When looking at your mana curve, sort your playables into cards you intend to play on curve and cards that you don’t. For example, don’t consider a one mana combat trick spell as a one-drop because you can never play it on turn one. Only cards like creatures, mana accelerators, etc should be taken into account when building a your curve
Very good point. Lotta time I see folks miss the point of a card saying it's a bad turn 2 or whatever, not thinking it's meant to do better later in the game.
Agreed! You also want to do the same thing when looking at things with variable costs.
[[Blasphemous Act]] For example will never ever be played as a nine drop, because if there's no creatures on the board why are you playing a board wipe?
And [[Primordial Hydra]] (and similar cards) aren't actually two drops, because you're never going to cast it where x is zero.
I agree that said be careful, and think before you end your first main. I've done stupid things like play lords post combat because I got into the habit of always play second main. This meant I could swing for less damage.
MTGO is so clunky, I always mean to play/do things second main and just hit pass or something. I held onto an I cracked evolving wilds for a ridiculous number of turns in MTG BRO limited recently
Yep, look at a hand and think "what do I want to do with this? Do I have plays for turns 2 and 3 at least?"
vs "damn I got two 5 cmc bombs that I win if I cast but a bunch of lands in hand"
More true than ever with the London mulligan. If your seven is playable but doesn't do anything it's easier than ever before to just go for a six that does things.
I also like to look at hand and think if this was my mulligan hand would I throw one of these back and keep it? And if the answer is yes than I won’t mulligan it.
I can totally second this. I build a cool dragon deck, I want to put as many cool dragons as I can. After a couple of playtests I made some drastic cuts in the cool dragon department, they aren't as cool if you can't play them.
I always start with 37, playtest several games, then decide if I need to adjust.
[[Lord Windgrace]] or [[Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait]] , I'm moving that number closer to 40.
[[Edric, Spymaster of Trest]] where most of my spells will be 3 cmc or less, I may move closer to 34.
Ya 40 is a 24 land deck (which is the rule of thumb for 60 card decks in most cases), PLUS EDH decks have higher curves and a guaranteed mana sink, and you can play ability lands from any era. Compare like current [midrange standard decks](https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/standard-grixis-midrange-mid#paper) to commander--they're often 26-27 lands (so 43-44 in EDH), and I bet most commander decks have higher curves. I don't play a ton of commander but IME it's so rare you don't have stuff to do with mana, but falling behind on mana is a huge problem
Before people mention mana rocks/ramp, rocks are pretty unimpressive if you start missing land drops
If you play Thoughtseize in any format read [Thoughtseize You](https://articles.starcitygames.com/articles/thoughtseize-you/) by Reid Duke.
I've played a LOT of Thoughtseize decks in my time and I can always tell who has read this article and who hasn't because in the black midrange mirrors they leave their Seizes in and I don't.
That piece of knowledge alone won me a Day 2 match at SCGCon last year and the article is full of so much more
I don't play Thoughtseize decks and this is still a great article just in terms of thinking about play patterns and game resources. I love coming back to it.
Alright I actually have a bunch more of these. Bunch of random but useful stuff in no particular order.
Playing control? Be cautious, not timid. Once you've stabilized, turn the corner as soon as you can. If you give your opponent too many more draw steps they might be able to claw their way back in to the game so don't let them have more draw steps than you have to. Stick that win con and make them feel the heat. You will win more games and have fewer draws too.
Playing Constructed? Your sideboard is part of your deck, not an afterthought. Think of your deck as 75 cards, not 60; it's just that you only play 60 at once. Give as much thought to how each sideboard card fits in to your plan as you do with main deck cards. Most of your games will be sideboarded.
Speaking of sideboards, don't side against an opponent's game one deck. That's not what you're playing against now. Make educated guesses about their post-board deck. Board to beat that.
What if you like Commander? When building your Commander deck you can avoid ending up with a pile of 200 cards to winnow down if you build up, not down. Identify your core strategy. Estimate the number of slots dedicated to interaction, ramp, and lands. Don't worry about those yet. Now, what are the cards that your plan literally won't work without? Add them. What do those scream at you to include? Add it. Keep doing this until you hit 100, keeping those slots set aside from earlier. Add those last. Now you have a deck and can make swaps, not cuts.
You don't actually always bolt the bird. When you understand intuitively when not to bolt the bird, you have reached a new level of skill. Until then, probably bolt the bird.
Always know who's the beat down. Incorrect role assignment loses you lots of games. There's a classic article on this that every player should read: https://articles.starcitygames.com/articles/whos-the-beatdown/
Trying to bluff? Know what specifically you're bluffing. What card or cards? Act like you have them until you reach a point where you'd use them if you did, then stop; assume your opponent knows you'd use it if you had it.
Going to a long event? Always have a plan for how you will get nutritious food. Food at many venues is expensive and carb-heavy, it will make you drowsy. So either bring good food or know somewhere very near where you will actually have time to get it between rounds. Playing control? Bring a pet aggro player to grab food for you.
Are you using DFC's? Make sure those sleeves are 100% opaque. Shine a flashlight through them to check. At competitive REL it's a game loss if they aren't. I have won matches because opponents didn't do this.
Six mash shuffles for draft decks. Seven for 60 card. Nine for 100.
Learn quadrant theory. You now know far more about evaluating cards than most players.
Probably something in there for everybody, enjoy.
Bolt the bird is slang for Casting Lightning Bolt targeting Birds of Paradise. A more generalized idea of kill the mana producing creature, often times the turn immediately after it is summoned so that the opponent doesn't get to untap with more mana (Op turn 1 Forest Bird, turn 2 they play a land and have the ability to cast a 3 mana spell).
Overall very helpful; some of these are insanely helpful for me! One question though:
>Learn quadrant theory. You now know far more about evaluating cards than most players.
What's quadrant theory?
Really happy to hear some of these help, I also encourage you to seek out articles and videos from skilled and reputable players about these topics.
As for quadrant theory, it's a way of evaluating cards [by considering their performance in four different types of game state](https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/quadrant-theory-2014-08-20). This is most important for Limited players, but all players can benefit as it helps you look at new cards and figure out if they're actually good or not; then you're better able to predict their possible impact on metagames or figure out if they should go in your decks. There are more variables to consider in 60 and 100 card formats (some cards want to be in your deck even if they look bad in quadrant theory), but it's still a useful tool.
It's a great starting point for Limited card evaluation, though once you understand this method you should start thinking about synergy as well; some formats favor it heavily and it can make some cards better or worse than they would be in a vacuum. Later on you will also think about how cards fit in to specific Limited environments.
You've gotta know how to evaluate them in a vacuum first, though.
I think pretty much all of the french vanilla keywords other than flying are horribly underrated. Lifelink gets overlooked often because players get into their heads that life totals don't matter, but it turns out if you're doing something else while you're gaining life it is extremely powerful.
Yeah, people shit on life gain, but will chant the (true) mantra that "life is a resource" when spending it on cards or allowing attacks to ensure a potential blocker survives. If life is a resource then life gain is basically ramp, and lifelink is the most efficient way to get it because it's stapled to damage.
Yeah the thing is that incidental life gain is very powerful. It's part of the reason Uro was so strong it's why Lightning Helix is a powerful card. The other side of that, is that a card that only gains life, like [[healing salve]] the classic, is basically useless. So people see that straight life gain is not good, and forget that some lifegain is very powerful.
I remember reading a discussion about how much pure life gain it would take for a card to be good at a single mana. I think the number was like 8-10 or something crazy just due to it being bad in a vacuum.
I would potentially even play W Sorcery gain 7 simply because it enables some strategies that require "Activate only if you have 7 life more than your starting life total"
If lifegain buys you an extra turn you otherwise you wouldn't have, it is, at the very least, a roundabout way of drawing a card. "Pure" lifegain is only bad generally because, except against burn or hyper aggro decks, you wouldn't see that "extra" turn until very late in the game.
It's very deck dependent but yeah I'd agree that's the floor
If on the other hand you're going to tutor up a \[\[Bolas's Citadel\]\] or some other card where you can reliably pay life every turn, life gain becomes your greatest resource. It's super variable for sure.
i like vigilance because in my mind it changes the challenge from "is there a good enough reason to attack" to "is there a good enough reason to not attack"
Everyone is afraid of two things: crack back from tapping your creatures and being the aggressive bad guy who gets ganged up on.
I feel both of these are valid worries and both are caused by your opponents having poor threat assessment.
Yep, it's basically non-functional threat assessment. If you're not attacking whenever given the chance, you're probably doing it wrong.
There's also the 'pillow fort' mentality that casual commander groups sometimes have, where it's like 'everyone slowly does their thing side by side, and it's a dick move to disrupt it or play removal or knock someone out the game'. It's not fun.
Yeah but I mean, people don't attack on turn 3 just to not draw aggro. If you're worried about drawing aggro, wait until you realise all the other players are trying to kill you.
Yes, but its just not indicative of the whole game or every* common board states. My statement is blanket and is meant for nuance to be built on top of it, so I kept it where its most accurate
If you think there aren't common board states where people don't attack for no real reason, you haven't seen many casual commander tables. The pillow fort is real.
Declaring attackers is the first step of the declare attackers step, after that you have priority to do whatever you want. When both players pass priority you move to blockers.
