Thought Experiment: What Is An Acceptable Degree Of Player-Player Interaction?

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

There are all kinds of decks that involve players trading blows with each other, but some decks go against that trend.

Decks like Chain Burn and Exodia try to not involve the player at all in their schemes.

Decks like Dustons and HATE rely on the interaction with their opponent to turn it against them.

And a few select few decks, like Dark Worlds and Mermails, don't care how much you interact at all.

This being said, how much would you prefer to play against the player, and how much should your opponent interact with you, in an ideal game state?

[Toffee.]

IMO, Interaction typically stems from the format's speed. OR, if you want to be a little drastic about it; Player interaction is a thing is Mirror Force is that relevant to the format.

[Delibirb]

Ideally I think, the best interaction is the most interaction. The hypothetical back-and-forth combos that seem to cripple the opponent every turn, only to have them do the same to you on their turn, etc.

 

Of course this is almost impossible at this point in the game with the cardpool we have, but we can and have certainly gotten close.

 

Now over time many decks have gotten further and further away from this "perfect format", but the top tier has never gone so far in avoiding interaction as lower tiered decks like Exodia or Burn. Still, there isn't so much of this ideal back-and-forth that I would like to see.

 

As a player of Dustons, and you having mentioned it, I feel the obligation to impart my opinions on the deck and its style. Of course, Dustons' final goal is to either OTK or Lock the opponent, but achieving this is a lot more difficult than I make it appear. As much as some people might deny it, they rely on that interaction, small as it may be argued, to be able to do anything relevant. In non-interactive matchups, Dustons kill themselves. 

 

I had an argument for the non-interactivity of Burn, but I'm not quite certain how to word it the way I want it so I just wont for now.

 

And obviously most if not all Exodia Decks don't need interaction and for the most part make attempts to limit it, as you mentioned.

 

I don't quite see how Mermails don't care about opponent's interaction, but i'll let other people talk about that since I haven't seen many Mermails actually play before I lock them.