I was wondering if the more experienced players here had any advice for less experienced players to improve their experience in the game. Tips about deck building, tournaments( FNM or others more or less casual) or just having fun with it as a whole.
KNOW TEH RULEZ!!
Just mastering what's in the Basic Rule Book can give you insight into how to get the most out of your plays, especially when dealing with Le Stack.
Quote from: BlackJester on August 02, 2012, 04:52:53 PM
KNOW THE RULEZ!!
Just mastering what's in the Basic Rule Book can give you insight into how to get the most out of your plays, especially when dealing with Le Stack.
This sooooo much.
If you do not know the rules you will:
1. Lose
2. Look Ignorant
3. Not be able to play you deck properly
(I've done all of these at one point)
Oh and number
4. Do not mulligan in the middle of games
(Zman)
I'll agree definitely that it ruins the experience when you have to argue with someone about the rules. I even had to explain to someone that a creature with death touch dealing damage to a player didn't end the game lol good times
Yea rules is a big one.
Umm let's see, just from what I've noticed playing n00bs (not using as an insult)
Let's see, get into the habit of clearing saying or indicating when you're done you're turn. I hate sitting across from someone who Is tapped out, 2nd main phase, and clearly has nothing to do. But won't pass the turn!
Sleeve em up! Silly not to in my opinion! Draft ok sure, ya don't need sleeves.
Pen and paper is always better than dice for life keeping. Trust me, eventually it will matter. Plus a die can be knocked.
When playing sometimes experienced players wont clearly say and explain what's happening on the board. I once played a guy who had three planeswalkers on board, and was just doing a bunch of crazy 💩 to the board state all at once. It can get confusing. And with that, don't be afraid to ask questions on what's going on.
Also, what I do when I'm playing an instant or sorcery or anything, is I'll tap the mana, then hold the card at the top and display it in a way that the opponent can read it right side up. You know as an act of saying "I'm playing this, read it, do you have a response?"
There's so many others too!
Playtest, playtest, playtest, it makes your game better. Always try to learn new things, and like everyone else is saying, learn the rules. Like most things, this game takes practice, the more the better, find a playgroup, play against better opponents, preferably those who will kindly critique your game and provide insight.
When playing someone at FNM...especially me...ask to touch other peoples' cards. It matters. I hate it when I drop some plainswalker and RIGHT AWAY my opponent grabs it and just reads it until he or she gets it.
Whenever I don't know what a card does (and it happens every FNM. Always.), I simply say "May I read this card?" ...Hard? Nope. It's just better manners.
Aand since you asked for actual playing advice, here's some:
Do things in the right order! A lot of times for instance, I will sac something before I attack with it. Obviously the better thing would be to attack first, deal some damage, the. Profit from whatever you are sacrificing the creature for. The example was extremely situational, but the basic idea applies to all things:
Make sure that doing action A first will not prevent you from doing action B second.
As a corollary to "KNOW TEH RULEZ" is "READ THE FRAKKIN CARD!" I find that a lot of new players make assumptions on what happens or what a card does when it's printed right there.
Go slow. There are currently over 12,700 unique cards in MtG and bazillions of ways for them to interact. Try not to feel overwhelmed, but ask questions of those with experience, or look up the answer. Most of the interactions are fairly simple, but sometimes things can get nutty.
Another tip: go have a look at "What player type are you?" There are so many different ways to enjoy the game of magic, and each player enjoys different elements. Knowing this, and knowing what you want out of the game, will help relieve frustration. "Why do the guys give me a hard time because I like card X?" Maybe because they see things in a Johnny-way and you like Spike cards. It's a game! Enjoy it however you want.
These are great I've found them enlightening and I've been playing since conflux (a very bad 1st set to play I might add) it made it hard to learn and I was so confused when the next block came out with no tri-colored cards) but anyways it always helps to learn from everyone, and Ik I need all the help I can get lol. Im sure new players will appreciate new advice too. Ik that if I had read this when I first started that i would be a different player for it.