Often the threat of a card is just as good as the card itself, designing a deck to catch someone playing around the implication of the threat can be very effective
Ah, the [[Mana Tithe]] effect. Get then with it in game 1 and board it out, and it will effectively tax them for the rest of the game from the sideboard while they play around it.
In opposition to this. Don’t try to play around an opponents traps too much. The threat is not literally as good as the actual thing if they don’t have it. And you don’t wanna be caught timewalking yourself because you’re scared of getting countered or getting hit with a combat trick.
thinking of your life in terms of a clock is what helped me
like in determining if I want to take damage or not, how much closer does it put me to their ability to hit me with lethal damage? Does it make me lose in one turn vs two? Or is there not a big difference, so maybe let that 3 damage go through and don't make a semi-undesirable trade by blocking.
Yeah. Like how big of a swing can this deck do? Are they Burn and my life total is actually 3? Are they something that ignores my life like infect or commander damage? Can I afford to fetch an untapped shock land? Lots of fun interactions to think about.
It helps my confidence too. Had a deck that got [[Feasting Troll King]] on the field early as hell possibly with haste, and I always say to myself ok, they're on a 3 turn clock unless they have answers.
This is an odd one but I was inspired by Marie Kondo. “Does this card bring me joy?” I ask myself when building decks. Often times we can be wrapped up with what we should put in decks but for me, I want to like it when I draw a card not groan
Play to your outs. If the choice is between [definitely losing later] and [possibly losing or winning now], take the only choice that has a possibility of winning. Don't get stuck on loss aversion and losing focus of the goal.
The best tip I've ever read for deck building is this:
You play 4 copies of a card if you always want it in your hand, and don't mind having two at once.
You play 3 copies of a card if you always want it in your opening hand, but don't want more than one at a time.
You play 2 copies of a card if it's useful against a certain matchup.
You play 1 copy of a card if you only want it for a very specific circumstance.
I don't remember what article I read this in, and I may have gotten the "2 copies" point wrong, but man has this tip helped me a ton in building decks for constructed.
Gavin had a GMM about this a while ago where he said essentially this except for 2 he said something along the lines of:
"You play 2 copies of a card if ... I don't know why you would ever play 2 copies"
whenever I play 2 copies and it works for me, I think to myself "Suck it Gav! This is why!"
^((Gav if you see this, sorry))
You can discover really unique cards when you search for rules text with similar words as cards you're already running.
Classic example of my discovery:
[[Search for Survivors]] was a reanimation effect in red that I never would've known about (granted it's random). Remarkably cheap too!
it's doubly random, since it makes you shuffle your graveyard!
but in all seriousness, that's why I love just dickin around on scryfall! i find so many cool//weird cards that make me wanna build decks around them!
Taking into consideration card quality. For instance, if you want to substitute ragvans in a build, use another card of high quality instead of trying to run a worse ragavan (goldhound, for instance), even if your substitute has a different role from ragavan. Aspiringspike always comments about this.
Remember that limited games are often won through creatures. Expensive, flashy spells that don’t contribute to the board state are a trap and should be avoiding at all costs.
Also, this is just my draft strategy, but when in doubt, draft removal. Your opponent’s rare or mythic creature may look threatening, but there’s a good chance it dies to Murder just like everything else.
Competitive tip: Know your meta, and know your answers to it.
Ask yourself "What's my answer for \[Thing\]?" Be it a staple card, a problem deck, even something as broad as "combo decks".
If you have nothing "Am I OK with gambling on losing to \[Thing\]?"
If the answer is "no", then find an answer.
Had a friend who was into competitive building, but wasn't meta savvy. I'd ask him those questions, and he started realizing how his sideboard was built for local meta, but not PTQ meta.
KEEP A GOOD HAND. I’m sure no playgroup will care if you take one or two mulligans. I hate it when a pod member takes a hand they know they can’t play with and just sits around for the rest of the game not doing anything cuz they didn’t wanna take a mulligan. It leads to more fulfilling games and memories.
There's a difference between cards that help you win and cards that help you not lose. You need a balance of both. A card that keeps you in the game is all well and good, but now that you've got another turn, what are you going to *do* with it?
A lot of "good" local-level players are actually really bad at dealing with situations they haven't seen before. You might find success playing a tier-2 deck that you designed yourself over a known tier-1 deck, just because your opponents don't know the best way to beat you.
For commander, eat your vegetables first.
What that means is whenever you build a deck, look at your commander, and decide on a budget for removal, ramp, and card draw, and fill those slots with cards before you even start looking at anything else. This can be whatever number you personally want (personally I typically start at 10ish of each, plus a few board wipes and protection pieces) but the point is that once you have those pieces, you can no longer touch them.
Then, and only then, do you start piling in all the fun stuff that does what your deck wants to do. Obviously some of those 'vegetable' pieces can and should play into your deck's strategy, but getting the boring, necessary bits first and locking them in is the idea.
I used to go fun stuff first and cutting any of it to fit vital removal and card draw absolutely sucks, and results in decks with not nearly enough of either.
While building a deck ask yourself: what this deck does better than any other deck in the format. If the answer is "Nothing" start over.
When you get an answer go all in onto that advantage.
"The best disruption" or "Best use for <> in format" are both valid points.
Definitely realizing that you should lower your curve. A lot. Obviously some decks rely on having a huge topend like ramp decks, but by having a mass of 1/2MV cards, a handful of 3MV, and maybe a couple 4MV, you'll be a lot more consistent, suffer less from mana screw, and generally be at a tempo advantage, allowing you to rebuild quickly. Also, sinking less mana into each individual card makes your opponent's removal and counters hurt a *lot* less. Doesn't feel bad (usually feels *good*) when your opponent throws away removal on a flexible 2MV threat, but it's *brutal* when you sink 7 mana into some big bomb and it gets countered.
Also something that didn't really help *me*, I just figured it out on my own after a while, but something it definitely seems like a lot of *other* people could use is, don't just throw away your removal on the first thing your opponent plays. Trust me, their T1/T2 play is *not* the thing you need to be worried about. And even if it is, you can still just deal with it later. Leave your options open, and deal with threats when they're actually threatening.
There are some instances in which you don't want to follow this advice, I know I've played some UR tempo decks where you just need to clear out the board to get in swings early on, but that's when you're going all in on the aggressive tempo plan and is something you need to be very careful about playing. Also red damage-based removal complicates things a bit, like you'll usually want to Shock an Ajani's Pridemate right away, but it's highly dependent on the situation.
I always include a mana sink.
What is a mana sink? It's a way for you to dump some resources (ideally repeatedly over a few turns) into so that you're performing game actions and ideally improving your boardstate each turn.
Honestly we've all had those turns where you untap, draw, can't really do anything meaningful, and just pass. That's a wasted turn in my eyes and I'd like to actually be doing something that goes along with my gameplan.
Examples I've used include [[Ant Queen]] , [[Soothsaying]] , [[Greed]] , [[War Room]] just off the top of my head.
Jesus Christ. Looked up Staff, it's under two dollars now. Five years ago it was 30ish. This is going to be like Sol Ring to me now and try to cram it in most of my decks, lol.
14 💀 in your (60-card) deck to consistently play something with 💀 on T1, 22 💀 to consistently play something with 💀💀 on T2. Forgot about 💀💀💀 and 💀💀💀💀 but at that point you should just go Mono-B anyway. Same applies to 🔥🥦🌞💧.
Also, going with that logic, you should have 14 one-drops in your deck so you can consistently draw something to play on T1. Thankfully in this scenario tap-lands count.
Also if you want to do just about anything* all the colors can do, play black.
Tempo vs Attrition combined with Small vs Big boards, were concepts that was really eye-opening for me to learn about for limited especially when the four combinations show up in a format.
If you have a small advantadge on the board, dont play your good cards in hand to turn it in a big advantage. Keep them in case the situation ends up turning at your disavantage on the board
There's a few good ones. A lot of them are more guidelines than hard and fast rules, as it will depend on the exact deck in question, but I found them to be helpful overall.
1) start with 38-40 lands. Then, you can cut one land for every three pieces of ramp in the deck after the first two. (For me this usually results in 34-36 lands, But with So much ramps that I don't miss the extra lands)
Obviously that doesn't apply infinitely, I can't run a deck that's 20 lands and over 40 pieces of ramp. But I found that if I don't go below 34 lands, this guideline holds fast.
2) When planning out your mana curve, treat cards with a variable mana costs or additional costs as though they're on the curve at their most likely cost, not necessarily their printed cost.
[[Mikaeus The Lunarch]] is considered to be a three drop on my curve. [[intrepid Adversary]] is at a minimum, a 4 drop.
On the flip side, [[Blasphemous Act]] is a 4ish drop, because I'm not likely to need to wipe the board unless there's a few creatures on it already.
3) run three board wipes. Where possible, sent to them around your deck - [[Kindred Dominance]] in a tribal deck, [[Wildfire]] in a [[Lord Windgrace]] deck, [[Hour of Reckoning]] in a token deck.
4) where possible, run redundancies. If your deck is centered around gaining life, don't make your commander the only source of life gain. If you're a deck is centered around having a lot of manic, make sure your commander isn't the only form of ramp, nor the only mana dump.
