Metapreface: This preface contains little or nothing in terms of Magic-related content. Just so you know. And if you read it expecting "little" and get "nothing," no whining allowed.

One of the things that I've been struggling with recently as a writer is material. Most of my articles are, well, somewhat abnormal. They don't fit the established sub-genres of Magic writing. I would write more normal articles, but I always seem to run into problems when I start to work out how I would write them. For instance, I thought about doing a CBS draft walkthrough recently. The TO was disinclined to allow it, but the real problem is summed up in the conversation that follows.

Bystander: Thing is, even if you did, no one would read it. Because it's here.

Me: And because it's me.

Bystander: Yeah, that too.

You see, I have no street cred. If you want credibility in the world of Magic, you actually have to do something. Me? I've done squat. A couple FNM Top 8s and Top 4s. Went to a team PTQ with a couple buddies, who, while awesome guys, make my awfulness look pretty good by comparison. A couple guys from my home store made Nationals, so I might hitch a ride with them and try my luck with the grinders. I've pretty much determined that any moving and shaking I'm going to do will start during college. I would have a chance at a few PTQs this summer, but the ones near my college happen before I leave, and the ones near my home happen afterwards. Enough whining, though. The point is, until I do something, certain types of articles are sort of closed to me. I can't do tournament reports - I haven't finished well enough to justify it. I can't unveil new decks like Flores Red - I don't have a team to test with. I could do set reviews, but there always seem to be too many of those anyway, and no one would care what I think when Zvi is doing his thing nearer to the top of the page than I am (At least he was. *tear*). In general, I'm limited in terms of what I can write until I stop stinking at Magic. The exception has been my theory writing. I feel somewhat qualified to do that because I like to think I'm a reasonably smart guy, pretty good at explaining things, and tend to bring a..."fresh" perspective to my theory articles. What lets me get away with writing about theory is that you can make the wrong play in real life all the time and still explain why the right play is right with a reasonable degree of success. You can establish your own credibility with tight arguments and by leaning on the credibility of the people whose ideas you borrow. Still, I always have this gnawing suspicion that everything I write in my theory articles is either completely wrong or so oblique or arcane that it's irrelevant. Which isn't to say I'm going to stop writing them.

So what am I qualified to write about? I can do "issues" pieces. I almost decided to write about Mike Long, but that's one horse that's going to be beaten to death and then to a smelly pinkish goo without my help. I could do more theory, but you can only do so much of that, and you usually need some kind of trigger that sets you going in a new direction. And then that new direction needs to be reasonably interesting. However, there's one other thing that I can do, pretty much whenever I feel like writing, and that's talk about the basics of the game that I have a reasonable handle on. I hope to expand this concept into a series of articles serving as a primer for players on the cusp of the tournament scene. The learning curve is steep, and sometimes overwhelming, especially when you're new. I'm going to try to flatten the path from the kitchen table to the feature match table (And then down to the bottom table, because the feature match thing was just a fluke. And you thought you were hot stuff. Ha!).

Where to begin? At the beginning if you look at it one way, and in medias res if you look at it another. I'm choosing to begin this series with the chronological beginning rather than the conceptual one. In as-yet-unwritten sequels to this article, I'll go back and lay the conceptual foundations. Furthermore, if I get really lazy or alternatively abandon the project for other topics, this article will stand on its own better than if I had started with the other option. Not that that'll happen, or anything.

Chapter 1: Things You Learn at Your First Tournament
So you want to go to a tournament. You're ready. Well, you're not. And you probably won't be until you've gone to three or four. There's a lot of learning that happens in the trenches, at least there was for me. The new knowledge can be broken down in to two categories, for the most part. First, you'll learn a lot about the rules, more quickly than you'd probably like, except you're reading this article, so you don't have to cram it in all at once. You're welcome. Second, you'll pick up tactical knowledge. A lot of this will be at the expense of getting wrecked repeatedly by other people's tactical knowledge, but hey, what can you do. I'll go over some of the new weapons you'll be adding to your arsenal as a new tournament player, but I have to say that in terms of catching on to these things, there's no real substitute for losing to them. A lot.

Before I go into that, however, I'd like to talk a bit about what your options are when it comes to choosing a tournament to attend.

There are two kinds of tournaments - Limited and Constructed. In Constructed tournaments, you compete using a deck you have made from your collection beforehand. Different tournaments allow cards from different sets. In Limited tournaments, everyone gets a certain number of unopened cards and builds a deck on the spot. Cards from the current block are most often the ones used for limited.

