"If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles."
-Sun Tzu's Art of War
Identifying your opponents personality and how it relates to there play-style can be the key to developing your overall strategy at a given limited event. Knowing a persons propensity towards selecting a certain color or archetype is obvious in its advantages but few players I've encountered seem to realize the ability to gain insight to this information before the event has even begun. This is where the psychological analysis of your opponent begins.
To get an idea of what I mean, lets simplify players into five types, and to make it even more relate-able, let's pretend they're Ninja Turtles:
Leonardo:
Leonardo is that person you know who is often trying to force blue. More generally though, this is the person who loves to control the board and have card advantage. General these people are the most calm customers in the room.
Donatello:
Much like the animated counterpart, in Magic: The Gathering limited your Donatello's always have their eye on valuable card combinations. This person can be noticed by their propensity to get much more excited than they should be about a given card.
Michelangelo:
We all have Michelangelo that we play with. This guy is not great at what he does (playing magic), but his love for the game and general optimism make him great to have around. Be nice to this person, because in addition to making the environment friendlier, they also inevitably increase the prize pull.
Raphael:
A hardened veteran but with a visibly rough side can be characterized by a dual expression of both love and hate of magic. This person can be intimidating and skillful, because of their knowledge of the game and quick reactions to opponent's plays. This person tends to be characterized by impatience.
and for the sake of explanation...
Master Splinter:
The top tier of players who have developed such a profound understanding of magic, that they're aware of all of their actions in terms of how their game(s) may be effected. This requires the ability to override one's subconscious preferences in archetypes, color and so forth. This aspect will be explored later on in more detail, but this is your goal in terms of combining the aspects of the Ninja Turtles in order to optimize your abilities.
Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go.
Go to your local draft and see which of your friends and foes most closely resemble which Ninja Turtle, and watch as you start noticing further similarities in their behavior. Each of these characters will be more closely explored in upcoming FUCK Magic portions as time passes.
If you like what you've read please share, +, like, RT, or consult your family physician. Questions and comments always welcome!
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