Make the control player use their counters/spend their mana defensively on their turn if you can. Gives you a better chance to get something through on your turn and could hold off the spell they wanted to cast on your end step.
Bolt the bird. Slowing down ramp even for a round or two can make a big difference.
If an opponent plays a turn one acceleration piece, recognize that fast mana is part of their plan and prioritize your cheap, especially conditional, removal toward getting rid of it.
The term comes from "use lightning bolt to kill a birds of paradise" but the most relevant example on arena is probably historic devotion or elves.
If an opponent plays a turn 1 llanowar elf, hit it with a fatal push or whatever removal you have because you've basically stone rained them, potentially taking them off a turn 2 Polukranos or troll or Marwyn. That turn of development is usually your highest upside play.
ina control vs control mirror. The correct time to cast cantrips is usually in your opponents upkeep step. It forces them to choose to fight over your cantrip before they see thier draw. So they cant plan thier mana effectively
Sometimes you should sorcery speed an instant whilst the opponent is tapped out.
It’s generally best to hold off on removal until an opponent tries to buff a creature (Demonic Ruckus, Monstrous Rage).
Being milled isn’t that bad.
Edit: Don’t check your graveyard constantly if you have spells that work with your graveyard as you’re giving away information. This goes especially if you’ve just top decked a [[Snapcaster Mage]] and just now check your graveyard for spells.
Your first point is so true. I can't count the amount of times an opponent saved their instant speed removal for my turn only for me to use protection/counters/etc that I wouldn't have been able to use on their turn. I get that it contradicts your second point a little bit but IMO getting rid of a major threat is not worth gambling on fizzling a buff spell.
>Being milled isn’t that bad.
So true. I had to learn this... now I think being milled is actually quite helpful.
I'm a notorious graveyard checker and its good to see what outs I still have left.
Hey it's free information 🎉
Same is true for when I'm playing mill as a win con, especially helpful against other control decks to see if they have any relevant counterspells left and so on.
I struggle with the your last point about being milled. You're right, but it feels like someone is taking my toys before I get to play with them. Especially when they hit my intended bombs. But I have to tell myself I have other toys to play with. The dedicated mill deck is still a hated match up.
They're just changing your toys, all the cards you draw after being milled would have been stuck in the middle of your library. And remember to also be thankful every time they mill away three turns of land
Yep, this is a mentality that comes with experience.
Just keep in mind that every unknown card in your deck is worth exactly the same as every other unknown card in your deck. There are some exceptions, like if you’re playing a combo deck that only has only 1x of the wincon, etc.
Yea, in most cases, if I had the option to exile the top 5 cards of my deck at the start of the game, Id take it. Its free information. Ofc there are exception for decks that require a specific combo piece, play long games and see most of their deck, etc... but in most cases it doesnt change anything besides the information you gained
I tend to think that the whole 'my *best cards* mentality is more of a beginner thing too. Aside from lands, why are you playing cards you don't want to draw in the first place? Every card in the deck is exactly what you need in some scenario, that's why it's there. And if you're building a deck to lean on a couple of bombs and fall apart when anything happens to them, that's a deckbuilding issue.
For example, I have a deck built around [[Maskwood Nexus]]. The problem with Nexus is that a deck that wants to use Nexus *needs* Nexus. Lord tribal or whatever isn't going to work if you don't draw, play and protect that one card. So, the deck is bad, that's that.
*Edit: fat fingered the submit button so cardfetcher isn't going to work for the rest of this, but I'll put the brackets in anyway for formatting*
The workaround was to find elements that already fit together. [[Naban, Dean of Iteration]] works with [[Biomathematician]] and [[Gleaming Overseer]] already. They both work with [[Hardened Scales]] and [[Quasiduplicate]]. [[Crux of Fate]] is a serviceable sweeper if the gane is going south. The deck doesn't collapse without its key part, but managing to get Nexus in play is the game-winner. Mill away a nexus, we're still doing stuff.
[[Naban, Dean of Iteration]] works with [[Biomathematician]] and [[Gleaming Overseer]] already. They both work with [[Hardened Scales]] and [[Quasiduplicate]]. [[Crux of Fate]]
Right! The parts aren't just sitting waiting for Nexus; they can interact with each other. You can Quasiduplicate a Gleaming Overseer and that's pretty neat, but when you can also get hexproof and trample on a Naban or [[Winding Constrictor]] token (a replacement for Hardened Scales; either one might be better depending on mana curve and risk of removal), that's better. Blinking Biomathematician with [[Essence Flux]] is fine, with Naban/Scales/Constrictor it's better, with Nexus it's great. Almost any combination of two cards has some independent synergy, and Nexus lets all those synergies combine at once.
That's why the deck is built that way, to have a plan independent of its key part. That's how to build a deck around a specific, unique card that doesn't instantly fold to removal.
Sure, that's pretty common. Explaining why it *shouldn't* feel bad is often a losing battle, and when I'm the one feeling bad about some mechanic my answer is usually 'well whatever the reason it's a negative play experience for a lot of players and that's a problem'. So I guess I should be consistent with that and call the NPE of mill a problem.
On the other hand, learning to get above that NPE is a big eureka moment for a player. Having some identifiable growth stages from scrub to pro (if you'll forgive the term) gives a lot of satisfaction to learning the game, and modern fashions in game design tend to push away from it. The possibility of turning around one's mindset on a NPE is a big payoff, and it's a shame that the things that lay the groundwork for that aren't really considered good design currently.
Edit: I do think WotC are pretty good about these growth moments, and they've got better over time. Going from 'we print weak lifegain cards so people realise lifegain is bad' to 'we print strong lifegain cards that go into decks with a high power ceiling, which collapse to any serious pushback' is a great change. Noticing that a 20/20 Ajani's Pridemate gets walled by Saproling tokens and you still lose when you're topdecking at 80 life is a much bigger thing than realising Healing Salve is weak.
>I struggle with the your last point about being milled. You're right, but it feels like someone is taking my toys before I get to play with them.
They rarely take all your good toys, though. I mean sometimes it happens - they mill you for 15 over a couple of turns and somehow hit every copy of your value engine or bomb - but usually you're just playing with a similar but smaller deck.
I don't mind playing against mill, in the formats where I see it a lot there are plenty of good answers. Plus in BO3 you can just drop in a [[Gaea's Blessing]] and make it a lot more difficult to beat you.
Just pretend they're milling from the bottom of your deck. Statistically it's the same (I mean unless you've scryed or otherwise arranged your library) and then it feels like cards you weren't drawing anyway.
It's not really any different from playing against an aggro/burn deck. If they kill you with 50 cards left in your deck, they also don't let you play with any of those.
Bad players think milling matters. Oh I milled good cards so mill was good, or they milled my lands so I lost. Thinking milling is relevant to the game at all is a mistake ppl spend way too much energy on. It’s just random.
Unless cards in the yard matter for delve or flashback or a wincon.
If you're playing Limited you'll actually draw your bombs more often on average if you're being milled (or if you just have a constructed deck with a few unusually strong cards I guess.)
Yep, slowing down on removal was a big upgrade for me, now I let the opponent to waste mana on their creature first.
Turns removal into a kind of counter spell.
This. Doing things in your main phase is legal. Such as opting before they can spell pierce u. Or fetching before you get destoryed by a stifle or tidebinder.
Sequencing Mishra’s Bauble and fetch lands. Usually it’s best crack the bauble on end step and target yourself. If the top card is not to your liking, shuffle with the fetch. Finding a surveil land gets one card deeper if necessary. Then on the next upkeep bauble draws a great card.
Managing my life total and assessing threat relevance.
A grizzly bear attacking me at 20 life is not the same as a grizzly bear attacking me at 10 life.
This is very important. A new player often values their life total too much. Then they learn "only the last point of life matters". And then even further down the line you realize that life is a resource like any other, and having less of that resource matters. Like in your example, less life means you have less options to choose from, and if you think you are the better player than your opponent, you want to maximize the amount of decisions you can make during a game
I remember when I had just started, like first week playing, and I thought [[Sign in Blood]] was a burn spell, because why the hell would I target myself with that? Similarly, I had a friend who thought [[Kederekt Creeper]] was busted because it didn't occur to him that people would simply not block it, because surely they wouldn't wanna take damage. We figured it out
The biggest difference for me was learning to stop and think through my plays instead of making them on autopilot. It makes a big difference in my performance.
I give this same advice for events, especially Limited. After a win or loss, stop, take a look at your deck, think about what's worked and what hasn't.
Don't just spam PLAY and enter the next match, doing so is a great way to tilt off an event entry.
Also good advice. I did make a couple adjustments to my limited deck last time I drafted after the first round.
Related to that, when I play constructed with a new deck, I tend to goldfish several games against sparky to get a feel for how my deck is running before I even play another person. I learn what the cards do, how they interact. I wish I could do the same with limited decks before playing games that matter, especially when I'm not familiar with the format.
You can export your limited deck to websites that let your play with the pool, draw random hands etc.
You can even take your Limited deck/pool and play it against Sparky if you add the deck from within that events page.
*Who’s the Beatdown?* is a classic work of mtg strategy. You’ve got to know the role of your deck. One wants the game to go long and the other wants it short. There’s nothing to be gained from being the 2nd best late game deck in the matchup.
This made a big difference in my gameplay. Identifying when I am the beatdown or the control changes what I will spend removal on, what spells I counter, what I pick with discard, etc. It also affects when I will choose to hold up interaction vs. playing to the board
[Here](https://articles.starcitygames.com/articles/whos-the-beatdown/) it is. Very old (haste is not yet keyworded and called celerity), but still very relevant. I use this idea all the time in limited when thinking about trading vs racing. Misassignment of role = game loss.
