A Safe Guide for Trading Video Games With Online People ~ Ideas For Games

Thursday, June 6, 2013

A Safe Guide for Trading Video Games With Online People

In this installment of Magic the Gathering Tips, I'm going to answer a question that has been plaguing Magic players for almost 20 years now.

Why do I always lose?

Let me count the reasons, if I can count that high. Yes, there are many reasons why so many Magic players seem to always lose. Until the last couple of years, I was one of those players with those many reasons. Losing was almost my middle name were it not for the fact that it was land boy.

I did tell you how I got that name, right? Well, it doesn't matter because it's one of the many reasons why Magic players lose. So let's get started.

At the top of the list is deck construction. Like it or not, you can't just throw any old cards together to make a deck and expect to win at Magic. I used to do just that. I picked all my favorite cards, tossed them into a deck, and... well, you can imagine the results.

Decks have to be CAREFULLY constructed to have a reasonable chance of winning. This includes not only picking the right cards but also including the correct amount of land for your deck. Not every deck runs well on 20 lands. I found that out the hard way.

Another reason that some Magic players always lose is that they don't practice with their deck enough. There are very few people in this world who can pick up a deck, sight unseen, and play it optimally. You need to practice with the deck so you can get a general idea of how the cards fall and what your options are in most games.

Some decks that I have put together looked very good on paper, but then, when I tested them out, I discovered that the way the cards played out, I wasn't getting the results that I had hoped for because certain cards needed to come out early game in order for the deck to be effective and when they didn't, I lost most of those games.

You also need to understand, before you even get your first hand, what your deck is trying to do and what YOU must do to get the deck to do it. That might mean, when faced with having the choice between two cards opening hand, knowing which one you SHOULD play on turn 1.

Know your deck, or you can't play it well.

Another reason Magic players lose a lot is because they have no confidence. Yeah, I know... your confidence, or lack thereof, doesn't affect the way the cards end up in your hand. But what it does do is it makes you second guess yourself. You end up making stupid plays because you're not sure of yourself, whereas the confident player knows exactly what play to make.

If you don't believe you can win, how can you?

Another reason Magic players lose is because they don't meta game properly and sideboard appropriately.

If you knew you were going to be facing a lot of graveyard reanimation decks (you'd know this if you knew the meta) you'd be sure to bring a sideboard (like Grafdigger's Cage currently) to deal with those decks. But if you don't know the meta, you can't sideboard correctly and thus, you reduce your chance of winning.

There's a lot more to winning Magic but I'll leave you with this much to start with. Work on these and you'll find that you're losing a lot less than you used to.