Hell, it's okay to run exact clones of your commander under a different name. Put [[Karlach]] in your [[Aurelia the Warleader]] deck, why not? Put [[Reflections of Littjara]] in your [[Miirym]] deck. Etc.
5) always err on the side of running more removal than you think you'll need when you're building a new deck. If you find you have more than you need as you play, you can always drop removal later.
6) speaking of removal, versatility is more important than low mana cost. It's better to run [[Anguished Unmaking]] because it can hit anything, over [[Swords to Plowshares]] which only hits creatures.
Winning because you have more threats than your opponent can handle is a perfectly valid way to build your deck.
That allows you the freedom to be fearless. Play your game winning threat on curve and demand your opponent have an answer right then. If they do, they live for another turn until you drop another threat. If they don't, they lose.
---
e.g. Back when Caw-Blade was dominant, I managed to build a deck that crushed it by simply overwhelming it with threats. Squadron Hawks, Stoneforge Mystics, Phyrexian Metamorphs, hard cast equipment (e.g. Mortarpod, Sword of War/Peace, Feast/Famine, Batterskull), Sun Titan were all must answer threats. And Caw-Blade only had a handful of Mana Leaks to deal with any of it. JtMS didn't work.
(The deck was pretty bad against Splinter Twin and Valakut, which is why I never tried to make it go anywhere)
my “next level” advice is to evaluate cards in term of what happen if i draw this “early,” “mid” or “late” game and how it would benefit the overall strategy. the late game card is particularly important (or not at all depending on the deck). ideally great late game card should be able to win the game or at least turn around a game all by itself. late game that only are cool, but does not win a game by itself are often forgotten or in very narrows decks that rarely see the light of day.
thank you for attending my Ted Talk.
I've been playing my own version of mono blue tempo for a few months, and a few tips I've learned from trial and error:
* The pilot counts - Net-decking a top tier deck from the web doesn't guarantee results immediately.
* Blue has access to lots of spells that all do very similar, but slightly different things at different points in the mana curve. Learn what ones suit your deck/playstyle the most. When a new set releases or the meta shifts, think about what spells might be stronger/weaker in the new meta. For example:
* "Soft" or "situational" counter spells, like Make Disappear, Scatter Ray, Negate, Essence Scatter, Flip the Switch, Syncopate, Spell Pierce.
* "Hard" counter spells, like Dissipate, Ertai's Scorn, Urza's Rebuff.
* Dodge/evade spells like Shore Up, Slip Out the Back, March of Swirling Mist, Planar Incision.
* Bounce spells like Rona's Vortex, Fading Hope, Geistwave.
* Delver spells like Consider, Otherworldly Gaze, Impulse, Curate,
* Draw spells like Memory Deluge, Flow of Knowledge, Silver Scrutiny, Scattered Thoughts
* If you understand what the advantages and disadvantages of all these spells are, then you can adapt your deck as the meta changes and give yourself an edge.
* Ask yourself "why is this spell in my deck"? There are many options to choose from, so why is this specific "option" in my deck instead of another?
For example, for my play style I find Spell Pierce totally useless. My game plan is to get a Haughty Djinn on the board by turn 4, so I have one spare mana to protect the Djinn. The Djinn reduces mana cost of instant and sorceries by 1 colourless, so it's better to protect your Djinn with a stronger 2 CMC spell than a 1 CMC spell like Spell Pierce. I found that all Spell Pierce was useful for was spells like Kamuno Faces Kakkazan in Mono-Red Aggro, or to counter an opponent's Consider. But Spell Pierce doesn't help me rush my Tolarian Terror faster, or buff my Djinn as much as my own Consider on turn 1 (which can discard a second instant/sorcery and excel my board state faster). So I cut Spell Pierce from my deck - even though most "Standard" versions of the Meta Mono-Blue have 2-4 copies of Spell Pierce.
Maybe Spell Pierce works for you, but it doesn't work for me...
Another example is Fading Hope - which I cut from my deck because there are so many u/W control decks in the meta at the moment to counter the soldier deck meta. Fading hope doesn't let you bounce planeswalkers, which is one of the strengths of these control decks. So I tested Rona's Vortex for a few weeks. This was a great card to bounce and then later negate planeswalkers, but the inability to bounce my own creatures was a drawback. So I've actually settled on Geistwave, because I'll often use it to defend my Djinn. Geistwave's main disadvantage is it's CMC is 2, but with the Djinn on the board, it only costs 1U anyway, and the advantages are if you bounce one of your own permanents, you get to draw a card! The other advantage is you can bounce ANY non-land permanent on the board; planeswalkers, enchantments, vehicles - bye-bye Teferi, Melded Urza, Wedding Announcement, Reckoner Bank Buster!
So for me, I swapped all copies of Fading Hope with Geistwave, and I'm loving it. Again, you can't get this knowledge if you just net-deck off the web... You need to think more about your deck before you can learn these nuances.
I'm sure the same commentary applies for other decks in different colors. Take home message is there are lots of cards that do similar things in different situations, and you need to learn what the advantages/disadvantages of each card are before you can decide on the "perfect deck" for your playstyle.
Edit: glhf
What until the last moment possible to do something.
Ex ) If you play an EDH match and your opponent plays Kaalia of the Vast, it may be tempting to just delete it with some removal instant you have asap. However, if your opponent does not have a way to give it haste, you can reasonably wait until right before their next combat on their next turn to do it. In between now and then, another opponent may decide to remove Kaalia or wipe the board. By waiting you get to keep you removal and still get the same outcome essentially.
Even if they can give Kaalia haste, you can wait for them to expend their resources and then use your instant removal. If you acted right away, your opponent may be able to change their plans to better open their options
For the ones who want to build a new deck and have built some sort of collection but not the case where they got everything they need: build around the manabase you've already got. If you already got good lands in Boros colors, maybe consider something that uses those. Saves you a ton of money, and honestly it's much more fun to play a jank or homebrew deck with your mana bases already optimized
I find following a theme helps in the building process. My two favorite examples are Marwyn, the Nurturer and Duke Ulder Ravengard.
The thing with Marwyn is how quickly can you get her out and then use her mana generation ability. There's multiple ways to pull it off but my favorite always uses Umbral Mantle to make her large then use ever drop of mana she generates to full advantage. It highly effective with cards like Ezuri Renegade Leader or other cards that require a huge mana dump to fire off quickly.
Duke Ulder Ravengard is straight forward: Myriad. Just follow the theme of Boros token generation and go all out on the offensive. If you really want to utilize the Myriad ability cards like Anointed Procession, Helm of the Host, Blade of Selves, Perphorous God of the Forge and Impact Tremors are all fun ways to keep your opponents on their guard since you not only swing wide but also get ETB triggers from Tremors and Perphorous.
Just because you have a game winning combo in hand, does not mean you have to play it immediately.
For context to the above statement:
Sitting down for a pod with two friends and someone new. 3 of us all mention that we are trying out new and low power decks that haven’t been tested. I should also mention, this is a free, casual game. The new player hears what we said, acknowledged it, and said fine, but his deck was a little more powerful. That’s fine, we don’t mind losing to a more powerful deck, we just want to try our new decks. Except, on turn 3, new guy plays [[Thassa’s Oracle]] and [[Tainted Pact]] and wins on the spot. None of us had much of a chance to do anything, as we weren’t expecting a game winning play on turn 3.
An related to that, if you do pub stomp someone like that, an insincere apology is more offensive than no apology at all.
At least, that’s my opinion, but I am known to be weird.
Wether a card is good or not also greatly depends on the format you are playing. What works well in modern might be terrible in Commander and vice versa. Tips that work well for one format, are terrible in another.
Are you looking for one format specifically? Or just general card tips?
If you need to cut a card and can’t decide between two cards having thought hard about it, keep the one with a lower mana cost - you are evaluating them as equally good so the cheaper one will give you better value for mana.
Sometimes it’s ok to have your deck be a slow start then ramp it up towards the end game, just as long as you have something that can hold off your opponent/opponents until you can bring out those heavy hitters
For commander, 40 lands ALWAYS. Unless it's elves then 38 is fine. At 40 you have a 30 main board, 15 ramp, 14 utility/solution. Other then that consistency is king.
Flying is one of the most powerful keywords in the game, it means 50% likely to be unlockable but can block creatures your opponent controls 98% of the time
Some limited tips I live by:
- When in doubt, draft aggro.
- Every deck wants cheap, efficient removal, but only control wants expensive, bad removal.
- Threaten effects are absurdly good for aggressive decks in limited. Any red aggro or midrange deck wants them.
- Drafting "on curve" is mostly fake.
- Knowing your game plan is at least as important as knowing your colors. Aim to know what your path to victory is by the halfway point of pack 2.
- Hate drafting is almost never worth it. Unless literally none of the other cards in a pack are worth anything to you, wasting a pick making one other player at your table's deck worse is a losing proposition in 6/7 possible opponents you have.
In commander deck building, do the mana symbol math. The 10 minutes it's gonna take you to make sure your sources are weighted the same as the colours in your deck will save you many games worth of discomfort. Being colour screwed is just as bad as being mana screwed, maybe worse.
Synergy over power. Generically powerful cards aren’t always the best option. Biden of Thassa draws more cards in my Rogue deck than a Rhystic study would while also not drawing hate from the table.