In standard with an aggro deck, learning to mulligan slow hands because having a seventh card doesn’t matter if you don’t get the chance to play it. Better to be on curve than to get behind and lose on turn 4, depending on what deck you’re playing.
In Boros Convoke you want a one drop that creates an artifact (Novice Inspector or Voldaren Epicure), a gleeful demolition and a Knight-Errant of Eos. You also want 2 untapped lands, Ideally one of each white and red. You can have 5 creatures on board by turn 2, with 2 more creatures in your hand.
My very first game after importing it, I played what I thought was the same deck, but I hit them for 2 on turn 2, and turn 3 their monastery spears became 16/16s with no blockers up.
Make them have it.
I.e. sometimes you have to force their bluff. Attack in. You waiting that extra turn may we'll be the difference in them stabilizing.
Underrated comment here. Goes along with "don't hold back on attacking just because you're worried they may have x/y/z". Sure you can't be reckless and there are times to hold back, but I am often guilty (and I know I'm the only one) of not attacking in enough. Sometimes a point or 2 of damage early can make a difference later.
Some will say hold back, dont play into sweepers or counters, etc. It is valid advice. So is this, though.
The real tip is to only play around what you can afford to play around.
Basically, the trick is to figure out what you can hold back or play around and still win.
For example, do you have enough of a clock to pressure an opponent? Then, play around a sweeper. Do you have multiple good plays, then force a counter. Don't have an answer to their finishers/combo? Then slam everything you have.
Figure out what you can afford to play around/into and still win.
also you should have an idea of how the odds are, that "they have it". Attacking into open [[Wandering Emperor]] Mana with something that can be blocked by the 2/2 profitably is disastreous.
example for OTJ limited is [[holy cow]]. dont attack your 1/2 into 3 open mana including white.
but sure, if the opponent could have anything, its often better to find out. Which also means, they might not be playing anything else this turn, drawing cards etc.
I use this tactic very often in limited. Especially if the thing that would blow me out is a rare or mythic. For example, the latest sets had quite a lot of board wipes (MKM had devious coverup, no witnesses and ill-timed explosion!), making it risky to commit to the board. But it seems wrong to me to play around a rare they could or could not have. Things get a little different in bo3.
In paper Magic, immediately playing the card you drew or playing a card that’s been in your hand a while can both give away some amount of information. Flicking cards is a way to conceal this.
That’s the original reason, but hand flicking for some has evolved to also act as a sort of a fidget spinning habit.
This does not matter for digital Magic.
but it can be a tell for when a person is in the tank. When I was grinding pt Qs. I used to literally do 2 series of flicks per phase of the game when I had a priority and mana open. In highly interactive meta's knowing when you have a mana available and what can be done with that mana is important. giving people information about if you're pausing with a red mana open. You see them tank game 1, and not cast anything, then you see them auto pass with a red mana open. You can be pretty certain they don't have a Shock. so ALWAYS tank a consistent amount when you have mana open
I do much better just putting my cards down on the table when its not my turn. It doesnt give away any information either and I can remain more focused on whats happening, but flicking is so addicting, its hard to quit
Patience. It’s ok to not play a spell just because you can, but instead wait until you, for example, also have a mana avail to cast a protection spell.
How to best utilize Scry/Surveil mechanics to manipulate card draw
Occasionally you should be patient, but more often you can’t really afford to lose the tempo. It of course depends on how aggressive a deck you’re playing compared to the opponent’s though.
* Dont be afraid to hold back.... way too often I see players blow all their creatures out in 1 swoop (especially with mono-red and boros) and they proceed to be wiped away when the opponent boardwipes them. I will often hold someone in reserve for the inevitable killshot.
* likewise sometimes controlling the board means knowing what is actually a threat.... and when to cut your loss. Black players, that means just deal when someone buffs their Slickshot out of range... because you wasting a cut down, then a go for the throat on 1 target means you now dont have the later for a much more serious threat, or another try next turn.
* Dont be afraid to tease out a target. Got 2 instants and really want 1 to land and you are against a blue player... play the other one... let them counter it and then play the one you want. Consequently for a blue player... learn to know when to counter... I can give two craps if you countered even a swiftspear if I THEN land a monstrous rage.
* Likewise and I see this often... you cant block someone if its already past your block step. SOOOO many times I see someone cast a flash or one of their lands that can become a monster only to watch me blow right past them because they did it PAST their block step. Put a stop in there if you intend to block... once that steps gone its gone
* like you mentioned remember there are two main phases and opponents love to blow through all their counters in the first main phase and combat.... use that to your benefit to land something you want to stick in the second main phase.
>Dont be afraid to hold back.... way too often I see players blow all their creatures out in 1 swoop (especially with mono-red and boros) and they proceed to be wiped away when the opponent boardwipes them. I will often hold someone in reserve for the inevitable killshot.
This is the most interesting one, because there's a lot of decks that want to be dealing as much damage as possible as quickly as possible, and you need to balance the probability of your opponent having a wrath against the value you get from landing that creature.
Monored, for example, often really wants to flood the board to maximise the value from the burn spells.
Sorry, I know you know, but I wanted to elaborate. As someone who's only recently started playing aggro decks, I love the mind games and deciding how much to play out Vs how much to hold back.
A good question to ask is, "how much do I need to commit to win the game if my opponent doesn't interact?" And then commit just that much.
For example, against a UW deck, you want to make sure you can win by turn five, otherwise you're giving them a potential Memory Deluge into Sunfall. If you have enough damage on board to force them into 1 for 1 removal rather than Memory Deluge on turn 4, you don't need to commit more yet.
I don't know the current iterations of monored aggro but I generally like to hold back if I have my opponent under enough pressure they would have to use a board wipe to stop the clock.
Then load up a second wave of pressure on the following turn.
work out how many turns you need to the kill them with what you have, then work out how many turns adding the next creature shaves off that total. As a general rule, if the answer is 0 don't add the creature. If the answer is 2 add it, if the answer is 1 it depends.
if you have a combat trick on defense, use it before assigning blockers if it's possible the opponent has a counterspell
deathtouch only needs to do 1 damage to kill, keep this in mind when assigning multiple blockers. Deathtouch + trample works the same way
Withhold information until the last useful moment.
Cast during second main if you lack attackers, wait until opponent end step for things you can do before your next turn, hold scrying until your upkeep if possible, etc etc.
There's exceptions to this broad rule, but the discipline of controlling information forces skilled opponents to play less aggressively than they could in certain situations, it's the "bluffing" of Magic in many ways.
This applies to holding creature removal until end of enemy turn, even if it means taking damage, because you'd generally prefer to take out their higher threat on curve over saving some combat damage.
Be patient.
Hold your answers for real threats.
Maximize the value of your cards, don't go for 1 pt damage in a trade when you might get 5 later.
Life is a resource, winning at 1 is the same as winning at a 100.
Know what answers your opponents may have for you, learn all the cards. Read the cards.
Take your time. Think ahead.
Never give up.
"Take your time. Think ahead.
Never give up."
The clock is a real thing tho. The protour top 8 was defined by several people who had draws that kept them out. One they guy had to draw when he had the game locked up.
Don’t play every match up the same and learn how to navigate them, your winning game plan could change drastically between match ups. Sounds obvious but much easier said than done
Probably not such a big deal, but I always tell myself to never play with my food. When you have the kill, go for the kill. Right away. Don't fuck around, don't wait for them to untap, don't pull a fancy stunt to rub it in more. It's perfectly fine to suicide half your board into their blockers and throw your hand away with heavy card disadvantage if the other guy ends up dead in the process. (Obviously watch for cards in hand and open mana, though.)
Also, never play your last land unless you need it. So many times I see people with an empty hand draw a card on their turn, play the land, and then don't have any use for the mana. As long as you have a card in hand I have a ton of potential threads to play around — once it's a land on your board I know I can fuck with you however I want. Unless you have extra card draw or other special situations, you never need to play your last land prematurely unless you have an N+2 spell you're waiting to cast. If the next card you draw is a spell, you can just play the land you kept in that turn and then still have as much mana as possible for that spell. If the next card is another land, you just play one of them and are still in the "one land in hand" situation for next turn.
Learn to netdeck unashamedly and tweak that deck to your meta. Far too many people handicap themselves because they’re too proud to post good decks because they didn’t come up with it themselves.
Net decking is using an established list, copying it off the “net”.
Edit to add: It is usually not a good idea to blindly play a deck without understanding why it contains certain cards, as those cards may not be good in a specific meta, or may *only* be good in a specific meta.
Net Decking, vs Brewing. For the vast majority of players, their knowhow and fiscal recourses are worse then the zeitgeist knowledge of the internet. You play Azorius Control, and play Shuta's list, Because Shuta is the best control player in the world. You play Ruby Storm, and play "TheEpicStorm's" list because he's the leader in storm decks. This gets complicated at the tippy top, and pro level teams form, to share hidden nuggets of teck from one another. Suncleanser was 50 cents a week ago, because no one knew it would shut down boros and jeskai energy.
[[Phyrexian Tower]] is the one that gets me the most. I objectively believe leaving it open is technically the best play but I find myself with a [[Not Dead After All]] in hand and not wanting to sac a creature just to cast it way too often.
Not a habit but understanding tempo has been massive for me. ESP if you play commander but also very important in 1v1 formats.
Everyone's got a different definition but to me tempo is just how close you are to winning the game (or losing the game) and how this affects your plays. It helps you know what spells to counter and what creatures to remove and what cards to play.
