Patriot Games

Monday 24 September 2012

A Magic the Gathering legacy begins...

It is Sunday morning 23rd September 2012 as I write this.  By this time next week I will be on my way to my third Return to Ravnica pre-release to play Golgari after a slap up breakfast at the Riverside Cafe near my home.  I'm quite excited by that prospect and not just because of the breakfast!  Return to Ravnica is the beginning of an epic time for Magic in Sheffield and it all starts on Friday at FNM Relax with Legacy.

Insert image of random Legacy staple here...

Including Legacy as part of FNM Relax was a massive gamble, other than Vintage it has the biggest barriers to entry because of the cost of the cards involved - many of the cards are old and will not be reprinted which adds to their price on the second hand market.  Last time we played Legacy at FNM Relax it was a great success, a lot of the regular players decided to give it a miss but all of the Legacy players turned up with a watered down version of their usual deck and a great time was had by all.  There was a general armistice with no Wastelands, no turn 1/2 combo wins and everyone put their Force of Wills in their sideboards and played nicely, well almost everyone, but I don't think he is coming back.

Show and Tell Hivemind good - Show and Tell Progenitus better...

I have acquired some new cards since I played Legacy last and I wanted to try a new deck, so I did something I don't normally do, I went and looked on SCG at some Legacy deck lists and was struck by an epiphany.  Magic decks are like cars.  A good standard deck is like the latest GTi Golf - a good reliable car that everyone knows and recognises for what it is, occasionally driven by flashy boy racers who don't really know what they are doing.

If you squint hard enough it looks like a Golf...

Extended decks are the BMW M3 of the Magic deck family.  Comfortably, powerful, stylish with a certain nostalgia to them, and you can pick one up without it costing you an arm and a leg.  Infinitely  better than the Golf with years of solid engineering behind it.

Extended with shock lands - oh yeah baby!

Modern decks are like a Porsche 911 Turbo - compact, sexy, with lots of power but not quite at the point of being a true classic, and you can't help be aware that it was a Volkswagen Beetle 50 years ago.

What were they thinking...

 That brings us to Legacy.  Legacy decks are like the Ferrari 458 Italia; beautiful, sleek, head turning, admired and lusted after by others.  Tuned to absolute perfection for optimal performance, but breaks down regularly and costs you like you can't imagine when it does!

All it needs is Nessun Dorma in the back ground and some fantastic scenery.

Although I have reached my destination with this analogy I feel the need to complete it with Vintage.  Vintage is a Bugatti Veyron - the fastest street legal car in the world but you are never going to able to afford one!

No top deck miracle nonsense, just 2 mana have another go!

Anyway, back to Legacy.  I can't really afford a Ferrari so I kind of end up with a Prius - its ok and friendly to the environment (apparently).  So here is my deck for Legacy this Friday, the Toyota Prius;

1 Savannah
4 Misty Rain Forest
4 Cavern of Souls
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Breeding Pools
2 Temple Garden
2 Verdant Catacomb
2 Forest
2 Island
2 Plains
23 Land

4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Squadron Hawks
3 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Noble Hierarch 
1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
18 Creatures

1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
2 Daze
3 Spell Pierce
2 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
4 Path to Exile
3 Brainstorm
2 Green Sun's Zenith
19 Spells

Sideboard
1 Batterskull
3 Mindbreak Traps
2 Temporal Mastery
2 Disenchant
2 Oblivion Ring
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Thrun, the last Troll
3 Tormod's Crypt


I wont say anything else about my deck other than the joy I feel at playing a deck where all of the cards in it are good.

There is a second part to this blog today and that is to tell you more about the Patriot Games Sheffield Invitational.  It will be held on the weekend of 27th and 28th October 2012 and day one will involve 40 hand picked players from the MTG Sheffield community.  Players have been picked both for their continued high level of play and for their contribution to local Magic.

Day 1 will kick off with 4 rounds of Return to Ravnica sealed, and will finish with 4 rounds of Modern.  At this pint there will be a cut and the top 16 will advance to day 2.  Everyone else will get some boosters and a certificate to show they were in the invitational and what placing they achieved. 

Day 2 will see the top 16 compete in 4 rounds of standard before splitting into 2 pods of 8 for 3 rounds of draft.  At this point all of the scores will be added up and the top 6 players overall will become the official "pro" team for Patriot Sheffield for the next 12 months.  Here is a full breakdown of the prize support;


Each of the players that do not make the top 16 will receive 2 Boosters of their choice (subject to availability in the store).

