Illusions of Grandeur. Love undercosted creatures, even when they have obvious drawbacks.
When your spells are cheap to cast, you are far less likely to succumb to mana problems. If I have a bunch of cheap creatures and removal spells in my deck, then I might be glad when I'm stuck on three lands, because that will mean that I've drawn a bunch of spells. Whenever possible, I want to draft aggressive decks that will allow me to kill my opponents before they can cast their most expensive (and most powerful) spells. By doing this I put a magnifying glass on the otherwise barely visible drawbacks that my opponent's cards have.
The fact is, being expensive, or otherwise difficult to cast, is one of the biggest drawbacks that a card can possibly have. It doesn't matter how good a card is once it's on the battlefield if you never get a chance to cast it. My preview card for today fits that bill very nicely. Ready to see it? Phantasmal Image | Illustration by Nils Hamm. The Lens of Creativity. Ello all, and welcome to a very special theme week.
I don't think I have to properly explain it, but just to keep everything straightforward for the moment: It's Johnny Week! Fresh off of the couple of months since Timmy Week aired here on the site, everyone's favorite combo player gets his moment of glory this week. I realize that in particular, my article this week might be highly anticipated. This isn't due to any bloated ego, but to the fact that this column, From the Lab, is the Johnny column. Naturally, I'll be examining just why this is so and why indeed I choose to reside in these particular waters of the ocean of Magic player psychographics.
In fact, I'm truly astounded to be in this position, as a Johnny writing about general Johnny-tude. Combo Gamin' in Real Life So what do I feel represents Johnny in one word? Creativity means a lot to me when I'm playing Magic, and I genuinely respect those I meet on the battlefield that share the spark of infinite possibility. Designing For Johnny. If you're interested in working for Wizards of the Coast, make sure you check out the end of this column. elcome to Johnny Week, part two of our series of player psychographic theme weeks.
(The first one, Timmy Week, was back in March—you can see my column on designing for Timmy here.) If you're not familiar with our player psychographics, I suggest checking my most recent article on them (Timmy, Johnny, and Spike Revisited). Once you've caught up on all the required reading (do any other columns you read require homework?) , it's time to jump into the meat of this week's column. Here's Johnny Before I can explain how we design for Johnny I want to start by making sure everyone knows who Johnny is. Now that we've established what Johnny is, let me explain who he is. So why does Johnny play Magic? Johnny, Combo Player (Unhinged.
Johnny - MTG Salvation Wiki. A "psychographic profile" is a "psychological profile" (of a Magic: The Gathering player) or a "player type".
MTG.com columnist and Head Designer Mark Rosewater wrote of psychographic profiles: Expansions are designed with cards that appeal to players of all profiles, and Wizards of the Coast categorizes its Magic consumers into three psychographic profiles: Johnny, Timmy, and Spike. [2] Melvin and Vorthos were a later addition as secondary profiles. Types Johnny Johnny is characterized by his tendency to build complex and creative decks. [3] He is most commonly known as a 'combo player'. The 'Johnny' profile was represented in the Unhinged card Johnny, Combo Player.
Timmy Timmy is characterized by his tendency to use big creatures and cast big spells. [4] Large, exciting plays motivate Timmy. The 'Timmy' profile was represented in the Unglued card Timmy, Power Gamer. Spike For the Spike creature type, see Spikes. Spike is characterized by his competitive nature. Melvin Vorthos Vorthos Wednesday.