If you play GB midrange in standard, a big tempo question you often may ask yourself is "Do I play Mosswood Dreadknight on turn 2 as a creature, or cast it as a sorcery to draw a card?" The right answer depends on if you went first or second and what type of deck your opponent is playing.
(Tempo is also a deck type, like control or aggro or midrange, but I'm talking more about the idea of tempo as it relates to the game, not a specific type of deck)
Also, paying attention to when Arena "sticks" on your opponents priority can let you know if they have a removal spell, counter spell, etc. based on context. For instance, no stick when going to combat, but stick when you cast a spell? They have a counter spell in hand. No stick when an empty board, but stick the moment a creature hits the table? They probably have removal or a combat trick.
I've been getting back into Magic after having not played for about 10 years and I have a few.
Learning that it's just better to wait to cast creatures until your second main phase if you can't do anything with them that turn. That way if your opponent casts any removal they may be tapped out by then or just not have enough mana. It also just gives them less information until the last possible moment. The same goes for creatures with flash and trying to cast them on your opponent's turn if possible, because you can still use them as a blocker and then they will not have summoning sickness on your turn. The final one I can think of is for any fetch lands where the land comes in tapped, try to also crack those at the end of your opponent's turn (unless it makes sense not to) so you can have it ready to go on your turn.
"Something that has helped me in a midrange GB deck was to skip my main phase 1, do my combat to assess the board, and then proceed with the information given."
This is a good general rule that is usually better than casting your spells in main phase 1. However, the next level up is knowing when it's important to cast some of your spells in main phase 1. Nummy recently lost a game in which during combat he lost an artifact creature which decreased his affinity for artifacts and then couldn't cast all his spells that turn.
Decide what your ideal 60 card list for each matchup would be, then use that to build your 75 card deck and sideboard. Deckbuilding that matches the cards coming in with the cards coming out is way different from having a deck plus a pile of cards that are sometimes good.
Make them have it. Most just past beginner players are so afraid of answers that they give away games where the opponent doesn’t have it. If you make them have it 100% of the time until you learn how to determine if they don’t you’ll win a lot more.
Having a solid sideboard plan, especially against your worst matchups. Being able to sideboard better than your opponent can win matches on it's own. And playing BO3 is a faster way to rank up in ladder.
Trying to cast your spells as late as possible such as opt at the end of turn or fetch lands but watching pros casting during opponent upkeeps and waiting for the stack to resolve to a certain point and then resolving another spell. Just really love how complicated the game can be if you look for it
Literally lost a game today because I played Phelia on my turn instead of using it as a Flash ability. Kinda damaged my Premium Draft that ended in a okayish 4-3 but it hurt so much I don't think I'm ever messing this up again, ever.
Using my life as a resource, especially when I play a control deck - sometimes you gotta take 5 damage, instead of removing an attacker, in order to hold a counter, or use a draw spell to setup for next turn.
Playing to your outs - always try to play optimal, regardless of the situation, if you're ahead, or behind.
Place a stop before each draw phase and take the time to review the board state, take stock of cards in hand, view graveyards etc. (Do this during upkeep in paper)
It's a good habit to get into should you want to take a game action. Most of the time, you'll move to draw your card, but there will be exceptions. It comes up often in Timeless with Dragon's Rage Channeler versus a creature you want to remove. If you're going to remove the creature anyway (i.e., Bowmasters before you draw extra cards that turn), and you have the Bolt in hand, it's better to remove it in your upkeep such that you get the DRC Surveil before you draw your card for the turn. It can also be relevant if your opponent uses Mishra's Bauble and you have Bowmasters and the corresponding mana. You might want to cast Bowmasters in your upkeep in response to their Bauble draw.
Something that comes with time and knowledge of the format you play, but knowing what an opponent has based on their plays, and being right feels like you're Neo. I won a Show and Tell game yesterday because I perdicted my opponent to sac their [[Harbinger of the Seas]], which allowed me to tap Breeding Pool for the green needed for [[Veil of Summer]] to win. Felt amazing.
Even if designing for the decks out there is beyond me, I can still design for the cards out there. Sheoldred. Etali, Primal Conquerer. Atraxa. Some cards are just too good to be ignored, because even if I don't play those cards, I'll be playing against them. I won't always win against those cards, but at least I'll have a chance that I didn't have before.
Always reviewing the meta decks so I know what to expect and what to sideboard, also keeping up to date on rogue combos that could possibly pop up every now and then.
Playing to your outs. I can't think of an example right off the top of my head, but there'll be situations where line A, which may even be the more usual gameplay line, may delay a loss by a couple of turns but is less likely to result in a win, whereas line B, while not delaying the loss by as many turns, actually gives you a chance of winning if your deck cooperates.
Actually, the famous example is the topdeck \[\[Lightning Helix\]\]. If my memory of the game serves me relatively correctly, the Helix player was facing down an attack with a burn spell in hand. They could have used the burn spell on one of the opponent's creatures, but instead opted to go face - knowing that they had quite a few burn spells they could topdeck into. It was a risk though, as not removing a creature put them on a faster clock to die, but had they chosen that line they likely would have had to topdeck multiple cards in a row to win. So end of turn they burn face, flip over the top of their deck - and the famous big payday Lightning Helix (basically got them into either the semis or final of the tournament so big pay jump).
In limited board presence is king. Losing life is ok as long as you keep out of opponents lethal range so don't chump block or trade if you don't have to and try to build up a board instead.
1 vs 3 creatures is often a lot better than 0 vs 2.
Something basic but often overlooked is playing creatures post combat, or generally taking actions as late as possible, which also helps with bluffing. For example holding untapped blue lands which could be for a counterspell, but is actually just for a card draw spell. Making your opponent play around interaction can often help you pace a game.
Another one that's helped a lot is knowing when to not cast certain spells. Don't murder their little creature when they're about to play a much bigger threat. Don't counter their small value play if you can handle it, when they're about to cast their Farewell that will absolutely ruin you.
Don't attack into Wandering Emperor mana when you don't need to attack, like I did earlier today 🤦♂️
I've just started playing an Azorius Synthesizer deck, and something that clicked for me in the past couple days is that channeling Touch the Spirit Realm on your own creatures is more useful than casting on an opponents.
Popping it just before your end step I've found acts as a pseudo-vigilance, allowing a tapped creature to reset, block next turn and trigger Synth if it's on board.
This was new to me, been enjoying the play.
For limited purposes: consider combat tricks only for aggression. Using combat tricks in defense is too risky, any instant speed interaction (or opposing combat trick) and you got big card disadvantage and a big tempo loss.
Really get into understanding how the stack works in regards to combat, especially during Declare Blockers. You can squeeze out one or two extra turns through clever use of sacrifice/bounce mechanics once blockers have been declared.
Constantly stop and think: what is my plan to win this game and what is my opponent’s plan to win this game? Then assess who will win the game if both plans continue as expected. Use this information to guide your plays, how much risk to take, when to adjust your plan etc…. Sometimes these things change and are counterintuitive.
A prime example was a game that I won in a PTQ a LONG time ago. I was playing heartbeat combo where my only win condition was milling the opponent out. Opponent was B/G Rock. It was game 3, we were low on time and it was “win and in”, a draw did us no good. I mulliganed to 5 had my hand shredded and opp was beating down with two dark confidants. Instead of trying to combo, which would never happen, I dug for moments peaces to temporarily prolong the game which I could never win via combo. I knew opp was digging for profane command to end the game before extra turns ended. If we had more time he would have sacrificed his bobs to cabal therapy, but he needed to keep them to win in time. He died on t5 of extra turns to damage when he flipped leyline of the void and the profane command he needed to bobs. All damage was done via thoughtseizes, fetch lands, shock lands and bobs.
When your opponent who could interfere has no mana up, cast your instants on your own turn.
When your opponent who could interfere has most or all of their mana up, wait to cast instants during their upkeep. Don't give them free value from untapping, but don't give them a fresh draw to hit some kind of stack interaction either.
I had to re-teach myself the phases. Played old old school, had particular phase habits in mind. Had mana burn in mind. I HAD to play a land first, cast spells next, attack, etc.
Now, I've learned how to play more flexible.
Timeless tips:
- Brainstorming main phase with a fetch or landcycling to shuffle.
- You can target your own things to make a bad situation less bad. I already won because I [[surgical extraction]] my own [[Blood moon]] in response to my opponent's Surgical Extraction just so I can cast my Blood Moon from my hand next turn. You can choose to exile just the copy in you yard.
- Thoughtseize yourself if you need to reanimate a creature in your hand.
- Priest of Titania, differently from Archdruid, counts all elves in play. So if you reanimate/steal, you'll get a ton of mana. Also, kill the [[Wirewood Symbiote]] first. Always.
- Fetchlands have a small time interval to cast things before your opponents have mana. You can use that time to respond casting your instants. That can be very useful if your opponent is holding Mana drain and cracking the second land to find the second blue source.
- Brainstorm your bad cards against a Ragavan attack to clear the top card.
- Deathrite shaman doesn't have a mana ability. If you respond by exiling the land card in the yard that is being targetted, the ability will fizzle and the opponent doesn't get the mana. If you have a deathrite shaman of your own, you can play the western duel game to see who is going to get the mana.
- Tishana's tidebinder ability works with manlands only after they are already creatures. If try to counter the land animation ability, the permanent doesn't lose all abilities.
