The 14 Best Tips For Getting Good At MTG

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14 Pro Tips For Magic The Gathering

Magic: The Gathering relies heavily on strategy, so here are some pro tips to help you improve your gameplay and win even more. Do you love trading card games? Perhaps is your go-to game? While older than many of its players today, having first launched in summer 1993, this deep and complex game is more welcoming to new players than ever. Wizards of the Coast is making a sincere effort to open the entrance gates wide, and many products are tailored to new players just getting a grasp on how to be a Planeswalker. Once a player has learned the rules and practiced a few games, they may wonder how they can push their game to the next level. There are many tips and strategies to pursue, and the pro players may know them all. A comprehensive list would be pretty long, but the following strategy suggestions may be a fine place to start. They are general enough that any player, using any sort of deck, can follow them. Updated by Chris Stomberg on August 24, 2022: The Magic: The Gathering field has changed quite a bit since the game's inception, but the game's tumultuous pro scene seems to have had nearly no effect on players' ambitions to be the best. There is no shortage of articles regarding becoming better at Magic, and many such topics are complicated to say the least. Nevertheless, there are some general guidelines you can follow which will increase your play skill exponentially. This list contains the most important of them. THEGAMER VIDEO OF THE DAY

Know When To Mulligan

There are some decisions to make even before you take your first turn. Sometimes, it's totally clear when you should mulligan, such as when you have no lands in your hand or your hand is almost entirely land cards. But what about borderline cases? Things get fuzzier here. If you're considering a mulligan, a good rule of thumb is to go ahead and take one. Another rule is to see if your current hand lets you be proactive early on, or works well against your opponent. If not, take a mulligan. Also, if you cannot easily cast more than one spell in your opening hand with the lands you see, a mulligan may be in order. Finally, you may take a mulligan if your opening hand does not represent your overall strategy.

Know Your Role

Apprentice Sharpshooter, by Steve Prescott This tip refers to perhaps the most famous Magic: The Gathering article of all time: . If you haven't given this article a read before, we highly recommend doing so, as it goes a bit more in depth on this specific and very important point. The short version is that in any given game of Magic, one deck is going to end up being the aggressor and another deck is going to end up being the defender. For example, in an aggro versus control matchup, the aggressor is obviously the aggressive deck and the defender is the control deck. The goal of the aggressor's deck is to win the game before the defender's deck can stabilize. In contrast, the goal of the defender's deck is to stymie the aggressor's attacks for long enough that its superior resources can win the game. The point is that you should always know what role you are playing in a matchup so that you can gear your play towards that role.

Build A Sideboard

Wrenn and Six by Donato Giancola New players will soon learn that a deck is not 60 cards, but 75. A sideboard may have up to 15 cards, and they can be swapped with the main deck to adjust to your opponent's strategy. Some sideboard cards are broad and generic and are great inclusions, such as Pithing Needle, Ghost Quarter, Spellskite, and Wasteland. Others are geared for a specific strategy, or even a particular deck. Learn which decks and strategies are the most popular in your chosen format and game store, and use that as a reference. But your opponent will side in cards too, and you may try to side in cards for that. Don't be afraid to use your sideboard for your opponent's sideboard, as well as their main deck.

Master Card Advantage

Gyome, Master Chef by Steve Prescott This is a deep topic. Any card has an inherent -1 card advantage, since you lose the card to get the effect. Find cards that can destroy more than one permanent at a time, to make your opponent lose more cards than you did. Or, you can try cards that cantrip, such as Remand. Scry 2 may act as a substitute, such as on Magma Jet. "Grindy" cards think long term, and they may cost your opponent many cards over time or let you draw many more. Huntmaster of the Fells, for example, is a Werewolf that makes 2/2 Wolf tokens and can burn away creatures more than once, as it transforms back and forth. Or, you may play a creature or a token-creating spell that your opponent will need more than one removal spell to deal with. Think of Lingering Souls or Kitchen Finks, for example. Your opponent will lose a lot of combat blockers or removal spells in dealing with such threats.

Tech For The Metagame

Ob Nixilis, the Adversary by Yongjae Choi A lot of players are familiar with formatting their sideboard to beat the metagame, but what many people don't realize is that you can change your mainboard to accomplish the same thing. Granted, there are decks where changing the mainboard to accomplish this becomes more difficult, but most decks are capable of being changed in such a way. For example, imagine you're playing in a super heavy control meta. While the best advice would probably be to just play a hyper-aggressive deck, you could also tech a midrange deck with more aggressive cards that lower your curve to accomplish a similar result.

Bait Out Cards

Koma, Cosmos Serpent by Jesper Ejsing Many decks have counterspells and/or removal spells. Reduce their impact by creating a smooth curve of how powerful your creatures are. Start with creatures that are weaker, but still pose a threat, and pressure your opponent into using counterspells and removal on them. With any luck, your opponent's answers have run dry for the time being, and now it's safer to play your biggest threats yet. Your 3/3 may bait out your opponent's Terminate, and on your next turn, that Terminate isn't around to deal with a sudden 5/4. This works especially well against control decks, which are afraid of creature pressure of any kind. Play conservatively at first, then bring out your big guns a turn or two after that. Don't wait too long, though; control decks love the long game.