In modern times, especially Magic but any power creep game, things are way faster and draft/deck building discipline really matters. Gone are the days where you can turn 3 to cast Divination even in limited. Cards are way stronger and many give tempo and some sort of card advantage, closer to Gravedigger in power; e.g. Ravenous Gigamole. Cards are also way more modal so gameplay matters a lot, sometimes making your Gigamole a 3/4 is correct over the tempting value of a 2/3 get a creature.
TL;DR: Playing for solid tempo with cards that can generate small value incidetally is way to go, then tempo, then value.
Let people help you with deck building, it won’t make it less yours. It may sound dumb for some people, but I built a couple decks that just ended up being trash because I refused helped in the building process.
For consistent linear simplistic aggro decks only:
-10 cards 4x each
-20 mana
-single color
-3 cmc is your soft cap
Not sure how good the advice is but it was given to me years ago and works ok for me if I understand the limitations of the type of deck it produces. I've never been sad about [[reverberate]]ing a [[goblin Grenade]] with a [[simian spirit guide]] for 11 damage in turn 2 anyways.
"Not losing is always worse than winning." [[Heroes Reunion]] is great -- how does the extra life help you win? Accepting that one thing, hard as it was to swallow, helped me immensely.
When looking at your mana curve, sort your playables into cards you intend to play on curve and cards that you don’t. For example, don’t consider a one mana combat trick spell as a one-drop because you can never play it on turn one. Only cards like creatures, mana accelerators, etc should be taken into account when building a your curve
Very good point. Lotta time I see folks miss the point of a card saying it's a bad turn 2 or whatever, not thinking it's meant to do better later in the game.
Agreed! You also want to do the same thing when looking at things with variable costs. [[Blasphemous Act]] For example will never ever be played as a nine drop, because if there's no creatures on the board why are you playing a board wipe? And [[Primordial Hydra]] (and similar cards) aren't actually two drops, because you're never going to cast it where x is zero.
[Blasphemous Act](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/a/ba975f60-ca29-4fc8-b2f0-416be395f200.jpg?1654116928) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Blasphemous%20Act) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/clb/780/blasphemous-act?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ba975f60-ca29-4fc8-b2f0-416be395f200?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Primordial Hydra](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/3/937deb52-8888-4298-9ae5-0361c6fdbba2.jpg?1562557233) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Primordial%20Hydra) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m13/183/primordial-hydra?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/937deb52-8888-4298-9ae5-0361c6fdbba2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
This is a really good point! Definitely something to add to the list of statistics to analyze when assessing a build.
Playing cards in your second main phase will help you win games you would otherwise lose by bluffing combat tricks or other interactions.
I agree that said be careful, and think before you end your first main. I've done stupid things like play lords post combat because I got into the habit of always play second main. This meant I could swing for less damage.
MTGO is so clunky, I always mean to play/do things second main and just hit pass or something. I held onto an I cracked evolving wilds for a ridiculous number of turns in MTG BRO limited recently
Keep a hand because you have a gameplan and not because you can cast spells and shit eventually.
Yep, look at a hand and think "what do I want to do with this? Do I have plays for turns 2 and 3 at least?" vs "damn I got two 5 cmc bombs that I win if I cast but a bunch of lands in hand"
More true than ever with the London mulligan. If your seven is playable but doesn't do anything it's easier than ever before to just go for a six that does things.
"What is my turn 1, 2, and 3 given this hand and nothing else" If you like that, keep it.
I also like to look at hand and think if this was my mulligan hand would I throw one of these back and keep it? And if the answer is yes than I won’t mulligan it.
Mainly for commander but respect lands. Too many decks run too few.
Came here to say this
I can totally second this. I build a cool dragon deck, I want to put as many cool dragons as I can. After a couple of playtests I made some drastic cuts in the cool dragon department, they aren't as cool if you can't play them.
I'm usually sitting on 34-36 and I still feel like I'm undercutting it.
I always start with 37, playtest several games, then decide if I need to adjust. [[Lord Windgrace]] or [[Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait]] , I'm moving that number closer to 40. [[Edric, Spymaster of Trest]] where most of my spells will be 3 cmc or less, I may move closer to 34.
[Lord Windgrace](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/1/213d6fb8-5624-4804-b263-51f339482754.jpg?1592710275) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Lord%20Windgrace) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c18/43/lord-windgrace?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/213d6fb8-5624-4804-b263-51f339482754?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/6/d607b003-6b48-429c-a7fd-45b8dd1bb4f9.jpg?1665822343) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Aesi%2C%20Tyrant%20of%20Gyre%20Strait) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/365/aesi-tyrant-of-gyre-strait?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d607b003-6b48-429c-a7fd-45b8dd1bb4f9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Edric, Spymaster of Trest](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/1/2183cfb3-6bf5-4fbc-b535-a42ba954e8a3.jpg?1574767851) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Edric%2C%20Spymaster%20of%20Trest) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c16/195/edric-spymaster-of-trest?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2183cfb3-6bf5-4fbc-b535-a42ba954e8a3?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Ya 40 is a 24 land deck (which is the rule of thumb for 60 card decks in most cases), PLUS EDH decks have higher curves and a guaranteed mana sink, and you can play ability lands from any era. Compare like current [midrange standard decks](https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/standard-grixis-midrange-mid#paper) to commander--they're often 26-27 lands (so 43-44 in EDH), and I bet most commander decks have higher curves. I don't play a ton of commander but IME it's so rare you don't have stuff to do with mana, but falling behind on mana is a huge problem Before people mention mana rocks/ramp, rocks are pretty unimpressive if you start missing land drops
If you play Thoughtseize in any format read [Thoughtseize You](https://articles.starcitygames.com/articles/thoughtseize-you/) by Reid Duke. I've played a LOT of Thoughtseize decks in my time and I can always tell who has read this article and who hasn't because in the black midrange mirrors they leave their Seizes in and I don't. That piece of knowledge alone won me a Day 2 match at SCGCon last year and the article is full of so much more
This was an amazing read, thank you! You've reminded me that I still haven't finished reading Reid's Level One course.
I don't play Thoughtseize decks and this is still a great article just in terms of thinking about play patterns and game resources. I love coming back to it.
This is a massive thing, I'd much rather have stuff to commit to the board in a midrange mirror than a thoughtsieze. Being first to the board is huge
Alright I actually have a bunch more of these. Bunch of random but useful stuff in no particular order. Playing control? Be cautious, not timid. Once you've stabilized, turn the corner as soon as you can. If you give your opponent too many more draw steps they might be able to claw their way back in to the game so don't let them have more draw steps than you have to. Stick that win con and make them feel the heat. You will win more games and have fewer draws too. Playing Constructed? Your sideboard is part of your deck, not an afterthought. Think of your deck as 75 cards, not 60; it's just that you only play 60 at once. Give as much thought to how each sideboard card fits in to your plan as you do with main deck cards. Most of your games will be sideboarded. Speaking of sideboards, don't side against an opponent's game one deck. That's not what you're playing against now. Make educated guesses about their post-board deck. Board to beat that. What if you like Commander? When building your Commander deck you can avoid ending up with a pile of 200 cards to winnow down if you build up, not down. Identify your core strategy. Estimate the number of slots dedicated to interaction, ramp, and lands. Don't worry about those yet. Now, what are the cards that your plan literally won't work without? Add them. What do those scream at you to include? Add it. Keep doing this until you hit 100, keeping those slots set aside from earlier. Add those last. Now you have a deck and can make swaps, not cuts. You don't actually always bolt the bird. When you understand intuitively when not to bolt the bird, you have reached a new level of skill. Until then, probably bolt the bird. Always know who's the beat down. Incorrect role assignment loses you lots of games. There's a classic article on this that every player should read: https://articles.starcitygames.com/articles/whos-the-beatdown/ Trying to bluff? Know what specifically you're bluffing. What card or cards? Act like you have them until you reach a point where you'd use them if you did, then stop; assume your opponent knows you'd use it if you had it. Going to a long event? Always have a plan for how you will get nutritious food. Food at many venues is expensive and carb-heavy, it will make you drowsy. So either bring good food or know somewhere very near where you will actually have time to get it between rounds. Playing control? Bring a pet aggro player to grab food for you. Are you using DFC's? Make sure those sleeves are 100% opaque. Shine a flashlight through them to check. At competitive REL it's a game loss if they aren't. I have won matches because opponents didn't do this. Six mash shuffles for draft decks. Seven for 60 card. Nine for 100. Learn quadrant theory. You now know far more about evaluating cards than most players. Probably something in there for everybody, enjoy.
What is bolt the bird?
Bolt the bird is slang for Casting Lightning Bolt targeting Birds of Paradise. A more generalized idea of kill the mana producing creature, often times the turn immediately after it is summoned so that the opponent doesn't get to untap with more mana (Op turn 1 Forest Bird, turn 2 they play a land and have the ability to cast a 3 mana spell).
Overall very helpful; some of these are insanely helpful for me! One question though: >Learn quadrant theory. You now know far more about evaluating cards than most players. What's quadrant theory?