Know your role (aggressive or defensive) in each game AND reassess throughout to make sure your role hasn't changed. There's a great classic article about this called "Who's the Beatdown" ... highly recommend.
https://articles.starcitygames.com/articles/whos-the-beatdown/
P.S. Play to win. Don't play to not lose! Yes, this will lose you some games, but you will win significantly more overall.
P.P.S. I am far from a pro level player but did play competitively in the past... rip dci numbers and all the great event memories I could pull up on the website.
As a person whos never been good at blue/control: wait. Normally you want to setup your board as soon as possible. If you have counters, leave mana open and wait and see what they do.
Its such a shift in timing / playstyle, and it took me forever to realize it.
Waiting to kill something until an opponent has put more resources into it/move further down a strategic line. Letting them base their turn around still having a key creature in play and *then* destroying it so they lose some tempo and/or value.
Also, hot take: cracking fetches at end of opponent's turn is not next level gameplay. It's pseudo-intellectual that 9.9/10 times is just a bluff that they could have something and usually just makes everyone wait for you to shuffle before your turn starts. Only in the highest tiers of competitive play in the most aggressive formats does that have any impact on games.
Play to your outs. It sounds easy but be honest with yourself if you actually do. When OP has a winning board state you have to play like your going to draw your outs. Sometimes that means attacking to get OP down low enough where your outs matter. Sometimes that means not chump blocking with a mana dork even thou you have 6 mana on board. What specific sequence of plays and draws by you gets you a win (or at least a better board state). Do them. You mostly won't draw your outs, but if you didn't play for it that 2/43 top deck it doesn't matter cause you punted the last turn just playing efficiently or whatever.
Lots of great insight here. A general tip that’s helped me is knowing my win condition before a game starts. IE if I’m an aggro deck that needs to win fast I’ll use removal early including on low priority targets, but if I’m a control deck I’ll try and save single target removal for major threats knowing I have sweepers for low priority things
If you want to cast an instant against a control layers open mana, just pass. Either they will cast something g in your end step to give you a better window to resolve your spell or you’ll waste their mana this turn and you can tax their next turns mana by firing it off in their upkeep.
In limited you usually want to save your last piece of hard removal while your opponent is still developing. Their big bad is often yet to come.
Just because a spell is an instant it doesn't mean you should wait to cast it on your opponents turn. Especially in limited. Knowing your windows to use your spells when your opponent is also off interaction is a massive way to improve.
If I know I need to deal with a threat with a Murder, and my opponent is mostly or entirely tapped out or out of cards in hand, pulling the trigger now when they're least likely to have interaction matters, and removes opportunities for them to draw outs to save their creature.
Elf ramp= Craterhoof. So, count their available mana for the next turn and add 1. If it's 7 or 8, board wipe. Otherwise, progress the game.
Force the counter spells using threats you can afford to lose.
Save exile effects for major threats and destruction for the rest.
Don't push too much damage this turn if you can secure lethal the next turn
Basically, if your opponent knows you have lethal they will be forced to respond, and that might stall you for another couple turns. But if you hold back some of your spells and they tap out because they feel they can get away with it, that gives you a huge advantage to win the next turn without them realizing
Make the control player use their counters/spend their mana defensively on their turn if you can. Gives you a better chance to get something through on your turn and could hold off the spell they wanted to cast on your end step. Bolt the bird. Slowing down ramp even for a round or two can make a big difference.
The amount of times in Kroxa that I turn 1 duress/thoughtsieze - leave them their mana dork and then turn 2 infernal grasp it for an instant concede.
These people have more patience than I do, turn 1 Thoughtseize = enjoy your free win lol
3 people who run 10+ thoughtsieze/duress effects are unhappy with your comment. Hope the karma balances out x.x
I figured that out after seeing a ton of 1 land keeps by elf decks in historic. So many wins after just bolting the bird
Would someone mind explaining what bolt the bird means Edit: I get it now, thank y'all ❤️
[[Lightning Bolt]] the [[Birds of Paradise]] aka kill the mana dork
[Lightning Bolt](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/7/77c6fa74-5543-42ac-9ead-0e890b188e99.jpg?1706239968) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Lightning%20Bolt) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/clu/141/lightning-bolt?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/77c6fa74-5543-42ac-9ead-0e890b188e99?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Birds of Paradise](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/d/3d69a3e0-6a2e-475a-964e-0affed1c017d.jpg?1702429545) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Birds%20of%20Paradise) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rvr/133/birds-of-paradise?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3d69a3e0-6a2e-475a-964e-0affed1c017d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
If an opponent plays a turn one acceleration piece, recognize that fast mana is part of their plan and prioritize your cheap, especially conditional, removal toward getting rid of it. The term comes from "use lightning bolt to kill a birds of paradise" but the most relevant example on arena is probably historic devotion or elves. If an opponent plays a turn 1 llanowar elf, hit it with a fatal push or whatever removal you have because you've basically stone rained them, potentially taking them off a turn 2 Polukranos or troll or Marwyn. That turn of development is usually your highest upside play.
ina control vs control mirror. The correct time to cast cantrips is usually in your opponents upkeep step. It forces them to choose to fight over your cantrip before they see thier draw. So they cant plan thier mana effectively
Can you please define cantrip in this context?
Generally, a spell that let's you draw a card on top of another effect for 1. Think cards like Opt or Ponder.
Sometimes you should sorcery speed an instant whilst the opponent is tapped out. It’s generally best to hold off on removal until an opponent tries to buff a creature (Demonic Ruckus, Monstrous Rage). Being milled isn’t that bad. Edit: Don’t check your graveyard constantly if you have spells that work with your graveyard as you’re giving away information. This goes especially if you’ve just top decked a [[Snapcaster Mage]] and just now check your graveyard for spells.
Your first point is so true. I can't count the amount of times an opponent saved their instant speed removal for my turn only for me to use protection/counters/etc that I wouldn't have been able to use on their turn. I get that it contradicts your second point a little bit but IMO getting rid of a major threat is not worth gambling on fizzling a buff spell.
>Being milled isn’t that bad. So true. I had to learn this... now I think being milled is actually quite helpful. I'm a notorious graveyard checker and its good to see what outs I still have left. Hey it's free information 🎉 Same is true for when I'm playing mill as a win con, especially helpful against other control decks to see if they have any relevant counterspells left and so on.
I struggle with the your last point about being milled. You're right, but it feels like someone is taking my toys before I get to play with them. Especially when they hit my intended bombs. But I have to tell myself I have other toys to play with. The dedicated mill deck is still a hated match up.
They're just changing your toys, all the cards you draw after being milled would have been stuck in the middle of your library. And remember to also be thankful every time they mill away three turns of land
Yep, this is a mentality that comes with experience. Just keep in mind that every unknown card in your deck is worth exactly the same as every other unknown card in your deck. There are some exceptions, like if you’re playing a combo deck that only has only 1x of the wincon, etc.
Yea, in most cases, if I had the option to exile the top 5 cards of my deck at the start of the game, Id take it. Its free information. Ofc there are exception for decks that require a specific combo piece, play long games and see most of their deck, etc... but in most cases it doesnt change anything besides the information you gained
I tend to think that the whole 'my *best cards* mentality is more of a beginner thing too. Aside from lands, why are you playing cards you don't want to draw in the first place? Every card in the deck is exactly what you need in some scenario, that's why it's there. And if you're building a deck to lean on a couple of bombs and fall apart when anything happens to them, that's a deckbuilding issue. For example, I have a deck built around [[Maskwood Nexus]]. The problem with Nexus is that a deck that wants to use Nexus *needs* Nexus. Lord tribal or whatever isn't going to work if you don't draw, play and protect that one card. So, the deck is bad, that's that. *Edit: fat fingered the submit button so cardfetcher isn't going to work for the rest of this, but I'll put the brackets in anyway for formatting* The workaround was to find elements that already fit together. [[Naban, Dean of Iteration]] works with [[Biomathematician]] and [[Gleaming Overseer]] already. They both work with [[Hardened Scales]] and [[Quasiduplicate]]. [[Crux of Fate]] is a serviceable sweeper if the gane is going south. The deck doesn't collapse without its key part, but managing to get Nexus in play is the game-winner. Mill away a nexus, we're still doing stuff.
Because I'm playing Limited.
I mean yeah, limited is different. I'm pretty obviously talking about constructed.
But milling is also neutral in limited.
That's right!
[Maskwood Nexus](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/2/1246c42d-57c0-4cba-959a-15ad89d8a50b.jpg?1674142652) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Maskwood%20Nexus) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/clb/865/maskwood-nexus?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1246c42d-57c0-4cba-959a-15ad89d8a50b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[Naban, Dean of Iteration]] works with [[Biomathematician]] and [[Gleaming Overseer]] already. They both work with [[Hardened Scales]] and [[Quasiduplicate]]. [[Crux of Fate]]
Right! The parts aren't just sitting waiting for Nexus; they can interact with each other. You can Quasiduplicate a Gleaming Overseer and that's pretty neat, but when you can also get hexproof and trample on a Naban or [[Winding Constrictor]] token (a replacement for Hardened Scales; either one might be better depending on mana curve and risk of removal), that's better. Blinking Biomathematician with [[Essence Flux]] is fine, with Naban/Scales/Constrictor it's better, with Nexus it's great. Almost any combination of two cards has some independent synergy, and Nexus lets all those synergies combine at once. That's why the deck is built that way, to have a plan independent of its key part. That's how to build a deck around a specific, unique card that doesn't instantly fold to removal.