There are many Constructed formats with a wide range of different sets that are legal, and there are two limited formats, sealed deck and draft. In sealed deck, each player gets a "tournament pack" which is roughly equivalent to three booster packs (there are a few extra uncommons, and fewer commons than if you had three boosters) and two (rarely three) booster packs. Each player makes a deck from the cards he opens. In draft, players sit in groups of about eight, in a circle, around a table. Each person is given three booster packs. Simultaneously, all the players open the first pack. They chose one card that they want, and put it in a facedown pile near them. Then, they pass the rest of the cards in the pack face down to the person on their right, receiving a partial pack from the person on their left. They pick a card from the new pack, pass the rest right, and repeat until the first pack is exhausted. The second pack is then opened, and drafting proceeds as in the first pack, except you pass to the left. The third pack is passed right again. In Constructed formats, you provide your own land. In Limited, you can usually borrow basic lands from the store.

With so much variety, what should you pick for your first tournament? The first thing you should check out is if there's a prerelease near you. Prerelease tournaments are sealed deck tournaments where everyone is playing with the new cards for the first time. The atmosphere is casual, and the emphasis of rules enforcement is on teaching, rather than penalization. You should be able to find a few veterans to help you build your deck if you're confused, as well (such a thing would be considered cheating at a high-level tournament, but at a prerelease helping a new player in this way is considered allowable by even the strictest of judges, and is frequently encouraged).

If there are no prereleases within driving distance coming up in the near future, the next best option would be a local sealed deck tourney. I'd advise staying away from draft at the very beginning, unless you've already drafted with your friends. [Or on Magic Online, which is actually the fastest way to learn the game, even if the interface is terrible for beginners. - Knut, honestly not shilling] It's just one more thing to learn, and you probably don't need more to keep track of. The reason I'm advocating sealed deck rather than Constructed is that there's a good chance the Constructed deck you have right now will be outclassed by the decks you will meet at a Constructed tournament. However, if Constructed is all that's available to you, go for it. Later on I'll be offering a guide to some last minute changes you can make to your deck to give yourself a better shot, so look that up when you get the chance.

Once you've chosen a tournament to attend, the next step is to make sure you know the details of the event. This means a trip to the store's web site or a quick phone call. When are sign-ups? How much does it cost? If it's constructed, what sets are legal, and what cards are banned? If it's Limited, do I need to bring my own land? What will the format be - draft or sealed? And with what sets? Will you need to pack a lunch? Once you get all that out of the way, you should read a little bit about the format right here on starcitygames.com. Get acquainted with the best decks in Constructed. You might fall in love with a new deck, and at the least you'll know what you can expect to see other people playing. Conversely, read up on what people think of the relative value of the different cards for Limited.

So you're ready to go, right? Not so much. There are a few more practical things to get out of the way first. You need some supplies. First, you need to sleeve your deck if you haven't already. The clear "penny sleeves" don't count. You're going to want something stiffer than penny sleeves, with opaque, solid-color back. I recommend Dragon Shield sleeves, because they pretty much last forever, and they have a very low defect rate. Some of the cheaper brands tend to have more defects and fall apart with heavy use. You can get sleeves with patterns or pictures on the back, but they aren't allowed everywhere, so it's best to stick to just solid colors. Sleeves preserve the value of your cards, and will keep cards from becoming "marked," or worn in some way that makes them identifiable by the card back. If I don't say it here, someone will whine about it later: the rules don't require sleeves. They do require unmarked card backs, however, and sleeves are the best way to ensure this. You're also going to need a visible way to keep track of your life total. The best way is probably to use pen and paper, but some players prefer to use a twenty-sided die. You'll also need a few dice to use as counters and to decide who gets their choice of going first or second. You can get all of this stuff at the store where you buy your cards, unless that store is Walmart or something.

Okay, time to pack. You'll need:

1.) Dice
2.) Pen and paper
3.) Your deck and sideboard (for Constructed)
4.) Food (probably)
5.) Money for the entrance fee, plus extra
6.) Possibly a cell phone to call for a ride

Which reminds me, I need to explain about sideboards. A sideboard is a set of cards that you can swap with cards in your deck for the second and third games of a match. In Constructed, you'll need to bring at most fifteen cards for this purpose. In Limited, you sideboard is just all the cards you have in your pool that you aren't using in your maindeck, plus an unlimited amount of basic land (you can add basic land to your sideboard at any time during a Limited tournament).

