I Rank Every Type of MTG Player Ever - Tier List 

When i was in middle school, we had a local (let's call him Ray) who would regularly trade with younger/newer players like me even if the trade was a bit lopsided against him. (This was back when the going rate for standard staples was $10-20). One time I asked him about it, and he said something like "i have a job, i can buy them if i need them." Us having the cards we needed to play, and thus having a better locals scene, was worth more to him than getting even value on trades. Two decades later I'm not sure if Ray still plays magic anymore, but either way I hope he knows there are people who remember and appreciate his wonderful attitude and support. Now that i have a job and can afford to just buy cards as needed, i try to do for my locals what Ray did for us.

I had a guy one time lend me his playset of Korean Rishadan Ports for a Legacy tournament. He was a true hero.

I teased a judge once at a convention with some rules interaction that was basically a joke, and not only were they cool with it, they gave me a rules interaction riddle to solve in return. What a G.

"In response" *sips coffee very loudly* "I do nothing."

I am closest to "treats FNM like a pro tour final"; however, I have adjusted how I do this. I hold myself to competitive rules such as not untapping lands if I tapped incorrectly and not resolving beneficial missed triggers. I don't hold my opponent to that and I allow them to play at an FNM rules level. I will even remind them of a beneficial missed trigger if they do not catch it themselves. This way I can play the way I want without forcing someone else to do the same.

One of the missed archetypes: Values your cards like a store's buylist, values their cards at full retail. One of the main reasons I basically refuse to trade anymore due to how often I run into them.

Ended up losing an EDH game due to someone casting the Japanese Mystical archive version on time warp, but the player thought it was tenporal manipulation. I would have been able to interact with the time warp with an imps Mischief to change the target, but he told us it was the wrong card. If you're playing foreign language cards, know what they do

Entertaining video and loved all the player types you came up with! I would add a few like "the rules expert who always gets called over when obscure or weird interactions happen" and "the one who says they don't run combos then combos on turn 3 for the win".

Yeah the free binders one is circumstantial I guess. There are people who are uncomfortable with any kind of handouts, but on the flip side Giving a new red player a play set of lightning bolt, one of the cheapest staples, will probs make them enjoy Magic infinitely better and gain a newfound hope in the community

Desolator Magic's despise of Netdeckers and Nægate never is unfunny

I actually didn't know there was a term for Manaweaving. Had a guy do it to me at an FNM once. He set it all up and then just cut a bunch of times and presented it. Watched his face sink when I gave it a few proper shuffles and passed it back instead of cutting. He lost, felt good. I really should have reported him but I was young.

I want every card to be affordable to play with. I also want alternate versions that look cool af to have good value.

I just got out of MTG, yesterday and this video is perfect. All the players are a unique group, who can teach you something, but I feel like all the good players from my area left. I was taught by the nicest guy on the planet, so when I played, I always tried to be like him. Once I got into competitive play, everything fell apart. No one is like that in that world and it’s frustrating. You forgot the “no game should last longer than 3 turns Guy.” Yes, that was me.

I watched this whole video while playing against a Tatyova value deck on Historic Brawl and I can safely say that I've gotten through four whole turns

With Jump-start I opened two Craterhoofs and like 8 more cards around that same value at the time. We have a local kid who always struggled to keep up in power level due to money. Being the player who gave dollar cards from my binders here and there, he'd look in my binders a lot. Should have seen the look on his face when he reached the Hoof and in the spur of the moment without thinking I just went "oh you wanted one of these" and pulled it out

I like your serious content but you were born to shred the community in this way 10/10

"Complains about curling foils, still buys collector boosters" I feel seen, like I just put on the One Ring and Sauron knows exactly where I am.

As the person who runs 0 interaction, i pride myself on having made my peace with the risk of being blown out every time i go full send

I definitely just run themed decks, I wouldn't say I'm obnixious about it though. I will also almost always allow takebacks until you do the same thing a second time. . .mainly because as someone who can't see most of the table and hates picking up everyone's card every time I go to swing/block I appreciate people showing the same courtesy back.