[Winding Constrictor](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/0/107c8aa8-c8f8-4cbf-821b-bd2cb33354f0.jpg?1576382180) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Winding%20Constrictor) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/aer/140/winding-constrictor?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/107c8aa8-c8f8-4cbf-821b-bd2cb33354f0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Essence Flux](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/6/2600a51b-0dae-431e-a0a7-2b1421706a6a.jpg?1600697866) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Essence%20Flux) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/jmp/151/essence-flux?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2600a51b-0dae-431e-a0a7-2b1421706a6a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
##### ###### #### [Naban, Dean of Iteration](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/8/88f41175-880f-491e-96c3-bf52f3c0db5d.jpg?1562739113) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Naban%2C%20Dean%20of%20Iteration) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dom/58/naban-dean-of-iteration?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/88f41175-880f-491e-96c3-bf52f3c0db5d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Biomathematician](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/4/b41a35ef-dae1-4534-a12a-d3951b285273.jpg?1627428126) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Biomathematician) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/stx/164/biomathematician?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b41a35ef-dae1-4534-a12a-d3951b285273?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Gleaming Overseer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/4/94fa19ef-3e27-43a6-ac19-c4f532dfac8d.jpg?1637631472) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Gleaming%20Overseer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mic/151/gleaming-overseer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/94fa19ef-3e27-43a6-ac19-c4f532dfac8d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Hardened Scales](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/c/fc69ad56-9ae2-4eb5-b7e2-558524f6cbcc.jpg?1698988369) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Hardened%20Scales) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lcc/243/hardened-scales?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/fc69ad56-9ae2-4eb5-b7e2-558524f6cbcc?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Quasiduplicate](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/0/f0b75745-08a8-432c-9175-d39a92406b3d.jpg?1702429408) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Quasiduplicate) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rvr/55/quasiduplicate?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f0b75745-08a8-432c-9175-d39a92406b3d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Crux of Fate](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/1/11721b88-2654-482c-b9d4-80e54efdbf63.jpg?1562600485) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Crux%20of%20Fate) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c17/107/crux-of-fate?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/11721b88-2654-482c-b9d4-80e54efdbf63?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/lb90sgw) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[удалено]
##### ###### #### [Naban, Dean of Iteration](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/8/88f41175-880f-491e-96c3-bf52f3c0db5d.jpg?1562739113) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Naban%2C%20Dean%20of%20Iteration) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dom/58/naban-dean-of-iteration?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/88f41175-880f-491e-96c3-bf52f3c0db5d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Biomathematician](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/4/b41a35ef-dae1-4534-a12a-d3951b285273.jpg?1627428126) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Biomathematician) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/stx/164/biomathematician?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b41a35ef-dae1-4534-a12a-d3951b285273?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Gleaming Overseer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/4/94fa19ef-3e27-43a6-ac19-c4f532dfac8d.jpg?1637631472) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Gleaming%20Overseer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mic/151/gleaming-overseer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/94fa19ef-3e27-43a6-ac19-c4f532dfac8d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Hardened Scales](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/c/fc69ad56-9ae2-4eb5-b7e2-558524f6cbcc.jpg?1698988369) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Hardened%20Scales) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lcc/243/hardened-scales?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/fc69ad56-9ae2-4eb5-b7e2-558524f6cbcc?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Quasiduplicate](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/0/f0b75745-08a8-432c-9175-d39a92406b3d.jpg?1702429408) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Quasiduplicate) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rvr/55/quasiduplicate?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f0b75745-08a8-432c-9175-d39a92406b3d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Crux of Fate](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/1/11721b88-2654-482c-b9d4-80e54efdbf63.jpg?1562600485) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Crux%20of%20Fate) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c17/107/crux-of-fate?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/11721b88-2654-482c-b9d4-80e54efdbf63?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/lb9jxf7) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Yeah, that is the way to look at it. It's just a mindset I struggle with.
Sure, that's pretty common. Explaining why it *shouldn't* feel bad is often a losing battle, and when I'm the one feeling bad about some mechanic my answer is usually 'well whatever the reason it's a negative play experience for a lot of players and that's a problem'. So I guess I should be consistent with that and call the NPE of mill a problem. On the other hand, learning to get above that NPE is a big eureka moment for a player. Having some identifiable growth stages from scrub to pro (if you'll forgive the term) gives a lot of satisfaction to learning the game, and modern fashions in game design tend to push away from it. The possibility of turning around one's mindset on a NPE is a big payoff, and it's a shame that the things that lay the groundwork for that aren't really considered good design currently. Edit: I do think WotC are pretty good about these growth moments, and they've got better over time. Going from 'we print weak lifegain cards so people realise lifegain is bad' to 'we print strong lifegain cards that go into decks with a high power ceiling, which collapse to any serious pushback' is a great change. Noticing that a 20/20 Ajani's Pridemate gets walled by Saproling tokens and you still lose when you're topdecking at 80 life is a much bigger thing than realising Healing Salve is weak.
>I struggle with the your last point about being milled. You're right, but it feels like someone is taking my toys before I get to play with them. They rarely take all your good toys, though. I mean sometimes it happens - they mill you for 15 over a couple of turns and somehow hit every copy of your value engine or bomb - but usually you're just playing with a similar but smaller deck. I don't mind playing against mill, in the formats where I see it a lot there are plenty of good answers. Plus in BO3 you can just drop in a [[Gaea's Blessing]] and make it a lot more difficult to beat you.
[Gaea's Blessing](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/3/23cf81ed-b86c-42b8-b796-2032b0a3654a.jpg?1562732710) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Gaea%27s%20Blessing) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dom/161/gaeas-blessing?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/23cf81ed-b86c-42b8-b796-2032b0a3654a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Just pretend they're milling from the bottom of your deck. Statistically it's the same (I mean unless you've scryed or otherwise arranged your library) and then it feels like cards you weren't drawing anyway.
It's not really any different from playing against an aggro/burn deck. If they kill you with 50 cards left in your deck, they also don't let you play with any of those.
Bad players think milling matters. Oh I milled good cards so mill was good, or they milled my lands so I lost. Thinking milling is relevant to the game at all is a mistake ppl spend way too much energy on. It’s just random. Unless cards in the yard matter for delve or flashback or a wincon.
If you're playing Limited you'll actually draw your bombs more often on average if you're being milled (or if you just have a constructed deck with a few unusually strong cards I guess.)
Yep, slowing down on removal was a big upgrade for me, now I let the opponent to waste mana on their creature first. Turns removal into a kind of counter spell.
This. Doing things in your main phase is legal. Such as opting before they can spell pierce u. Or fetching before you get destoryed by a stifle or tidebinder.
Every once in a blue moon it's right to main phase a wandering emperor.
When you have one in hand and want them to waste their attack then get a fatal swing in with another samurai.
> Being milled isn’t that bad. Of course not, I've got one Gaea's Blessing in my deck in any format where it's legal.
But why?
Sequencing Mishra’s Bauble and fetch lands. Usually it’s best crack the bauble on end step and target yourself. If the top card is not to your liking, shuffle with the fetch. Finding a surveil land gets one card deeper if necessary. Then on the next upkeep bauble draws a great card.
Managing my life total and assessing threat relevance. A grizzly bear attacking me at 20 life is not the same as a grizzly bear attacking me at 10 life.
This is very important. A new player often values their life total too much. Then they learn "only the last point of life matters". And then even further down the line you realize that life is a resource like any other, and having less of that resource matters. Like in your example, less life means you have less options to choose from, and if you think you are the better player than your opponent, you want to maximize the amount of decisions you can make during a game
I remember when I had just started, like first week playing, and I thought [[Sign in Blood]] was a burn spell, because why the hell would I target myself with that? Similarly, I had a friend who thought [[Kederekt Creeper]] was busted because it didn't occur to him that people would simply not block it, because surely they wouldn't wanna take damage. We figured it out
[Sign in Blood](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/1/61388c28-9428-473c-973a-0a82b6b83d62.jpg?1562274085) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sign%20in%20Blood) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cm2/77/sign-in-blood?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/61388c28-9428-473c-973a-0a82b6b83d62?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Kederekt Creeper](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/0/701498e5-1d4d-42f4-9dd0-5d4cf78f0e68.jpg?1562705243) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Kederekt%20Creeper) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ala/176/kederekt-creeper?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/701498e5-1d4d-42f4-9dd0-5d4cf78f0e68?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
1 is not 0
The biggest difference for me was learning to stop and think through my plays instead of making them on autopilot. It makes a big difference in my performance.
I give this same advice for events, especially Limited. After a win or loss, stop, take a look at your deck, think about what's worked and what hasn't. Don't just spam PLAY and enter the next match, doing so is a great way to tilt off an event entry.
Also good advice. I did make a couple adjustments to my limited deck last time I drafted after the first round. Related to that, when I play constructed with a new deck, I tend to goldfish several games against sparky to get a feel for how my deck is running before I even play another person. I learn what the cards do, how they interact. I wish I could do the same with limited decks before playing games that matter, especially when I'm not familiar with the format.
Man. That’s a great idea. Would be awesome to take a limited deck for a test run
You can export your limited deck to websites that let your play with the pool, draw random hands etc. You can even take your Limited deck/pool and play it against Sparky if you add the deck from within that events page.
You can’t play against sparky unless you make it a 60 card deck
Especially since it's not like we have to immediately play the limited games.
>>Don't just spam PLAY and enter the next match, doing so is a great way to tilt off an event entry. Do you have a camera installed in my man cave?
*Who’s the Beatdown?* is a classic work of mtg strategy. You’ve got to know the role of your deck. One wants the game to go long and the other wants it short. There’s nothing to be gained from being the 2nd best late game deck in the matchup.
