The Magic Curriculum

Magic has been around a long time now. There’s a lot of great things you may have missed, and many of them were penned by Pro Tour Hall of Famer Patrick Chapin! If you want to get caught up, here are his recommendations!

By Patrick Chapin

June 15, 2016

Three million words is a lot to read about Magic.

If you haven’t read this column every week for the past decade, it’s possible you may have missed one you’d enjoy, find interesting, or find useful. I frequently get asked about a lot of general topics that I’ve discussed in days gone by. This makes the topics no less valuable, however.

Here’s the curriculum to get you up to speed on the first 23 years of Magic:

I. Playing Magic

a. Developing Shortcuts for Thinking About Magic

b. How to Tap Lands

c. Jedi Mind Tricks

d. The Bluff Attack

e. Thinking Through One Game

f. The Theory of Everything

II. Deckbuilding

a. Metagaming

i. Information Cascades in Magic

ii. Three Laws of Prediction

iii. Not Violating the Prime Directive

iv. 13 Pitfalls to Avoid When Playtesting

v. Metagame Master, Gerry Thompson

b. Numbers

i. How Many of Each Card to Play

ii. Playing 61 Cards

iii. Playing 66 Cards

iv. Playing 666 Cards

c. Examples of Successful Deckbuilding In Action

i. Introducing Next Level Blue

ii. Undefeated With Next Level Blue

iii. Cruel Ultimatum Will Change Everything

iv. There Is Always A Greater Power

III. Philosophy

a. Getting Lucky

i. 7 Ways to Get Lucky

ii. Mana Rules Everything Around Me

iii. Some Boats Are Not Steered

b. Creativity

i. Brilliant Ideas are Stupid Ideas That Worked

iii. The Difficult, We Do Immediately. Impossible Takes a Little Longer.

IV. History

a. Lessons Learned

i. Ten Games I’ve Lost and How They’ll Help You Win

ii. Lessons From 1993-1997

iii. Lessons From 1998-1999

iv. The 10 Best Grixis Decks I’ve Ever Played

v. Of Course, I’ve Played Grixis Since Then

vi. The Hall of Fame

b. Community

i. Women In Magic

ii. Words Mean Things

iii. Saving the Magic World Championships

iv. Being A Good Human Being

c. The Old Days

i. The Best Decks From The First 17 Years Of Magic

ii. Inquest From 20 Years Ago

iii. My First Year On The Pro Tour (1996)

d. Top Deckbuilders

i. Mark Herberholz and Michael Flores

ii. Rob Dougherty and Alan Comer

iii. Brian Kibler and Tomoharu Saito

iv. Erik Lauer and Tsuyoshi Fujita

v. Gabriel Nassif and Zvi Mowshowitz

V. Tournament Reports

a. Korlash

i. Introducing Korlash 2007

ii. Korlash at Regionals 2007 – 1st

b. Worlds 2007

i. Worlds 2007 – 2nd Place (Part 1)

ii. Worlds 2007 – 2nd Place (Part 2)

c. Pro Tour Amsterdam 2010

i. Pro Tour Amsterdam 2010

d. Pro Tour Paris 2011

i. Pro Tour Paris 2011 – 5th (Part 1)

ii. Pro Tour Paris 2011 – 5th (Part 2)

iii. Pro Tour Paris 2011 – 5th (Part 3)

e. Pro Tour Journey Into Nyx 2014

i. Pro Tour Journey Into Nyx 2014 – 1st (Part 1)

ii. Pro Tour Journey Into Nyx 2014 – 1st (Part 2)

f. Worlds 2014

i. Worlds 2014 – 2nd

VI. Entertainment

a. Meta

i. The Template

ii. Sideboards: 15 is Better Than Zero

iii. Sideboards: 14 is Better Than Zero

iv. The Most Thorough Set Review Ever (Part 1)

1. Scars of Mirrodin (Part 2)

2. Scars of Mirrodin (Part 3)

3. Scars of Mirrodin (Part 4)

4. Scars of Mirrodin (Part 5)

b. Has He Lost His Mind?

ii. Getting Your Eyelids Out of the Way

iii. Ffej, Heezy, and Zvi

v. The Princess Bride

c. Restrictions Breed Creativity

i. Can Be Read In Reverse

ii. Without The Letter “E”

iii. Pi

iv. Half a Dozen Insane Cameos