Game Outcomes

The outcomes of the 25 starter deck games, listed by the names of each starter deck, can be seen in Table 1 below (with the victor of each game bolded). Of the participants, Adam won the most games with thirteen total victories, while Trevor won seven games and Kevin won five. Of special note is that, in every mirror game (that is, where both players used the same deck) that Adam played, he was victorious. His extensive Magic experience might have allowed Adam to recognize the range of options available to his opponent for each of these games, since they were similar to his own options.

Table 1. Starter deck pairings and victories (winner’s name in bold and color-coded by deck)

There was also some distinction among the starter decks in regards to the number of victories garnered by the use of each deck. The Price of Glory deck was the most successful, accounting for seven wins; Will of the Masses accounted for six; Flames of the Dragon provided five victories; Hit the Ground Running provided four; and Infernal Intervention led to victory only three times. While each participant used each deck at least once, there was some disparity in the number of times a given deck was used by each player (in part due to the number of decks and the number of games played overall with each deck). However, after the games had all been completed, no one felt particularly unfamiliar with any of the decks or the gameplay styles and strategies that had been developed for each deck.

The turn-by-turn details from one of the starter deck games can be viewed here: Kevin (Infernal Intervention) vs. Trevor (Flames of the Dragon).

In comparison with the victory spread from the starter deck games, the results from the constructed deck games can be seen in Table 2 below. Of the participants, Kevin won seven games, while Adam and Trevor each won four.

Table 2. Constructed deck victories (color-coded by name)

The decks used for these games worked in considerably different ways than the starter decks on which they were (partly) based, which may have contributed significantly to the shift in each player’s victory ratio. Additionally, the use of the same deck for each game—which was constructed by each player rather with a specific strategy in mind—also likely had a substantial impact on how each player approached individual games and, as the series of constructed deck games progressed, the overall set of games to be played.

The turn-by-turn details from one of the constructed deck games can be viewed here: Adam (Blue/Black Control) vs. Kevin (Mono-Red Quick Burn).

Related Pages

• Methods
• Starter Decks
• Constructed Decks
• Discussion