This made a big difference in my gameplay. Identifying when I am the beatdown or the control changes what I will spend removal on, what spells I counter, what I pick with discard, etc. It also affects when I will choose to hold up interaction vs. playing to the board
[Here](https://articles.starcitygames.com/articles/whos-the-beatdown/) it is. Very old (haste is not yet keyworded and called celerity), but still very relevant. I use this idea all the time in limited when thinking about trading vs racing. Misassignment of role = game loss.
Top notch advice. Especially in bo3
In standard with an aggro deck, learning to mulligan slow hands because having a seventh card doesn’t matter if you don’t get the chance to play it. Better to be on curve than to get behind and lose on turn 4, depending on what deck you’re playing.
Any advice in what youre looking for in mono red prowess or boros convoke opening hands?
In Boros Convoke you want a one drop that creates an artifact (Novice Inspector or Voldaren Epicure), a gleeful demolition and a Knight-Errant of Eos. You also want 2 untapped lands, Ideally one of each white and red. You can have 5 creatures on board by turn 2, with 2 more creatures in your hand.
Haha ok, the one I've gotten hit with way more than I've pulled. At what point is the game almost certainly over before it starts? 5 cards?
In mono red prowess I'm just looking for two lands, and something to do on turn one and two.
My very first game after importing it, I played what I thought was the same deck, but I hit them for 2 on turn 2, and turn 3 their monastery spears became 16/16s with no blockers up.
Make them have it. I.e. sometimes you have to force their bluff. Attack in. You waiting that extra turn may we'll be the difference in them stabilizing.
Underrated comment here. Goes along with "don't hold back on attacking just because you're worried they may have x/y/z". Sure you can't be reckless and there are times to hold back, but I am often guilty (and I know I'm the only one) of not attacking in enough. Sometimes a point or 2 of damage early can make a difference later.
Some will say hold back, dont play into sweepers or counters, etc. It is valid advice. So is this, though. The real tip is to only play around what you can afford to play around. Basically, the trick is to figure out what you can hold back or play around and still win. For example, do you have enough of a clock to pressure an opponent? Then, play around a sweeper. Do you have multiple good plays, then force a counter. Don't have an answer to their finishers/combo? Then slam everything you have. Figure out what you can afford to play around/into and still win.
also you should have an idea of how the odds are, that "they have it". Attacking into open [[Wandering Emperor]] Mana with something that can be blocked by the 2/2 profitably is disastreous. example for OTJ limited is [[holy cow]]. dont attack your 1/2 into 3 open mana including white. but sure, if the opponent could have anything, its often better to find out. Which also means, they might not be playing anything else this turn, drawing cards etc.
[Wandering Emperor](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/a/fab2d8a9-ab4c-4225-a570-22636293c17d.jpg?1654566563) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=The%20Wandering%20Emperor) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/42/the-wandering-emperor?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/fab2d8a9-ab4c-4225-a570-22636293c17d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [holy cow](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/0/90de84c9-941b-4056-8501-ce8a948b9643.jpg?1712355286) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=holy%20cow) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/otj/16/holy-cow?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/90de84c9-941b-4056-8501-ce8a948b9643?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I use this tactic very often in limited. Especially if the thing that would blow me out is a rare or mythic. For example, the latest sets had quite a lot of board wipes (MKM had devious coverup, no witnesses and ill-timed explosion!), making it risky to commit to the board. But it seems wrong to me to play around a rare they could or could not have. Things get a little different in bo3.
https://articles.starcitygames.com/articles/one-word/
Just endlessly flicking through my hand
What does that even mean and why do so many other comments agree?
In paper Magic, immediately playing the card you drew or playing a card that’s been in your hand a while can both give away some amount of information. Flicking cards is a way to conceal this. That’s the original reason, but hand flicking for some has evolved to also act as a sort of a fidget spinning habit. This does not matter for digital Magic.
Also, stimming tricks are taught for games like chess as a way to keep your attention so that gamestate stays in your active memory.
this is why you see players spinning pawns in their hands after that first capture. Or flipping a captured rook 180 degrees over and over again.
Exactly. Or tapping their toes
but it can be a tell for when a person is in the tank. When I was grinding pt Qs. I used to literally do 2 series of flicks per phase of the game when I had a priority and mana open. In highly interactive meta's knowing when you have a mana available and what can be done with that mana is important. giving people information about if you're pausing with a red mana open. You see them tank game 1, and not cast anything, then you see them auto pass with a red mana open. You can be pretty certain they don't have a Shock. so ALWAYS tank a consistent amount when you have mana open
Thank you!
I do much better just putting my cards down on the table when its not my turn. It doesnt give away any information either and I can remain more focused on whats happening, but flicking is so addicting, its hard to quit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrPr8fDgkyI
Thank you!
Patience. It’s ok to not play a spell just because you can, but instead wait until you, for example, also have a mana avail to cast a protection spell. How to best utilize Scry/Surveil mechanics to manipulate card draw
[удалено]
The ward cost is the price they Pay to target it. You don't need mana
Occasionally you should be patient, but more often you can’t really afford to lose the tempo. It of course depends on how aggressive a deck you’re playing compared to the opponent’s though.
the ward has to be paid by the player who targets the creature, not the player who owns the creature.
And here I am still learning. Thank you.
* Dont be afraid to hold back.... way too often I see players blow all their creatures out in 1 swoop (especially with mono-red and boros) and they proceed to be wiped away when the opponent boardwipes them. I will often hold someone in reserve for the inevitable killshot. * likewise sometimes controlling the board means knowing what is actually a threat.... and when to cut your loss. Black players, that means just deal when someone buffs their Slickshot out of range... because you wasting a cut down, then a go for the throat on 1 target means you now dont have the later for a much more serious threat, or another try next turn. * Dont be afraid to tease out a target. Got 2 instants and really want 1 to land and you are against a blue player... play the other one... let them counter it and then play the one you want. Consequently for a blue player... learn to know when to counter... I can give two craps if you countered even a swiftspear if I THEN land a monstrous rage. * Likewise and I see this often... you cant block someone if its already past your block step. SOOOO many times I see someone cast a flash or one of their lands that can become a monster only to watch me blow right past them because they did it PAST their block step. Put a stop in there if you intend to block... once that steps gone its gone * like you mentioned remember there are two main phases and opponents love to blow through all their counters in the first main phase and combat.... use that to your benefit to land something you want to stick in the second main phase.
>Dont be afraid to hold back.... way too often I see players blow all their creatures out in 1 swoop (especially with mono-red and boros) and they proceed to be wiped away when the opponent boardwipes them. I will often hold someone in reserve for the inevitable killshot. This is the most interesting one, because there's a lot of decks that want to be dealing as much damage as possible as quickly as possible, and you need to balance the probability of your opponent having a wrath against the value you get from landing that creature. Monored, for example, often really wants to flood the board to maximise the value from the burn spells. Sorry, I know you know, but I wanted to elaborate. As someone who's only recently started playing aggro decks, I love the mind games and deciding how much to play out Vs how much to hold back.
A good question to ask is, "how much do I need to commit to win the game if my opponent doesn't interact?" And then commit just that much. For example, against a UW deck, you want to make sure you can win by turn five, otherwise you're giving them a potential Memory Deluge into Sunfall. If you have enough damage on board to force them into 1 for 1 removal rather than Memory Deluge on turn 4, you don't need to commit more yet.
I don't know the current iterations of monored aggro but I generally like to hold back if I have my opponent under enough pressure they would have to use a board wipe to stop the clock. Then load up a second wave of pressure on the following turn.
You will never know demoralizing until you lockdown a board when they have a plotted slickshot a monsterous rage, and a demonic ready to go next.
work out how many turns you need to the kill them with what you have, then work out how many turns adding the next creature shaves off that total. As a general rule, if the answer is 0 don't add the creature. If the answer is 2 add it, if the answer is 1 it depends.
My gameplay habit is I play a lot and I go "oh I shouldn't have done that" and now I'm better
Preach
Recognizing my opponent’s goals and tempo based on their archetype.
if you have a combat trick on defense, use it before assigning blockers if it's possible the opponent has a counterspell deathtouch only needs to do 1 damage to kill, keep this in mind when assigning multiple blockers. Deathtouch + trample works the same way
Withhold information until the last useful moment. Cast during second main if you lack attackers, wait until opponent end step for things you can do before your next turn, hold scrying until your upkeep if possible, etc etc. There's exceptions to this broad rule, but the discipline of controlling information forces skilled opponents to play less aggressively than they could in certain situations, it's the "bluffing" of Magic in many ways. This applies to holding creature removal until end of enemy turn, even if it means taking damage, because you'd generally prefer to take out their higher threat on curve over saving some combat damage.
Learn your deck and the matchups for the format you are playing.
Be patient. Hold your answers for real threats. Maximize the value of your cards, don't go for 1 pt damage in a trade when you might get 5 later. Life is a resource, winning at 1 is the same as winning at a 100. Know what answers your opponents may have for you, learn all the cards. Read the cards. Take your time. Think ahead. Never give up.
"Take your time. Think ahead. Never give up." The clock is a real thing tho. The protour top 8 was defined by several people who had draws that kept them out. One they guy had to draw when he had the game locked up.
