So you want to be better at Magic? That’s probably one of the reasons why you are reading this. In my last article, I talked about a Blue/Black Eldrazi deck in Standard, and touched briefly upon what I saw players doing wrong when I watched their games. I really want to win; I didn’t for a while, and I still don’t think I have the same fire that I once did, but it’s getting there. But, besides me wanting to win, I want you guys to win as well. I love teaching, and I love helping you guys, so in this article I’m going to give you play tips, advice, and whatever else I can think of to help you… so let’s go.
5) Monkey See, Monkey Do
It’s just that simple. Last year I attended Grand Prix: Chicago, which was a Legacy GP, and once this article sees print, GP: Columbus will have come and gone. I played a Rock deck back in Chicago, and I will once again play a Rock deck in Columbus. One main point I am going to discuss with you is that against almost all of the Blue Control players I played against in Chicago had one thing in common: misusing Force of Will.
Attention to everyone out there! Card disadvantage is BAD, especially when you are playing against a deck that wins through it. Why would you Force of Will a Thoughtseize? Sure, sometimes it might be right to do this, but more often than not people just discard a card and give you a three-point life swing for no reason. Why, you ask? It’s simple: people see other people Force of Will things, and they look cool. They’re all tapped out, and they put up their index finger and say “hold on,” and then they Force it. I don’t know, maybe they actually think they look cool doing it, but 99% of the time it is the WRONG play. You, as a Control player, have to understand what your opponent is trying to do. If they are trying to rip your hand apart, don’t help them by giving them an unnecessary free card. Just think it out; if you actually have an insane spell you are going to play next turn, then sure, Force it, but if not, think about what you are doing before you actually do it.
In conclusion: don’t have the “if you don’t use it, you lose it” attitude in a situation like this with your Force of Will.
4) You Have No Patience
You are a 17-year-old girl who just got her $200 dollar gift card for her birthday. You race to the mall, and in the first store you see you go berserk and spend it all! Wow, that was fun! But guess what? There was a better dress at the next store down, and it was less expensive. Needless to say, YOU BLEW IT! It’s the same thing in Magic. I see people play turn 1 Halimar Depths when they shouldn’t. I see people blow their Day of Judgment for one guy. I see people slap down a Bloodbraid Elf on turn 4, on an empty board, without even thinking twice about it.
Why? I guess because people just love to blow their load.
Lots of games won by Pro players are won because they extracted the maximum amount of card advantage from every single card they played. Before you play whatever card you about to play, consider if you could gain more value if you were to wait to cast it. Jund players always casting turn 3 Blightnings on their opponent if they have no other play and high five themselves about it, when frankly there is a good chance they needed to hold that Blightning to be able to take out a Jace with it AND potentially get more powerful cards with the discard. I’m clearly not saying you shouldn’t Blightning your opponent on turn 3, but before you decide what to do, just think if it’s even relevant now or if you can wait a turn or two to get maximum value from it.
3) You Are Scared Sh**less
It’s turn 2 and you just dropped a Putrid Leech and said go. Your opponent has an Arcane Sanctum and Marsh Flats. On turn 3 you draw and attack…and you DON’T pump. Why? Why would you not pump here? What are you scared of? If they have a Smother or Path to Exile or Celestial Purge, you pumping has almost no relevance. By this time we are under the assumption that we are playing against an Esper Control deck, against which your life is almost irrelevant, so paying two life on the chance that they don’t have one of the removal spells is worth it. Maybe you’re scared that you’ll look stupid by pumping and then having them Smother your guy… I’m not sure why, but I see this happen all the time.
Even in the Jund mirror, I read articles online where the consensus is to take out your Lightning Bolts after game 1, but yet players are scared to pump their Leech. This doesn’t add up. You take the time to read articles, try to perfect your deck list, then just make an error that is as simple as 2 + 2 to figure out. Just think about it. You play Magic. It’s one of the most complex games in the world. If you think things through and don’t played scared, you can figure out the right play.
2) You Don’t Know How To Sideboard
You read an article online. It says “Against U/W Control, bring in your Baneslayer Angels and Sphinx of Jwar Isle, because they take out their Day of Judgments.” Then you play against them, and what do you ? You take out your Day of Judgments. There is nothing set in stone, but so many players make it that way, and thus become one-dimensional.
When you are playing Magic, there are endless possibilities. You can play how you want and sideboard how you want, so don’t try to follow some unwritten rule in the hope of trying to win. Instead, try to be one step ahead of your opponent, and make a decision you can be proud of which will in turn lead to winning.
For Limited, think ahead while drafting. If you see a bunch of Ice Cages going around, pick up a few Unholy Strengths and side them in rather than a Disenchant effect, since siding in proactive cards is much better than siding in reactive cards. Just think about it, and take the three minutes you get to actually sideboard properly.
A final note: one thing I see is that players almost never sideboard out land, and I don’t understand why not. If, say, you are playing a deck with 26 lands and your curve is pretty low except for your four Broodmate Dragons, but after board you are replacing them with four Doom Blades, shouldn’t you adjust your mana count based on this? Maybe yes, maybe no, but it’s definitely something to consider which people just don’t do. Rumor has it that Craig Wescoe sideboards out lands and I wouldn’t be surprised if he does. He is an old school pro who is always thinking about how he can get a slight edge in a match up and maximize his chance at a favorable outcome. In Magic slang, he is the nutttttttttt. [This was written pre-Columbus, but I can see the forums derailing as I type… – Craig, amused.]
