Hey there Team Topdecked! My name is Jake.
You may not know me, or what I have to offer in regard to strategic magic content. Here are a few details about me:
- I am not a pro magic player, I’m not even an excellent magic player.
- I am a decent player who enjoys playing competitive magic.
- I’ve been doing it for a while and I’ve learned some stuff along the way.
- I have a pop-punk band and play music in Charlotte, NC.
This series will focus on tips and tricks for the new/average player. In the process, I think we’ll both improve. For example, these are some of the topics I’ll be covering:
- Play mistakes I made when I was new.
- How to make it through two days and fifteen rounds without falling apart
- Traveling on a budget
- How to test without wasting time
- And whatever else we (you and I) come up with.
Today I want to talk about information — managing information is one of the most important things we do while playing magic. Whether it’s keeping track of how many Snapcaster Mages your opponent has already cast, or the land you tutored using Attune with Aether. Knowing what information is hidden and what information isn’t, and ensuring your opponent doesn’t get more information than they need from you, is a vital skill to be successful playing magic competitively.
It might seem like a lot to keep in your head, but there are strategies to manage what hidden information your opponent has access to. Some of these are going to be obvious, and hopefully some will not:
If you draw a card you need, don’t just immediately slam it on the table
Shuffle the card around in your hand, pretend to think if you need to. If the game isn’t going to end after this spell resolves, then you don’t want your opponent to know the rest of your hand is garbage. Also make sure that you don’t get tunnel vision because you finally TopDecked(tm) something good, think through the play.
If it’s a spicy piece of tech and you’re going to win anyway, don’t play it! Save it for game two or three.
Real life: One of my good friends, Joel, played against R/W Prison at the Charlotte Open and game one managed to win without revealing he was playing red at all, let alone that he runs Kiki-Jiki the Mirror Breaker. Game two his opponent casts Blood Moon on turn five giving Joel access to his third red mana source so he flashed in a Restoration Angel and untapped to play Kiki-Jiki, winning the game. If his opponent had any idea that Joel played red, he may not have used Blood Moon and given Joel the advantage.
Unless it’s a fast land or some other land that will come into play tapped depending on the order you play your lands, try to play the lands your opponent knows about first.
If you experience some variance and draw too many lands, unless it’s absolutely vital for you to hit those specific colors or for you to have X untapped lands on turn Y, play the lands your opponent knows about first.
This kind of strategy was frequently relevant while playing Temur Aetherworks Marvel last standard season. I would attune for a basic and then draw a fast land and need to decide if it were better for my opponent to know some number of cards in my hand versus having my lands all enter untapped.
With marvel it didn’t matter as much because you weren’t really concerned with what your opponent knew, your game plan wasn’t particularly interactive, but this sort of information matters a lot more when you are piloting a control deck. You want your opponent to think you have a grip full of answers, not a bunch of lands.
Play as if you’ve got it. If you’re playing from behind or your draws aren’t lining up, play to win, don’t play to not lose.
This suggestion covers a few different aspects of play. It is partly very similar to the advice above, don’t telegraph that your hand is a trashcan — play as if you’re still in the game.
Make your opponent believe you’re right where you want to be and they may play more cautiously, potentially giving you the draw step you need in order to turn everything around.
Know your outs. If there is one card in your deck that can turn the game around (assuming you do X and Y,) make sure to do plan ahead so if you draw that card you are in the position to leverage it.
During Magic Origins standard I was playing a game three at an IQ, and the only way I could possibly win the game was if I held back the Mantis Rider in my hand and drew Tragic Arrogance. Not playing the rider meant I would die a turn sooner but if I played it and drew the Arrogance then my other rider would die and my opponent would be able to rebuild before I could close out the game. I ripped the arrogance and ranched him. All was right in the world.
Know when to concede.
I know this runs counter to what I said above, but there are some games you know you can’t possibly win. This can be due to too many mulligans, unfortunate variance, or possibly because you’re playing against mono blue Tron and it’s just pure misery.
Whatever the reason, if you know you can’t possibly win game one, and need to have time to win two more games, then save your clock, save your information, and concede.
Or if they are playing something that can kill you reasonably fast, stop playing cards and try to gather as much information about them as possible. At the last open in Charlotte, I was playing four-color Death’s Shadow against Eldrazi Tron. He was super dead on board but he double Ghost Quartered me in combat just to see if I would grab basics. I did because I am still a moron sometimes.
He was just trawling for information. I should’ve just let the ability resolve without searching just so he wouldn’t know how many basics (if any) I was playing. Another time, I was playing Grixis Twin and I mulliganed down to three, kept a fetch, a remand, and a bolt. I played a fetch and passed, I never cracked it because I needed to draw more lands and when my opponent played five permanents on turn one (affinity) I drew my next card and conceded — there was no way I was coming back from that.
I then knew that he was on affinity and he knew I had Polluted Delta in my deck (not a lot of info). I easily won the next two games partly because URx has a great affinity matchup and partly because I had way more information about his deck than he had about mine.
Play with matching editions/artwork.
I know it’s fun to play with various arts, editions, borders, and languages — I play mismatched non-English cards all the time. But while the overall language of my deck may vary, all of a particular card are the same. For example, my Servant of the Conduits are all Chinese, while my Oath of Nissas are all in Japanese.
The reason this is important is if you have multiple versions of a card and your opponent ever sees your hand (Thoughtseise or any kind of bounce spell), then you have to expend energy keeping track of which version they saw with the Thoughtseize.
Obviously you still have to keep track of what cards they’ve seen, but let’s say you have mismatched basics, and they saw your FBB swamp. You then draw your BFZ full art swamp. You now need to remember to play the FBB one first or your opponent will know you’ve drawn another lame swamp.
If all your lands were the same you wouldn’t have this issue. Another thing you can do is put the cards they saw in your hand upside down, or keep them to one side of your hand, so that you can remember which ones they are without having to really keep track. (Remember to shuffle after you draw though!)
I hope that these tips have been helpful and maybe will make you approach the way you play or build from a different direction. I look forward to going on this journey with you all. And may you always “TopDeck” your fourth Siege Rhino (RIP Rhino).
Stay tuned for more articles in this series from me, and other members of Team TopDecked!
