How to Become a Better Player

[Shad0w]

This is a list of things that will improve your quality of play

Committing Yourself To Become A Better Player

1: Realize that you could improve - Once you can admit to yourself that you have places that can be improved.  You can start on the path to becoming a better player.

2: Ask for help - If the first step is admitting you have a problem the second step is asking for help with your problem. It’s very simple: if you want to improve you need to work with better players.

3: Listen - A lot of players make it through the difficult process of step one and then find step two and get through that. Far too many miss out on step three: listen. The better players will undoubtedly tell you a lot of things and it’s important that you actually listen to what they are telling you. If other people seem to come to a consensus that you made the wrong play please do not defend it forever. You made the wrong play. It Happens its Ok.

After all of that you need to commit yourself to fix the holes in your game.

Committing Yourself To Fix Holes In Your Game

Learn your Spell book - Always be mindful of the number of copies of each card in your book but also be aware of the how many spells you have remaining in each category. If you have 3 heal cards left but one is a Healing enchant and the other two are  Heal  you need to beware of what is best for the situation you are currently in.

Lean to Think Non-linearly - Several card in MW on the surface look to only have one use. Take Force push for example “ You Choose the direction to push target creature” I could use this to pull another creature to me or push a threat away so I am no longer hindered, but what about using it to move my mage and gain a tactical advantage.

Learn the rules on a deeper level - For the most part, the game play flow is easy but during a game can be complexities in timing

Learn to Ignore Variance – Yes damage is random but we know a few things about the average amount of damage that an attack will yield. If I am making a 5d attack against a target with 1 armor and 10 health it should take 3 attack on average to kill that target. So when I am planning my cards is it effective to spend the 3 rounds to kill this target or is it a waste of actions and mana. It is never a good tactic of hope for a high or low damage spike as a key part of victory.

Step Back from the Game – Just sit back and watch match see how other players plan. Try to figure out the thought behind each play and each card choice. See if you can figure out what line of play will be needed to win.

Play thoughtfully & Pay attention - Be aware of the game as a whole: the cards on the table, the cards in your hand, in your opponent's hand, life points, and discard piles, mana available, and actions remaining .

Always remember

Take Breaks - By taking breaks you will not get burned out as easily.
It is a game have fun - If your not having fun something is wrong

[Doma0997]

Wonderful tips for everyone. Thank you shadow! Honestly, I see the importance of #3 each day. If you're not willing to listen, then it is just that much harder to learn. Even just cruising along the forums and taking in all this information is a big help. It makes me sad to see someone with talent get beat down time and time again, and when you try to explain what went wrong, they ignore you, and go on to make the same mistakes as last time.

[ringkichard]

As a systems dork, I specifically recommend learning the three steps of spellcasting and the 8 steps of combat, as well as when, exactly, you are allowed to reveal enchantments, and how that process works. It's easy to gloss over and just play conceptually, or by copying other players, but the actual rules are worth learning.

And I'd add one of my own, that may seem contradictory, but isn't:

Learn to anticipate variance – Sometimes, when you're losing, your only real option to win is to luck out. You can stabilize if you manage to kill that Vamp, but you've only got a 20% chance of rolling high enough? Go ahead and attack if all your other options suck worse, and you'd lose anyway. Even make plans on the contingent assumption that the Vamp dies. You're dead anyway if it doesn't so there's no reason to plan for that. Sometimes it's ok to chance it, just remember that hoping won't change the roll. It is bad luck to be superstitious.   

Contrariwise, if you're winning, consider playing more conservatively. You'll have more resources available to you, so make a plan B in case your plan A fails. Just remember to be alert for the Hail Mary from your opponent. If you can see it coming you can prevent it, and turn your opponent's calculated risk into a foolish gamble.

Why isn't this contradictory to Shad0w's advice? Because he's right: over the long term you will be as unlucky as you are lucky, and you should plan accordingly. Learn some rules of thumb to guess at probabilities, and keep them in mind when trying to predict what will happen. If you've only got a 20% chance of victory, you might as well take it, but if you've got other options, for the love of the Arena, do those instead!

[Ahlano]

Great tips
some have helped me soooo much.

I would also add

Pay attenntion to patterns of behavior

most players have some...
for example you can see if he rushes during planning to set a creature in his spawning point... why is that?.. does he always rush to plan?...is he bluffing?..does he even have mana?...how many dispels has he used?..

In a match i noticed that my opponent always chose his creature to plan under spawnpoint before he chose any other cards...always... same  thing ever turn... then suddendly one turn he didnt? he waited, he hesitated ... He was not even planning to summon, he just remembered he could bluff me...

But still...overall  Never underestimate your opponent, he will defenatly know something you dont about what he is doing...

Another thing you can take advantage off, and keep a watch in yourself... Dont get overexited when u have a play...stay calm, think it again, again, think of cake, think of the plan again... ok go...
Ive seen players fall into my baits because they are so exited... their greed... maybe they rush tu kill a creature, or to attack the mage and plan only to do that and are complety sure they will do it... but forget simple things... like... not having iniative... or a guarding creature... a flying creature... the damage they have...

One Last VERY VERY important thing to keep in mind:

BE POLITE!

This should be #1 Rule.

[piousflea]

I will add one more tip, for more advanced players:
Play your opponent's move in your head: Study your opponent's position and his cards. If you were him, what's the one strongest move that he could do?  Is he in position to hit you for 8 dice? Dissolve your wand? Drop a group heal on all his creatures? Or is he at a huge disadvantage and likely to run away?

Sometimes your foe is either at such a large disadvantage that there is an obvious "correct" move for him to make. (Ie, teleport away from your bear strengthed Bloodreaper before you attack for 8 dice) If that is the case, think about what you can do to frustrate him. Do you have initiative to nullify or jinx him? Do you equip a teleport of your own? Or do you think he's going to use Turn to Stone instead, in which case you want a Dispel.

Anticipation plays a huge role in turning a temporary advantage (this round, I roll way more damage than you can) into a permanent advantage. (Your opponent is constantly reacting and never gets the chance to act)

[Fentum]

Thank you all for the very sound advice.

I would add that being polite and helpful is a good thing. If your opponent forgets to take some benefit, remind them of it, etc.

[DarthDadaD20]

Very well done Shad0w-

I think a lot of veteran player will often forget that these are the steps they had (or should had) gone though to make themselves better players, and that they might need to do this allover again.

I remember when I was young- and I loved to play MtG, I was the only kid to ever be in the comic shop of my small town. No one took me seriously until:

After a match with the "Best player in the shop" I just simply asked him- "hey, would you take a look at my deck?"
And I remember my brothers (Who were A$$holes) said-"You don't want to look though his deck- he uses all the junk cards we were going to throw away." (Like the stacks and stacks of Alpha land we just tossed in the trash!! these were the days when you used a rubberband to hold your deck together, sleeves were never used and a deck box wasn't a thing that existed)

and they guy look at me and said "Sure- you should always ask better players what you could of done it that game to have played better" (And that always stuck with me- I will do that to this day-no shame) and after he looked though my deck he told me- There is this new way of deck building were you always want to have 20 lands-20 creatures-and 20 spells. Then he showed me that you could add up all the mana cost of you deck and divide that by 6 to see if your overall mana cost was to high.

Now this was during antiquates- THIS WAS SUPPER ADVANCED STUFF HERE!!!

My brothers who thought they knew everything about magic started to look at their decks and adding up the cost-

Goes to show you that when you ask and listen....you will learn. When you don't- you kid brother will make you look stupid.

(And our overall meta got better because of this one little question)