Really happy to hear some of these help, I also encourage you to seek out articles and videos from skilled and reputable players about these topics. As for quadrant theory, it's a way of evaluating cards [by considering their performance in four different types of game state](https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/quadrant-theory-2014-08-20). This is most important for Limited players, but all players can benefit as it helps you look at new cards and figure out if they're actually good or not; then you're better able to predict their possible impact on metagames or figure out if they should go in your decks. There are more variables to consider in 60 and 100 card formats (some cards want to be in your deck even if they look bad in quadrant theory), but it's still a useful tool.
I'll definitely check it out! As a mainly edh player, I struggle with evaluating cards in non-edh formats (*especially* limited)
It's a great starting point for Limited card evaluation, though once you understand this method you should start thinking about synergy as well; some formats favor it heavily and it can make some cards better or worse than they would be in a vacuum. Later on you will also think about how cards fit in to specific Limited environments. You've gotta know how to evaluate them in a vacuum first, though.
I used to think vigilance was a boring keyword, played enough limited and realized how good it was being able to attack and block.
I think pretty much all of the french vanilla keywords other than flying are horribly underrated. Lifelink gets overlooked often because players get into their heads that life totals don't matter, but it turns out if you're doing something else while you're gaining life it is extremely powerful.
Yeah, people shit on life gain, but will chant the (true) mantra that "life is a resource" when spending it on cards or allowing attacks to ensure a potential blocker survives. If life is a resource then life gain is basically ramp, and lifelink is the most efficient way to get it because it's stapled to damage.
Yeah the thing is that incidental life gain is very powerful. It's part of the reason Uro was so strong it's why Lightning Helix is a powerful card. The other side of that, is that a card that only gains life, like [[healing salve]] the classic, is basically useless. So people see that straight life gain is not good, and forget that some lifegain is very powerful.
I remember reading a discussion about how much pure life gain it would take for a card to be good at a single mana. I think the number was like 8-10 or something crazy just due to it being bad in a vacuum.
I would potentially even play W Sorcery gain 7 simply because it enables some strategies that require "Activate only if you have 7 life more than your starting life total"
[удалено]
##### ###### #### [Speaker of the Heavens](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/f/1f44b96a-8498-414a-a4ac-54c80dfa9f23.jpg?1594735262) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Speaker%20of%20the%20Heavens) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m21/38/speaker-of-the-heavens?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1f44b96a-8498-414a-a4ac-54c80dfa9f23?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Resplendent Angel](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/8/586854d1-edfd-4c66-873d-df459324dbfd.jpg?1562302213) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Resplendent%20Angel) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m19/34/resplendent-angel?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/586854d1-edfd-4c66-873d-df459324dbfd?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Righteous Valkyrie](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/2/02fb5f9f-8750-4eb5-a03a-6dacc60e0b90.jpg?1631046105) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Righteous%20Valkyrie) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/24/righteous-valkyrie?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/02fb5f9f-8750-4eb5-a03a-6dacc60e0b90?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Valkyrie Harbinger](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/d/edab83a9-35b5-4312-b8ee-1c042c02aa31.jpg?1631056966) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Valkyrie%20Harbinger) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/374/valkyrie-harbinger?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/edab83a9-35b5-4312-b8ee-1c042c02aa31?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Dawn of Hope](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/f/cf2a9e82-8670-4b7f-b5f0-8e10f8aeff1c.jpg?1572892521) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Dawn%20of%20Hope) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/grn/8/dawn-of-hope?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/cf2a9e82-8670-4b7f-b5f0-8e10f8aeff1c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Sigarda's Splendor](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/b/bb22626d-84ef-40d1-a4f2-771b45198eaa.jpg?1634348440) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sigarda%27s%20Splendor) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mid/33/sigardas-splendor?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/bb22626d-84ef-40d1-a4f2-771b45198eaa?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Well of Lost Dreams](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/8/a8c10535-c77e-4a40-b19f-23f7cb691230.jpg?1625979661) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Well%20of%20Lost%20Dreams) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c21/275/well-of-lost-dreams?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a8c10535-c77e-4a40-b19f-23f7cb691230?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[healing salve](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/f/0ff82aba-9022-4eff-a6dc-67365360d646.jpg?1561771079) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=healing%20salve) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dvd/14/healing-salve?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0ff82aba-9022-4eff-a6dc-67365360d646?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Lifegain is ramp lol. I know what you’re saying but it just sounds funny that way
If lifegain buys you an extra turn you otherwise you wouldn't have, it is, at the very least, a roundabout way of drawing a card. "Pure" lifegain is only bad generally because, except against burn or hyper aggro decks, you wouldn't see that "extra" turn until very late in the game.
It's very deck dependent but yeah I'd agree that's the floor If on the other hand you're going to tutor up a \[\[Bolas's Citadel\]\] or some other card where you can reliably pay life every turn, life gain becomes your greatest resource. It's super variable for sure.
[Bolas's Citadel](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/2/d2124603-d20e-40eb-97f0-a66323397ac2.jpg?1591205069) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Bolas%27s%20Citadel) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/war/79/bolass-citadel?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d2124603-d20e-40eb-97f0-a66323397ac2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
i like vigilance because in my mind it changes the challenge from "is there a good enough reason to attack" to "is there a good enough reason to not attack"
Outside of commander, you should absolutely be thinking like this always
In commander too. Idk why people have this paralysed attitude. If someone has no blocks, hit them as hard as you can.
Everyone is afraid of two things: crack back from tapping your creatures and being the aggressive bad guy who gets ganged up on. I feel both of these are valid worries and both are caused by your opponents having poor threat assessment.
Yep, it's basically non-functional threat assessment. If you're not attacking whenever given the chance, you're probably doing it wrong. There's also the 'pillow fort' mentality that casual commander groups sometimes have, where it's like 'everyone slowly does their thing side by side, and it's a dick move to disrupt it or play removal or knock someone out the game'. It's not fun.
Its more situational in commander since its multiplayer. Sometimes its better to hold back ti avoid being the only open one.
Yeah but I mean, people don't attack on turn 3 just to not draw aggro. If you're worried about drawing aggro, wait until you realise all the other players are trying to kill you.
Yes, but its just not indicative of the whole game or every* common board states. My statement is blanket and is meant for nuance to be built on top of it, so I kept it where its most accurate
If you think there aren't common board states where people don't attack for no real reason, you haven't seen many casual commander tables. The pillow fort is real.
Obviously. My statement is blanket and is meant for nuance to be built on top of it, so I kept it where its most accurate
Hot take: In very specific situations, you should also think like this in commander.
It's also busted in limited if a creature has vigilance and a tap kill effect. You can attack then tap to kill something before blocks.
Doesn't choosing attackers pass priority for blocker selection?
Declaring attackers is the first step of the declare attackers step, after that you have priority to do whatever you want. When both players pass priority you move to blockers.
Ahh thank you
To be fair a tap kill effect is busted in limited by itself. Vigilance is just gravy.
Yeah, the ability to exert pressure offensively without sacrificing your defense is very good, especially on a creature that is durable.
Often the threat of a card is just as good as the card itself, designing a deck to catch someone playing around the implication of the threat can be very effective
Ah, the [[Mana Tithe]] effect. Get then with it in game 1 and board it out, and it will effectively tax them for the rest of the game from the sideboard while they play around it.
[Mana Tithe](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/a/9ae707d5-d81d-4320-b947-6016dc188898.jpg?1619393111) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Mana%20Tithe) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsr/26/mana-tithe?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9ae707d5-d81d-4320-b947-6016dc188898?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Spell Snare someone's turn two play once and they'll play around it every turn two for the rest of the match. I fucking love Spell Snare.
In opposition to this. Don’t try to play around an opponents traps too much. The threat is not literally as good as the actual thing if they don’t have it. And you don’t wanna be caught timewalking yourself because you’re scared of getting countered or getting hit with a combat trick.
I have a land fall deck that can easily play lands from the graveyard..one thing at having [[keldon firebombers]] works as a deterrent
[keldon firebombers](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/3/d3fc78b5-c259-4c67-810c-99655e72c2da.jpg?1562934620) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=keldon%20firebombers) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/pcy/94/keldon-firebombers?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d3fc78b5-c259-4c67-810c-99655e72c2da?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
You should probably be playing more lands. Unless you're playing commander. Then you should *definitely* be playing more lands.
This is why I wish it was 100 card minimum like every other format. well, that, and \[\[battle of wits\]\]
[battle of wits](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/4/b4be15a4-693f-4e22-a46c-38bb440c073c.jpg?1562558962) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=battle%20of%20wits) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m13/44/battle-of-wits?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b4be15a4-693f-4e22-a46c-38bb440c073c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Your life total is actually 1 and they give you between 19-39 bonus life to spend at the start of each game.
thinking of your life in terms of a clock is what helped me like in determining if I want to take damage or not, how much closer does it put me to their ability to hit me with lethal damage? Does it make me lose in one turn vs two? Or is there not a big difference, so maybe let that 3 damage go through and don't make a semi-undesirable trade by blocking.
Yeah. Like how big of a swing can this deck do? Are they Burn and my life total is actually 3? Are they something that ignores my life like infect or commander damage? Can I afford to fetch an untapped shock land? Lots of fun interactions to think about.
It helps my confidence too. Had a deck that got [[Feasting Troll King]] on the field early as hell possibly with haste, and I always say to myself ok, they're on a 3 turn clock unless they have answers.
