I sort of know what you mean. My one attempt (so far) at an SR magic-type was a character based on the Troll Combat Mage pretty much straight out of the SR3 book; I played him with a bad Arnie accent and one of the other players (the femme with the Bat shaman goth vampire-wannabe) absolutely loved it (another one hated it, but he played a troll Snake Shaman who reckoned my guy was borderline psychopath).
We were all attending a concert in the Ork Underground, btw . . .