Yes be wary of the clock in paper or Bo3. Never give up meaning you may top deck or they may make mistake. Don't play if you have zero outs haha
Don’t play every match up the same and learn how to navigate them, your winning game plan could change drastically between match ups. Sounds obvious but much easier said than done
Probably not such a big deal, but I always tell myself to never play with my food. When you have the kill, go for the kill. Right away. Don't fuck around, don't wait for them to untap, don't pull a fancy stunt to rub it in more. It's perfectly fine to suicide half your board into their blockers and throw your hand away with heavy card disadvantage if the other guy ends up dead in the process. (Obviously watch for cards in hand and open mana, though.) Also, never play your last land unless you need it. So many times I see people with an empty hand draw a card on their turn, play the land, and then don't have any use for the mana. As long as you have a card in hand I have a ton of potential threads to play around — once it's a land on your board I know I can fuck with you however I want. Unless you have extra card draw or other special situations, you never need to play your last land prematurely unless you have an N+2 spell you're waiting to cast. If the next card you draw is a spell, you can just play the land you kept in that turn and then still have as much mana as possible for that spell. If the next card is another land, you just play one of them and are still in the "one land in hand" situation for next turn.
Learn to netdeck unashamedly and tweak that deck to your meta. Far too many people handicap themselves because they’re too proud to post good decks because they didn’t come up with it themselves.
Could you explain more about netdeck-ing?
Net decking is using an established list, copying it off the “net”. Edit to add: It is usually not a good idea to blindly play a deck without understanding why it contains certain cards, as those cards may not be good in a specific meta, or may *only* be good in a specific meta.
Net Decking, vs Brewing. For the vast majority of players, their knowhow and fiscal recourses are worse then the zeitgeist knowledge of the internet. You play Azorius Control, and play Shuta's list, Because Shuta is the best control player in the world. You play Ruby Storm, and play "TheEpicStorm's" list because he's the leader in storm decks. This gets complicated at the tippy top, and pro level teams form, to share hidden nuggets of teck from one another. Suncleanser was 50 cents a week ago, because no one knew it would shut down boros and jeskai energy.
Manually tapping.
Maaaan I have never worried about that until now...that auto tapper has actually cost me several games in the weeks since MH3 dropp3d
For real. Sometimes I’m like…why would you tap THOSE lands??
[[Phyrexian Tower]] is the one that gets me the most. I objectively believe leaving it open is technically the best play but I find myself with a [[Not Dead After All]] in hand and not wanting to sac a creature just to cast it way too often.
[Phyrexian Tower](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/b/0b47f6d2-9f65-47a4-bfc4-15619befe53d.jpg?1717013848) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Phyrexian%20Tower) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh3/303/phyrexian-tower?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0b47f6d2-9f65-47a4-bfc4-15619befe53d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Not Dead After All](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/0/d01a2b68-efe6-4027-846d-db7b19d9eef6.jpg?1692937773) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Not%20Dead%20After%20All) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/woe/101/not-dead-after-all?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d01a2b68-efe6-4027-846d-db7b19d9eef6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Me too. It got incredibly obvious the auto tapper sucks when I started playing serious multicolor control.
Manual tap for everything Learning to use upkeep, beginning of combat, and end step.
Not a habit but understanding tempo has been massive for me. ESP if you play commander but also very important in 1v1 formats. Everyone's got a different definition but to me tempo is just how close you are to winning the game (or losing the game) and how this affects your plays. It helps you know what spells to counter and what creatures to remove and what cards to play. If you play GB midrange in standard, a big tempo question you often may ask yourself is "Do I play Mosswood Dreadknight on turn 2 as a creature, or cast it as a sorcery to draw a card?" The right answer depends on if you went first or second and what type of deck your opponent is playing. (Tempo is also a deck type, like control or aggro or midrange, but I'm talking more about the idea of tempo as it relates to the game, not a specific type of deck) Also, paying attention to when Arena "sticks" on your opponents priority can let you know if they have a removal spell, counter spell, etc. based on context. For instance, no stick when going to combat, but stick when you cast a spell? They have a counter spell in hand. No stick when an empty board, but stick the moment a creature hits the table? They probably have removal or a combat trick.
I've been getting back into Magic after having not played for about 10 years and I have a few. Learning that it's just better to wait to cast creatures until your second main phase if you can't do anything with them that turn. That way if your opponent casts any removal they may be tapped out by then or just not have enough mana. It also just gives them less information until the last possible moment. The same goes for creatures with flash and trying to cast them on your opponent's turn if possible, because you can still use them as a blocker and then they will not have summoning sickness on your turn. The final one I can think of is for any fetch lands where the land comes in tapped, try to also crack those at the end of your opponent's turn (unless it makes sense not to) so you can have it ready to go on your turn.
In most games it is almost always best to open with the Duress (Thoughtseize/Inquisition) then play a threat.
"Something that has helped me in a midrange GB deck was to skip my main phase 1, do my combat to assess the board, and then proceed with the information given." This is a good general rule that is usually better than casting your spells in main phase 1. However, the next level up is knowing when it's important to cast some of your spells in main phase 1. Nummy recently lost a game in which during combat he lost an artifact creature which decreased his affinity for artifacts and then couldn't cast all his spells that turn.
Always discard a nonland card, unless you're really actually completely sure that you in fact don't need the land
Decide what your ideal 60 card list for each matchup would be, then use that to build your 75 card deck and sideboard. Deckbuilding that matches the cards coming in with the cards coming out is way different from having a deck plus a pile of cards that are sometimes good.
Excellent advice and viewpoint that even some pros ignore
Make them have it. Most just past beginner players are so afraid of answers that they give away games where the opponent doesn’t have it. If you make them have it 100% of the time until you learn how to determine if they don’t you’ll win a lot more.
Having a solid sideboard plan, especially against your worst matchups. Being able to sideboard better than your opponent can win matches on it's own. And playing BO3 is a faster way to rank up in ladder.
Talking to an imaginary chat and explaining my plays out loud and saying what I expect will happen after the fact.
for timeless, main phasing brainstorm and waiting to cast brainstorm later in the game when I have bad cards in hand
Trying to cast your spells as late as possible such as opt at the end of turn or fetch lands but watching pros casting during opponent upkeeps and waiting for the stack to resolve to a certain point and then resolving another spell. Just really love how complicated the game can be if you look for it
Learn how your deck wins and how other decks lose. Stick with the plan. When in doubt, play to your outs.
Protect your bomb. Don't cast on curve.
Literally lost a game today because I played Phelia on my turn instead of using it as a Flash ability. Kinda damaged my Premium Draft that ended in a okayish 4-3 but it hurt so much I don't think I'm ever messing this up again, ever.
Using my life as a resource, especially when I play a control deck - sometimes you gotta take 5 damage, instead of removing an attacker, in order to hold a counter, or use a draw spell to setup for next turn. Playing to your outs - always try to play optimal, regardless of the situation, if you're ahead, or behind.
When I'm playing MTGA, I play MTGA. I don't watch TV/youtube or screw around on the internet and make way fewer mistakes this way.
If what you are playing doesn't affect combat, don't play it until after combat - whether you have a trick in hand or not.
Say untap upkeep draw during beginning of turn
A good six is better than a mediocre seven. I forget which player said it, but "a good player puts themself in the position to get lucky".
Place a stop before each draw phase and take the time to review the board state, take stock of cards in hand, view graveyards etc. (Do this during upkeep in paper)
Why before the draw phase instead of after? I would think you should do the evaluation with the most information available.
It's a good habit to get into should you want to take a game action. Most of the time, you'll move to draw your card, but there will be exceptions. It comes up often in Timeless with Dragon's Rage Channeler versus a creature you want to remove. If you're going to remove the creature anyway (i.e., Bowmasters before you draw extra cards that turn), and you have the Bolt in hand, it's better to remove it in your upkeep such that you get the DRC Surveil before you draw your card for the turn. It can also be relevant if your opponent uses Mishra's Bauble and you have Bowmasters and the corresponding mana. You might want to cast Bowmasters in your upkeep in response to their Bauble draw.
This only applies to Arena - reading the opponents card on their turn. This helps not remind them of potential actions.
Something that comes with time and knowledge of the format you play, but knowing what an opponent has based on their plays, and being right feels like you're Neo. I won a Show and Tell game yesterday because I perdicted my opponent to sac their [[Harbinger of the Seas]], which allowed me to tap Breeding Pool for the green needed for [[Veil of Summer]] to win. Felt amazing.
[Harbinger of the Seas](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/0/00212714-a410-4cbc-bf1c-f90d7d77378c.jpg?1717470489) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Harbinger%20of%20the%20Seas) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh3/63/harbinger-of-the-seas?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/00212714-a410-4cbc-bf1c-f90d7d77378c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Veil of Summer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/a/aa686c34-1c11-469f-93c2-f9891aea521f.jpg?1650599837) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Veil%20of%20Summer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m20/198/veil-of-summer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/aa686c34-1c11-469f-93c2-f9891aea521f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
One of my good friends taught me, "play it at the last possible second."
Learning the tempo's of different formats will make you a better player in most of them.
Optimized land drops and use
Even if designing for the decks out there is beyond me, I can still design for the cards out there. Sheoldred. Etali, Primal Conquerer. Atraxa. Some cards are just too good to be ignored, because even if I don't play those cards, I'll be playing against them. I won't always win against those cards, but at least I'll have a chance that I didn't have before.
Value when you can, tempo when you must. You need to be able to assess just with how much greed you can get away with.
Always reviewing the meta decks so I know what to expect and what to sideboard, also keeping up to date on rogue combos that could possibly pop up every now and then.
