by Alex Brown
I have to say if I want to play a 2er, 3er or 4er competitive game, Mage Knight is not a game I'd propose playing. I'll concede I prefer the game modes in this order: solo, co-op, competitive. I prefer solo by a far margin, because downtime is my biggest issue with the game.Still, I'd argue 'bad first shuffle's as common occurrences. David has posted the odds of having a hand with no movement cards elsewhere, and it's almost insignificant. Furthermore, although I can understand problems with snowballing and contesting the best opportunities as real issues in the competitive game, I don't think they are so bad as to not play the game. With David's summary, I'd 'live with' the problems.
I do think though that no game is for everybody however, and Mage Knight is not even close to being in the 'broadly accessible' category. It's long, involves significant investment to learn the rules, and it takes a lot to be able to maintain the focus, or even enjoy the focus, it takes to optimize every turn.
I think overall this is an optimization game, but the flavour and complexities are much more enjoyable than straight-up economic games. As an optimization game, I'd rather just play it solo, or to beat the system with friends. As a competitive game, I'll play it because I love it, but I'd rather just play Twilight Struggle, Yomi or Claustrophobia for a head-to-head battle.