Each of the Players that make Day 2 but do not come in the top 6 will receive 3 Boosters.

Top 6

1st: From the Vaults Realms + Sponsorship Package

2nd: 10 Boosters + Sponsorship Package

3rd: 6 Boosters + Sponsorship Package

4th: 6 Boosters + Sponsorship Package

5th: 5 Boosters + Sponsorship Package

6th: 5 Boosters + Sponsorship Package

Other Prizes

There will be a prize for most Sporting Player (as nominated by other players)

An Extra booster for 17th and 7th place if they are separated from the higher position by tie break alone.

Obviously you get to keep all of the cards that you play sealed/draft with.  Deck lists will be needed in each case and you will register the pool you open but not play with it as per normal with main events.

There is a cost to the event, but this is to cover the costs to the store and nothing else so the entry fee is £25 - everybody will get at least 8 boosters (6 for sealed plus 2 in prize support), and those on day 2 will get at least 12 boosters (6 for sealed, 3 for draft and 3 in prize support).

I will save details of the sponsorship package for Jim to tell you about, suffice to say it is very worthwhile and rewards people for playing more Magic and getting out there to Promote Sheffield and Patriot games.

Well I think that just about does it for this one, I will be back on Friday with another blog, hopefully written by a special guest writer (I hear he's quite good).  Don't forget your weekend of Magic kicks off with Legacy at 6pm on Friday.  See you there...

Friday 21 September 2012

Taking Command

Oh man I want to talk about so many great things but I already promised a blog on EDH so I guess I had better do that first!

One of the most popular blogs I have done is the one here about EDH/Commander. It was unplanned at the time and followed on from Mike Boon's post about his Azami EDH deck.  He is not playing the deck anymore as people objected to the point of refusing to play with him or just beating him to death before he could combo out.


Not a combo card, just plain good!

Since then I have been wanting to take a look at EDH/Commander again and now seemed like the right time with Return to Ravnica pre-release a week away and 5 new EDH generals to play with.


Coming to make the Eldrazi even more broken in EDH soon...

However, I did not know exactly how to approach the subject in order to be effective.  Doing a blog that looked at positive cards to play in EDH seemed a bit lame, and another top 10 list felt too much like a rinse and repeat approach as well.  A straight "here is a 100 card deck list" didn't fill me with joy either so I thought I would just tell you a story and see how that goes.


Thrun as the general, 98 Forests, and Lost in the Woods - not the best article or deck ever.



When Dark Ascension came out I was particularly impressed with lingering souls (who wasn't).  I did not look to use it to maximum effect in Standard but rather wanted to play it with my recently acquired Doubling Season because 8 1/1 flyers for 5 mana seems really good.

Who you gonna call?  I'm not sure the Ghostbusters will be up to the task.


Having decided that I wanted to use these 2 cards in tandem meant for EDH purposes I was working in GWB or Black "wedge" colours. I looked to doubling season as being the best card in the deck and decided to find cards in my collection which allowed me to abuse it's ability.  


Love this card - sad that they didn't reprint it in Return to Ravnica.

As it doubles the loyalty tokens on a Planeswalker as it comes into play this seemed very strong and something I could abuse happily.  This led me to Elspeth Tirel (she makes tokens and blows up the non-token world), Ajani (the original one) & Gideon (he's so good).  Garruk, Primal hunter was a no brainer especially with his ultimate making loads of 6/6 wurms.


Garruk wanted to show he had been putting in the hours at the gym...

So I then went through my collection adding cards which could make the best use of doubling season of which there were quite a few in standard including Midnight Haunting, parallel lives, Mayor of Avabruk, Increasing Devotion, Gather the Townsfolk and Mentor of the Meek.


This guy is nuts in this deck with 2/2 tokens everywhere!

At this point I thought it might be a good idea to find a general and went to the gold section of my folder to find one that would fit.  I found one that was perfect from the Commander decks WotC produced last year - Ghave, Guru of Spores.  


Is it me or does he look a bit General Grievous?

I also realised when Avacyn Returns came out  that I could break Cathar's Crusade - for 1 mana I make a 1/1 saproling which triggers Cathar's Crusade and puts a +1/+1 token on each creature including Ghave, replacing the counter I just took off!  


Steady men!  Wait for those triggers to resolve, steady, steady...

