Magical advice for magical girls: Playskill

Hi girls ;D

This is the first part of a three-part series about what is, in my opinion, the holy trinity of being a good gamer ^o^

To be a good gamer, a good strategist, a good warchief, you must first have mastery over these three things;

• Playskill
• Playstyle
• Planning

Today, I'll be talking about playskill :D the most common denominator that is used to judge whether a player of a game is good or bad.

Playskill is often determined through a measure of how skillful a player is, which can be anything from having the most different skills in their arsenal to how good someone is at executing a certain move in the game.

Because these articles are going to be geared towards Magic: The Gathering, I'll be using examples from that game from now on ^^ If you're not a fan of it or don't really understand anything about it, go look it up! Its a fun and interesting strategy game ^o^ I love it and will most likely be playing it until the day that I die :D

-not- what will be on my tombstone
(coz i'll be cremated and disposed hahaha XD)

In Magic, playskill is most often determined by a player's ability to outplay his opponents. The most flashy way that is recognized by many is when a player jedi-mind-tricks his opponents when he's behind, holding cards that are irrelevant to the current game situation but having a poker face and demeanor that seems as if he's holding a hand full of answers, scaring the opponent from moving in from the kill, effectively buying time for him to recover and make a comeback for the eventual win ;D

the 'ok' sign is key

 Another example of this is a player that is so experienced in the interactions of the game that he can seemingly predict his opponents every move. Its like the player knows every card in the opponents hand and can fearlessly do whatever he wants, intimidating his opponent to lose even before the game is decided.

Playskill isn't only limited to the player's mental prowess in a match, however, playskill can also be shown in a player's decision during deck construction. This is another beauty of Magic, the weapons of choice for the players are all completely customizable. You could build your very own weapon that has all the secret tech and surprise your opponent by attacking them from a completely different angle than they're expecting or have such a consistent and well prepared deck that is like a swiss army knife that can handle whatever your opponent throws at you.

The gamer's playskill is often considered one of the most important things to be trained in order for one to perform well, and players often read up strategy articles and think really hard about all the tricks and correct decisions to be made in every type of situation, most top tier players even have heated discussion over the littlest of details such as which land to lay down first, which card to first pick in a draft, details that could cast ripples to eventually effect winning or losing.

So it is no surprise that everybody concentrates on playskill, it is easily quantified and is often associated with the haymakers that end the game and are the coolest of the holy trinity because it is often playskill that is the awesome Finishing Move that puts the nail in the opponent's coffin~

I believe that this conception is wrong. I think that playskill is the least important of the three. Yes, the ability to MacGyver yourself out of any situation is both cool and useful, enabling a player to get out of a losing position and coming back to take the win out of nowhere, but if you think of it, that situation should not even come up in the first place! If you're constantly having to pull yourself away from the jaws of defeat, there's a problem; why are you always falling towards the jaws of defeat? what are you, a thrillseeker? *o*

don't be a tool, guys v_v

What I see happening all around me is that not only in Magic, but also in similar strategy games like Starcraft, players looking to get better are constantly trying to run before they can crawl. Its like the classic martial arts student that bugs his master to no end. He wants to learn the powerful, flashy moves he saw his master use right away, but is forced to run around, do housework and read. Ugh. Boring. When are you going to teach me the good stuff, master? >o<

His master will look at him with a playful and almost mocking grin over his shoulder, saying "you need to learn the basics first, young padawan~ now get to work!" Translation; the basics are more important. Macro before micro. "Wax on, wax off! >:D" says the master.

I'm not saying playskill is a useless ability to have knowledge on. Its part of the holy trinity, after all~ but it is, in my opinion, the least important. Whats the point of defeating a person with a complex system of ropes and pulleys which eventually ends with smashing his head in with a hammer when you can just club him with a large, blunt stone and be done with it? All you get for the additional effort is the style points ;D and I don't deny that many of us gamers are in it for the style points ;P

Playskill is by far the most interesting thing to be learned during one's mastery of the holy trinity, but like all things that are the best, they should be saved for last ;3 only when you've mastered the basics and understood yourself, inside and out, will you be able to make use of your playskill to the fullest, blinding everyone with your prowess *o*

..how do you understand yourself? Well, I'm glad you asked. To understand oneself, the gamer must understand his or her own Playstyle~ and that, is next week's post ;P