Synergy, Less Annoying, More Fun!

Well, I finally decided to write a real article for the blog instead of just posting nonsense and complaining about stuff. Sure the article about the dumb Reanimator deck is still on its way, but how about something with a little more substance?

It seems the gang has been playing a lot more often as of late, and since Jake got another box of Planar Chaos and Ben decided to start building more decks, I’ve seen a lot of interesting things going down.

I suppose to begin this article, since its about a word and what that word means for Magic and is partially responsible for how much fun you can have with the decks you play and even play against, I might start by defining that word:

syn·er·gy (sĭn’ər-jē)
n. pl. syn·er·gies

1. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.
2. Cooperative interaction among groups, especially among the acquired subsidiaries or merged parts of a corporation, that creates an enhanced combined effect.

It’s important to note that synergy doesn’t necessarily imply combo in the Magic sense of the word, it is more closely related to how well cards go together and work towards the overall flow of the deck. Sure I can play Sliver Queen, Heartstone, and Ashnod’s Altar to litter the board with an infinite amount of tokens, but thats more of an exploit than synergy. While closely related, synergy and combos are completely different in the game.

While playing a game (multiplayer or one-on-one) I’d much rather see a deck that worked well with itself, or with a certain type of deck that an opponent was playing rather than one that crushes me immediately with some off the wall, rare-laden combo. There are a tremendous amount of cards available to build decks with, competitive decks. For example, one of our friends, Curt, has a deck that shall be referred to as “The Land Deck” (or Mana Screw in my decks section) that is the perfect example of synergy. The concept is simple: play lands, bounce lands, play lands again. Its a fun deck that can win games without being super aggro or super control. Using Azusa and Budoku Gardener to drop additional lands each turn allows you to return lands to your hand freely to utilize Meloku, Uyo, and all the other Moonfolk’s abilities. Throwing in Lifegift just sweetens the whole deal.

Derrick refers to many of my decks as ‘janky’. I’ve now adopted this ‘word’ as a synonym for synergy within a deck. It’s not that my decks are particularly ridiculous, or really good, or combo decks, instead they are more of a jumbling of cards that happen to work together. From my Discard/Megrim deck to Faeries to Hasty Shadow, the decks flow with themselves nicely. I use Propaganda and Wall of Tears to stop attacks while waiting for the Windfalls and Wheel and Deals in my Megrim deck. Cheap flyers (Cloud of Faeries anyone?), cheap bounce (Snap?), and Unstable Mutation to turn the blue weenies into huge, angry faeries. Reckless Charge helps me get the most out of my attacks in the Shadow deck while I block non-Shadow attacks with Wall of Junk and blow up larger threats with Dauthi Trapper and Dauthi Cutthroat. Not to mention Ben using Immobilizing Ink and Quicksilver Dagger to ping people to death as I sit across the table and smile because…well…because that shouldn’t happen but the fact that it works and is decent without being overly ridiculous is what Magic is about for me.

To sum it all up: synergy is an important part of the game. It keeps things fun, interesting, and often times a lot less frustrating for players. Next time you build that crazy deck think Retract + Affinity + Brain Freeze* instead of that boring Dragonstorm deck you were going to make.

*more on this later.

~ by Nick on March 26, 2007.