The one that counterspells mana rocks is my favourite to play againist

Loved this, the spread is great and I love when there are some jokes amongst friends in these. Missing the "person who says the secondary market cost of an expensive card after someone else casts it" friend ;)

I'll raise your "Questionable anime sleeves and playmats" with some OFFICIAL art of Beelstarmon from the Digimon TCG! 🍈🍈

Don’t forget me and my people. - Buys 8 different hyper specific singles every week. No sorry, I just don’t have any decks in a playable state right now. AND - I combo but don’t tutor for it so it’s OK, right?

Probably the guy that gives away free cards. Most of the stuff I give away is only a couple bucks, trading them into a shop just isn’t worth it. Seeing someone smile after they get the card they need for free is always priceless, and usually brings joy to both people. Something I think should’ve made the tier list though, “the obnoxious card flicker/hand shuffler”. Like surely if you flick your cards enough times, they’ll magically change into the cards you’re looking for, huh?

I see alot of these at my LGS, but luckly its a mix of the good ones for the most part. Love the videos man!

The tries to stump judges is literally me. I love the obscure interactions and once trolled me L2 who owns the store bc I silenced my opp on their upkeep and my opp tried to suspend. You can't suspend bc even though you aren't casting a spell it is the same timing as casting. My friend the L2 was so confused for awhile 🤣

Giving free cards away at FNM. I saw some young noobs, middle schoolers stitching together whatever they could. Dropped this one kid playing mono white a world slayer to upset the balance in their play group. I started mono white, had a single copy of Day of Judgment, and that shit was so gas. Saw myself in that kiddo. Had to give him the repeatable world ending sword.

The best people are those who actively aid others getting into the hobby. I got my start in MTG when the older brother of my friend let us dig through his collection. We built decks and played, and this guy said I could rummage through "the box" and grab any of the stuff I found interesting. Dude wasn't fond of zombies and there were some absolute gems in there (considering this is around when 10th edition was brand new). Running a zombie tribal with a Soulless One playset, a couple Undead Warchiefs and a Gravespawn Sovereign in your first deck is probably something not many get to experience.

Don't forget, I am going to be at Commandfest London this June - come and get involved, and get your tickets here: www.commandfest.axionnow.co.uk

I love making decks. The "puzzle" of figuring out how to make something work and what to use is fun for me. That said I have like 30+ decks and I typically use only 5 of them. Many I play once and never again, some I rework if they played poorly and try again, but there are those that I really like and work well.

Beautiful beard buddy. Really top notch trimming

Ah the Judge’s Gotcha. Playing at an LGS on a random Tuesday, I’m playing Voltron, and the Stax player plays a Humility. I was wondering how some of my Equipment synergized with it and what my creatures actually were, so I called over the judge. THE LOOK ON HIS FACE when all I said was “judge? I have a question about Humility”. Absolutely PRICELESS. Actually helped me win that game, too, because Stax can only do so much against a bunch of big bonk sticks.

I once faced someone who manaweaved, but they were obviously new and shuffled : one land one spell one land one spell, without really looking at the spell, they really just wanted lands to play the game withotu being mana screwed. It was a draft and I was relatively new (just experienced enough to know what they were doing wasn't really "correct") so I had an intense internal debate on wether I should call the out or not, realising that getting one spell then one land untile the end of the game was just the best way to lose the game and not wanting unnecessary conflict I just took the free win. Still feel a little bit guilty because I'm pretty sure they didn't know that what they were doing was basically cheating and also screwing them over.

With mana weaving is it ok if you then shuffle after. I’m not the best shuffler so after a long game where I play a lot of lands it takes a few games of shuffling to spread them back out.

To be fair to the trade binders with cards not for trade: I used to do this a lot, and it wasn't for flexing. I wanted to keep cards together that I planned on using, whether they were for a deck I was building, or for random use. My trade binder was just an easy place to keep them. Those cards tended to be in the back, separated by a blank page so that it was clearly distinct. This was especially useful when I was building towards a deck, because then after the trade, I'd presumably have cards I wanted for the deck, and a quick convenient place to put them right away.