I purposefully left "cards for trade" off this list. In the future, you're going to want to bring cards for trade in a binder with those trading card pages. For now, you've got enough to deal with without thinking about trading.

Okay... you've arrived on site for your first tourney, hopefully somewhat early, because I've got some homework for you. First, figure out who the tournament organizer (or "TO") is, and introduce yourself. The TO will give you a postcard to fill out. This postcard will make you a member of the DCI, which stands for something that most people forgot a long time ago. The DCI is the body that oversees tournament play for Wizards of the Coast games. You will be given a DCI card that has your new DCI number on it. This number will identify you at all future events you participate in.

Also introduce yourself to the judge for the event. Often times it's the same person as the TO, but not always. You'll be seeing a lot of them over the course of the day.

You'll have some time before the tournament starts, or even before the TO begins taking sign-ups. During this time, you should do several things. First, look at the singles section of the store (usually some kind of large case), and see what some of your cards are selling for. Also look at the prices of cards you're interested in. This is preparation for trading later on.

Next, meet some people! New friends are tech. Figure out who the regulars are, and try to learn their names. Feel free to seek advice. Helping out new players makes us veterans feel important, and it's a good way for you to make new contacts. If you do seek advice, think about it for a while, and don't dismiss it out of hand.

Then, the tournament begins. Find your opponent and dive in. Be gracious and friendly, and get ready to learn a lot.

Chapter 2: Rules of Engagement
Structure is what makes tournament Magic work. A key part of that structure is the game's rules. A lot of the new rules you're going to learn will seem pointless at first, but I've yet to come across a rule that hasn't mattered at some point. Below I've listed several of the most common rules glitches encountered by new players. You probably already know some of them, or maybe even all of them.

The Stack
The most important thing for you to get a handle on as a new tournament player is "The Stack." It's connected to lots of rules issues that follow, as well as to many to the strategy tidbits I'll be going over later on. The stack is very much at the core of the game. Briefly stated, The Stack is an intermediate zone where spells and abilities go before they happen. While an object is on the stack, both players get a chance to respond. When both players decline this chance, the game lets the spell or ability on top of the stack resolve. There are a few actions which don't use the stack, most importantly playing a land, tapping a land or other mana source for mana, and drawing the card that you get at the beginning of each turn in your draw step.

See this page for a more in-depth discussion of The Stack. "More in-depth" doesn't mean you shouldn't read it, it just means that you don't need to read it right now, and it means I don't want to put all the information it contains in this space. We've got more ground to cover. Read it when you're done with me.

Priority, Turn Structure, and The Active Player
"Priority" is related to the stack, and is most simply defined as "the right to put stuff on the stack first." The player who's turn it is always gets priority first. When they're done putting things on the stack, they pass priority to the other player. When both players pass priority in succession, the game moves forward, and one of two things happens. Either the top item on the stack resolves, or else if the stack is empty, the game enters the next phase/step.

"The Active Player" is simply "the player whose turn it is." Whenever two or more triggered abilities (triggered abilities typically start with "whenever" or "at") trigger at the same time, the active player puts his abilites on the stack first, and the non-active player puts his or hers on top of that. Be careful not to confuse the active player with the player who has priority.

You'll also want to be more aware of turn structure than you are now. This link has a chart outlining the complete structure of a turn or Magic, including when players receive priority, and this link leads to a more in-depth discussion of basic rules related to turn structure (be sure to read the related forum discussion for some minor corrections). Knowing the intricacies of turn structure will open up a lot of strategic options for you.

Attacking, Blocking, and Combat Damage
I've noticed that the rules of combat seem to cause some problems for tournament newcomers. For instance, some people declare one blocker, send the relevant creatures to the graveyard, declare the next blocker, send the relevant creatures to the graveyard, declare a third blocker, etc. This is not correct. All attackers are declared simultaneously, and all blockers are declared simultaneously. This allows both players a complete view of the action before they make decisions about actions they might want to take to affect combat. A lot of times you'll hear someone ask "damage on the stack?" This is the active (attacking) player passing priority to the non-active (blocking) player. If the blocking player has nothing, damage is put on the stack and both players get a chance to respond, and then damage resolves. If you play limited, knowing the rules for combat will be especially important.

