As a content creator in the Magic community with a keen interest in artificial intelligence, I've been keeping a close eye on the recent release of OpenAI's new language-generation model, ChatGPT. After it became available to the public on November 30, it reached a million users in just five days. While I'm excited about the potential of this technology to generate natural-sounding text, I'm also wary of its potential impact on Magic content creation.
In today’s blog, I'll explore the cool applications and dangerous pitfalls of ChatGPT through a series of questions and responses - essentially a conversation with the model. My own thoughts on the matter will be presented in regular font, while my prompts will be in bold and ChatGPT's responses will be in italics. To add some visuals, I've included several images created by Midjourney, an AI image generator that has also shown great potential.
Hi ChatGPT! I'm writing an article to explain your potential for Magic content. Could you briefly summarize what ChatGPT is and how people can use it?
“Certainly! ChatGPT is a large language model developed by OpenAI that has been trained on a vast collection of text from various sources. It is designed to generate human-like responses to prompts provided by users. ChatGPT can be utilized in a variety of applications, such as generating content for social media, websites, and more.
In the context of Magic: The Gathering content creation, ChatGPT could potentially be used to generate ideas for new articles, videos, and even deck guides. For example, a content creator might give ChatGPT a prompt like "What are some untapped topics related to Magic that could make for interesting content?" and ChatGPT could provide a list of potential ideas for the content creator to explore.
It's important to note that ChatGPT is a tool, and like any tool, it has its limitations. While it can produce text that is coherent and sounds natural, it does not possess an understanding of the underlying mechanics of Magic or the strategic considerations that go into constructing a competitive deck. Therefore, it is unlikely that ChatGPT will entirely replace human content creators, but it could be a useful tool for generating ideas or inspiring creativity.”
That’s an excellent summary. ChatGPT indeed lacks the knowledge and experience that comes from years of playing and studying the game. As I’ll show in more detail later, it cannot anticipate potential matchups, provide in-depth analysis or adjust to the ever-changing metagame. In other words, don't expect ChatGPT to build a Pro Tour-winning deck anytime soon.
However, that doesn't mean that Magic content creators can't use it as a tool to help generate ideas, spark creativity or suggest outlines. In addition, ChatGPT has an impressive ability to write engaging essays or short stories.
Write an article for the Ultimate Guard blog for me. Topic: fun stories from the early days of Magic before sleeves and playmats became commonplace.
“When I think back to the early days of Magic: the Gathering, I think of a time before sleeves, playmats, and the myriad of other accessories that have become commonplace in the game today. While those items certainly make the game more enjoyable and accessible, there was something special about the early days of Magic, when the game was still in its infancy and players had to get creative in order to make the most of the game.
In the early days of Magic, players had to get creative in order to protect their cards from wear and tear. Before the advent of card sleeves, players used to store their cards in plastic sandwich bags or wrap them in rubber bands. Some players even went so far as to place their cards in plastic sleeves made for baseball cards. Of course, these methods were not ideal, as the cards could still be damaged over time from shuffling and general wear and tear.
In the early days of Magic, players also had to get creative when it came to playing surfaces. Before playmats were widely available, players had to make do with whatever surfaces they had available. Some players used to play on a table, while others used to play on the floor. Some even used to play on the hoods of their cars!
Another interesting aspect of the early days of Magic was the creative use of tokens. Before the days of official Magic tokens, players had to get creative when it came to representing creatures and other game elements. Some players used to use coins or dice to represent creatures, while others used to use pieces of paper or even pieces of candy!
Of course, these are just a few examples of the creative strategies and solutions that players had to come up with in the early days of Magic. The game has certainly come a long way since then, and the introduction of sleeves, playmats, and other accessories has made the game much more enjoyable and accessible. But it's always nice to look back and remember the early days of Magic.”
It's important to consider the limitations of ChatGPT when using it as a content creation tool. One issue is that it may make questionable claims, such as suggesting that without a playmat, it's a good idea to play Magic on the hood of a car. This highlights the need to verify the accuracy and reliability of any information provided by ChatGPT.
Additionally, ChatGPT lacks the ability to share personal experiences and perspectives, which are often an enjoyable and enriching aspect of content created by human writers. Instead, it simply generates natural-sounding text based on a prompt.
Despite these limitations, ChatGPT can still be a useful tool for generating ideas and sparking creativity. Its ability to craft a compelling narrative should not be underestimated, and it may be particularly well-suited to creating stories in a fictional setting.