As usual the list has matured since I first made it and now looks like this;

1 Ghave, Guru of Spores
1 Commander

1 Bojuka Bog
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Gavony Township
1 Isolated Chapel
1 Marsh Flats
1 Murmuring Bosk
1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Treetop Village
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Woodland Cemetery
8 Forest
8 Plains
6 Swamps
38 Lands

1 Avacyn's Pilgrim
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Blade Splicer
1 Bloodline Keeper
1 Emeria Angel
1 Forgotten Ancient
1 Geist - Honoured Monk
1 Grave Titan
1 Hero of Bladehold
1 Kessig Cagebreakers
1 Master of the Wild Hunt
1 Mayor of Avabruck
1 Mentor of the Meek
1 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
1 Protean Hydra
1 Primordial Hydra
1 Quirion Dryad
1 Rampaging Baloth
1 Skirsdag High Priest
1 Skullbriar, the Walking Grave
1 Thraben Doomsayer
1 Wolfbriar Elemental
23 Creatures

1 Akroma's Memorial
1 Awakening Zone
1 Beast Within
1 Cathars' Crusade
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Doom Blade
1 Dismember
1 Doubling Season
1 Druidic Satchel
1 Eldrazi Monument
1 Explore
1 Gather the Townsfolk
1 Go for the Throat
1 Golgari Signet
1 Increasing Ambition
1 Increasing Devotion
1 Intangible Virtue
1 Lingering Souls
1 Khalni Heart Expedition
1 Midnight Haunting
1 Mitotic Slime
1 Moonsilver Spear
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Orzhov Signet
1 Parallel Lives
1 Rampant Growth
1 Selesnya Signet
1 Shrine of Loyal Legions
1 Sol Ring
1 True Conviction
1 White Sun's Zenith
31 Spells

1 Ajani Goldmane
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Elspeth Tirel
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Gideon Jura
1 Sorin Lord of Innistrad
7 Planeswalkers


When Return to Ravnica comes out and I finally get my hands on more than 1 shock land I will be making more changes to the deck.  EDH decks should be like cubes where the cards change as new and exciting things come out.  Speaking of new and exciting things coming out it is only a week till the pre-release for Return to Ravnica!  I hope you have pre-booked on the patriot website (there is a link at the bottom of this page).

I also have to tell you that we are all go for the inaugural Patriot Games Sheffield Magic Invitational.  If you are like me you have watched pro tour and the SCG live feed, well we decided it was about time we had that over here in the UK - 2 days, 40 players, 15 rounds, 4 formats, all to decide the best of the best and "Team Patriot" for the next 12 months!  I will be back with full details on Monday with my Legacy deck list for next Friday, oh yeah don't forget Legacy next Friday, and pre-release - another epic weekend of Magic in Sheffield.  See you there...


Monday 17 September 2012

Common Misconceptions

The turn out for FNM Relax continues to be strong and the support for the blog has been brilliant  - we are fast approaching 2,000 page views since we started in July.  I am still trying new things with the blog and fitting it in around the rest of my life which is not always easy.  Following suggestions from a couple of people I have decided to make the Monday blog my deck list for Friday the same week so today we look at something different in pauper.  I will also do a blog on a Friday which will look at various aspects of the game similar to those I have already been doing. Time constraints have meant that I will have to keep this relatively brief.

What do you mean I'm not in the sequel?

This pauper deck is inspired by Owen Debenham after a discussion we had about pauper and it being all about mono aggro.  You see to me that's a challenge.  I have to admit that I have already failed the challenge slightly, I wanted to go UW control but found I needed to go for Esper (UWB) control instead.



2 Orzhov Bassilica
2 Dimir Aqueduct
2 Azorius Chancery
7 Island
6 Plain
4 Rupture Spire
23 Land

4 Thraben Sentry
4 Squadron Hawk
3 Archaeomancer
1 Ulamog's Crusher
12 Creatures

4 Mana Leak
4 Spell Pierce
4 Doom Blade
4 Oblivion Ring
2 Azorius Signet
2 Into the Roil
2 Think Twice
3 Forbidden Alchemy

Sideboard

4 Divine Offering
3 Erase
2 Negate
4 Vapour Snag
2 Into the Roil

I have put all of the artifact hate in the sideboard, but I should have enough counters main deck to slow down affinity if I have too game 1 and then have many answers game 2.  The forbidden alchemy will allow me to go digging for answers when I really need them and the mana base is truly shocking!