Bluff With Dead Cards

Elspeth Conquers Death by Ryan Yee Chances are you're going to draw a card that's not useful in most games of Magic you play. However, that card can become useful if you hold it up like you're waiting to play it - MTG will reward players who bluff and mislead their opponents. If you draw an unneeded land, feel free to hang onto it, and play as though it were a juicy removal spell or counterspell. Back this up with some untapped lands or other mana sources, and your opponent may get the totally wrong idea about what you're doing. This works best if you're using reactive decks such as control, or Jund (black/red/green) in the Modern format. As for aggressive decks, hang onto a dead card, and then make a bold attack while your lands are untapped. Your opponent may get the impression that you're preparing to cast a devastating combat trick.

Think Ahead

Ajani's Influence by Sidharth Chaturvedi The best Magic players are able to see three, four, or even five turns ahead. Before they cast a card, they have already considered the ramifications of playing that card now for many turns in advance. This is a rather general tip, but it's an important one nonetheless. The farther you can see ahead in regards to the actions you're taking, the better chances you have of avoiding making a mistake. It's easy to think about what your next turn might look like, but things get more complicated and more beneficial the farther ahead you can see in advance.

Familiarize Yourself With The Metagame

Jace, Wielder of Mysteries by Anna Steinbauer Teching (preparing) for the metagame is one thing, but actually getting to know it is another entirely. A good Magic player knows what other popular decks are in the format they are playing. A great Magic player has played those decks, knows how they work, and understands their weaknesses. With this knowledge, you know what is coming next and can predict what your opponent may do next based on their current cards, the mana they have available, and the current board state. Experience makes this easier to do, and this might even help you see through bluffs or know when to mulligan a hand that is weak against a particular deck.

Three Resources Not One

Liliana, Defiant Necromancer by Karla Ortiz Mana is not the only resource in this game; life points and cards are the other two, and all three must be managed well. How? Life points can be spent to pay for effects or spells, and black mana, in particular, is savvy with that. Meanwhile, do whatever you can to advance your strategy by using as few cards as possible, and try to make your opponent spend more cards than they normally would in order to keep up with you. Blue does this best, but any color offers grindy cards or strategies to pull ahead, such as board wipes, two-for-one removal, cantrips, and creature threats that are impossible to completely negate with just one card. If your opponent runs out of cards, they will run out of steam, too.

Have A Plan B

Oath of Nissa by Wesley Burt A plan B is essential for any strategy game, and that includes Magic. Your deck will have a primary strategy that defines it, such as "aggro" for Naya Zoo (red/green/white), "burn you to death with Valakut" (red/green), or just "play lots of Merfolk and attack." However, your opponent might defeat your main plan, especially with sideboard cards, so you'll need another route to victory. Substitute combat damage with burn damage halfway through a game, or abandon your combo and attack with efficient beaters. Multicolor decks have the easiest time with this, especially those which are meant to be flexible, such as Abzan Midrange (green/white/black) or three-color Delver of Secrets decks.

Make Sacrifices

Rakdos, the Showstopper by Viktor Titov Don't overestimate the value of your life points or your planeswalkers. Often, blocking does not turn out well, and rarely will your opponent attack unless they are sure that their creatures can kill yours. If you're going to die to attacks or suspect your opponent can kill you with damage outside of combat, you may want to consider blocking. Otherwise, use your life points as a buffer while you continue to develop your own game plan. This is especially true if your creatures are useful utility creatures, such as Deathrite Shaman or Mother of Runes. Don't throw them away to save two life points.

Try Different Formats

Chandra, Dressed to Kill (Borderless), by Ekaterina Burmak It might not seem like playing a format other than the one you want to excel at would make you better at it. After all, how is playing Limited going to make you better at Standard? However, playing different formats ends up giving you a different perspective on the game, that you can then bring back to your chosen format and benefit from. For instance, building decks in Limited play is a good way to become a better constructed deckbuilder. Limited gives you insight on cards that you would simply have ignored in Standard, since you're not forced to play mostly commons and uncommons. As a result, you can use this insight to broaden your horizons on what cards you consider playable in Standard. This may seem like a roundabout way to get better at Magic, but it really works.

Practice

Elspeth, Sun's Nemesis by Livia Prima You aren't going to become a great Magic player overnight. This is a game with decades of history, and many competitive players have seen tens of formats and have years of experience. You, too, need some time on the practice field. Actually, everyone does, and there's no better teacher than experience. Don't be afraid to make mistakes or misplays along the way. It's how players develop, and you'll learn new things about your deck and the game itself as you go. Making mistakes is part of becoming better at anything you do, so it's important to learn from them and get better from it.