Write a story where an angry orc explains the use of Ultimate Guard accessories to his nitwitted warband.
“Once upon a time in a land of orcs, there was a warband led by the fierce and mighty Grumgor. Grumgor was a brute of an orc, with bulging muscles and a fierce temper. He was feared by all who knew him, and his warband was feared as well.
One day, Grumgor gathered his warband together and began to speak. "Listen up, you nitwits!" he bellowed. "We are going to war, and we need to be prepared. That means we need to have the best weapons and armor available. And that means we need to have Ultimate Guard accessories!"
The orcs looked at each other confusedly. They had never heard of Ultimate Guard accessories before, and they didn't understand why they were necessary for battle.
Grumgor scowled at his warband. "Are you all fools? Ultimate Guard accessories are the best thing for keeping your weapons and armor in top condition. They protect against dirt and damage, so your gear will last longer and perform better in battle. Without them, your weapons and armor will break and you will be useless in battle!"
The orcs nodded their heads, understanding now the importance of Ultimate Guard accessories. Grumgor continued, "We will acquire the best Ultimate Guard accessories available, and we will use them to ensure our victory in battle. Now, let's go and get ready for war!"
The orcs cheered and began to prepare for battle, each of them grabbing their Ultimate Guard accessories and attaching them to their weapons and armor. With their gear in top condition, they were ready to face any enemy and emerge victorious.
Thanks to Grumgor's wisdom and the power of Ultimate Guard accessories, the warband was able to crush their enemies and become the most feared force in the land.”
Alright, this is hilarious. Clearly, ChatGPT has a strong ability to generate fictional stories and write them in a specific style or voice. This could be a lot of fun for marketers and other creative professionals to experiment with.
However, there is a potential downside to consider: as AI technology continues to advance, it may eventually replace artists and novelists. While this may not be a concern at the moment (for example, Grumgor's story isn't particularly original), it's important to keep in mind that progress in this field is exponential and breakthroughs are happening at an accelerating rate. In just a few years, it's not hard to imagine ChatGPT or similar AI technology being able to create and illustrate any book you can think of, almost instantly. This has the potential to be highly disruptive to the creative industries. Even if ChatGPT itself doesn't change society, its inevitable successors most certainly will.
Can you write a YouTube script talking about the rise of Commander?
“Hello and welcome to [channel name]! Today we're going to be talking about the rise of Commander, a popular variant of Magic: The Gathering that has taken the gaming world by storm.
For those unfamiliar with Commander, it's a format that involves building a singleton deck around a legendary creature, known as the "Commander," and battling against other players using that deck. The format has a number of unique rules, such as a higher starting life total and the ability to cast your Commander from the command zone, which give it a distinct feel compared to other Magic: The Gathering formats.
Commander has been around for a while, but in recent years it has seen a massive surge in popularity. Part of this can be attributed to the fact that it's a great way for players to explore new strategies and playstyles, as the singleton format means that you can't just rely on the same powerful cards and combos as you might in other formats.
Another factor that has contributed to the rise of Commander is the social aspect of the game. Because Commander games are usually played with a group of friends, it's a great way to hang out and have fun with your friends while also enjoying the strategic depth of Magic: The Gathering.
The popularity of Commander has also been boosted by the release of pre-constructed Commander decks, which make it easy for new players to get into the format without having to build their own decks from scratch. These decks come with a fully built Commander deck and a rulebook that explains the rules of the format, making it easy for new players to jump in and start playing.
Overall, the rise of Commander is a testament to the enduring appeal of Magic: The Gathering and the enduring appeal of tabletop gaming in general. If you're interested in trying out Commander, there are tons of resources available online to help you get started, and there are likely plenty of players in your local area who are looking to join in on the fun.
Thanks for watching, and we'll see you in the next video!“
That’s a solid baseline for a first draft. For general topics, ChatGPT has the potential to be a useful tool for outlining topics in natural-sounding language. This could be especially helpful for YouTubers looking to increase their productivity. It's worth noting that ChatGPT's responses are not deterministic - refreshing the page and entering the same prompt will yield different suggestions. I generally do that several times and pick the best result.