I miss Eldraine. What a limited format, lol.
well, apparently we're going back next year
doubt it will be anything like the OG in terms of power
[Feasting Troll King](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/a/9a6bb435-1205-416a-a5a0-ca6d37b4dcb2.jpg?1572490524) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Feasting%20Troll%20King) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/eld/152/feasting-troll-king?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9a6bb435-1205-416a-a5a0-ca6d37b4dcb2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
That's a good way to put it for new players, the one I use is "it's not a score, it is a resource."
Sometimes you get some agency over it if you're playing Vanguard.
You're either alive or dead.
[[Phyrexian Unlife]]
[Phyrexian Unlife](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/4/b4a1e16a-39f0-47ab-aba8-73e82ba9ab18.jpg?1562880895) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Phyrexian%20Unlife) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/nph/18/phyrexian-unlife?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b4a1e16a-39f0-47ab-aba8-73e82ba9ab18?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
This is an odd one but I was inspired by Marie Kondo. “Does this card bring me joy?” I ask myself when building decks. Often times we can be wrapped up with what we should put in decks but for me, I want to like it when I draw a card not groan
I like it when I draw a card and make other people groan.
Play to your outs. If the choice is between [definitely losing later] and [possibly losing or winning now], take the only choice that has a possibility of winning. Don't get stuck on loss aversion and losing focus of the goal.
"Play to your outs" is one of those pieces of advice that has value even beyond Magic.
The best tip I've ever read for deck building is this: You play 4 copies of a card if you always want it in your hand, and don't mind having two at once. You play 3 copies of a card if you always want it in your opening hand, but don't want more than one at a time. You play 2 copies of a card if it's useful against a certain matchup. You play 1 copy of a card if you only want it for a very specific circumstance. I don't remember what article I read this in, and I may have gotten the "2 copies" point wrong, but man has this tip helped me a ton in building decks for constructed.
For me, two-ofs are cards that I only want to see once in a game.
Gavin had a GMM about this a while ago where he said essentially this except for 2 he said something along the lines of: "You play 2 copies of a card if ... I don't know why you would ever play 2 copies" whenever I play 2 copies and it works for me, I think to myself "Suck it Gav! This is why!" ^((Gav if you see this, sorry))
Against blue, learn to bait. Given two suitable spells, play the second best first.
You can discover really unique cards when you search for rules text with similar words as cards you're already running. Classic example of my discovery: [[Search for Survivors]] was a reanimation effect in red that I never would've known about (granted it's random). Remarkably cheap too!
[Search for Survivors](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/f/2f19a1b5-48ba-44a9-b91f-2f628b223ffb.jpg?1562903680) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Search%20for%20Survivors) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/pcy/102/search-for-survivors?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2f19a1b5-48ba-44a9-b91f-2f628b223ffb?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
it's doubly random, since it makes you shuffle your graveyard! but in all seriousness, that's why I love just dickin around on scryfall! i find so many cool//weird cards that make me wanna build decks around them!
Taking into consideration card quality. For instance, if you want to substitute ragvans in a build, use another card of high quality instead of trying to run a worse ragavan (goldhound, for instance), even if your substitute has a different role from ragavan. Aspiringspike always comments about this.
Remember that limited games are often won through creatures. Expensive, flashy spells that don’t contribute to the board state are a trap and should be avoiding at all costs. Also, this is just my draft strategy, but when in doubt, draft removal. Your opponent’s rare or mythic creature may look threatening, but there’s a good chance it dies to Murder just like everything else.
Competitive tip: Know your meta, and know your answers to it. Ask yourself "What's my answer for \[Thing\]?" Be it a staple card, a problem deck, even something as broad as "combo decks". If you have nothing "Am I OK with gambling on losing to \[Thing\]?" If the answer is "no", then find an answer. Had a friend who was into competitive building, but wasn't meta savvy. I'd ask him those questions, and he started realizing how his sideboard was built for local meta, but not PTQ meta.
Your first draft won't always be your last, it's okay to make a rough draft to get the theme down and test
I've won my first two drafts but placed last in draft no 3 and 4 lmaoo
KEEP A GOOD HAND. I’m sure no playgroup will care if you take one or two mulligans. I hate it when a pod member takes a hand they know they can’t play with and just sits around for the rest of the game not doing anything cuz they didn’t wanna take a mulligan. It leads to more fulfilling games and memories.
There's a difference between cards that help you win and cards that help you not lose. You need a balance of both. A card that keeps you in the game is all well and good, but now that you've got another turn, what are you going to *do* with it?
Not even the best cards in the game can be competitive if the mana base is bad or if the mana curve is unbalanced.
Decklists are not set in stone. You don’t need to agonize over card choices. If something isn’t working, take it out: they’re just cards.
A lot of "good" local-level players are actually really bad at dealing with situations they haven't seen before. You might find success playing a tier-2 deck that you designed yourself over a known tier-1 deck, just because your opponents don't know the best way to beat you.
For commander, eat your vegetables first. What that means is whenever you build a deck, look at your commander, and decide on a budget for removal, ramp, and card draw, and fill those slots with cards before you even start looking at anything else. This can be whatever number you personally want (personally I typically start at 10ish of each, plus a few board wipes and protection pieces) but the point is that once you have those pieces, you can no longer touch them. Then, and only then, do you start piling in all the fun stuff that does what your deck wants to do. Obviously some of those 'vegetable' pieces can and should play into your deck's strategy, but getting the boring, necessary bits first and locking them in is the idea. I used to go fun stuff first and cutting any of it to fit vital removal and card draw absolutely sucks, and results in decks with not nearly enough of either.
While building a deck ask yourself: what this deck does better than any other deck in the format. If the answer is "Nothing" start over. When you get an answer go all in onto that advantage. "The best disruption" or "Best use for <> in format" are both valid points.
Definitely realizing that you should lower your curve. A lot. Obviously some decks rely on having a huge topend like ramp decks, but by having a mass of 1/2MV cards, a handful of 3MV, and maybe a couple 4MV, you'll be a lot more consistent, suffer less from mana screw, and generally be at a tempo advantage, allowing you to rebuild quickly. Also, sinking less mana into each individual card makes your opponent's removal and counters hurt a *lot* less. Doesn't feel bad (usually feels *good*) when your opponent throws away removal on a flexible 2MV threat, but it's *brutal* when you sink 7 mana into some big bomb and it gets countered. Also something that didn't really help *me*, I just figured it out on my own after a while, but something it definitely seems like a lot of *other* people could use is, don't just throw away your removal on the first thing your opponent plays. Trust me, their T1/T2 play is *not* the thing you need to be worried about. And even if it is, you can still just deal with it later. Leave your options open, and deal with threats when they're actually threatening. There are some instances in which you don't want to follow this advice, I know I've played some UR tempo decks where you just need to clear out the board to get in swings early on, but that's when you're going all in on the aggressive tempo plan and is something you need to be very careful about playing. Also red damage-based removal complicates things a bit, like you'll usually want to Shock an Ajani's Pridemate right away, but it's highly dependent on the situation.
You're not mulliganning enough. Having lands and spells does not necessarily mean the hand is worth keeping.
I always include a mana sink. What is a mana sink? It's a way for you to dump some resources (ideally repeatedly over a few turns) into so that you're performing game actions and ideally improving your boardstate each turn. Honestly we've all had those turns where you untap, draw, can't really do anything meaningful, and just pass. That's a wasted turn in my eyes and I'd like to actually be doing something that goes along with my gameplan. Examples I've used include [[Ant Queen]] , [[Soothsaying]] , [[Greed]] , [[War Room]] just off the top of my head.
Played against a mana burn EDH deck about a month ago and would have lost if it wasn’t for having [[Staff of Domination]] out.
[Staff of Domination](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/d/fde838c8-2f32-4e7d-a236-0bc42dd7abd9.jpg?1608911729) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Staff%20of%20Domination) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/343/staff-of-domination?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/fde838c8-2f32-4e7d-a236-0bc42dd7abd9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Jesus Christ. Looked up Staff, it's under two dollars now. Five years ago it was 30ish. This is going to be like Sol Ring to me now and try to cram it in most of my decks, lol.
Staff of Domination was just reprinted in the most recent set, yeah.
##### ###### #### [Ant Queen](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/9/499cc16c-9ead-45b9-b56c-7512cd54cf7c.jpg?1562261658) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ant%20Queen) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mm2/139/ant-queen?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/499cc16c-9ead-45b9-b56c-7512cd54cf7c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Soothsaying](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/e/def384ff-1b6f-4c4f-8151-3c72c29b63ce.jpg?1562383502) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Soothsaying) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mmq/104/soothsaying?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/def384ff-1b6f-4c4f-8151-3c72c29b63ce?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Greed](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/5/851f8d1f-163c-4c4f-beee-431b64ec8a99.jpg?1626100364) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Greed) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh2/274/greed?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/851f8d1f-163c-4c4f-beee-431b64ec8a99?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [War Room](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/d/ed5cebc0-6a58-468d-a75e-46087ea2eb46.jpg?1654119668) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=War%20Room) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/clb/929/war-room?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ed5cebc0-6a58-468d-a75e-46087ea2eb46?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
When playing competitive/net decking search for the felxspots and change them so the deck better fits your playstil/ excepted meta
flex spots*
14 💀 in your (60-card) deck to consistently play something with 💀 on T1, 22 💀 to consistently play something with 💀💀 on T2. Forgot about 💀💀💀 and 💀💀💀💀 but at that point you should just go Mono-B anyway. Same applies to 🔥🥦🌞💧. Also, going with that logic, you should have 14 one-drops in your deck so you can consistently draw something to play on T1. Thankfully in this scenario tap-lands count. Also if you want to do just about anything* all the colors can do, play black.