The first types in Hall of Fame. ✊ Ended up bringing 40 modern decks to work and just started shuffling during lunch. Got some newbies interested in it and some old timers that had stopped playing. I'd hit the 1-40 RNG to see what I'd play and let them choose what they'd want. Eventually I was holding free draft nights 2-3 times a week on everything from Ixalan to AFR (be it onsite or at the LGS; when upper management eventually locked down the facility). Holding standard tournaments for Collector Boosters was a blast. My kouhais got me a Mythic Edition Ugin for my birthday (at the time it was priced ~$150) and they had to practically tape it to my hand so that I couldn't refuse it. Good times. Good people.

I used to be that guy that had the stacked trade binder but no not this one. I realized how annoying it was to constantly say “no not that one, I have plans” and I ended up buying a separate binder for all the cards I wanted to keep for whatever reason and dedicated one to just all the trades. Now I hand anyone that dedicated trade binder and tell them everything’s up for trade.

21:40 I met a player who did this because he only played Arena, it was his first pre-release in person, and only had money for the pre-release box. All good. He was a great player who was nervous and excited to finally play in person.

24:38 I've heard this before to and I really don't understand it. As someone who plays Arena free to play, I have enough gold for about 1-2 drafts every month or so. How is drafting the F2P route for arena?

You definitely missed archetypes for sure. Especially archetypes among casual and retro/old school players. Of the ones you listed I'm the "lets players take back bad moves" guy. In my casual group we have the ultimate giga-chad hero, he'll buy boxes or commander decks and split them up amongst our group. Every time I pull a fatty rare or mythic he's looking for, which seems to be often, I kick them his way because he's way too generous.

I really appreciate everyone at my local store that gives me their art cards :) I have binders for all the art card sets in order and It really helps fill out the collection

Yes! Another Abdel Adrian enjoyer!

I’m definitely trying to play meme decks long live modern bee combo 😊

I am definitely the "don't trade that one" type of guy, because I'm lazy and haven't updated my binders in a long time.

I got involved with MTG my first year of college during Theros block… and I’ve not played a game since. I just love collecting and the lore. The “Game Club” was half just MTG playing EDH and it was honestly the worst newcomer experience anyone would hope for. No one joined them because they all knew everything and knew every text by heart and possible counters to the point that we would have no idea what’s going on. They would not slow down to provide enjoyment to anyone besides themselves. I’m sad we didn’t have a better playing experience :(

Once I got into mtg i would take my bulk and build some decks and play with people who worked at the summer camp I work at. If they seemed into the game I would just let them have it. It was fun to see them play it later on.

I rarely play, I tend to get my fix playing in only sealed pre releases as basic exposure. As such, I feel personally called out for playing an ancient standard deck in (casual) modern. It's sort of a kitchen table deck nowadays. I hardly touch my Birthing Pod deck after it rotated out of standard so it's not legally modern... But it's power level doesn't even remotely compete with post-MH2 modern despite having the banned card. I've never used it against pioneer decks just for comparison sake, but sounds like an interesting experiment.

23:29 this is definitely me. The defender deck I'm really trying to make competitive. The Transformers/Voltron/human soldier (GI Joe) deck I call Saturday Morning Cartoons

Y'all missed a category of player: Person who hasn't played MTG in years but still watches this channel.

I'm slowly moving out of the theme decks only type. I still have 2 decks that will forever be weird trash, but I've shifted my other theme decks to be at least competitive. My Myra attractions deck has enough guttersnipe-ish things to make the games quick now. I'm still struggling on how to make my Aboshan cephalids deck actually work well...

You appear to have missed "Limited Only"....was waiting to see where you would place that one.

Free card trade binder when I see new people. My favorite thing is showing them all the biggest, funnest, splashiest cards and asking which one they like the best so I can give it but definitely am not a free handout type

I’m newer to standard. I need to net deck and learn the decks a bit before I learn the meta/etc. and can either tweak the list or build my own.

My favorite deck that I always want to play is a solid 4 but its also Mogis enchantment tribal with only 1 other creature in the whole deck

I aspired to become the person lending out decks. Since that's how I got into the format. I think I've achieved it now. I go to modern tournaments with a binder of cards to loan out and a case of extra tier 1 decks. I love my community and it's my way of growing it

What if I have aspirations for pro tour but am trying to do it with modern elves?

