7 Magic: The Gathering Quick Tips For Becoming A Better Player! 

Hey everyone, would mean a great deal if you took a minute to click and watch my newest video, "Merfolkless Merfolk | A $50 Budget Pioneer Mono Blue Tempo Deck" here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8Rc_7avm5ak.html

"Oh, thank you for seeing me after class." I've seen enough videos on the internet to know where this is going.

"Winning at 1 life is the same as winning at 20 life" I 100% disagree. Winning at 1 life feels WAY better than winning at 20 life.

Professor: "Just draw better hands!" Me: "Okay!" *draws 6 lands and an 8 mana cost creature*

Tips 8 through 10: >Bathe regularly. >Don't be a jerk to your opponent. >Have fun!

"In order to face your enemies on the field of battle you must first be prepared to face your fears. Oooh yes, this is some real Art of War sh*t here." - Professor Sun Tzu

Tip 8, dont wear shoes to establish dominance at the table

I took your advice on #2, and now I only draw the best possible hand every time. It's really taken my game to the next level. Thanks Professor!

the "don't overkill your opponent" point at 13:29 reminds me of an anecdote from Richard Garfield where he once won a game by feigning a concession. he had a Fog in hand and let his opponent swing for lethal, declares nothing in response, watches his opponent dump Berserk, Giant Growth, etc, and responds with his Fog; allowing him to stabilize and eventually win.

*"If you pump prematurely"* is the only thing I've taken away from the video 🤣

One thing I wish you would have talked about in #7 is something I see a lot of players do. The game gets to a stall, both are in topdeck mode and someone will draw, play a land and pass, even though they have enough lands in play to play anything their deck may draw. This just gives way too much information to your opponent cause now they know they have nothing to fear. Instead, when you draw a dead draw, don't play it. It's a bluff. Did I just draw a lightning bolt, did a draw some kind of removal? If I keep that land in my hand, my opponent may be more hesitant to actually swinging or doing anything. So many players make this mistake, especially in sealed or drafts. You having nothing in hand is tons of information and I can swing at you without fear of some kind of response. Better just to hold the card, bluff that you have some kind of answer your opponent needs to dance around which may buy you a turn or two to find an actual answer.

When my hand gets revealed, I turn those cards upside down in my hand, thus I know that my opponent KNOWS what I have.

7:46 Don't be afraid to lose life. HAHA, I'M PLAYING DEATH'S SHADOW. NO WORRIES.

A beginner mtg player here. Great tips! For me one of the best advice is to keep the instant spells till the second main phase. To kill or to pretend you got something up your sleeve

I recently came back to this game after a 25 year hiatus. This channel has been an incredible resource, extremely entertaining and hilarious. Thanks for all your hard work.

These are great tips Professor. Excellent video. There are just a few you left out, however: Don't: Allow yourself to be tempted to interact with any play that doesn't loose you the game. If you can ignore a play and still win, no matter what that is, do so. Do: Be sure to say: " Resolves" or "Sure" as though you have agency in each of your opponents plays no matter the colors you are playing. Live inside your opponents head. That's where winners live. 😎

I am so bad about playing everything during my first main phase/pumping creatures incorrectly. Showing me with examples as to why I need to change this mentality was very eye opening. Thank you.

In the past: Lesson begins Me: time to sleep ... ... Professor calls for a lesson nowadays: yeah I am ready to learn something

Tip #4- Don't be afraid to lose life Mono Black Player: *Laughs in Necropotence*

Draw better hands. Mind blown. Thanks for the fantastic tip

It's like poker, chess and DnD all in one. Love me some MTG

On top of organizing your board. Organize your graveyard too. So many players I see miss graveyard effects

The professor is rocking very cool socks not gonna lie

So, I've been playing Magic for a few years now, and I always make mistakes, and I feel like I know all of these things, but hearing a better magic player better explain why to do all these things really helps me improve- Just wanted to thank you for the help.

Prof. Can you make a video on some protips from professional players too? Anyways, I like this kind of content.

"Stop drawing bad hands so often. Just draw better hands instead." XD

Many Magic the Gathering players like your videos.

Thank you! I've tried explaining some of these things to some of the players in my group, and you've said it much better than I was able to. Gonna have to show this one around.

This is an AMAZING video for new to newer players who understand the mechanics but are not experienced enough to hold their own consistently. Excellent content!

Thank you Professor. I almost always learn new things by watching your videos. I've played for over 5 years, since I met my husband, and there were Some of these "Rules" that I had not considered to be rules in MTG. They will definitely be used during our weekly playgroup. ;)

Great vid, Prof! The reminder of these fundamentals came at a perfect time. Got sloppy in Arena yesterday and your tips reminded me of what I did wrong. Thanks.

"Your life total is your resource" Me, a lifelink player: *laughs in infinite life*

I try to keep a tradition of showing end game hand and drawing the top five of our libraries to see what we could have set up, often make the loosing party feel better and gives a good laugh at that one mana we've been looking for the whole game if only lol

Wow. That is a good video. Amazing job. What I love most about this video is the passion for MTG. You truly are, in my eyes, a hero. Thank you.