Chapter 3: Strategery
Play Things in the End Step
Not your own end step, your opponent's, that is. The end step is the best time to play instants and instant-speed abilities for several reasons. They pretty much all are tied to the fact you get to untap immediately after your opponent's end step is over. That means that the down time of your mana and permanents with tap-activated abilities is minimized. Once you tap that Vulshok Sorcerer, you can't do it again, and in the meantime, you leave yourself open to retaliation. Maybe your opponent wasn't playing his Birds of Paradise because it would be killed as soon as it hit the table. If you tap your Sorcerer during your turn or before your opponent's second main phase has ended, your opponent could play his Birds, and then perhaps do something like equip it with Vulshok Morningstar or enchant it with Blanchwood Armor.

Play Creatures After Combat
There are two reasons for this. The first is that you should always withhold as much information from your opponent as possible. Maybe your opponent is low on life and decides to block your Order of the Sacred Bell with his Grizzly Bears. Would he have made the same decision if you had played a Craw Wurm before you attacked?

The other reason is that you want to have your mana untapped during combat. Maybe you need to regenerate a creature, or maybe you want to bluff that you have a combat trick. As long as your mana sources are untapped, there's a chance you could have something. When you tap all of it, your opponent stops worrying. Even if you don't actually have anything in hand, your opponent doesn't know that yet. Let him wonder.

Use Burn Spells to Kill Creatures
Burning away the rest of someone's life is a great way to win games that you appear to be losing, but the best use of direct damage spells (spells like Shock are often called "burn" or "direct damage") is to clear away blockers so that your creatures can attack unhindered. It is rarely correct to send burn directly at your opponent's head on turn 1.

Board Position is More Important Than Life Total
Let's broaden the scope of our last point. Don't worry about your life total too much. The only time taking damage actually does anything is when it's the last point, or when it puts you so low that the decisions you make are affected--for instance, you can't attack any more because your opponent's counterattack will kill you. The first fifteen points of life or so are basically free. Use them. Do you really need to block that Hill Giant with your Grizzly Bears now? Maybe next turn you'll draw a Giant Growth. If not, you can always block and save three points of damage when you really need to. If that Hill Giant attacks for five turns, your Bears are only going to be able to block once, and the other four times the Giant will get through. Why not give yourself a chance to draw something that'll help? Wouldn't you feel silly if you threw your Bears in front of the opponent's Giant and then drew a Terror on the very next turn? Remember, your life total is a resource that you can spend or save as you want, not something that must be kept intact at all costs.

That's all I've got for this time around. The 9^th Edition release events are coming up, and they'll be a perfect opportunity to go to your first tournament. You can find some of the host stores at this page, but the list isn't complete, so call up your local store to see if they're having an event.

Good Luck 'til next time!

Bonus Section: Self-Absorbed Navel Gazing
One thing I've learned over my relatively short writing career is that some people enjoy personal anecdotes and off-topic ramblings, but some people hate them with a passion. One person of the latter persuasion called extraneous "fluff" no more than "self-absorbed navel gazing," and the phrase it cracked me up a bit, so I asked if I could use it sometime. There's where this section's title came from.

I started reading Harry Potter 6 at eight thirty or nine o'clock on Saturday and was finished by six fifteen Sunday morning. One of the Things You Get To Do When You're an Internet Writer™ is share your opinions on unrelated topics, so here goes, in spoiler-free fashion.

All good fiction is about people: their outer conflicts, their inner struggles, their bravery, their cowardice. Rowling understands this, and her masterful characterization has carried the series. Her prose is "solid, if unspectacular," although it's certainly better than anything I might come up with. It's easy and friendly to read, streamlined, and as such not gripping by itself. Her plot twists can sometimes be predictable, although when one lands unanticipated, it hits hard.

This is certainly true of her latest effort, where the characters shine more vividly than ever. The rather unsurprising ending to the last installment pales in comparison to this one's, which is more intense than that of book four. I think that the [spoiler] for some time by many readers, and certainly many more saw it coming as the book drew to a close, but the [spoiler] were absolutely shocking, and totally broke out of the story's usual tracks. Your opinion may differ, of course. [Spoiling in the forums will result in bannings. - Knut]

This one is sure to get people talking. And if you're not talking already, I have one word to get you started, which I'll post in the message boards as I fear it might border on a spoiler. We wouldn't want that.

Happy reading, and good luck 'til next time.

Grant Babcock
Bobvader314 on the forum