Newbie to Planeswalker: Research ABCs

Hi, I'm David #9! Or maybe #20? I don't even want to guess how many Davids there are now! Anyways, today I wanted to share a few tips for anyone trying to grow as a new Magic player or wanting to become serious at a format.

I'm definitely not an extremely competitive player, and I'm not the kind of guy that will play thirty versions of the same deck for two months and then try to fine-tune one to be perfect. Not yet at least. Rather, I study a format inside and out for a while until I feel familiar with as any strategies as possible and then I experiment with them all. I try to broaden my perspective, using every play style and understand cool combos, important probabilities, and weaknesses in the meta-game.

Sounds kinda pro and complicated, right? Really, I just immerse myself in Magic and digest every piece of information I can find. How? Well, here are some starting places I would recommend to EVERYONE:

The 'Daily MTG' tab in particular, and then the 'columns section' on the left. Everyone knows about this basic Wizards site, but have you actually read the Re-Constructed articles? The author takes submitted deck lists and makes them better. Read them all and I guarantee that you will pick up new strategies for fixing up your own decks! There's also a column for Magic Online, Commander, Limited, and more updated every week.

TCGPlayer.com also has a Facebook page. I strongly recommend liking them. You can see article headlines on your newsfeed, usually 1-2 a day and can get an awesome quick read. I know at least a couple things will apply to you each week. They also keep you updted on spoilers and other magic MTG news. The video deck techs are really good as well, although you have to fast forward through some of it if you don't want all your time spent up.

Star City Games isn't completely free, since a lot of their resources require paid membership. The site still hs great articles from time to time. Like TCGPlayer, Star City posts winning deck lists from recent tournaments.

Question on a card? Gatherer has all the judge rulings and sometimes very useful comments. The best part is for brewers though. The advanced search allows you to sort through all types of cards and formats in any combination so you can be sure you didn't miss that one-of sideboard card you really need but completely forgot about. Don't know every type of Squirrel card every printed? Now you do.

MTG Online:
More players to test against! Cockatrice also used to be the bomb before the site was shut down, but keep a heads up for the general playing-card interface eventually replacing it. Nothing more convenient than being able to play whenever you want from home.

Overall, you can't really go wrong with these sites. They're made for all types of skill-levels. If you read the articles from the first three sites every week, your head will soon become an alpha edition Braingeyser of so much random and useful information you'll feel like you could pick up a Vintage deck for the first time and dominate a local tournament easily. Almost. Another couple of useful sites include mgdeckbuilder.net and draft.bestiaire.org or any deck builder and draft simulator. I know I'm probably missing a couple sites; feel free to comment below with your favorites!

So you just got into Modern and read up on all the combos, popular decks, the impact of M14, the deck you want top lay, etc. Or you're still new to Magic and you can't find enough stuff that applies to a beginner on your budget. Or maybe you just don't like reading and think the internet is the source of all evil. What do you do?

1. Join a local Magic community (like Casual Net!) or become involved at your local shops and make friends in the area. A good support system and friendly constructive criticism will be your best starting point.
2. Ask if you can play your friend's deck. And your other friend's deck if they'll let you. Play Jund, White-Weenies, Tokens, Combo, the other boring combos, Maze's End decks, Mono-Red that you despise so much, Reanimator, etc. You rarely look at a deck the same way after actually playing it several times. Plus it's fun.
3. Watch pro play. Or at least your more experiened friends. It may be overwhelming seeing a play you don't understand, but eventually you start picking up on a higher-level bluffs and maybe even things like small facial expressions or playing patterns. You can experiment with those as well; remember MTG is a mind game!
4. Play in a couple tournaments. You'll notice all your bad habits soooo fast. You may think your first EDH tournament will be fine since you've been playing for years and you've done tons of Standard and Modern tourneys. Well, think again. You'll probably encounter some cruel, cruel dudes with Infect and strange cards that you have no idea how the rulings work. And two-card combos everywhere. Basically, you can't really know the format until you've competed in it. 
5. Take a deck that is at least somewhat competitive and ply it for a while, fine-tuning it as much as possible. You have to love the deck. Or at least like it. The process of meta-gaming, trial and error, and finally piloting the deck instead of the deck playing you is very important. When you can briefly glance at 30 cards in your graveyard and instantly knowing what's left in your deck, you're probably close. 

They're pretty basic, but I know not everybody has done these five things. I'll be honest, I need to do more of the second and fourth things. I PROMISE they'll all make you a better player.

Just to recap: Join a community, play as many kinds of decks as possible, watch someone better than you, compete in at least a couple tournaments, and become one with a deck.

Last and least, a few quick random tips for in-game play:

• Don't play lands if they work better as bluffing cards! If you don't have an 8-drop in your library, just hold that eighth land and make your opponent guess more. Also, shuffle your hand after every draw so if you draw a land and need to play it, you can make your opponent think you might have drawn a non-land card. 
• Never rush or feel anxious. Having a focused state of mind is the most important thing about your playing. It helps you remember triggers too. 
• Never tap out in EDH after the first several turns if you play Blue counter-spells. Unless you just don't care what the other players do. Otherwise, bad things will happen. Very few exceptions. 

That was just a starting point and reminder of the basics you should be doing. Consider becoming more involved with your play-testing group if you haven't been getting much out of it. Read at least two good articles a week. Set goals to improve in these areas and check back here later to see how you can take them to another level!

Check out the MTG Casual Net Archive and connect with us on Facebook!

-David Wong

About David Wong:
I've been playing since M12. My favorite colors are Bant (U/W/G). Jenara is my only EDH deck so far. Favorite Keyword: Protection. So powerful. I kinda hate netdecks. What I really enjoy is the unstable period after a release where anything can happen. Magic can make me forget I'm hungry for a couple hours, but after that I will destroy the shop's Oreo supply or go home and eat as much as possible. I'm also making my first Cube!