Not my first choice for mana fixing...

If things go according to plan then I should be fine but there are an awful lot of ifs there...

I will be back on Friday with a blog looking at the immensely popular casual format of EDH/Commander.  Hope to see you there...




Wednesday 12 September 2012

Your personal 10 step plan (part 2)

This is the second half of last weeks Wednesday blog which you can find here.  Without further delay seeing as you have waited a week I will get straight to step 6;

Step 6 - Abuse the stack.  This is not as potent as it once was when damage went on the stack and it was possible to kill someone in response to them killing you.  However, it is still very important to understand the stack and when to put effects/spells on to it.  It is also important to know that Duels of the Planeswalkers lies to you and that you cannot just do what you want when you want in Magic, you must first have priority.  When you get priority is listed in the glossary of terms in the basic rule book here.


Step 7 - Mulligan without fear.  In a game which is constantly talked about in terms of "card advantage" having less than 7 out of 7 cards in your opening hand seems like a really bad idea.    This is not always the case.  Having 7 cards you can't play or that you wont be able to play before your opponent kills you is a bad idea.  Do you need a Flusterstorm in hand to stop your opponent going off and winning on turn 2?  Well then don't keep a hand that doesn't have one in it!  Having a hand of 5 or 6 playable cards is better than a hand of 7 you can do nothing with, and that includes 1 land hands unless your whole deck works off of 1 mana...

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no and no!

Step 8 - Read the rules.  I know seems like a no brainer right?  How can you play a game without reading the rules?  Funnily enough it is really easy to play Magic without reading the rules.  Someone probably showed you how to play and unless your particular leaning style drives you to read everything about Magic you can play quite happily without ever reading the rules.  The full rules are a hideous document of doom but the basic rule book is fine and really needs a look.  As mentioned above it can be found  here .

Step 9 - Understand the value of "value".  If a creature has a fantastic enter the battlefield ability but at this point in the game it would do nothing it might well be a good idea not to play it right now.  paying 3 mana for an Eternal Witness when you have nothing in your graveyard or 4 mana for a gravedigger when you have no creatures to get back is sub-optimal.  Sometimes it can be unavoidable but always remember just because you can cast a spell doesn't mean you have to cast a spell!  The same goes for removal, don't waste it on things which are not true threats, kill the guys which will win your opponent the game.

This card keeps showing up.  Maybe it's actually good?

Step 10 - Play lots of games.  Yet again this is not as simple as it seems.  If you only play against your brother and you beat him every time you play you will never improve.  The games you learn the most in are often the games you lose to a better opponent.  These are the games you should be playing, and play as many of them as possible.  Go to PTQ's and Grand Prix's even if you have no interest in winning and qualifying for the Pro Tour.  The level of the players there will help your game no end and allow you to put all of this advice into practise.

There are many more things that I could put in this list, including "Play more Islands" but by applying these 10 steps you will notice how much better you get at Magic and how much more you win.  Remember the golden rule of all games is to enjoy playing and come away from them with a smile and some great memories... Which reminds me of this game I had with... oh maybe another time.

I have started a new job this week so I will not be back until Monday when I will be revealing my next Pauper deck for FNM Relax.  Until then be well and I hope to see you for standard this Friday.

Monday 10 September 2012

Meanwhile back on Ravnica...

Well what a weekend.  Magic everywhere, hope everyone who came to the Magic celebration day had a good time and got some cool cards.  So it has been a week since I last talked about the RtR spoilers and we have had a ton of funky cards to think about not least of which is this chap;
Everything was going fine till someone called him Nelly.

So an uncounterable 4/4 dude for 3 mana, seems good.  If someone makes you ditch him he goes into play, now that seems really good.  He doesn't have the life-gain of good old Obstinate Baloth but is as solid as a rock.



A prop from Hamlet gets up and walks!

Scavenge was looking like an ok mechanic until we got this guy.  A 1/1 for 1 is nothing new or fantastic but the fact he can chump block and then add value for free is pretty sweet.  I'm playing Golgari on the Sunday of pre-release and can't wait.

While on the subject of guys we have now had the fourth Guild Lord revealed:

If I could talk to the animals, and the plants, and the fungi, and the slime's....

FFWW for a 2/5 is ok.  Life gain has never been a big thing in MTG unless you can gain something like 1,000,000 of it and not lose by another means, and if you think you can't lose the game on 1 million life, think again.  However, the big bad with this one is the activated ability - it populates.  Remember that Selesnya's thing is tokens and this is going to get silly.