0:23 Seto Kaiba (Abridged Series Version): "Even the most advanced computer in the world can't figure out this game!"

Hey there! Brand new to magic, and I got to say, I LOVE your videos for noobs, they're SO helpful! So many streamers and content creators are so focused on people who've played for years, I don't even know what a sideboard is yet and just figured out how to mill, let alone prevent it -_- PLEASE keep up the awesome work!! Can't wait to see how Throne of Eldraine is, it looks so fun!!

Great episode Professor! I hope to see and play magic with you at the Commander Celebration at MagicFest Las :)

Heck yea thanks prof definitely needed some good advice right now. My deck building skills suck and I’m having so much trouble with synergy. But I’m gonna get better and keep playing!

Oh my goodness. First Person Camera Perspective with the Professor... I didn't know I needed it.

I'm going to my local card store tomorrow to play my very first game of Magic! Thank you for making these videos. They're making me more comfortable with the game and more confident in myself. That latter one if a biggie since I'm not exactly the most social person. That's actually why I'm starting this journey in the first place. Anyway thanks again!

Never thought about having the same art. That is really brilliant

Very helpful I didn't know it was that important to play stuff in the second main

Excellent video! Definitely learned alot! Thank you!!!

I've been playing magic for 9 months now and I'm only now beginning to be sort of good in it and I'm happy. Your videos have been helping me a lot with it too

I've been trying to get more and more into MTG these past few years. My brother-in-law loves the game and it has become a great way to bond. I greatly appreciate all your videos, professor. Regards!

"Oh yes, this is some real Art of War s*** here." Instant liked as soon as he dropped that. Too funny. Love you prof!

“Or rather how well your not doing.” Oof hit me right in the recent GP finishes.

I don't watch many of your videos compared to other channels but when I do watch your videos I'm never dissapointed

Subscribed. Love this channel. I’ve watched before, but now have revisited it. I really like that your advice in your videos applies to not only good players (such as I consider myself), but also very exceptionally skilled players ( I am not), and also as entertained in this video, helping newer players who may not know certain things that are actually somewhat rarely explained on RU-vid. Thank you.

I love these teaching/proffesor narrative videos, so cool

I don't agree with your land management. I always clump lands with the same color together in a maximum of 4 per pile. Makes it easier to get a quick look at your color ratio.

YES! I forgot this dude existed I'm so glad I found him again. He's so funny and helpful

Been playing for years ( casual ) and have been looking in too playing more competitive..this was a big help thank you 👊

"Dont be afraid to lose life." Dont mind me just gonna Necropotence for 39!

Dear Prof, I benefit from the product reviews and love the the comedy pieces, but this is you at your finest! Keep teaching, we'll keep learning. (and feel free to go post grad too ;) )

This helped me out a lot. Thank you Professor sir!

I've played Magic for 20 years now and still find your tips extremely useful! Great video as always =)

Easily one of your best videos. Thanks Prof.

When the professor called you in after class 2 tell you you’re kinda bad at the game. *OOF*

I feel like at the beginning of the video, Proff is talking to me directly and it is great. I want to say playing on Magic Arena has made me a better player, not just for practice and learning cards on meta decks but the fact that I can build decks I like, test and tweek them and THEN buy and play with them in real life.

Great video! A friend who was a former lgs owner had shared with me the rule of the same art on cards.. going a little more into that one, one reason for it, is that people do pay attention to the smallest things.. set symbols for example

I really enjoyed this video. Thanks Prof!

This was so Good Professor, Keep it Up!!!!

Thank you for the help some of the stuff I did on this list but didn’t know why but now I do. Happy that you helped me

A classic must-watch. Thank you, Professor.

This is the kind of videos that I like to see the most. I came up with some of these myself by playing Arena and looking at what my opponents do, but it would save me quite a few losses to know it sooner.

Most important tips of all: Use deodorant. Brush your teeth.

This is all incredibly good advice and was mostly stuff I had to learn the hard way, through experience, when I was getting better at MTG.

My Sidisi deck has a billion upkeep triggers and I’ve started to use the dice trick and let me tell you that has saved me so many times! You can also make sure you get every trigger by putting a dice on top showing the number of triggers you have before your upkeep.

Great video. Thank you for it.

Thanks for the videos Prof lovem all!

This is the most awesome video on RU-vid I have seen in a while. Great info and motivation!

Great video man! I only started playing MTG on 4 days ago, so I'm glad I found this advice early on in my gaming career :)

I love your socks. Great video too!

I definitely agree with Tip 1 regarding lands, however I believe that the way you stack them when tapped is really up to the player, I fidget with lands when its not my turn to hypothesize my next draws availablility to be cast vs what I was going to cast. Its also a massive help to opponents if you tap concisely and keep you board clear. If you dont miss triggers and keep your board tidy, it will help pace of play and keep your opponent from calling a Judge to have you straighten your board state. I also play commander so this is a bit different since its sometimes 10 minutes before your turn again.

‘Great video thanks for the great information and well delivered. This is exactly what I was looking for.

This is one of your best videos.

