When playing games, players will develop a style of play. These can differ from person to person, but there are usually some common, underlining themes throughout those styles. Today, I'm going to talk about the three main play styles or "Psycho-graphics" apparent in Magic; Timmy/Tammy, Johnny/Jenny and Spike.
This isn't specific by any means, there can be overlap in these Psycho-graphics, maybe you're part Timmy/Tammy and Spike, or a mix of all three.
Timmy/Tammy
Timmy's and Tammy's love the excitement of Magic. Playing big creatures and incredible spells, they definitely go big or go home. This can result in immense fun, for Timmy/Tammy if not for all players, both in finding ways to play their large creatures and powerful spells and using them. They don't care if they win or lose, like I mentioned earlier, they're in it for the fun of playing all their ridiculous spells. That allows a very social aspect to this player, creating the interactions between players more fun, because of a card that effects all players for example.
There are some subgroups to the Timmy/Tammy Psycho-graphic;
Power Gamer: Everything is BIG. From the effects of the cards they play, to the power their creatures have, even to the mana costs. Using the biggest thing they can find to win the game, to them Power = Fun.
Social Gamer: They like to make friends while playing Magic so they gravitate towards the multiplayer formats where the social aspect is larger.
Diversity Gamer: Chopping and changing, always trying something new, finding new interactions and constantly exploring. These players will always find the new "Tech", the thing that will beat the top tier decks.
Adrenalin Gamer: An Adrenalin Gamer loves the randomness of Magic. The players most likely to play the spells that effect all players like I mentioned earlier, they don't like predictability, playing cards with an effect reliant on a coin flip for example.
Johnny/ Jenny
Johnny's and Jenny's are creative Psycho-graphics, with a tendency to build complex decks to show off the intricacy of their plays. Johnny's and Jenny's are also known for their like of combos, either to "go infinite" in a sense of more than enough to win the game right then and there, or to gain an advantage in the mid-game. They enjoy trying to "break" cards; taking cards that have been labeled as bad and finding cards and interactions to give them abnormal power. They build finely tuned decks and love it when it works as intended and everything falls into place to secure the victory, even if that is only one out of ten times.
Johnny/Jenny also have subgroups
Combo player: Usually the most common as combos are super fun to play. Yes, in some cases it can be frustrating. Having to keep track of eight different things consistently, making sure that every decision you make is the correct one because if it isn't you could find yourself short on mana or damage. But the sum of all those parts working in harmony is the whole point its not really to win but more to show off, and it feels great.
Offbeat Designers: These players love a challenge. Be it an answer to a specific card, or even deck building challenges like building a deck with all lands or that only plays instants for example. As long as they rise to the challenge, they're happy.
Deck Artists: Players that build decks that express themselves or using a specific theme, utilizing goblins to embody the culture of passion and recklessness for example.
Uber Johnny: If people say it cant be done, you can rely on an Uber Johnny/Jenny to make it happen. Finding uses for every card to prove conventional evaluation wrong, the excitement here is doing the undo-able.
Spike
Spikes are competitive and love to show how good they are. They always strive for the top, picking up the current best deck in the format to win fast and efficiently, even if that means playing another players creation. Spikes aren't happy when they lose even a single game, often going back through their plays to pinpoint what went wrong, maybe getting a bit down if they cant.
The subgroups of Spike are;
Innovators: Constantly searching for something to break, they pride themselves on their evaluation of cards and are always trying to come up with the new best deck.
Tuners: Taking currently played decks and tweaking the cards to beat the current meta game.
Analysts: Reading the meta game is the forte for these players. They may not always ply the best deck, but they will find the perfect deck for the current meta situation, often finding decks that have a good game against the top tier decks while also having a good game against other decks designed to beat the top tier decks that are becoming more mainstream.
Nuts and Bolts: Nuts and Bolts players focus more on themselves, opting to address any internal flaws or problems and working on them. Because of this, these players tend to gravitate more towards limited formats which demands a player draw on their skills and experience more.
This has been a run down of the main Psycho-graphics in Magic, maybe something has jumped out at you or made you think "I know players that do that". Hopefully this has given you a little insight into the ways some players think in regards to the game, why not work out what Psycho-graphic you and your friends are.