"So what are we going to do about all these creatures running around?" I hear you ask.  Well it seems Azorius has the answer:

So now we know what happened to Day of Judgement in M13!

A very powerful card, Supreme Verdict says "No".  I have a feeling in 2 years time control players will be crying into their face-palms as this rotates out.  Azorius are not the only ones who got a "can't be countered" spot of removal:

This is gonna mess things up for some people.

The list of things this destroys is scary - especially when you look at some of the Modern staples it eats, including Goyf, Bob, Knight of the Reliquary and Liliana of the Vale.

I'd like to finish this blog with a look at two more creatures, the first being what has affectionately  already become known as "The LOL Troll":

You will play Jund Zombies!

Once this guy is down and you have mana open it is good night Gracie time - discard Slitherhead to him get a counter, Scavenge Slitherhead, ouch.  The final mention has to go to this guy though:

Abyssal Persecutor's equally ugly cousin.

A 6/6 demon for 4 is quite a thing and when his downside is your opponents feed him a guy and he has a little nap but gets bigger it seems fairly strong, and if they run out of willing sacrifices it is going to be time to bring the pain.

Thanks for reading that is all that I have time for today, Return to Ravnica is looking insane.  I will be back on Wednesday with the second half of your 10 step plan to playing better Magic, see you there...

Friday 7 September 2012

Goodbye Yellow Hexagonal Metal Plate Road

The era of Scars of Mirrodin and Titans draws to a close.  After 2 years of Squadron Hawks with Swords, followed by Delver with Swords and then Thrun with swords is all but done and will end for FNM Relax on Friday 14th September 2012 as we will not play standard again until after the release of Return to Ravnica and rotation.


Mill may have been king had it not been for the Eldrazi


The cycle of swords in the Scars block has been a defining factor for the decks in standard over the last 2 years (at least until Ancient Grudge arrived to spoil the fun).  I cannot deny my  enjoyment at attaching a Sword of War and Peace to a Bird of Paradise (BoP) on turn 3, and swinging for 9 damage and 5 life gain.


So I get to tap out, swing and then have all my mana back?  Really?


However, sticking swords on BoPs is not really something I would condone as being in the spirit of casual play at FNM Relax.  Since the inception of FNM Relax I have been playing one of the M13 starter decks each week with a few alterations to them.  However, I am now down to y last 2 starter decks, neither of which I particularly want to play.  Also, as with Extended tonight, I want to give Scars a good send off by playing a very Scars flavored deck.

Playing control?  Got 7 cards in hand?  Sucks to be you...

The other defining feature of Scars block was infect.  With the inclusion of Rancor in M13, infect has suddenly become an actual contender again.  UG infect is very fast and kills people.  I was at a loss what to play after my beloved Eldrazi rotated a year ago and spent several months killing delver of secrets with Virulent wound.

Rob and I raved about this card when no one else knew it existed.

So I was at a loss for what to play and did my usual thing of asking my son.  He gave me the answer with a shrug and a look that suggested I should have know the answer to the question all along.  So here is the deck he suggested:

4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacombs
4 Inkmoth Nexus
6 Swamps
6 Islands

24 Lands

4 Phyrexian Crusader
4 Necropede
3 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Plague Myr
1 Skithryx, the Blight Dragon

14 Creatures

3 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4 Virulent Wound
2 Livewire Lash
4 Ponder
3 Mana Leak
2 Dismember
2 Artful Dodge
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Feast and Famine

22 Spells

Sideboard

1 Batterskull
2 Contagion Clasp
2 Dissipate
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Spellskite
2 Torpor Orb
1 Dismember
1 Go for the Throat

And there we have it.  Sorry had to sneak one sword in there, but a combination of infect and artifacts would seem the perfect so long to Scars.  That's all I have time for now - don't forget we have a massive weekend of Magic with FNM tonight, Celebration day tomorrow and Steel City on Sunday.  Look forward to seeing you all there...



Wednesday 5 September 2012

Your personal 10 step plan (part 1)

Firstly let me apologise if you found your way here thinking it was going to help you deal with addiction unless that particular addiction is to the "cardboard crack" commonly known as Magic the Gathering!  I'm pretty sure the alcohol thing is a 12 step plan anyway so this would be missing a few.