My tips as a player who drastically improved in the game recently. Download mtg arena , create the same deck you want to play in magic paper and play it extensively. I went from bottom of the barrel to top 4 in my store, platinum 1 in arena because of practice. The order of plays, the combos inside your own deck, you only learn by playing, a lot.

Good tips for any card game. I have always liked having different art versions of cards, now I will rethink that...

I didn't even think about having the same artwork for an instant or sorcery card like Lightning Bolt. That totally makes sense though. Thanks for the information!

LOVE the intro. The slow pan and zoom is perfect. Put some shoes on, you barbarian.

The prof has definitely been hanging out with Vince too much 😂 never heard him swear before

First of all, very good video! Love your style and humour :D The biggest tip I can give (as a limited player) is: DON'T just use a spell, just because you have the mana available this turn. Example given: Having a removal in a draft match, and use it to kill a minor creature, just because you already know what you gonna play the next two turns, is (often times) NOT a good idea! In many occasions it is just better to not cast anything a turn, maybe see what your opponent is doing, and have all possibilites available to you! (I also see it often with, f.e., frost lynx) Have a great day, Magic friends!

A trick that I always use is aligning your lands to have one of each color in your commander's color identity. For example, Yarok has Green Blue Black in his colors. I have at least one set of lands set up to have a forest, swamp, and island.

Wait a minute, I don't remember signing up for this college course.

Thank you for the tips, Professor. Now I just a video on how to have self confidence and I might be able to win a game of Magic. :D

I really enjoy your videos. They have helped understand the game that confused and intimated me from playing.

One thing I learned (haven't been playing long), is to play your opponents deck not just yours. I was too focused on my own cards, and getting some heavy hitters in play - only to still loose to weaker cards. When i started looking at what my opponent put down, what they could have, what I have in play/in hnad and what i could draw - I could start working out ways to counter their strategy.

I needed a video like this for my discord server. So many new players.

He decided to mulligan down to one shoe so now he should sacrifice that sock.

Brilliant video, thank you so much for this.

1. Love the socks! 2. As far as lands go, I organize them in stacks of 3 based on color type. Multicolored lands of similar combo go together unless one has a special ability I need to remember.

Remember to bring your deck to FNM, imagination is good but it won't help your case when the judge sees you pretending to hold your cards

Not gonna lie, I was expecting a video about how to lose gracefully, make your opponent feel welcome, and be considerate to the event space. Maybe next time? :)

Awesome video Professor 😊 the one thing you mentioned is the bolt and then crackling doom thing where the player shows how dead you are! That's my biggest pet peeve in magic I have a friend that does this with big stompy creatures such as Hydras it's being a show off and it pisses me off. I try not to do it back as it only worsens this habit and adds to a poisonous environment within the game, I really feel this is something that should be a mandatory habit that should be practiced. Whether that be in a casual game hanging out with friends, to a game at your LGS to a pro level in the pro circuit. Nobody likes a showoff.

This will help my Silver Horse deck out a lot!, thanks Professor!

Any tips on how to *NOT* miss 7 consecutive land drops in a 24/60 deck? Any tips on how to *NOT* draw 9 lands in a row in a 24/60 deck? Any tips on how to fix Arena's awful draw ratios, especially for a 24/60 deck?

"Don't be afraid to lose life." I play Marchesa EDH

Well I can definitely agree with most of your points. I started playing magic in 94-95 and have taken several breaks. But now I play magic for fun. And I hope everybody plays magic for their own personal reasons. Thanks for the video.

One of the things I really love and enjoy doing with my Krenko deck is establishing a style of play within the group. I built the deck mainly because games at my local card shop would take too long due to players being too casual and wanting to build up boardstates. So to counter that, I built the deck to focus on growing my army, using the size of the army to do things like generate mana (brightstone ritual), using the size of my army to deal damage (mod justice), and even doing damage from it growing and shrinking as well (impact tremors, bogart shenanigans, voracious dragon). I would on occasion swing out a single creature or two in the beginning to someone who was still open, and then spend a lot of time just being passive and sometimes attacking here of there with a small portion of my army to whoever was doing the most stuff at the time. However, the moment anyone did anything substantial in my direction, being hitting me for 5-10 damage, killing some of my creatures, or swinging out in my direction in general, I'd outright aggro against them. It would cost me games half the time, but it created a strong reputation that I wasnt someone you wanted to swinging on to the point where people would outright go into combat, look at my boardstate, and out loud proclaim "yeah, im not swining in your direction at all become i know what's going to happen if i do." I would also sometikes spend turns not doing anything at all as well in mid to late game other than building my boadstate, and then would check my land count, look at my hand, and then process what I can or cant do with what I have or imagine what my actions would be if I had certain cards. This, combined with my playstyle of smashing people in the face for trying to go at me has caused people to pause and sweat over what I was doing, and I'd do this so often that either I was one piece away from comboing off and winning the game or just outright didnt have shit yhat I could do during the turn. And them torn between the two, and knowing how id react when swung on, would cause people to not attack me in fear of it costing them the game. My favorite line to use when people declair anything in my direction is "Are you sure you want to do that?" Because im either going to dump off 2-4 spells and kill you off before you can swing or im going to punch you in the face harder in return when it comes back to me.