A win condition is a specific means or strategy by which a deck can achieve victory.
In my experience to explain this concept to other players, I always have a problem to clearly have them understand it. (Especially new player)
So, anyone can help here?
p.s. you can pick one win con and need not cover all as above, as others can chip in on the others.
- how many types of win con can we categories
Reducing your opponent’s health to 0, or an alternative method. These’s be comboes involving reducing the health to 0 in one or few turns, or an all-winning OTK method like the four horseman and Mecha’thun.
- how each win con works/aims at, etc
Mentioned above. You could also mention about board-centric decks vs hand-centric decks. Tempo vs resources.
- what is multiple win con and how it works
Packing multiple approaches into the same deck; one can be proactive, the other is a fallback (reactive) strategy, or a mixture of both. Kinda like soldiers being armed with knives on top of the usual rifle / pistol etc.
A win condition can be a single card, cominations of cards, or a broader strategy depending on the deck archetype (aggro, mill, control).
eg: Zoolock’s general win condition is to play out many cheap creatures and buffs, maintaining board control through trades early, while being able to Life tap later in the game for more cards.
Then there are cards that are supporting win conditions for Zoolock like Leeroy Jenkins, Sea Giant, Rafaam.
In mage, Archmage Antonidas can be a support win condition for something like Miracle Mage, or the primary combo win condition with Sorcerer’s Apprentices in Exodia mage.
Combo decks tend to focus on drawing the necessary pieces needed to execute their combo - their primary win condition, and have very little in backup win conditions.
They are usually based around a single legendary, like Malygos, Mecha’thun.
A single card can be described as a win condition in its own right. Many of the Death Knights are single card win conditions.
Win conditions can change during the game depending on events. Maybe your aim becomes to disrupt the opponent’s combo win condition. Perhaps there’s a point where you need to stop board controlling and go face to end the game. Or instead you can play the minimum amount required to force your opponent to use their removal to run them out of resources, thus winning that way, through card advantage.
tldr… Face is the Place.
Well, that’s the goal. A win condition is a way to achieve that goal (usually with a certain combination of cards). Plain aggro doesn’t have a win condition (because any of their cards will do). Quest Mage’s win condition is Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Antonidas and any card that will double their SA’s. Mecha’thun decks have their card draw as part of their win condition (since they need an empty deck) as well as a way to activate their Mecha’thun.
A win condition is basically the way to achieve the goal of the deck as fast as possible.
Actually, I don’t really like the word win con. Most of the time it’s just used to sound smarter. If I had to suggest alternatives I would say something along the lines of: strategies.
Because Win Condition is a term very commonly used in articles I read and in forum discussion, so I thought better to use a common term to build understanding. (especially for new players)
From the replies above I can (tentatively) conclude/concise,
Type of Win Con:
OTK
Mill
Aggro
Control
Fatigue
I will probably add in some explanation of how each work, at a later time.
Any help is also appreciated.
What total damage must you do to an opponent for it to count as OTK? More than half their health?
30+. An OTK is taking your opponent from full health to dead in a single turn, from hand. Anything less than 30 is not an OTK.
Technically, OTK = One Turn Kill.
Thus, focus is not on hp, but how to ensure victory within 1 turn
technically 30. Preferably infinite. Usually if you want to run an OTK deck, its better you have ways to make the board empty for you first or your burst can be a little more than 30 in the event of armour, etc.
Win condition is your game plan, how you see yourself winning; the state of the board, your hand size, etc.
Oof. This one’s funky just because there are so many sub-categories.
For instance, we have the Aggro, Control, Combo “win condition” categories which we can generally agree on. However, aggro isn’t just one type of deck - you have Tempo which relies on building up a board and ramping up speed, ‘Face’ which usually involves an all-in effort as early as possible, Mid-Range which aims to outlast faster decks but kill heavy decks, and Burn decks that fill up with instant-damage cards.
Yet one deck can be many things at once, and this is where definitions can get hairy. Is Zoolock a Tempo deck because it aims to put threats on the field and run away with the game, or a Mid-Range deck since it wants to make value trades? Is Mid-Range just a type of Tempo, or two categories? What if it has Soul Fires, Abusive Sergeants and Leeroy, is it now a Burn deck, or just a Tempo deck with a ‘finisher’?
All I can speak for is generally:
-Aggro aims to win by killing an opponent through early presence
-Control aims for a win through outlasting an opponent until they are no longer able to fight
-Combo aims to destroy an opponent through a specific series of cards or plays that deals unrecoverable damage, though this definition has opened up to include simply ‘making the opponent unable to win’, in the case of Toggwaggle deck switch shenanigans, or Mill.
or an aggro deck? or an aggro-control deck?