Manuel Bevand
10/23/2006
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We all know that Magic is a game that involves both luck and skill. It's harder, however, to determine which is the more important of those two. If you've read my other articles you know that I'm a believer that while luck can determine a game, or even a tournament's outcome, skill is what makes the long run profitable for tenacious players.

Anyway, how much skill is there exactly in Magic? It's hard to say for sure, but I do have some kind of answer; it depends on your deck!

Deck Types and Skill

Indeed, some decks are clearly harder to play than others. A general rule of thumb is that control decks are usually more skill intensive than combo decks which, in turn, require more skill than aggressive decks.

Why is that? Games with control decks usually involve longer matches and more long term strategy than just pure calculation. Anyone can add up numbers, but it's harder to figure out what the game will be like in twenty turns. Control mirrors are particularly difficult for beginning players as they strive for short-term advantage and get outplayed in the end by their patient, more experienced, opponent.

The case of combo decks is a little different. Some of them are extremely easy to play, while others guarantee you'll get headaches. This is true because of the probability factor. To put it simply, playing a combo deck with a lot of tutoring is a lot easier than a combo deck with card drawing. When you can tutor for the right card, all you need to do is set up the winning position. When you need to draw into your combo, you need to figure out all the possible scenarios and make sure that your play is flawless.

With aggro decks games are usually shorter and bloodier, and there is no contest if your opponent has a bad start, so they're generally less skill-intensive. That is not entirely true, of course, and there are many exceptions. The most celebrated of the recent aggro decks, Affinity, requires a ton of skill to be played to perfection. When you compare playing Goblins and U/W control, though, it's clear that one of them is slightly easier. To make Goblins work you play your guys, turn them sideways and take the trophy home.

So What Does "Skill Intensive" Mean Exactly?

It doesn't mean playing a deck of a particular type. It means playing with cards that widen your decision tree. If, during a given turn, you only have one or two plausible plays, then your deck is quite straightforward and easy to play. However, if you often find yourself in situations where you must choose between four or five equally good plays, then you have entered the skill-intensive zone.

What makes a card skill intensive is its number of uses in different situations. I am going to illustrate this with a long example.

The Many Faces of Condescend

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Condescend

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I like Condescend. I have always been a big fan of Power Sink, so I was glad when they printed that card. I won one of the games in the French Nationals finals several years ago with a Powersink that tapped my opponent's City of Brass when he was at one.

Okay, it's no Mana Drain. But it's still a cool counterspell. Is that all there is to it?

Just Countering

The act of countering is, in itself, already quite skill intensive. When your opponent plays something, you need to figure out whether you have to stop it right away, or if your deck has another solution to it which would allow you to save the counter for a more important card later in the game. So before you even cast Condescend, there already are a million factors (okay, maybe not a million, but at least two or three) that must be evaluated before you make your decision.

Countering the Right Spell

Alright, so Condescend is a Counterspell, but it's not just "UU: Counter target spell." The fact that it costs XU makes it very versatile. Condescend can be useful in the early game, with just one blue mana in play. But it can also be useful later in the game, when both players have so much mana that Mana Leaks are useless. You need to have one more mana than your opponent to counter anything he can cast-barring the incidental free spell. Also, unlike specialized countermagic, it can counter any spell, so your choice of targets is always very wide.

Scrying

Scry is particularly skill-oriented. When you scry you get an opportunity to turn the game in your favor within the next two draws. You get to change Magic's inherent randomness. Scrying basically allows you to put your thinking two turns ahead if you put the cards on top. Alternately, it can eliminate bad draws, if you push the cards to the bottom. Choosing which cards to keep and which to bury is often a pure matter of skill and anticipation. This is especially true when there is a land that you don't seem to need right now but will probably need in a few turns.

Condescend Psychology

How bad is running into a turn two Condescend? Don't we all hate it? On the one hand, most players hate it when they run into a conditional card like Condescend. They always wished they had waited until they had more open mana than their opponent. On the other hand, a lot of mid-level players try too hard to play around their opponent's spells and miss opportunities for fear of Condescend.

Condescend Tricks

Here are four tricks that you can use with Condescend. This is of course where the card gets fun.

Trick #1 - Condescend for time or scry.

That's one of the first things that crossed everyone's minds. When you can't effectively counter your opponent's spell and he doesn't look like he'll cast another one this turn, you can just Condescend him for a few mana. You'll get to scry, and maybe he'll have to lose the opportunity to use that mana somewhere else-for example-to activate a permanent. You'll want to do this in situations where you're behind and need to draw something to save you.

Trick #2 - Condescend your own spells for zero.

This is your turn, and you have some card drawing, plenty of mana, but are till lacking the key cards. Condescending your Thoughtcast for zero might push the bad cards away and allow you to dig two cards deeper and find that critical card.