The widespread availability of tools like ChatGPT may also require certain sectors to adapt. For example, school essays may no longer be a viable way of testing a student's understanding or communication skills. This could lead to a paradigm shift in education, with a greater emphasis on teaching critical thinking skills. Incorporating Magic into the curriculum could be one way to foster these skills. It's also possible that ChatGPT, with its ability to answer follow-up questions in any desired style, could become an incredibly effective teacher in the future.
It's not just education that may be disrupted by advances in AI. The software development industry is another example that comes to mind.
I want to determine the number of lands in a 60-card Magic deck that maximizes the hypergeometric probability of drawing three lands in my first seven cards. Could you write Python code that calculates this and gives me the optimal number of lands?
What you see in this article are the successful attempts at using ChatGPT, as I had to spend some time designing prompts that elicited the desired response based on the model's knowledge of the world. I believe that AI prompt engineering could become an important skill in the future.
I also got better responses from ChatGPT by asking follow-up questions and pointing out logical errors in its earlier replies. ChatGPT has the ability to remember earlier statements in the conversation and, after some initial hiccups, it will usually explain its own mistakes and correct any problems.
As an example, the final answer provided by ChatGPT is correct. If you run the code, you'll see that it's 25 lands. This demonstrates ChatGPT's ability to turn natural language into well-crafted, nicely formatted code. Based on my interactions thus far, ChatGPT is currently on par with a first-year university student who may make mistakes at first but learns quickly. Having such a student as an assistant can be a great time-saver and can boost everyone’s productivity. However, humans are still necessary at this point to provide the right inputs and evaluate the factual correctness of ChatGPT's responses. To further illustrate this point, let me take a brief detour.
Suppose I am a goat farmer and I participate in a game show in the hope of winning a goat as my prize. There are three doors, one of which has a goat. I randomly pick one door, and the game show host reveals a goat behind that door. Should I switch to one of the other doors, and why?
“In this situation, it would be better to switch to one of the other doors. This is because there are two unopened doors, and only one of them has a goat behind it. Since you know that the door you picked initially has a goat behind it, you have a two-in-three chance of winning the goat if you switch to one of the other doors. This is better than the one-in-three chance you have of winning if you stick with the door you picked initially.”
The question I posed was a variation on the famous Monty Hall problem, in which there is typically a luxury car behind one of the doors and goats behind the other two. In my scenario, however, the goat is the desired prize, which stumps ChatGPT.
While the model has studied numerous texts on the Monty Hall problem, allowing it to identify patterns and make predictions about what text should come next, it fails to understand the nuanced difference in my question. As a result, its answer is incorrect - confidently incorrect, which is a dangerous combination.
In Magic, where new cards, decks and interactions are constantly appearing, ChatGPT will struggle in much the same way. A small tweak to a deck could completely change a matchup, and without a proper understanding of the game, ChatGPT can't provide accurate information about topics it hasn't been trained on. While it may continue to write elegant English, it is likely to make mistakes. As such, it is unlikely to replace the expertise of Magic veterans or strategy writers anytime soon.
Write a complete Deck Guide article for Gruul Vehicles in Pioneer.
“Introduction:
Gruul Vehicles is a powerful and aggressive deck in the Pioneer format that aims to get on the board quickly with efficient creatures and powerful vehicles, and then apply pressure to the opponent with a combination of efficient removal spells and prowess triggers. The deck is well-suited for players who enjoy a fast and aggressive playstyle, and can be highly effective against a variety of different strategies.
In this article, we'll take a closer look at the Gruul Vehicles archetype, including its key cards, strategies, and a sample decklist to get you started.
Key Cards:
Smuggler's Copter: One of the defining cards of the Gruul Vehicles archetype, Smuggler's Copter is a formidable attacker or blocker that also allows you to filter through your deck and find the right answers. It's a great way to apply pressure to the opponent while also helping you find the specific cards you need.
Heart of Kiran: Another key card in the Gruul Vehicles deck, Heart of Kiran is a powerful vehicle that can be crewed by any of your creatures. It offers a formidable body on the battlefield and can be especially potent when paired with creatures with the prowess ability.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance: Chandra, Torch of Defiance is a powerful planeswalker that can help you deal with opposing threats while also providing card advantage and reach. It's a versatile and powerful addition to the Gruul Vehicles deck.
Wild Slash: Wild Slash is a cheap and efficient removal spell that can help you deal with early game threats and trigger your prowess creatures. It's a great way to keep the board clear for your own threats to attack.