I'm neither of these players, I'm the guy who only plays one deck that i put my heart and soul fine tuning

Great video 😂

on the topic of mana weaving I used to not see why it was a problem as long as you shuffled properly until I watched a video where someone explained it as: -Mana weaving de-randomizes a deck by ensuring that lands are distributed evenly. -To fairly randomize, you must shuffle until the mana weaving has no longer affected the order of the cards. -If you are going to shuffle until the mana weaving has no longer affected the order of the cards, there was no point in mana weaving.

Absolute great video, i didnt realise how many of these i would relate to, but at least i know i am no scrub! absolutely agree that people who lend decks are HOF, i would never have been able to attend a legacy event without my absolute hero of a mate lending me "turbo depths" yeah i lost but did i have fun, fuck yes i did!

Loremaster in Hall of Fame??? I'm honored! Thank you! Thank you! 🥲

7:02 is me, because I love magic and always show up with like 25+ commander decks in a small duffel whenever I play locally. It can be an interesting game when someone beats you with thier own deck. 13:50 half loremaster, I don't have *All* the lore but I try to interject it in the conversation where I can, remarking the more interesting tidbits about the characters, locations, and events we're playing with, not to dominate the conversation but just in a 'fun fact' kind of way. 15:22 Yes, this one is me too, but only after having played a game where I got half or more of my lands into play so they are clumped together, or after building a deck, with multiple shuffles afterwards: I *understand* that technically just shuffling is sufficently random but I've had too many times over my years of playing where you shuffle with manaclupms, and you still have manaclumps, I just trust the shuffle more if I know before doing so the cards were spread out, not stuck into one. I'd also like to say, if this is cheating, what really *is* the problem with it? I think this should be a more standard thing, mana-weavingthen shuffling 2-3 times, since the goal is to *play* the game not get fucked over by clumped mana, by getting all lands or no lands, it just makes for better games if it's random and spread out, it's not like trying to weed out clumping makes you do *better* it just helps lower being fucked by how imperfect human shuffling is, like it or not hand shuffling without pile shuffling and taking 10+ minutes in between games is imperfect shuffling, one method just ensures better games for everyone than the other.

I am the has foreign cards, doesn't know what they do in one case only. I have the japanese mystical archive of swords to plowshares, and the textless version of path to exile in the same deck. Since the cards are so functionally similar, I always forget which card does what. Besides that I'm really good about remembering what my cards do.

Im the always lets you take back a bad move guy. Ive always played more for the fun of the game and seeing what peoples decks can do so i like it working the best for them. Im also the "oh god this deck box has 600 dollars of cards in it" guy

I have a binder. There are cards available for trade inside. But it is not my trade binder. 😅

I haven't watched the whole vid yet but I'm hoping there is a "Would you mind tracking my life total on your notepad too?" person. 😂

"doesn't run interaction, complain anyways" aha! jokes on you! I'm playing more and more interaction and somehow never get them (or the appropriate ones) and thus still lose to weak jank combo that needs five or six pieces! ... seriously, I recently built a rakdos with 15/20 removals (don't have the exact number in mind) in it and I had most of my games going crazy about dropping one removal at best during games .-. my luck is that bad x)

ive built a million decks over the course of my 25 years of playing magic and im at a point where i dont even enjoy building them anymore. i find random decks on moxfield and play them over moxfield. playing other peoples decks has an element of surprise thats super fun lol

The players who always complain about the shuffler in Arena. These players are also often mana weavers in paper because their reasoning for why they believe the shuffler is broken is, "this never happens when I play paper...". It doesn't happen on paper because you're stacking the deck!

Well, I got two small bits to say. First and foremost, I think allowing players to take back bad plays is sometimes crucial in commander. I often allow it, because sometimes the board just gets downright wacky, and it can be overall healthy for the board if some plays are allowed to be walked back. Cards are so convoluted these days that making the right choice on what creature to remove can be tricky. Mind you, I'm not big on the idea of taking back entire turns, but it can be helpful to allow retargeting while the spell is on the stack. For example, someone tries to Path to Exile creature A. Creature B is clearly a bigger issue, so point it out and allow them to switch targets. Second thought is on mana weaving. I do it myself, but generally only after modifying decks. When new cards come out, I tend to break the deck down, and look at creatures, lands, artifacts, etc, and tend to manaweave afterwards just to better break those piles back up.

