Theory: Matchmaking

bk1234
bk1234 Posts: 2,924 Chairperson of the Boards
edited April 2017 in MtGPQ General Discussion
So I've been thinking about this a lot lately -- why are we playing the same decks over and over again?

I frequently play in the same QB bracket with Killwind and Mersicide -- because we post together in Discord and we go in to QB together -- and I play them a lot -- and don't find their decks particularly challenging in QB -- AI does not get the cascades or advantages that it does in events. To further this, people play me ALL THE TIME in QB and lose frequently to my Nahiri deck in particular -- but I only know of 3 instances where someone has played me in events.

In addition, Gunbunny (who is in my coalition) very quietly moved into Platinum a few months ago -- and right out of the gate, people were playing him as much as they did in Gold.

A third point is that I recently played an event in a bracket that all the top players were not in and I found that I played different people every game and there were no intense cascades or anything like that -- it was more like QB.

We know certain players are tagged for a reason -- we don't know why.

My theory that there are 25-50 players per bracket who have been tagged for some reason, I don't think it's their W-L ratio, I think it's combinations of cards -- and then they program these players to optimize AI so their cards are ordered differently and they get the crazy cascades. They obviously can't do this with everyone so it's just these players.

In other words -- there's a system in place to tinykitty (intended @Brigby and mods) us over.

Comments

  • Matthew
    Matthew Posts: 605 Critical Contributor
    Where can I go to buy your new line of tinfoil hats?

    Just kidding man. Interesting theory.
  • bk1234
    bk1234 Posts: 2,924 Chairperson of the Boards
    Matthew wrote:
    Where can I go to buy your new line of tinfoil hats?

    Just kidding man. Interesting theory.

    In the US: http://www.amazon.com

    UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk
  • buscemi
    buscemi Posts: 673 Critical Contributor
    Let me tell you why I don't like this theory.

    I entered FIRF early today. All the big guns seem to be waiting for a later bracket. In my first 9 games, I've played Xagrum 3 times: 2xChandra1, and a Nissa1. Here's what I saw of his Chandra1 deck: Pyre Hound, Dust Stalker, Spontaneous Artist.
  • Mainloop25
    Mainloop25 Posts: 1,961 Chairperson of the Boards
    I was also puzzled by Xagrum in my bracket. His Jace1 isn't much better. On the other hand, nice Saheeli Baral! Smoked my Koth. I'm totally copying it for my red node next week icon_e_wink.gif
  • Xagrum
    Xagrum Posts: 5 Just Dropped In
    That's interesting.

    I didn't enter any of those decks in the event (aside from Saheeli). I use them for mastering cards in story mode when I get bored, so they're just a collection of 10 random cards.

    They've never been entered in an event.
  • Abenjes
    Abenjes Posts: 253 Mover and Shaker
    I like this theory and I also wonder if there are a few that also get a tagged in the RNG department to get a few of the more powerful cards to help with deck building.
    I am not trying to lesson the achievements of the top players, but if we're moving into full on conspiracy theory territory....
  • bk1234
    bk1234 Posts: 2,924 Chairperson of the Boards
    Abenjes wrote:
    I like this theory and I also wonder if there are a few that also get a tagged in the RNG department to get a few of the more powerful cards to help with deck building.
    I am not trying to lesson the achievements of the top players, but if we're moving into full on conspiracy theory territory....

    Gunbunny is in my coalition, and I know Killwind and Mersicide -- none of them get any special cards or treatment -- if they did Killwind would have BTB, Mersicide wouldn't still be chasing PTWV and Gunbunny wouldn't covet rares like Harvester.
  • Steeme
    Steeme Posts: 784 Critical Contributor
    Xagrum wrote:
    That's interesting.

    I didn't enter any of those decks in the event (aside from Saheeli). I use them for mastering cards in story mode when I get bored, so they're just a collection of 10 random cards.

    They've never been entered in an event.

    Apparently it looks like the matchmaker puts you up against opponents in your bracket, but selects any of their decks, not just the ones submitted for the event.

    In this Ob Nix arena event, I kept getting matched against TravisUI mostly. He is currently in the top spot, I'm in second (for now).

    I like the idea of playing people in the bracket, but I don't like the non-event decks. I'd imagine others might be playing against some of my other decks but I don't even keep track of what's going on. Some of them are kinda specialized for the RATC event and have some strange card combos in them. Others were like you said built for mastering some cards. I've finished mastering but I never re-optimized those decks.

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