Magic Fundamentals by Daniel Goetschel

Edge

¹ Magic discourse isn’t sensitive to the fact players are making simple mistakes.

² Magic discourse pays attention to elaborate fantastical scenarios.

The elaborate fantastical scenarios are irrelevant because ¹

³ Edge in Magic is nebulous, how do players gain an advantage over each other?

To answer this people often ²

In my view, all players including top pros have a difficult time avoiding making “simple mistakes”.

A player can gain a tremendous advantage by trying to avoid simple mistakes. To answer ³ you don’t need to create fantastical theoretical scenarios based on unfounded assumptions.

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘐𝘘 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴. 𝘐 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘐𝘘 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘖𝘮𝘢𝘩𝘢, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦-𝘥𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘵. — 𝘉𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘵

Luck

People seem to get upset when they lose games of Magic even though it’s a high variance game (similar to poker) where it’s very hard to win more than 60% of your games. If you are expecting to lose 40% of your games why do losses bother you? My view is the point of magic is to try and make your decisions as well as possible and see where cards lay, just like you would do in poker and winning/losing is completely irrelevant (except as a feedback mechanism). ⁴

In other words, if you feel upset because you lost in magic, you can zoom out and note nothing upsetting has actually transpired.

Anxiety

People often get stressed before events because they subconsciously have expectations and fear the scenario where they don’t meet them, free yourself of expectations and enjoy losing. Even for random games on the arena ladder you desire winning, you subconsciously framed winning as the goal. You become frustrated on a meaningless loss due to this. I recommend not viewing winning as a goal, because ⁴ View learning as the goal. Remember there is no reason to be upset. Your mind is playing tricks on you. Prefer to enjoy losing.

𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘏𝘈𝘝𝘌 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘢𝘺. — 𝘍𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳

Noise

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵. — 𝘓𝘶𝘥𝘸𝘪𝘨 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘪𝘯

𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵 “𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘢” 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘱𝘭 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴 — 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘥. 𝘈 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘌𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩. 1 𝘮𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 200 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘌𝘔𝘈. 99% 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵. — 𝘖𝘹𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘪𝘯

I’d propose the quickest way to level up in Magic is to completely stop listening to other Magic players and cultivate your own views. (The second is to not autopilot and manually think through the pros/cons of your options.)

I heard a dota player once say to ignore all your teammates, if you listen to their advice you will perform at their level and you will end up making their mistakes. To learn you need to form your own ideas and make your own mistakes to reflect and learn from those experiences. The same applies to Magic, Magic players generally say untrue things, are very hyperbolic and tend to care more about arguing their random viewpoint they are attached to as opposed to uncovering what is true. If you had a “truth detector” and applied it to all the magic discourse 99% would likely end up turning out “untrue”.

To try and avoid being deceived when you hear something ask if it’s true, and where the person’s information/knowledge/experience is coming from and how much would they bet on themself being right/wrong on that statement. An underrated element of discourse is stating your conviction/confidence level in your opinions.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘴, 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘦𝘯 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘮 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. — 𝘉𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘵

A concept that has a lot of noise around it is metagaming and deck selection. Look at old magic coverage, a modern gp from the early 2010s. Popular decks were merfolk, zoo, twin, amulet, infect, abzan with premier 4 drop siege rhino, jeskai control. In hindsight it’s very clear it’s egregious to not have registered amulet or twin yet their meta makeup was small. You can imagine the discourse of those days, people pontificating about how their merfolk deck was good vs twin, how zoo was well positioned in the meta because of some ridiculous argument. But as time passes and we look back the out performers shine so brightly against everything else and all the metagame discourse is revealed as total nonsense.

Imagine if Army A had machine guns, and general of Army B said “we need to use bows and arrows to metagame for their machine guns, they will run out of ammunition but we will have more arrows, also their bullets will be expensive and our arrows will be cheap to manufacture”. This is EXACTLY what magic players sound like when they are discussing how playing Knight of the Reliquary in Legacy is their plan to metagame against Delver.

𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 “𝘢𝘭𝘱𝘩𝘢,” 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰. 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘣 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘩𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘱𝘱𝘭 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨. “𝘙𝘪𝘴𝘬 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘵” “𝘝𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘢𝘭” 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰 𝘰𝘯. 𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺. — 𝘖𝘹𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘪𝘯

It’s human instinct to try to Intuit what others are thinking. The problem is when people try to imagine other people’s thought patterns they are making tons of unfounded assumptions. If you are sitting there thinking “well they must think xyz because yxz” when in reality 80% of the field is playing “Merfolk” to “metagame” and they can’t finish a match without making a handful of punts. View section ¹ ²

Look I am not saying you can’t get an idea of what your opponents hands are based on how they have sequenced, or have an idea of what the meta will look but I am just saying when you start thinking stuff like “everyone knows X so the metagame” it’s easy to start making assumptions that sound like they make sense on paper, but in reality you are kind of wasting time thinking of very abstract stuff when there are very real and material things it would be more fruitful to analyze.

“𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘺𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘞𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦.” — 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘪𝘯

An area I have contrarian views on is the discourse on data in magic. Study 49% inverter. 49% twin. 49% Delver. Here’s a funny passage about data analysis :

𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯 -𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵- 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘶𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘛𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘰𝘯 𝘍𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧𝘧, 𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘶𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧, 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘶𝘺 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘯𝘢𝘪𝘭, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵. 𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘐 𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘛𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘳 𝘚𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘶𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘶𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 — 𝘉𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘵

Energy

So you decided your edge will be avoiding simple mistakes. You slow down, question the pros/cons of the plays each turn. No more autopiloting, you realize individual decisions aren’t generally that hard, at the very least avoiding total disasters shouldn’t be that hard, the hard part is that you have to make many decisions during a game and that if you auto-pilot decisions it’s easy to make a simple mistake.

You notice you don’t have enough energy or time to do this for an entire tournament. You decide you need to be more energy efficient, try to not waste energy thinking of irrelevant things, try to simplify/synthesize information quickly, try to eliminate the obviously bad plays quickly so you don’t waste time thinking it through.

But as you strive for efficiency, there is tension with the desire to maintain meticulousness. You have to balance these two things, efficient thought and diligence of play. Animals have a limited amount of energy, energy conservation/usage should be strategic to.

With this in mind, simplifying things become very beneficial, people have a bias where when they don’t understand something they pretend it’s so complex has to be completely incomprehensible, this explains conspiracy theorists, but you also find it in the Stock Market where people try to use infinite jargon to explain a move, you could say something about Astrology to but I don’t want to disrespect The Moon.

Point being over complexification is often a sign of confusion and simplicity/clarity is a sign of understanding.

Here are some concepts that can help simplify things

Analyzing Rate When analyzing a card rather than trying to debate the pros/cons of every minute aspect just ask “Is this cards rate above average, average, or below average? What kind of strategy/cards does this card want to play with?” It can be easy to get lost in the clouds analyzing cards. If you can’t tell right away playing games is a good way to see how the cards perform in practice.

Power spikes, a video game term that references when you are particularly strong/weak. eg Tron is weak turn one/two and becomes strong on turn three. The concept of power spike can help a lot with positioning and threat assessment (very important concept in magic) throughout the game. Having a hard time figuring out your role in the matchup? Try to think of the power spikes throughout the game. Having a hard time figuring out a line in game? Try to ask who is strong/weak and why

Defensive Aggro casting threats can force your opponent to interact thus slowing them down. For example playing a must kill creature on turn three vs Rakdos Midrange so they can’t take the turn to cast fable, or the same thing vs UW so they can’t cast a 4 drop.

What happens next is a good question to ask in-game to help get clarity on the pros/cons of a line. If you are playing Phoenix vs Rakdos Midrange and deciding between casting a cantrip or ledger shredder on turn two you can imagine, well if I cast cantrips and then they play Fable it’s bad for me, so that’s a reason to play Shredder for Defensive Aggro. A lot of the times you are debating pros/cons of lines you are just thinking “what happens next” and then comparing the outcomes.

Disaster Aversion A concept I picked up from Paulo, he states that players often try to find the “perfect” or 10/10 play on a turn, but in reality most of the edge is gained from avoiding the outright bad/disaster lines. ie the difference between a 6/10 and 7/10 line isn’t that big, but the difference between a 2/10 and 6/10 line is big so more effort should go into maintaining baseline competency than perfectionism

”When I’m finally done with winning this event, I got this and that planned.”

I love how everyone THINKS they have this adorable little gameplan and it’s going to go exactly like that.

SPOILER ALERT:

You’re probably gonna get smoked.

I don’t know where this misconception originated from that magic is easy.

Probably because of the LARP posters on here showing themselves top8ng every day in a very special window of time.

Other than that, you’ll be here getting your ass beat, doubting yourself on repeat.

Missed Triggers. Nose Bleeding Punts. Timing out/draws. Traumatized by the grind.

Easy mode is not as easy as you’ve been made to believe.

Look at how many people have struggled to top8 the event — why do you think this is?-Axe