14:00 I have a Blooming Marsh (I think?) in japanese and I can never remember which of the ETB conditions it has. Actually I can never remember it's Blooming Marsh to begin with, I had to look it up. But it WAS the cheapest one i could get.

Gives you free cards from trade binder should be hall of fame... In relation to new players. I remember when I started playing, way before EDH precons etc and everything was built from the ground up. I had a 99 card pile of jank with Thraximundar as my general... It was bad. (I was also young too) and I remember a handful of the really experienced players giving me some staples and tips (cheap staples back then but very efficient). It still has had a profound affect on me to this day and I always try and do the same where and when I can :).

The trade binder but not trading thing. I kinda do that, but at least I like tell people before they look that from x point on, those cards aren't for trade. They're just in the book so they don't get lost haha

Story time from my commander play group: I used to play in this playgroup and the first time I took my deck with me to the shop I met this one guy who was so happy to see a new face and the first thing he did was ask if he could see my deck which he did and then he gave me abour 10$ worth of upgrades for it and I was so happy and hyped to play after that! I was so grateful to him and we became good friends. Later this very young kid came around who was very clearly good at the game and my friend gave him like 750$ worth of cards and the kid didn't even thank him. I felt so bad for my friend because he never got the same excitement for helping new players. Also I'm mostly the meme player I think because I always try to build funny decks. I have stuff like a mono-blue Horsemanship Voltron deck, a Narset Enlightened Master flavor deck, mono-blue Sphinx tribal, a red goblin deck with Squee, The Immortal as the commander etc. I have like two decks that are actually good but I prefer the meme ones any day of the week! I like them because I care more about the table having fun than winning and should the meme deck win everyone will be excited because it's rare :D again this is commander so the social contract is a bit different - all I know is my playgroup thought it was a great time :D

JUND NEVER DIES. Also think I come under battle of wits in edh, we have a more than decade old table rule that if someone plays game of chaos it has to go until someone dies and whoever dies signs the card. Everyone loves it and it's fucking hilarious in some board states, but you gotta read the room. There's also a player type that isn't here that we nurture in our LGS, especially bc we see a LOT of kids coming through. Which is that someone usually puts their hand up to drop maybe $20-30 (Australian so it's less) when there's a kid with a pile that needs it to be a deck. We'll sit with them and help them with what they have. if they have cards they like bc Timmys always have favourites we use it as a build around, and yeah we'll throw that little bit of dosh at getting the kid glue cards. It probably comes under gives you card from their trade binder, but we see it as a way to invest in the store both by buying singles fromt he store and for getting kids to come back and become more regular players for the future. We also recently lost a mate of ours tragically and he was the embodiment of a lot of the best things in the community so we're gonna keep nurturing the young players in his honor.

yay, while more than one would probably apply to me. at least a bunch are in the higher tiers :D lending out decks is fun though, just to see what others make of it

I think lending decks to well meaning people at FNM is so rewarding! (so long as the player is respectful of your deck). I remember lending my quite expensive, but strong selesnya deck to a new player who was just getting into commander and kept getting steamrollered. I was hesitant initially as lending out my nice decks can go badly sometimes and had in the past, but I took a risk - so worth it! The look on their face when they played the deck and it won was worth it. From that, I'm pleased to say, 6 years on and they are now a regular at my local LGS and have their own broken decks which they have built.

Self professed Timmy, I wonder where I sit on the tier list!

The "if I had just drawing this one card I could have done ABCD EFG HIJK LMNOP QRS TUV WX YZ and I would have totally won that game" guy Or The "I literally can't do anyting" with a board full of permanents and a handful of cards guy

I would have liked to see something about silver border/banned cards in edh, but maybe that was covered by the battle of wits category

I feel like you missed a couple: The quintessential blue player. You know the guy, you play a spell, he needs to think about it, then inevitably he says some real pretentious sounding shit like "I'll allow it" or "It resolves" Or my personal (if niche) favorite: plays every game like they have miracles in the deck. I still check my card before I draw it. Every. Single. Time. Even in other card games that don't have and never had the miracle mechanic.