Lightning Strike: Similar to Wild Slash, Lightning Strike is a cheap and efficient removal spell that can help you deal with early game threats and trigger your prowess creatures. It's a solid choice for the Gruul Vehicles deck.
Strategies:
The gameplan of Gruul Vehicles is fairly straightforward: get on the board quickly with low cost, efficient creatures and follow up with powerful vehicles to apply pressure to the opponent. The deck includes a variety of removal spells to help clear the way for your creatures to attack and to deal with opposing threats.
One of the key strategies of Gruul Vehicles is to use your efficient removal spells to keep the board clear for your own threats to attack. Wild Slash and Lightning Strike are particularly effective at this, as they can help you trigger your prowess creatures while also dealing with opposing threats.
Another important strategy is to utilize the filtering and card selection capabilities of Smuggler's Copter to help you find the right answers and set up your future turns. Heart of Kiran is also a powerful tool for applying pressure to the opponent, as it offers a formidable body on the battlefield that can be crewed by any of your creatures.
Sample Decklist:
Here is a sample Gruul Vehicles decklist to get you started:
Creatures (16):
4x Goblin Guide
Planeswalkers (2):
Spells (16):
4x Wild Slash
Lands (22):
4x Mountain
4x Forest
3x Stomping Ground
3x…”
I cut it off near the end, but I’m glad I’m not out of a job yet.
The flow and structure of the generated Deck Guide is textbook, meaning that it could serve as a starting point for an article. Overall, ChatGPT has the potential to greatly enhance and streamline the process of creating Magic content by providing writers with a powerful tool to generate ideas and text quickly and efficiently. It’s also capable of polishing up writing, and - full disclosure - I did use it to improve the readability of some of my regular font paragraphs. However, when faced with prompts that require up-to-date, in-depth knowledge, ChatGPT struggles to provide accurate responses.
One important limitation is that ChatGPT is unable to browse the web and is trained on data only up to September 2021, so it has no knowledge of events, cards or decks that have appeared after that time. For example, Gruul Vehicles is a new archetype that emerged just a few months ago, so ChatGPT has no idea what it's talking about.
In addition, competitive Magic requires a deep understanding of the rules, card interactions, and metagame trends. While ChatGPT is capable of generating text, it lacks this kind of knowledge and expertise, at least for now. Its inclusion of Thalia's Lieutenant in a Gruul deck is an example of its inability to think and reason like a human Magic player. It also included cards that are not even legal in Pioneer, and its mana bases are questionable at best. While AI has impressive capabilities, it still requires human oversight. This may change in the future as technology continues to progress, but for the foreseeable future, I believe that MTG strategy writers and innovators will not be replaced.
In the meantime, especially when I would need to kill time in between rounds on Magic Online, I’m happily using ChatGPT to aid my imagination.
Let's play a game. I am the sole protagonist of this story, a young planeswalker in the Magic: the Gathering multiverse. You are the narrator of this story, providing second-person descriptions. The story is written by mixing fantasy and adventure genres together, creating suspense and twists.
You start the story by describing the context in a single 60-word paragraph. Do not continue the story, provide options, or write another paragraph without my input. After every paragraph, you should wait for me to describe what I do next. I emphasize that each time your narration should be a single 60-word paragraph, not more. After I tell you my action, you should continue the story with a new descriptive paragraph. And so on.
Each paragraph should include a photo that describes generally what is happening in the scene. Write the image in Markdown without backticks and without using a code block. Use the Unsplash API (https://source.unsplash.com/1600x900/?<PUT YOUR QUERY HERE>).
The potential for AI technology is vast and ever-expanding. We have only just begun to scratch the surface of what it can do and the ways in which it can transform and improve various fields. While it may be some time before an AI is able to win a Pro Tour and write a tournament report, its possibilities are truly endless.
Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame, Member of Team CFBUltimateGuard
Frank Karsten has played in nearly 80 Pro Tours, which puts him in the top five most experienced players of all time. After getting inducted into the Pro Tour Hall of Fame in 2009, he finished his PhD in game theory and stochastic processes, then returned to the game of Magic. In the decade since, Frank found competitive success again, mostly with synergy-driven decks like Affinity or aggro cards like Embercleave. He also joined Wizards of the Coast's event coverage team. But he's perhaps best known for applying his mathematical background to Magic-related problems, ranging from mana base construction to metagame analysis."