In Limited, this can also be considered, depending if you will be on the draw or the play. Lots of old school pros are in favor of 18 lands on the play and 17 lands on the draw.
This is just something to consider next time you are sideboarding, because there is a good chance your opponent won’t be considering this themselves.
1) You Don’t Play To Get Lucky
It’s Round 4 of the GP. You see your name paired against LSV. Congrats! You get to play the best player in the room. You sit down, shuffle up, and draw your hand. It’s the nuts, but it’s a one-lander. What happens? A switch goes off in your brain. “1 = MULLIGAN.”
Wrong.
Think about it. LSV has a huge edge on you already, and going to six cards is only going to make his edge bigger. I’m not saying instant keep; I am saying reevaluate your hand given who your opponent may be.
This type of “playing to get lucky” carries on throughout the course of the game. Lots of times I see people start to chump block just to stay alive a few more turns, when it’s almost evident that you will lose in a few turns, rather than trying to play to get lucky. Play as if your opponent doesn’t have one of the ten cards he can have to kill you on the spot and you have to draw your one-outer if you must, because some shot-to-win is better than some shot-just-to-survive-a-few-more-turns. This isn’t a poker tournament where the longer you last the bigger the pay out. This is Magic. You either win or lose (or draw, but let’s not factor that in now).
The point I am trying to get at is you need to get lucky to win a large tournament, and you’re going to have to take chances when you’re an underdog.
This can also be applied while drafting. Say you’re at your National Championships and your draft pod is full of seven sharks and you. Maybe think and try to gamble, and try to draft a Jace mill deck. Just know the situation you’re in, and try to react accordingly.
Those were some of my tips that I hope will help you become a more advance player, and something for you and your friends to talk about. I have many more of these tips and views, and I hope you guys will continue to want to hear them.
I want to touch on the UB Eldrazi deck I wrote about earlier, especially as the metagame shifts with M11 are settling in. So far, the deck is still considered far from tier 1, but I will work on it and possibly play it at Nationals.
Creatures (5)
Planeswalkers (6)
Lands (26)
Spells (23)
- 2 Mind Shatter
- 2 Mind Spring
- 4 Doom Blade
- 3 Essence Scatter
- 2 Into the Roil
- 1 Rite of Replication
- 4 Everflowing Chalice
- 3 All Is Dust
- 2 Deprive
Sideboard
After playing more with the deck – and speaking with others who have played the deck – here is what I came up with.
Artifacts
Getting mana with this deck is very important, and I want to still have the maximum amount of chalices
Creatures
2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
1 Sphinx of Lost Truths
The Sphinx of Jwar Isle is still one of my favorite guys, so I am leaving him in. However, the random Sphinx of Lost Truths got cut for two copies of Grave Titan. The Titan also provides on the spot card advantage, but at a lower cost, since you actually need to kick the Lost Truths to gain card advantage. The Grave Titan is just a bigger and more powerful threat, since it’s 10 points of power instead of 3.
Legendary Creatures
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
With the addition of Grave Titan, I believe the Ulamog is no longer necessary. It is too expensive for the main deck, and having 1 main deck Eldrazi guy is good enough. Kozilek is cheaper and provides more card advantage. Ulamog should come in after board against any slow or control deck.
Instants
2 Deprive
4 Doom Blade
3 Essence Scatter
2 Into the Roil
Most of the changes came here. I add the maximum amount of Mana Leaks; I took out three Scatters for this, and one of the Into the Roils. I also am currently trying out two Smother and three Doom Blade, I made room for the Smothers by taking out the fourth Doom Blade and second Into the Roil. The Deprives actually got cut for Cancels. This was for a few reasons, one being that the Halimar Depths are no longer in the deck, meaning you have no land you actually want to return. Besides, this deck has a lot of mana, and Deprive would always set me back in the early game.
Planeswalkers
2 Jace Beleren
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Sorceries
2 Mind Shatter
2 Mind Spring
1 Rite of Replication
Tribal Sorcery
I decided to cut one Jace Belern from the main deck because I wanted to make room and play three Jace’s Ingenuity over the Mind Springs. The instant speed card draw proved to be strictly better.
Basic Lands
Lands
4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Halimar Depths
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
I took out the mostly useless Halimar Depths, as entering the battlefield tapped hurt much more than it ever helped. I added one Tectonic Edge, one Scalding Tarn, and a fifth Island. Making the current main deck look like this.
Creatures (5)
Planeswalkers (5)
Lands (26)
Spells (24)
As far as the sideboard goes, it has been changing, but given the current metagame it should look something like this.
Sideboard:
2 Malakir Bloodwitch
4 Flashfreeze
1 Smother
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
4 Duress
1 Haunting Echoes
2 Negate
In conclusion, I hope you learned something from this article. If you guys have any questions, you can respond in the forums. I’m here to try to help you guys out, so let me know. Thanks for reading.