This brings back memories of a player I used to see at FNM. He started as the bog-standard obnoxious 'I hate netdeckers' player, which eventually escalated into him saying (to my face) after a match he lost due to his own misplays 'I wish this game were about skill and not money' before storming off. Then he showed up next week with a copy of my deck (RtR/Theros Esper control) but FOIL. He proceeded to scrub out dramatically, of course. We wound up playing a mirror match, and he kept forgetting his Obzedat re-entry trigger. I gently reminded him 3 turns in a row. Later in the match, -I- forgot once and right after drawing said 'whoops' and went to correct myself, to which he immediately yelled 'JUDGE!' at the top of his lungs. After the judge did the obvious thing and told me to just put it on the stack before proceeding with my turn, he came at me with the 'I'm not trying to be that guy...' as if he hadn't just tried to steal the game from me with an angle-shoot after I gave him grace 3 times for exactly the same error.

I am def Battle of wits in EDH, I love doing jank bs like that. I have a rule 0 Kaldra deck in which the commander is just the 3 equipment that form Kaldra. Its a big meme, but it is a lot of fun when people let me play it.

I have been the guy who has the trade binder with stuff in it that I'm not trading. I carry two different binders. One of them has stuff that I will trade and in many cases just give away if the person sitting across from me clearly doesn't have anything. The other binder that I oftentimes don't trade from has stuff that I actively use or am planning to use in decks. It's not that stuff in that binder isn't for trade but I have higher standards for what I will trade for when it comes to that binder.

In 1v1 formats, I'm all foils in the pauper deck or no sleeves no playmat riffle shuffle and nowhere inbetween. In commander I'm the angle shooter for sure. Almost all the games i win are because i effectively avoid/defer being detected as a threat until its too late.

I'm the one who uses a lot of foreigner cards in the deck. But only when I can read said language, and if someone doubts, I show the gatherer info, so that's all good :D

Ouch, it was me he roasted. The whole time, I am all of them

"Only offers help when actually asked for", had to learn and practice it, but I think I got there.

back when I started playing I played the snapcaster I opened in a booster without sleeves 🤦‍♀

I’d add “players that don’t mention they’re running a combo deck at a casual table”.

Lore Master here but I was also almost one of the trade binder people who either won't trade or won't trade specific cards, fortunately, before I ever did that I thought twice about it and realized it was stupid to have a trade binder if I wasn't willing to trade the cards.

I have a bunch of decks, admittedly even a few base precons (I have the playset of Baldurs Gate Commander decks as they're a little easier to teach than the decks I have), bit everyone only ever wants me to play my Dungeon deck or Archimandrite deck.

I have four decks in legacy and modern. I always hand out a deck to people who don’t have one for the format. I just want people to play the game and play it at every level I’m glad we aren’t seen as flexing and just having it all

The guy who plays sub optimally and avoids quickly winning to let his friends pop off

Spends a lot of money on collecting MTG cards, but rarely plays. That is me.

Definitely let my new friends play my krenko goblin party

The only time I mana weave is when I first build a deck then we shuffle seven times. Maybe do pile shuffle after a game with a land pocket but that's it.

Maybe I'm just not in the know but isn't saying "In response..." the proper thing to do when responding to something on the stack?? Like unless you're opponent(s) is specifically asking you if their effect resolves or if you have a response, how else are you meant to indicate that you're responding to an effect?

I always have boosters available for a kitchen table draft, i always let people borrow my decks if they want to play a format, i play the same kind of deck trough multiple formats, i will angleshoot anyone in any tournament and i will also pimp out my deck so you pay attention to my alter art bling. I guess I'm just your average nerd.

No Vince, we have in fact not "all done it", when it comes to playing without sleeves: I started playing Magic in my 30s, my cards never got shuffled without at least 1 layer of plastic surrounding them.