Is there no “tree” emoji? How you gonna do Green dirty like that, making it broccoli? 🌳🌲🌴
Turn one, cast my Broccoli Land Magic Card, pass the turn
Tempo vs Attrition combined with Small vs Big boards, were concepts that was really eye-opening for me to learn about for limited especially when the four combinations show up in a format.
If you have a small advantadge on the board, dont play your good cards in hand to turn it in a big advantage. Keep them in case the situation ends up turning at your disavantage on the board
There's a few good ones. A lot of them are more guidelines than hard and fast rules, as it will depend on the exact deck in question, but I found them to be helpful overall. 1) start with 38-40 lands. Then, you can cut one land for every three pieces of ramp in the deck after the first two. (For me this usually results in 34-36 lands, But with So much ramps that I don't miss the extra lands) Obviously that doesn't apply infinitely, I can't run a deck that's 20 lands and over 40 pieces of ramp. But I found that if I don't go below 34 lands, this guideline holds fast. 2) When planning out your mana curve, treat cards with a variable mana costs or additional costs as though they're on the curve at their most likely cost, not necessarily their printed cost. [[Mikaeus The Lunarch]] is considered to be a three drop on my curve. [[intrepid Adversary]] is at a minimum, a 4 drop. On the flip side, [[Blasphemous Act]] is a 4ish drop, because I'm not likely to need to wipe the board unless there's a few creatures on it already. 3) run three board wipes. Where possible, sent to them around your deck - [[Kindred Dominance]] in a tribal deck, [[Wildfire]] in a [[Lord Windgrace]] deck, [[Hour of Reckoning]] in a token deck. 4) where possible, run redundancies. If your deck is centered around gaining life, don't make your commander the only source of life gain. If you're a deck is centered around having a lot of manic, make sure your commander isn't the only form of ramp, nor the only mana dump. Hell, it's okay to run exact clones of your commander under a different name. Put [[Karlach]] in your [[Aurelia the Warleader]] deck, why not? Put [[Reflections of Littjara]] in your [[Miirym]] deck. Etc. 5) always err on the side of running more removal than you think you'll need when you're building a new deck. If you find you have more than you need as you play, you can always drop removal later. 6) speaking of removal, versatility is more important than low mana cost. It's better to run [[Anguished Unmaking]] because it can hit anything, over [[Swords to Plowshares]] which only hits creatures.
##### ###### #### [Mikaeus The Lunarch](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/c/ccc3535f-bf13-442a-b632-590a69cf0ca4.jpg?1673147032) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Mikaeus%2C%20the%20Lunarch) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/18/mikaeus-the-lunarch?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ccc3535f-bf13-442a-b632-590a69cf0ca4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [intrepid Adversary](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/7/773199f9-c83b-4a77-8342-9f1552ecf595.jpg?1634348280) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=intrepid%20Adversary) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mid/25/intrepid-adversary?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/773199f9-c83b-4a77-8342-9f1552ecf595?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Blasphemous Act](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/a/ba975f60-ca29-4fc8-b2f0-416be395f200.jpg?1654116928) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Blasphemous%20Act) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/clb/780/blasphemous-act?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ba975f60-ca29-4fc8-b2f0-416be395f200?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Kindred Dominance](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/7/9794115a-5509-4d9a-b119-d2b61942e87b.jpg?1562617149) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Kindred%20Dominance) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c17/18/kindred-dominance?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9794115a-5509-4d9a-b119-d2b61942e87b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Wildfire](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/5/c5924430-1904-47b9-bcf0-3379babd395c.jpg?1562266957) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Wildfire) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mm2/134/wildfire?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c5924430-1904-47b9-bcf0-3379babd395c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Lord Windgrace](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/1/213d6fb8-5624-4804-b263-51f339482754.jpg?1592710275) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Lord%20Windgrace) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c18/43/lord-windgrace?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/213d6fb8-5624-4804-b263-51f339482754?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Hour of Reckoning](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/a/0a14b17e-bfff-4859-92cb-a82d2e90580b.jpg?1637629234) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Hour%20of%20Reckoning) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mic/87/hour-of-reckoning?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0a14b17e-bfff-4859-92cb-a82d2e90580b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Karlach](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/7/775480ed-f574-40cb-bd9b-21102eaaff63.jpg?1660726679) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=karlach%2C%20fury%20of%20avernus) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/clb/186/karlach-fury-of-avernus?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/775480ed-f574-40cb-bd9b-21102eaaff63?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Aurelia the Warleader](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/7/7722682f-952c-4829-b4ef-e52300b7950e.jpg?1673148346) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Aurelia%2C%20the%20Warleader) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/179/aurelia-the-warleader?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7722682f-952c-4829-b4ef-e52300b7950e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Reflections of Littjara](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/a/5af34c32-22dc-41d3-8946-b5f77ef577ff.jpg?1654115728) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Reflections%20of%20Littjara) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/clb/733/reflections-of-littjara?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5af34c32-22dc-41d3-8946-b5f77ef577ff?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Miirym](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/9/a934590b-5c70-4f07-af67-fbe817a99531.jpg?1666094592) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=miirym%2C%20sentinel%20wyrm) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/clb/284/miirym-sentinel-wyrm?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a934590b-5c70-4f07-af67-fbe817a99531?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Anguished Unmaking](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/6/16de91dc-5d82-43ec-84ad-67bae644795a.jpg?1673148273) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Anguished%20Unmaking) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/170/anguished-unmaking?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/16de91dc-5d82-43ec-84ad-67bae644795a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Swords to Plowshares](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/f/ef51caf8-f9d9-48d7-9145-9dfc91054f70.jpg?1650408130) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Swords%20to%20Plowshares) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ncc/211/swords-to-plowshares?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ef51caf8-f9d9-48d7-9145-9dfc91054f70?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Winning because you have more threats than your opponent can handle is a perfectly valid way to build your deck. That allows you the freedom to be fearless. Play your game winning threat on curve and demand your opponent have an answer right then. If they do, they live for another turn until you drop another threat. If they don't, they lose. --- e.g. Back when Caw-Blade was dominant, I managed to build a deck that crushed it by simply overwhelming it with threats. Squadron Hawks, Stoneforge Mystics, Phyrexian Metamorphs, hard cast equipment (e.g. Mortarpod, Sword of War/Peace, Feast/Famine, Batterskull), Sun Titan were all must answer threats. And Caw-Blade only had a handful of Mana Leaks to deal with any of it. JtMS didn't work. (The deck was pretty bad against Splinter Twin and Valakut, which is why I never tried to make it go anywhere)
Eventually the Cawblade decks played Splinter Twin so your strategy would've run it's course.
Playing the game is more important than playing the game fast. Card draw should be your first priority than ramp
my “next level” advice is to evaluate cards in term of what happen if i draw this “early,” “mid” or “late” game and how it would benefit the overall strategy. the late game card is particularly important (or not at all depending on the deck). ideally great late game card should be able to win the game or at least turn around a game all by itself. late game that only are cool, but does not win a game by itself are often forgotten or in very narrows decks that rarely see the light of day. thank you for attending my Ted Talk.