Secondly, I need to apologise for stealing the Daily MTG format of cutting things into multiple parts.  I had originally intended to put all ten steps into one blog but on reflection I thought it would be better to cut it into bite size pieces for you to think about and hopefully use.  It is also very "wordy" for one of my blogs - we are not talking about cards or a particular strategy here but fundamental game concepts to becoming a better Magic player.  I have referred to Sam Stoddard's article from Star City Games about "Creating a Fearless Magical Inventory".  This has had the singular most positive impact on my personal game out of anything I have read.  I would strongly suggest reading it in full.


Before we get started though the second Planeswalker has been spoilt this morning from Return to Ravnica.  I realise you may well have see her already (ironically), but I wanted to bask in the glory that is Vraska the Unseen for just a minute.

I do not have the words to describe how much I love this card!


There are certain things you cannot influence with regards to Magic the most important of those being how much money you have to spend on cards.  If you can only afford one booster per week that is all you will be able to get.  However, with something like FNM Relax for the price of a booster (in fact slightly less at £3) you get a booster and a tournament.  This is a better way to spend your money but we will talk about that as we go on.  these ten points are based on my observations, things I have read and personal experience from playing Magic for quite some time (even if I did have 8 years off).

Step 1 - Be honest with yourself.  Patrick Chapin is one of the all time great Magic players and becomes a Hall of Famer this year.  He wrote a book about playing better magic called "Next Level Magic" (it is available here).  His first point is this and is illustrated by this article on Star City Games.  You need to be honest about where you are now with regards to Magic, admit to your mistakes and the things you do badly.  Make a list of those things and tell people about those weaknesses.  Having told other players and friends what you are prone to do wrong you will have an incentive to stop doing it and change your habits.  If you don't your opponents will be able to take advantage of them.

Step 2 - Read the cards.  Make sure a card does what you think it does, even in the middle of a top level tournament you have the option to ask the judge for clarification on the cards text.  This also goes for your opponents cards, if they play something and you are not 100% certain of what it does take a second to read the card.  Look for the little bits of information on the cards, if it says "attacking creatures get +1/+0 and first strike" don't play it when you are the defender!  Wizards have tried very hard to make the cards as clear as possible but they cannot continue to push the envelope with card design and make everything as clear as everyone would like.

Please note, this card cannot be used defensively!


Step 3 - Read the internet.  Obviously not all of it, that would be silly.  However, there are many great resources available on the internet: Daily MTG is always a good place to start.  As mentioned above there is Star City Games but they charge you for their premium service.  On the other hand Channel-fireball have much the same thing.  Not forgetting of course this blog which will do its best to bring you the things you really need to know.  Look at the decks which are winning and take inspiration from them, but always try to develop your own twist on an idea.  Pro Magic players are human and they are not infallible, there is always the chance that their ideas can be improved on.

Step 4 - Discover your play style.  What do you enjoy doing?  Do you like to ramp into huge gribbly creatures that crush your opponent and any puny men he has played?

Hulk smash puny, oh sorry wrong game...

 Do you prefer to grind your oposition down with discard and counter spells before drawing half your deck and killing them by disgarding your lands to Seismic Assault?

Throwing mountains at people is always fun.


Find out what you like to play and play it.  There is time later to worry about what is and isn't top tier.  Any card player will tell you that they would always rather face a bad player with a good deck than a good player with a bad deck and you will be a better player if you are enjoying what you are doing.

Step 5 - Know your deck.  There is a tendency for players in Magic to change their deck more often than they change their underwear and this is not actually a sign of poor personal hygiene.  Watching the weekly swing of the meta game in MTGO and at SCG opens can have you reaching for a new set of cards every week.  This can be effective if everybody is following the same meta.  A more effective way of playing is to find a deck you like and playing it constantly - tweak the main deck and the sideboard to go with the meta.  This form of commitment to one deck will pay off, you will find you develop a kind of sixth sense with the deck (no you wont see dead people) and you will "know" what you are about to draw before you draw it.  You will also get to instantly recognise a hand you can keep against one you really should not!

I hope you have got something from this and I will put up the next five steps next Wednesday.  Don't forget that this Saturday 8th September 2012 is Magic Celebration day at Patriot Games Sheffield when you can play booster wars for free - yes free, as in free boosters!  I will be back with my farewell to scars block standard deck on Friday and I look forward to seeing you at Extended this Friday for FNM Relax.