Keep checking back to Game Changers for more updates and news.
This isn't specific by any means, there can be overlap in these Psycho-graphics, maybe you're part Timmy/Tammy and Spike, or a mix of all three.
Timmy/Tammy
Timmy's and Tammy's love the excitement of Magic. Playing big creatures and incredible spells, they definitely go big or go home. This can result in immense fun, for Timmy/Tammy if not for all players, both in finding ways to play their large creatures and powerful spells and using them. They don't care if they win or lose, like I mentioned earlier, they're in it for the fun of playing all their ridiculous spells. That allows a very social aspect to this player, creating the interactions between players more fun, because of a card that effects all players for example.
There are some subgroups to the Timmy/Tammy Psycho-graphic;
Power Gamer: Everything is BIG. From the effects of the cards they play, to the power their creatures have, even to the mana costs. Using the biggest thing they can find to win the game, to them Power = Fun.
Social Gamer: They like to make friends while playing Magic so they gravitate towards the multiplayer formats where the social aspect is larger.
Diversity Gamer: Chopping and changing, always trying something new, finding new interactions and constantly exploring. These players will always find the new "Tech", the thing that will beat the top tier decks.
Adrenalin Gamer: An Adrenalin Gamer loves the randomness of Magic. The players most likely to play the spells that effect all players like I mentioned earlier, they don't like predictability, playing cards with an effect reliant on a coin flip for example.
Johnny/ Jenny
Johnny's and Jenny's are creative Psycho-graphics, with a tendency to build complex decks to show off the intricacy of their plays. Johnny's and Jenny's are also known for their like of combos, either to "go infinite" in a sense of more than enough to win the game right then and there, or to gain an advantage in the mid-game. They enjoy trying to "break" cards; taking cards that have been labeled as bad and finding cards and interactions to give them abnormal power. They build finely tuned decks and love it when it works as intended and everything falls into place to secure the victory, even if that is only one out of ten times.
Johnny/Jenny also have subgroups
Combo player: Usually the most common as combos are super fun to play. Yes, in some cases it can be frustrating. Having to keep track of eight different things consistently, making sure that every decision you make is the correct one because if it isn't you could find yourself short on mana or damage. But the sum of all those parts working in harmony is the whole point its not really to win but more to show off, and it feels great.
Offbeat Designers: These players love a challenge. Be it an answer to a specific card, or even deck building challenges like building a deck with all lands or that only plays instants for example. As long as they rise to the challenge, they're happy.
Deck Artists: Players that build decks that express themselves or using a specific theme, utilizing goblins to embody the culture of passion and recklessness for example.
Uber Johnny: If people say it cant be done, you can rely on an Uber Johnny/Jenny to make it happen. Finding uses for every card to prove conventional evaluation wrong, the excitement here is doing the undo-able.
Spike
Spikes are competitive and love to show how good they are. They always strive for the top, picking up the current best deck in the format to win fast and efficiently, even if that means playing another players creation. Spikes aren't happy when they lose even a single game, often going back through their plays to pinpoint what went wrong, maybe getting a bit down if they cant.
The subgroups of Spike are;
Innovators: Constantly searching for something to break, they pride themselves on their evaluation of cards and are always trying to come up with the new best deck.
Tuners: Taking currently played decks and tweaking the cards to beat the current meta game.
Analysts: Reading the meta game is the forte for these players. They may not always ply the best deck, but they will find the perfect deck for the current meta situation, often finding decks that have a good game against the top tier decks while also having a good game against other decks designed to beat the top tier decks that are becoming more mainstream.
Nuts and Bolts: Nuts and Bolts players focus more on themselves, opting to address any internal flaws or problems and working on them. Because of this, these players tend to gravitate more towards limited formats which demands a player draw on their skills and experience more.
This has been a run down of the main Psycho-graphics in Magic, maybe something has jumped out at you or made you think "I know players that do that". Hopefully this has given you a little insight into the ways some players think in regards to the game, why not work out what Psycho-graphic you and your friends are.
Keep checking back to Game Changers for more updates and news.
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