Find a friend who you see eye to eye with and can agrue without fighting. Then ask eachother harder and harder questions about hypothetical situations and youll learn the rules real quick.
Some examples are:
When you have 2x{heartless summoning} and play {solemn simulacrum} which effect do you do first?
When a clone of {emrakul, the Aeons torn} dies, does the graveyard shuffle?
When your opponent plays a {strangleroot geist} can you {vapor snag} it before they use {birthing pod} on it?
Questions like these will push you to find the answers and gain you the knowledge and referance material to understand the intricate interations of this game.
To be clear, knowing the answer isnt enough, make sure you know why that is the way it is.
Understanding the stack helped me a TON. I had no idea how to manage multiple spells going off at once before. And actually, I have Jester to thank for most of that understanding :P
Quote from: Kaleo42 on August 03, 2012, 02:05:15 AM
Find a friend who you see eye to eye with and can agrue without fighting. Then ask eachother harder and harder questions about hypothetical situations and youll learn the rules real quick.
Some examples are:
When you have 2x{heartless summoning} and play {solemn simulacrum} which effect do you do first?
When a clone of {emrakul, the Aeons torn} dies, does the graveyard shuffle?
When your opponent plays a {strangleroot geist} can you {vapor snag} it before they use {birthing pod} on it?
Questions like these will push you to find the answers and gain you the knowledge and referance material to understand the intricate interations of this game.
To be clear, knowing the answer isnt enough, make sure you know why that is the way it is.
#1 you get a land first because things must enter the battlefield before dying...something can't die before entering the battlefield
#2 yes it does because tokens are exiles when the change zones. Not when they leave a zone. Tokens touch the graveyard before they are exiled so yeah your graveyard must shuffle.
#3 No you can't because since sacrificing a creature is part of the cost and not part of the ability, you can't respond to it being sacrificed...just like you can't respond to a land being tapped for mana.
Did I get all right? Not too sure about the solemn one lol.
Solemn enters and the ability is put on the stack, before it can resolve state based must be checked and this says solemn dies which then puts a new ability on the stack. Now nothing else needs to be done before resolving so you first draw a card and then fetch a land.
Emrakul's wording checks from anywhere not when it dies. So i have had it explained to me that because of this particular wording it is checked after the creature enters the graveyard not when it goes to the graveyard. A clone can not continue cloning something once it enters the graveyard therefore it doesnt have the ability when it would need it in order to shuffle.
You are correct on strangleroot, but not for the reason that is most relavent in my eyes. Since strangleroot doesnt trigger any abilities when it enters there is no shift of PRIORITY which means the non active player never has the chance to do anything until a new interaction is had, which if that interaction is pod then yes its already to late for the reason you said.
Quote from: Kaleo42 on August 03, 2012, 02:27:22 AM
Solemn enters and the ability is put on the stack, before it can resolve state based must be checked and this says solemn dies which then puts a new ability on the stack. Now nothing else needs to be done before resolving so you first draw a card and then fetch a land.
Emrakul's wording checks from anywhere not when it dies. So i have had it explained to me that because of this particular wording it is checked after the creature enters the graveyard not when it goes to the graveyard. A clone can not continue cloning something once it enters the graveyard therefore it doesnt have the ability when it would need it in order to shuffle.
You are correct on strangleroot, but not for the reason that is most relavent in my eyes. Since strangleroot doesnt trigger any abilities when it enters there is no shift of PRIORITY which means the non active player never has the chance to do anything until a new interaction is had, which if that interaction is pod then yes its already to late for the reason you said.
#2 When a trigger event involves an object changing zones, the object itself will be tracked, even if it's no longer a copy it is still the same tracked object. (CR603.6, CR706.11) The trigger happens AS he goes to the gy, not once he is in there. (400.7d). The clone will shuffle in with the gy. I may be wrong, but this is how I'd interpret it.