Choices make the game fun?

[Tokimo]

So I've been trying to expand myself as a magic player a lot recently (certainly not turning into a spike, but maybe just getting in touch with the inner spike a bit). I've played a few decks recently that were very experimental. I have a Grixis control deck, a UB Mill deck, an Arcbound aggro deck, a white invincible deck, and probably some other stuff that I've made recently. The Arcbound aggro deck I expected to be very brutish (20 lands, 40 arcbound critters), but it actually played rather tactically and is a lot of fun to use (it has done well against destruction based control decks which is nice). The Grixis control deck is really tactical to use as well. The other two are both boring decks to play though.

It seems that the single most important thing in making a deck cool and exciting is having a lot of choices. Any one else have any thoughts on the effect of choices and fun? Do you think fun is driven by something else entirely?

[HotLimit]

For me, the theme itself is where I get my fun. I would like a game where many themes are possible, but choices don't necessarily have to spawn from deck design. In my opinion, choice should be inherent in the rules and structure of the game.

The problem is that one or two themes usually become dominant, so you won't always be able to be competitive with some of the more 'fun' themes (or mixing themes, which can lead to you not getting what you need when you need it).

If you can build a deck that has a lot of choice and is practical, good for you. I certainly have never been able to do it. If you are talking abotu a deck that recovers from catastrophe well, that's different (I don't know much about magic, but for simplicity's sake, say you were playing green creatures and someone wipes out your lands and three beefy 6/6 tramples... you better be able to bounce back in a turn or so).

[Cyrus]

In my opinion you pretty much hit it right on the head there Tokimo. The more options the cards in your deck give you, the more prepared for a given situation you will be with out having to pull that "specific card" that could save you from the situation. Welcome to higher tiers of magic playing

[Ripplez]

to me, 'fun' for the player comes in several forms, here are some that i know of -

a)finding deck buildign exciting - i know and am partialy someone wholl sit up for hours thnking of that perfect combination of cards that will do something utterly dominating and mindblowingly awesome and then spend an equal amount putting together and tweaking the deck over and over until its the absolute representation of wat i want to do. i have a deck thats personally my favourite from when i played magic, the UB revival deck and its quite awesome in theory as well as in practice. similarly with building combo decks, some johnnys love knowingt hat their deck can do the combos they envisaged of it

b)finding card interactions/situations exciting - this is abit where you get the terms johnny and timmy. people who imagine and find the situations where they amass their army from their hand, their destruction spells mass-wiping the enemy and so on exhilirating. its akin to a summer blockbustr action movie; its a simple pleasure but its there for them

c)finding strategy and tactics mentally stimulating and satisfying - this is where the part of the player that enjoys actualy player interaction finds happiness. they get to see how the cards they put in their deck come together and triumph over the cards that were put in the opponents deck, not simply due to blind luck (although that plays some role no matter how little) but through their choice, their guesses and their reads.its the part of the player says, yes i knew you were going to do that but now i own your ass. maybe a litle politer but its usually some variation of that

d)finding winning satisfying - not alot to say here. its like a continuation of the above but in a more general sense

casual players are stereotypicly depicted as belonging to 2 and spikes belonging to 3 and 4. i personaly am a casual player but i belong to 1 2 and 3 (i dont have mch concern for winning). like cyrus said - you observed that you felt that the decks that gave yuo the most choices were the ones you had fun with the most, thats probably because the number of choices you had probably helped you avoid dying without doing anything (which would impede number 3/4) and probably helped you actually win a few games because of them (boosting 3/4). hotlimits perception probably belongs to 2. there are probably more subcategories but thats my take on what i know so far

[Cyrus]

ps. everyone become spikes and do some serious t2 testing in lackey with me, i'd rather play with guys that i can chat with on here than random dudes in the servers

[Tokimo]

I'm working on my inner spike :-D

I need people who can beat my decks though, it's getting to the point where my best decks are winning too much.

[Cyrus]

what format, im up for the challenge

[Tokimo]

My best decks are in Standard ATM (extended and legacy taking way more knowledge of the cards than I'm equipped with :-/)