A long, long time ago, on kitchen tables not so far away, Magic the Gathering players spent hours nursing their home-brewed concoctions.  Full spoiler lists were all but impossible to find and Top 8 decklists just weren't available to the average player.   Through sheer Force of Will, Logical Reasoning and Rhystic Study, these decks were forged upon the glossy lacquer of our parent's dining room table.  In the back of our minds we knew that somewhere out there, other players were doing much the same thing.  But we were confident that our new deck would be original enough- cunning enough to get us onto the pro tour this season.  Without  Magic Online to playtest with and only a few, budding internet forums to even discuss the decks, most of us sleeved up and made our way to the big event where we knew just about anything was possible.  Little did we know this "golden age" of unpredictability and adventure was about to come to a close.

We all love the internet.  You're probably here, on this blog, learning about your favorite game from your favorite MTG author, all in the comforts of your network enabled man-cave.  There is no question that the internet has changed the very nature of our existence.   So it isn't much of a stretch to conclude that Magic the Gathering has evolved with the ascent of the web.   The internet is essentially just a fancy new form of communication.  In the past, Magic the Gathering players have been largely removed from one another, only meeting up at planned events or playing with their already established friends.  Today, we are not only able to share ideas online, we can play Magic Online.   The result of all this correspondence is that Magic decks today are largely, if not completely uniform in competitive Magic.

Cloud Computing is a buzz phrase you've probably heard on the news recently.  The idea is that big tasks (like creating "the best deck in Magic the Gathering") can be completed in exponentially less time and with exponentially better results if they are completed not by a single individual, but by the collective efforts of many.  Or, to put it more simply- "many hands make light (and better) work".   This shouldn't blow anyone's mind.  Everyone understands that a deck is probably going to get better when tested millions of times, in several different variations online and offline.  This isn't necessarily a good or a bad thing.  Decks have gotten better over the years and one could argue that it levels the playing field for the "little guy".  This freedom of information shifts the balance of power away from the tight knit group of informed "Pro Players" and more towards an even starting point for all players.  There are a number of benefits to Magic because of this explosion of communication (like this blog!), but there are some negative aspects to Magic's venture onto the internet that should be taken into consideration as well.

Gone are the days when someone could show up to an event with a "rogue", off-the-wall brew that takes an event by storm.  Today, anything that isn't the one or two "decks of the day" is considered "rogue" and even then the deck is probably a carbon copy of a Top 8 deck created by someone else (or by the cloud!)  Do we even know who came up with the modern version of Jund?  How about Fae?  Sure, we can trace back the addition or subtraction of a card or two to a blog post but how do we know that deck builder didn't see the change online?  Or got the idea from a friend?  The art of true, from scratch "deck building" is dead and the rise of "deck tweaking" is at hand.  At a time when there might only be 1000 cards in standard, it is doubtful that the online communities will miss anything that might potentially revolutionize the meta.  Wizards has said in the past that the players are smarter and better at Magic than they are.  We find ways to break the game that they didn't consider (Dark Depths / Vampire Hexmage anyone?)  The cloud doesn't discriminate, it doesn't pontificate, it just finds the best of the best and through a ton of playtesting, thoughtful discussions and the sharing of real world experiences- the deck of the day emerges.

Truly original decks just aren't possible anymore in standard constructed Magic.  Even if you manage to come up with an original concept the cloud is going to take it, change it (for the better) and tell you it was always there in the first place.  In fact, I would argue that a deck that hasn't been shaped by the cloud is necessarily worse than one that has. If his goal is to win, a deckbuilder that doesn't listen to the cloud is the one who should be laughed at, not the one who does.   Was the idea for "Jund" someone's kitchen table idea or wouldn't you simply credit Wizards for making it one of the Shards of Alara?  Many persons should get credit for making this deck what it is through tweaking as opposed to creating the deck idea itself.  For example: you may be able to figure out who decided to swap Siege Gang Commander in place of Broodmate Dragon or visa versa. You can also be the guy who decided to splash Jace, the Mind Scupltor into Jund successfully.  You get into the weeds here because you're trying to define which molecule of the cloud is responsible for a tiny change in a deck that may or may not have even been a good change.  My point is that tweaking is the only skill you'll need in competitive, Standard Magic the Gathering, going forward.  You'll never be the guy who created Jund.  The best you can hope for is to be the original person to win with Jund on the big stage.  The credit for the deck build will henceforth go to the cloud.

There is no place where this is more evident than Magic Online.  Leaf and I have both observed that players online are much better than their offline counterparts.  This is because MTGO players play the game more, and generally have better access to the cards that they want.  They get to see 50 versions of the best decks per day when playing online as opposed to the one or two brews that your local group are into at the time.  The average MTGO player is just better at the game than the average FNMer and this is all because of the cloud.   Players on MTGO are constantly building, playtesting and tweaking all day every day.   Most modern deck ideas are built on or influenced by MTGO at this point.  It's the same thing that happens on kitchen tables everywhere, just at an exponentially faster pace, on an infinitely grander scale.  Coincidentally, Patrick Chapin speaks to the nature of the "hive mind" and MTGO's influence on deckbuilding in the latest episode of The Magic Show.  Basically, he agrees with me about the hive mind being very good at tweaking decks but points out that it also makes players "lazy" and stifles their ability to create original decks from scratch.  In my opinion, this is just the natural evolution of a card game that has gone online.  The "hive mind" or "cloud computer" will always end up finding the best decks and make already established decks that much better for the reasons I mention above.  Check out the video for more on what Patrick has to say on the subject.

So basically everyone should stop creating original deck ideas and start tweaking whatever deck the cloud tells you to run, right?   Not exactly.  I think you could do that and, if your in-game skill is high enough, you would probably do well at competitive Magic.  But the cloud depends on you.  Though you may never be credited with the latest craze, you may well have been the first person to splash that card effectively into the "deck of the day."  Even if you aren't the first, you have the opportunity (particularly when you participate in blogs and forums like this one!) to add to the conversation. Sure, my standard mono-blue Bounce, Counter and Draw deck isn't literally the first standard mono-blue deck ever posted to the internet but I'd like to think that if a pro player took a tweaked version of this deck to a Pro Tour that I might have played a very small role in making that happen.  I added to the conversation, made suggestions, and I'm sure a few people have tried them out online already, good ideas or not!   It is human nature to want to believe we are more important than we really are.  In Legacy, Extended and particularly in Limited you have more of a chance of showing off your deck building prowess.  But in today's Standard metagame, the cloud reigns supreme, and you are but a tiny speck capable of only the smallest changes to the meta.  Do not try to fight it because you will lose... literally.