Trick #3 - Tap Out Condescend.

This worked a lot better with Power Sink and that's what made the card so powerful. It also works to a lesser extent with Condescend. Imagine the following situation.

Situation: You want your opponent to be tapped out next turn because you have something up your sleeve and don't want to be interrupted. Say he has six mana available and casts a two-mana spell during his main phase. You have ten mana. You could Condescend his spell for five or more and get rid of it, but since you're a smart player, you cast Condescend for four. Your opponent is then facing an interesting dilemma; should he allow the spell to resolve by tapping out? Should he let you counter the spell when you may very well have miscounted how much mana he had left? Should he (even crazier) use one of his own counters to stop your Condescend, get his spell to resolve and keep some mana available? Of course, the best part is that you can make it look like a misplay and have your opponent smile and tap all his remaining land with a disdainful look... until you get to your turn and kill him.

Trick #4 - The Online Condescend. I have used this just once but it worked so I'll share it with you. People rarely look at your floating mana on Magic Online. Imagine the situation; you need to counter something really badly, but also need to use the same mana to do something else (Activate Vedalken Shackles for example). Say your opponent has two remaining untapped lands. You need four for the Condescend, and two for the Shackles. Unfortunately, you only have four mana available when you need six. How can you invent the remaining two mana? Tap all your lands, float four mana, Condescend for one and hope that your opponent doesn't see the two remaining floating mana and just clicks "no" when the program asks him if he wants to pay for the Condescend. If that works, then use the two remaining mana to activate your Shackles - and look at your opponent's bewildered expression. Actually, since it's online, watch him go "WTF OMFG U R A N00B!!1!"

Condescend Dilemnas

Since sixth edition rules and the stack we've learned to be less careful about timing tricks, but strange things can still happen.

When I was playing at Worlds in the semis against Aeo Paquette I cast the most difficult Condescend of my Magic career. Aeo had 6 lands, 5 of which were artifacts, and cast Seething Song. I had 8 mana available and a Condescend in my hand.

I had several options:

If I choose to Condescend for just four, he could play another Song and pay the mana.

If I wait for him to play his Dragon, he would have 5 mana left. If he played another artifact land; then he would be able to cast two dragons and I could only counter one.

So I had to Condescend for six to make sure that his Song would not go through and that he would not have three red mana available even if he played one land.

Thinking through this (apparently simple) play took me a good ten minutes. Ah, the pressure of a PT Top 8. I'm sorry if you got bored watching the coverage.

Do you like Condescend more now?

Skill Intensive Cards

As you can see, an apparently harmless common card can prove to be a treasure trove if you know how to use it. The point I want to make is that skill revolves not only around card interactions and combinations, but also around single cards themselves.

There are many other cards that are at least equally, if not more skill intensive.

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Arcbound Ravager

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Arcbound Ravager, for example, is what makes Affinity such a hard deck to play. You need to know what to sacrifice and when to sacrifice it depending on matchup and current draws. You need to know your way around the dynamics of modular. You need to know when it's time to let go of the Ravager and build up a huge Nexus or Enforcer. It's hard, really, and it takes a lot of practice.

Reap and Sow is also quite skill intensive. There are many choices associated with that card. Will you get a land or destroy a land, assuming you don't entwine it. Which land are you getting? Which land are you destroying?

Cranial Extraction is also on my list. I've had my cranium extracted a lot, and more than half of the times it didn't even hurt. The few times my opponent guessed correctly, it was really bad! So are all the cards that require you to name another, such as Meddling Mage.

Goblin Sledder is a skill card too, because once it is in play you can make a lot of technical plays with it.

I'm not even mentioning Fact or Fiction, which is a kind of 'reverse skill' card (the more skill your opponent had at splitting the five cards, the less efficient it will be for you).

To put it simply, the more choices you have to make, the more skill intensive the card is.

Skill Intensive Factors

As I said above, skill intensive cards widen your choices. What a skilled player does is tighten those choices because of several "skill factors."

These can be: Manipulating your opponent
Read your opponent
Superior matchup experience
Superior mathematical skills (especially probabilities)
Courage (knowing when to "go for it")
All of the above, but unknowingly (pure intuition)

Final Advice: Deck Selection and Skill Level

If a format is still unfamiliar to you, or if you're just starting tournaments, then try to avoid skill-intensive play. That new control deck might look more powerful on paper, but you will lose mirror matches to better or more experienced players. It's better to claw your way up with a simple, straightforward deck that doesn't require too much in-depth knowledge of Magic, and then slowly select more difficult decks.

On the contrary, if you consider yourself a good player comparatively to the opposition at the tournament, then you should seek skill-based matchups. Play the best control deck available, designed to beat all the straightforward aggro decks, and seek out the mirror control matches where skill makes a real difference.

Until next time, may your Condescends be amazing!

- Manuel Bevand