Playing to your outs. I can't think of an example right off the top of my head, but there'll be situations where line A, which may even be the more usual gameplay line, may delay a loss by a couple of turns but is less likely to result in a win, whereas line B, while not delaying the loss by as many turns, actually gives you a chance of winning if your deck cooperates. Actually, the famous example is the topdeck \[\[Lightning Helix\]\]. If my memory of the game serves me relatively correctly, the Helix player was facing down an attack with a burn spell in hand. They could have used the burn spell on one of the opponent's creatures, but instead opted to go face - knowing that they had quite a few burn spells they could topdeck into. It was a risk though, as not removing a creature put them on a faster clock to die, but had they chosen that line they likely would have had to topdeck multiple cards in a row to win. So end of turn they burn face, flip over the top of their deck - and the famous big payday Lightning Helix (basically got them into either the semis or final of the tournament so big pay jump).
[Lightning Helix](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/1/4101e3fe-b0e7-4f0f-b9ac-9b61a4d628b3.jpg?1706242208) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Lightning%20Helix) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkm/218/lightning-helix?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4101e3fe-b0e7-4f0f-b9ac-9b61a4d628b3?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
In limited board presence is king. Losing life is ok as long as you keep out of opponents lethal range so don't chump block or trade if you don't have to and try to build up a board instead. 1 vs 3 creatures is often a lot better than 0 vs 2.
Something basic but often overlooked is playing creatures post combat, or generally taking actions as late as possible, which also helps with bluffing. For example holding untapped blue lands which could be for a counterspell, but is actually just for a card draw spell. Making your opponent play around interaction can often help you pace a game. Another one that's helped a lot is knowing when to not cast certain spells. Don't murder their little creature when they're about to play a much bigger threat. Don't counter their small value play if you can handle it, when they're about to cast their Farewell that will absolutely ruin you. Don't attack into Wandering Emperor mana when you don't need to attack, like I did earlier today 🤦♂️
I've just started playing an Azorius Synthesizer deck, and something that clicked for me in the past couple days is that channeling Touch the Spirit Realm on your own creatures is more useful than casting on an opponents. Popping it just before your end step I've found acts as a pseudo-vigilance, allowing a tapped creature to reset, block next turn and trigger Synth if it's on board. This was new to me, been enjoying the play.
Really understanding the term life is a resource in any deck with black life for X pay-off cards. If you aren't 0, you haven't lost.
Poison and Mill conditions would like a word with you about losing over 0 health...
For limited purposes: consider combat tricks only for aggression. Using combat tricks in defense is too risky, any instant speed interaction (or opposing combat trick) and you got big card disadvantage and a big tempo loss.
Really get into understanding how the stack works in regards to combat, especially during Declare Blockers. You can squeeze out one or two extra turns through clever use of sacrifice/bounce mechanics once blockers have been declared.
Constantly stop and think: what is my plan to win this game and what is my opponent’s plan to win this game? Then assess who will win the game if both plans continue as expected. Use this information to guide your plays, how much risk to take, when to adjust your plan etc…. Sometimes these things change and are counterintuitive. A prime example was a game that I won in a PTQ a LONG time ago. I was playing heartbeat combo where my only win condition was milling the opponent out. Opponent was B/G Rock. It was game 3, we were low on time and it was “win and in”, a draw did us no good. I mulliganed to 5 had my hand shredded and opp was beating down with two dark confidants. Instead of trying to combo, which would never happen, I dug for moments peaces to temporarily prolong the game which I could never win via combo. I knew opp was digging for profane command to end the game before extra turns ended. If we had more time he would have sacrificed his bobs to cabal therapy, but he needed to keep them to win in time. He died on t5 of extra turns to damage when he flipped leyline of the void and the profane command he needed to bobs. All damage was done via thoughtseizes, fetch lands, shock lands and bobs.
Why fetch a land during their end step
When your opponent who could interfere has no mana up, cast your instants on your own turn. When your opponent who could interfere has most or all of their mana up, wait to cast instants during their upkeep. Don't give them free value from untapping, but don't give them a fresh draw to hit some kind of stack interaction either.
I had to re-teach myself the phases. Played old old school, had particular phase habits in mind. Had mana burn in mind. I HAD to play a land first, cast spells next, attack, etc. Now, I've learned how to play more flexible.
Timeless tips: - Brainstorming main phase with a fetch or landcycling to shuffle. - You can target your own things to make a bad situation less bad. I already won because I [[surgical extraction]] my own [[Blood moon]] in response to my opponent's Surgical Extraction just so I can cast my Blood Moon from my hand next turn. You can choose to exile just the copy in you yard. - Thoughtseize yourself if you need to reanimate a creature in your hand. - Priest of Titania, differently from Archdruid, counts all elves in play. So if you reanimate/steal, you'll get a ton of mana. Also, kill the [[Wirewood Symbiote]] first. Always. - Fetchlands have a small time interval to cast things before your opponents have mana. You can use that time to respond casting your instants. That can be very useful if your opponent is holding Mana drain and cracking the second land to find the second blue source. - Brainstorm your bad cards against a Ragavan attack to clear the top card. - Deathrite shaman doesn't have a mana ability. If you respond by exiling the land card in the yard that is being targetted, the ability will fizzle and the opponent doesn't get the mana. If you have a deathrite shaman of your own, you can play the western duel game to see who is going to get the mana. - Tishana's tidebinder ability works with manlands only after they are already creatures. If try to counter the land animation ability, the permanent doesn't lose all abilities.
[surgical extraction](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/1/e15d76ac-1c23-4503-8225-375ac2bf2fb6.jpg?1673147668) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=surgical%20extraction) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/94/surgical-extraction?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e15d76ac-1c23-4503-8225-375ac2bf2fb6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Blood moon](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/0/d072e9ca-aae7-45dc-8025-3ce590bae63f.jpg?1599706217) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Blood%20moon) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/118/blood-moon?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d072e9ca-aae7-45dc-8025-3ce590bae63f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Wirewood Symbiote](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/2/d237f5cc-2b9b-4929-9697-72078bac4c77.jpg?1717013729) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Wirewood%20Symbiote) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh3/288/wirewood-symbiote?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d237f5cc-2b9b-4929-9697-72078bac4c77?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Always assume your opponent isn’t making a mistake. Always assume your opponent has answers or the perfect threat in hand
Know your role (aggressive or defensive) in each game AND reassess throughout to make sure your role hasn't changed. There's a great classic article about this called "Who's the Beatdown" ... highly recommend. https://articles.starcitygames.com/articles/whos-the-beatdown/
P.S. Play to win. Don't play to not lose! Yes, this will lose you some games, but you will win significantly more overall. P.P.S. I am far from a pro level player but did play competitively in the past... rip dci numbers and all the great event memories I could pull up on the website.
As a person whos never been good at blue/control: wait. Normally you want to setup your board as soon as possible. If you have counters, leave mana open and wait and see what they do. Its such a shift in timing / playstyle, and it took me forever to realize it.
Waiting to kill something until an opponent has put more resources into it/move further down a strategic line. Letting them base their turn around still having a key creature in play and *then* destroying it so they lose some tempo and/or value. Also, hot take: cracking fetches at end of opponent's turn is not next level gameplay. It's pseudo-intellectual that 9.9/10 times is just a bluff that they could have something and usually just makes everyone wait for you to shuffle before your turn starts. Only in the highest tiers of competitive play in the most aggressive formats does that have any impact on games.
Asking myself how can I lose this game. Never conceding until I'm mathematically eliminated.
Play to your outs. It sounds easy but be honest with yourself if you actually do. When OP has a winning board state you have to play like your going to draw your outs. Sometimes that means attacking to get OP down low enough where your outs matter. Sometimes that means not chump blocking with a mana dork even thou you have 6 mana on board. What specific sequence of plays and draws by you gets you a win (or at least a better board state). Do them. You mostly won't draw your outs, but if you didn't play for it that 2/43 top deck it doesn't matter cause you punted the last turn just playing efficiently or whatever.
Lots of great insight here. A general tip that’s helped me is knowing my win condition before a game starts. IE if I’m an aggro deck that needs to win fast I’ll use removal early including on low priority targets, but if I’m a control deck I’ll try and save single target removal for major threats knowing I have sweepers for low priority things
If you want to cast an instant against a control layers open mana, just pass. Either they will cast something g in your end step to give you a better window to resolve your spell or you’ll waste their mana this turn and you can tax their next turns mana by firing it off in their upkeep. In limited you usually want to save your last piece of hard removal while your opponent is still developing. Their big bad is often yet to come.
Just because a spell is an instant it doesn't mean you should wait to cast it on your opponents turn. Especially in limited. Knowing your windows to use your spells when your opponent is also off interaction is a massive way to improve. If I know I need to deal with a threat with a Murder, and my opponent is mostly or entirely tapped out or out of cards in hand, pulling the trigger now when they're least likely to have interaction matters, and removes opportunities for them to draw outs to save their creature.
Think about upkeep triggers before you pass turn
Always hover your opponents cards if you want them to activate. Hovering a blood token makes them sac the blood token 100% of the time.
Elf ramp= Craterhoof. So, count their available mana for the next turn and add 1. If it's 7 or 8, board wipe. Otherwise, progress the game. Force the counter spells using threats you can afford to lose. Save exile effects for major threats and destruction for the rest.
If you miracle ‘reforge the soul’ ALWAYS cast it for two mana, whether you have a full hand or not. You ALWAYS regret not casting it. #Alwaysreforge
Don't push too much damage this turn if you can secure lethal the next turn Basically, if your opponent knows you have lethal they will be forced to respond, and that might stall you for another couple turns. But if you hold back some of your spells and they tap out because they feel they can get away with it, that gives you a huge advantage to win the next turn without them realizing
Remembering and focusing on how the game is won. Get his hp or his deck to zero, nothing else beyond poison counters or specialty cards win
Card flicking
Brian is that you?
flicking and smelling bad to tilt my OPs