Magic: The Gathering Data Visualizer

Programming Languages used: Processing (Java)
Project Domain: Data Visualization

The Magic: The Gathering data visualizer displays data about the composition of the top decks in standard. The top 8 decks from all Star City Games standard format tournaments were used to create this data. The user can change the timespan for which they want deck data displayed by selecting the set symbols at the top of the screen. The data shown will be the data from the span of time between the release dates of the selected card sets. Accompanying the data about the colour composition of the top decks is a list of the deck archetypes that comprise the current data set. Additionally, there is a timelapse button that will iterate over the entire data set, displaying the colour compositions of the top 8 decks in each individual event, emphasizing the change over time. The data can be used to observe trends and shifts in the composition of decks over time. It can be especially interesting to observe the effect that the release of new sets has on the colour composition of the top competetive decks.

The whole application was programmed using Processing, a Java based programming application that is designed to make it easier to create a graphical display. The Star City Games top 8 deck data for standard tournaments was transcribed into a comma delimited file that could be read by the application. All of the remaining data, such as set release dates was hard coded into the application. Future expansion of this project would definitely include the ability for the application to fetch the data itself from the Star City Games website and other sources as required.