything for me, and there's no residual damage. [Note: she discarded it to Mind Rot.]

Here's a clear example of invisible strategic complexity. A Runewing that trades in combat is serving its purpose very well by putting its controller up a card. However, during the game, Freyja didn't want to let it die. Similarly, although Griptide feels no more effective than Unsummon at first glance, the fact that it sets the opponent back a draw step makes it a fine spell. The concept of "card advantage" contains a great deal of subtlety, and few beginners are aware of it.

What about cards that I played? Were there any that you particularly feared or didn't fear?

The poisonous spider. That was a [CENSORED].

Deadly Recluse was her nemesis yet again in these games. She was extremely reluctant to attack into it. Of course, many LSPs will hold back creatures from attack for no real reason; lethal blockers at common merely exacerbate this problem. (And it is a problem, since it slows games to a crawl.)

What was the experience that was the most fun? What would you remember?

When I went down to three life, and I thought the end had come, but it didn't. 

I don't know a single Magic player, new or experienced, who dislikes close games. Going to low life and surviving is exciting. Thankfully, the land/spell balance gives Magic a built-in rubber band effect, so design doesn't need to work too hard to make this happen.

What was your least fun experience?

The spider.

What about the rules was most surprising or unintuitive for you?

I think the blocking I had some issues with.

Were there any specific misconceptions of points of confusion about blocking?

I just didn't think through the numbers, and so I wasn't clear on that.

Although I didn't realize it at the time, Freyja hadn't fully understood the interaction between power and toughness. We'll see more about this in later sessions.

What else would you like to share about your impressions of the game so far?

I hate spiders.

You don't hate spiders in real life, right?

No, I guess not. I coexist with them.

Nothing inspires loathing like a blocker with Deathtouch, it seems. For the loss-averse new player, deciding whom to send into its jaws is a Sophie's Choice.

Anything else? Final thoughts?

Rest in peace, Vaporkin.

I had administered a Pharika's Cure to her favorite cheap flyer.

Are you looking forward to playing again?

Yeah.