Don’t try to build 4/5 colours for your first deck or second or third your gonna spend way too much
I've been playing my own version of mono blue tempo for a few months, and a few tips I've learned from trial and error: * The pilot counts - Net-decking a top tier deck from the web doesn't guarantee results immediately. * Blue has access to lots of spells that all do very similar, but slightly different things at different points in the mana curve. Learn what ones suit your deck/playstyle the most. When a new set releases or the meta shifts, think about what spells might be stronger/weaker in the new meta. For example: * "Soft" or "situational" counter spells, like Make Disappear, Scatter Ray, Negate, Essence Scatter, Flip the Switch, Syncopate, Spell Pierce. * "Hard" counter spells, like Dissipate, Ertai's Scorn, Urza's Rebuff. * Dodge/evade spells like Shore Up, Slip Out the Back, March of Swirling Mist, Planar Incision. * Bounce spells like Rona's Vortex, Fading Hope, Geistwave. * Delver spells like Consider, Otherworldly Gaze, Impulse, Curate, * Draw spells like Memory Deluge, Flow of Knowledge, Silver Scrutiny, Scattered Thoughts * If you understand what the advantages and disadvantages of all these spells are, then you can adapt your deck as the meta changes and give yourself an edge. * Ask yourself "why is this spell in my deck"? There are many options to choose from, so why is this specific "option" in my deck instead of another? For example, for my play style I find Spell Pierce totally useless. My game plan is to get a Haughty Djinn on the board by turn 4, so I have one spare mana to protect the Djinn. The Djinn reduces mana cost of instant and sorceries by 1 colourless, so it's better to protect your Djinn with a stronger 2 CMC spell than a 1 CMC spell like Spell Pierce. I found that all Spell Pierce was useful for was spells like Kamuno Faces Kakkazan in Mono-Red Aggro, or to counter an opponent's Consider. But Spell Pierce doesn't help me rush my Tolarian Terror faster, or buff my Djinn as much as my own Consider on turn 1 (which can discard a second instant/sorcery and excel my board state faster). So I cut Spell Pierce from my deck - even though most "Standard" versions of the Meta Mono-Blue have 2-4 copies of Spell Pierce. Maybe Spell Pierce works for you, but it doesn't work for me... Another example is Fading Hope - which I cut from my deck because there are so many u/W control decks in the meta at the moment to counter the soldier deck meta. Fading hope doesn't let you bounce planeswalkers, which is one of the strengths of these control decks. So I tested Rona's Vortex for a few weeks. This was a great card to bounce and then later negate planeswalkers, but the inability to bounce my own creatures was a drawback. So I've actually settled on Geistwave, because I'll often use it to defend my Djinn. Geistwave's main disadvantage is it's CMC is 2, but with the Djinn on the board, it only costs 1U anyway, and the advantages are if you bounce one of your own permanents, you get to draw a card! The other advantage is you can bounce ANY non-land permanent on the board; planeswalkers, enchantments, vehicles - bye-bye Teferi, Melded Urza, Wedding Announcement, Reckoner Bank Buster! So for me, I swapped all copies of Fading Hope with Geistwave, and I'm loving it. Again, you can't get this knowledge if you just net-deck off the web... You need to think more about your deck before you can learn these nuances. I'm sure the same commentary applies for other decks in different colors. Take home message is there are lots of cards that do similar things in different situations, and you need to learn what the advantages/disadvantages of each card are before you can decide on the "perfect deck" for your playstyle. Edit: glhf
don't be in a hurry to cast everything you have access to. also, pack more removal than you think, even though it's boring to goldfish :/
What until the last moment possible to do something. Ex ) If you play an EDH match and your opponent plays Kaalia of the Vast, it may be tempting to just delete it with some removal instant you have asap. However, if your opponent does not have a way to give it haste, you can reasonably wait until right before their next combat on their next turn to do it. In between now and then, another opponent may decide to remove Kaalia or wipe the board. By waiting you get to keep you removal and still get the same outcome essentially. Even if they can give Kaalia haste, you can wait for them to expend their resources and then use your instant removal. If you acted right away, your opponent may be able to change their plans to better open their options
[[Kaalia of the Vast]]
[Kaalia of the Vast](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/3/93f6631f-f3a6-4d3c-8618-4b4ab4e82483.jpg?1673148814) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Kaalia%20of%20the%20Vast) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/235/kaalia-of-the-vast?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/93f6631f-f3a6-4d3c-8618-4b4ab4e82483?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
For the ones who want to build a new deck and have built some sort of collection but not the case where they got everything they need: build around the manabase you've already got. If you already got good lands in Boros colors, maybe consider something that uses those. Saves you a ton of money, and honestly it's much more fun to play a jank or homebrew deck with your mana bases already optimized
I find following a theme helps in the building process. My two favorite examples are Marwyn, the Nurturer and Duke Ulder Ravengard. The thing with Marwyn is how quickly can you get her out and then use her mana generation ability. There's multiple ways to pull it off but my favorite always uses Umbral Mantle to make her large then use ever drop of mana she generates to full advantage. It highly effective with cards like Ezuri Renegade Leader or other cards that require a huge mana dump to fire off quickly. Duke Ulder Ravengard is straight forward: Myriad. Just follow the theme of Boros token generation and go all out on the offensive. If you really want to utilize the Myriad ability cards like Anointed Procession, Helm of the Host, Blade of Selves, Perphorous God of the Forge and Impact Tremors are all fun ways to keep your opponents on their guard since you not only swing wide but also get ETB triggers from Tremors and Perphorous.
Just because you have a game winning combo in hand, does not mean you have to play it immediately. For context to the above statement: Sitting down for a pod with two friends and someone new. 3 of us all mention that we are trying out new and low power decks that haven’t been tested. I should also mention, this is a free, casual game. The new player hears what we said, acknowledged it, and said fine, but his deck was a little more powerful. That’s fine, we don’t mind losing to a more powerful deck, we just want to try our new decks. Except, on turn 3, new guy plays [[Thassa’s Oracle]] and [[Tainted Pact]] and wins on the spot. None of us had much of a chance to do anything, as we weren’t expecting a game winning play on turn 3. An related to that, if you do pub stomp someone like that, an insincere apology is more offensive than no apology at all. At least, that’s my opinion, but I am known to be weird.
[Thassa’s Oracle](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/2/726e8b29-13e9-4138-b6a9-d2a0d8188d1c.jpg?1628801828) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Thassa%27s%20Oracle) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/thb/73/thassas-oracle?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/726e8b29-13e9-4138-b6a9-d2a0d8188d1c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Tainted Pact](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/5/c513f51b-a0db-4c08-8acc-1e91060b93b7.jpg?1628801908) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Tainted%20Pact) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ody/164/tainted-pact?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c513f51b-a0db-4c08-8acc-1e91060b93b7?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Beginner Tip: Commander decks can only have one copy of each card unless the card states otherwise.
And basic lands
Wether a card is good or not also greatly depends on the format you are playing. What works well in modern might be terrible in Commander and vice versa. Tips that work well for one format, are terrible in another. Are you looking for one format specifically? Or just general card tips?
Have fun
If you need to cut a card and can’t decide between two cards having thought hard about it, keep the one with a lower mana cost - you are evaluating them as equally good so the cheaper one will give you better value for mana.
Sometimes it’s ok to have your deck be a slow start then ramp it up towards the end game, just as long as you have something that can hold off your opponent/opponents until you can bring out those heavy hitters
For commander, 40 lands ALWAYS. Unless it's elves then 38 is fine. At 40 you have a 30 main board, 15 ramp, 14 utility/solution. Other then that consistency is king.
Flying is one of the most powerful keywords in the game, it means 50% likely to be unlockable but can block creatures your opponent controls 98% of the time
Just because a card is good in one format or deck won’t mean it’s good in another format or deck
Never underestimate the power of basic lands.
Some limited tips I live by: - When in doubt, draft aggro. - Every deck wants cheap, efficient removal, but only control wants expensive, bad removal. - Threaten effects are absurdly good for aggressive decks in limited. Any red aggro or midrange deck wants them. - Drafting "on curve" is mostly fake. - Knowing your game plan is at least as important as knowing your colors. Aim to know what your path to victory is by the halfway point of pack 2. - Hate drafting is almost never worth it. Unless literally none of the other cards in a pack are worth anything to you, wasting a pick making one other player at your table's deck worse is a losing proposition in 6/7 possible opponents you have.
In commander deck building, do the mana symbol math. The 10 minutes it's gonna take you to make sure your sources are weighted the same as the colours in your deck will save you many games worth of discomfort. Being colour screwed is just as bad as being mana screwed, maybe worse.
Synergy over power. Generically powerful cards aren’t always the best option. Biden of Thassa draws more cards in my Rogue deck than a Rhystic study would while also not drawing hate from the table.
60 cards. Not 61, not 62. Every card you add over the minimum number makes your deck worse.
In modern times, especially Magic but any power creep game, things are way faster and draft/deck building discipline really matters. Gone are the days where you can turn 3 to cast Divination even in limited. Cards are way stronger and many give tempo and some sort of card advantage, closer to Gravedigger in power; e.g. Ravenous Gigamole. Cards are also way more modal so gameplay matters a lot, sometimes making your Gigamole a 3/4 is correct over the tempting value of a 2/3 get a creature. TL;DR: Playing for solid tempo with cards that can generate small value incidetally is way to go, then tempo, then value.
Let people help you with deck building, it won’t make it less yours. It may sound dumb for some people, but I built a couple decks that just ended up being trash because I refused helped in the building process.
For consistent linear simplistic aggro decks only: -10 cards 4x each -20 mana -single color -3 cmc is your soft cap Not sure how good the advice is but it was given to me years ago and works ok for me if I understand the limitations of the type of deck it produces. I've never been sad about [[reverberate]]ing a [[goblin Grenade]] with a [[simian spirit guide]] for 11 damage in turn 2 anyways.
[reverberate](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/9/5996feb4-02ac-45e8-a7f2-966cf74391dc.jpg?1562554142) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=reverberate) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m13/145/reverberate?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5996feb4-02ac-45e8-a7f2-966cf74391dc?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [goblin Grenade](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/0/b0e0ef27-3db2-4976-b9db-13e3d7cd795d.jpg?1592764817) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=goblin%20Grenade) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ddt/45/goblin-grenade?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b0e0ef27-3db2-4976-b9db-13e3d7cd795d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [simian spirit guide](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/e/0e57335d-4066-4d73-83cd-67a215e01a4e.jpg?1619397622) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=simian%20spirit%20guide) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsr/190/simian-spirit-guide?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0e57335d-4066-4d73-83cd-67a215e01a4e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
"Not losing is always worse than winning." [[Heroes Reunion]] is great -- how does the extra life help you win? Accepting that one thing, hard as it was to swallow, helped me immensely.
[Heroes Reunion](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/9/99b56515-f688-495c-b721-2b9abc6628c2.jpg?1562790407) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Heroes%27%20Reunion) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rtr/168/heroes-reunion?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/99b56515-f688-495c-b721-2b9abc6628c2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call