While this is a picture of Justin Brooke, owner and commander of JohnnySpike.com, he is not “Johnny Spike.”

Well actually he is…

But he isn’t…

Let me explain! Johnny Spike is not a person, it’s a group of people. It all started in the R&D department of WOTC (parent company and distributor of MTG cards). After a couple years of researching the people who played MTG, they found out that there were certain types of players.

The first type is called “Timmy” and they are casual gamers. The ones who love big giant creatures and building oddly themed decks like the infamous “Rat Deck.”

Then you have “Johnny” and “Spike” which are the more serious players and can most often be found at a tournament somewhere. The Johnny’s are the rogue deck builders or the net deckers who add in their own tweaks.

To Johnny he has to feel like he won because of his own brilliant idea that no one else had. Johnny builds his decks by thinking of what other decks are being played and how can he make his to beat all of theirs (Metagaming).

On the other hand you have Spike and Spike just wants to win. He doesn’t care if he copies a net deck card for card or even borrows a deck from another player. His only care in MTG is to smash the face in of his opponent (figuratively speaking).

If Spike wins 9 games out of 10 but thinks he should have won the 10th game – HE’S PISSED! He doesn’t care that he just PWNED that other guy 9 times in a row. He wants to win everytime all the time.

So who is Johnny Spike?

Well if you play in MTG tourneys… Then YOU are Johnny Spike.

If winning more games than you lose is something you care about in magic, then YOU are Johnny Spike. So you see now how I, Justin Brooke the author, am not Johnny Spike but I am at the same time.

He’s not my pen name, he’s everyone that’s ever wanted to win at magic!