For a long time I wanted to write something about MTG and how it’s related to testing. I think some of us may not know what MTG means. MTG stands for Magic the gathering. It is a card game.
Game description: “In a game of Magic, two or more players are engaged in a battle as powerful wizards, (occasionally called "planeswalkers"). A player starts the game with twenty life points and—with a few exceptions—loses when he or she is reduced to zero or less. The most common method of reducing an opponent's life is to attack with summoned creatures, although numerous other methods exist. Reducing an opponent to zero life is the most common way of winning (or losing) the game; running out of cards and attempting to draw from an empty deck will also cause a player to lose, but it is usually more difficult to inflict this on an opponent. In addition, some cards specify other ways to win or lose the game, such as by accumulating poison counters.” - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic:_The_Gathering
Alright, this game is quite complex and I could end up writing a lot and therefore I will only write things which can be related to testing and rest I will leave it for you to explore. Trust me, once you start playing it, you won’t stop. Here are some of the things which makes MTG and Testing same:
Deck Design: MTG: This is one of the complex process since the player needs to design a deck which could beat 90~95% of decks in the game. For example, if you are playing against agro deck then one of the possible ways to survive is to gain life.
Testing: Tester needs to design the test cases that cover not only the requirements but also anticipate what else could be missing in the requirements
Time Limitation: MTG: Most of the tournament games (not casual) have time limit. Normally its 40~45minutes per round
Testing: Well we have deadlines and in agile case its normally 2-3 weeks of new software version
Team Work: MTG: Each player needs to know each other’s game play if they want to win the game. They need to know Weakness & Strength of each other’s decks and how to best complement each other.
Testing: If you get sick who else going to help you other than your team member in finishing up your work.
Test Play: MTG: After designing the deck, the player normally tests it again different decks to make sure that it works and also if he needs to make any changes.
Testing: We do smoke testing, to see if the basic functionality of the new system build works or not.
Strategy: MTG: A player can only play with max. 7 cards (There are exceptions to the rule) which mean the card he picks up are random cards from the shuffled pile. Therefore he has come up with a strategy to counter what his opponent plays.
Testing: Sometimes a tester tries comes up with a new scenario or way of breaking the system while testing a system.
Deck Type MTG: There are different deck types such as Aggro, combo, Control and combination of them.
Testing: There are different approaches that we take in doing testing. For example smoke test, black box and white box testing.
Knowing Whats new: MTG: Each year new cards are created and therefore the player needs to know how they interact with existing cards and what he/she can do if them.
Testing: People are finding new ways to do testing. Knowing what’s happening in the world of testing is useful
