Appreciation post: the guy who told me I was setting up deck builders wrong

I was at a local meetup in Portland last month, and a guy watched me shuffle my deck for about 30 seconds before he quietly said "you're gonna hate your draws every time with that method." He showed me how to separate by mana costs and shuffle in layers instead of just mashing the cards together. Now my opening hands actually have options instead of all 5 drops or no lands. Has anyone else had a random stranger at a game night drop some advice that completely changed how you play?

3 comments

3 Comments

miab1617d ago

Honestly used to think keeping five lands was playing it safe, but now I see how much time I wasted just hoping for a draw. That point about being able to actually play magic on turn two or three clicked for me, made me realize I was just watching other people have fun. Ngl, I'm way happier mulliganing down to a hand that does stuff than sitting there with options that never come.

sarah_brown18d ago

Portland magic players are something else. I had a guy at Guardian Games tell me I was mulliganing wrong for commander. He said stop keeping hands with five lands and one card that does something. Changed my whole approach from drawing pass to actually playing the game. Some people just have that sixth sense for when someone is about to waste their own time.

verac4018d ago

Oh man, @sarah_brown that Guardian Games guy did you a solid but I gotta say one thing. "Sixth sense" isn't really what it is, it's more like he's seen a thousand commander games where someone keeps a greedy hand and just sits there doing nothing for five turns. I've done it myself, kept a hand with four lands and a three-drop commander thinking "I'll topdeck something good" and then I'm just drawing and passing while everyone else is actually playing. That's not magic, that's just watching other people have fun. The real trick is learning the difference between a hand that can actually do something and a hand that just has lands. Like a three land hand with a signet and a two-drop creature is way better than a five land hand with one expensive spell. You need to be able to actually play magic on turn two or three, not just hope you draw into something useful. I used to keep those high land hands too because I was scared of going down to five cards, but that's a trap. Your Guardian Games buddy was probably just tired of watching people stall out. Most Portland players are pretty chill but they'll call you out if you're wasting everyone's time. Stick with three or four lands and at least two cards that do stuff, and you'll see your games get way more interesting.