Magic the Gathering is the best game in the world.
Sure, I’m paid to say that. As the Managing Editor for the best Magic site around, you’d expect nothing less. However, just because this is my job, it doesn’t mean that what I’m saying isn’t true. You can keep your poker, and your World of Warcraft. You backgammon boffins may berate my beliefs, you Risk rejects may recoil in revulsion, and you chess champions may challenge my contentious claims… but there’s nothing quite like attacking for two.
When I sling spells, I feel tethered to the flow. The cards slide from my library to my hand and into play. And, if truth be known, usually to my graveyard soon after. It pulls me in, this silly game of monsters and mana and magic and myth.
I’m quite good at this game, too. Actually, I’d best add some italics for emphasis. I’m quite good at this game, too. There, that’s much better.
I’ve made the top 4 of a Grand Prix, and the top 32 of a Pro Tour. At one stage, my Constructed rating was a few points shy of 2100. My Limited was at the top end of 1950.
Why, then, do I have such trouble on Magic Online?
At the time of writing, my MTGO Limited ranking is 1723. Not shabby, I’m sure you’ll agree, but nowhere near where I’d like it to be. My Constructed rating? Fuggedaboutit!
I’m a streaky player, online especially. In one Draft, I’ll sweep the table six games to zero, besting a player ranked over 2000 in the final with some super-tight play. The next Draft, I’m beaten to a pulp by a 1300 player wielding Dromad Purebred.dec
I want to improve my online game, both in the Constructed and Limited arena. Here’s where I think I’m going wrong at present. I’m sure a fair few of you out there will empathize with the following…
1) Online Drafting makes me a rare-grabber.
As a man of limited resources, I don’t get the opportunity to Draft as often as I’d like. My ideal number of Drafts per week, with “x” representing the amount I currently do, would be x + 30. Consequently, in the Drafts I do participate in, I tend to hoover up those first-pick dual lands (and other uber-saleable cards) in order to fund another trip to Cardville. Okay, so if I pull a Hierarch it’s doubleplus good… I get a sellable card and a Limited house. However, the Sacred Foundries and Overgrown Tombs usually go straight into my virtual trade binder, and this impacts on my Draft in a number of terrible ways. First, if I am truly hoping to improve my game, I should ship the cash and suck up the Fetters. I’ll not progress as a player by simply funding bad Draft after bad Draft. Second, because all the Constructed cards I pull are sold within seconds, I never have a decent online collection. Have you tried winning an 8-man Constructed tournament with an all-common R/G spiritcraft deck? It doesn’t work, believe me.
2) The Green Mile is long.
I’m streaky, as I’ve said… during the last week of triple-Ravnica Draft, I went on a bizarrely unstoppable run of twelve straight Draft victories, shooting my ranking to 1800 plus. Guildpact was released, and I played my thirteenth Draft hoping to keep the dream alive.
I’ve not won a single match in RRG Draft.
I draft what I think are good decks. First pick Tolsimir, second pick Fetters, third and fourth pick Evangels… add a few Last Gasps and Douse In Glooms and Blind Hunters, and it looks solid as a fibre-free stool. Why is it, then, I’m beaten to death by Greyscale Gharials and Goblin Fire-Fiends?
Admittedly, this is happening in my real-life Drafts, too. I read the sites (especially this one) and know what I should be taking and playing… but the format jumps up and bites my sack every time. I make Top 8 of a PTQ, draft a good deck, and get battered. I make Top 8 of an online Limited Premier Event, draft a good deck… and get battered again.
3) Magic Online brings out the beast in me.
This one’s a little harder to admit… when I play online, I feel like a jerk. I’m not openly antagonistic, of course… but inside I’m a right bastard.
“Hello and Good Luck!” I say.
Hope you get screwed! I think.
“Nice Play!” I say, when my opponent topdecks the Savage Twister.
Topdecking, ass-biting NONCE! I think.
“gg” I type.
Hope you catch a sexual disease, I think.
This can’t be good for my game. At a Real Life tournament, I’m generally happy and fun to play. Sure, I may seethe a little inside when the third land just won’t show, but I try to keep a lid on whining. In the comfort of my own home, I can rail at the sky, swear at the monitor, and kick the cat across the room. Laying the blame anywhere but at my own doorstep.
…
I’m getting better at Online play, I think… but it’s hard to be sure when I keep losing at RRG Drafts. I’m trying to build an online collection, too. Sure, I still first-pick the Watery Grave, but at least it’s for the greater good, rather than the promise of another poor Draft experience.
Magic Online is a wonderful tool for improvement, if you have the patience (or the cash) to work at it. I’ve shared my foibles in the hope of exposing some of yours, at least to yourselves. If anyone else has experience in self-destructive online play, come share them in the forums. Also, come tell us how you go infinite, or amassed an impressive card collection with a limited budget. My collection is growing, but slowly: I have four Birds of Paradise, but no Wraths or Ninth Edition Painlands. Come share your trading tips, and help those less successful than you.
And if you wanna throw some spare cards my way, I’ll not turn you down.
…
That’s all from me for today. However, I’ve a quick announcement. Later this week, I plan to continue the fine tradition of editors past, and open this column to your questions. I’ll do one (or two or three or four) Ask the Editor columns, depending on the amount of queries I receive. Anything you want to know? Email me at Mail us at https://sales.starcitygames.com/contactus/contactform.php?emailid=2. A few points:
1) The questions can be Magic or non-Magic related. Wanna know about this job? No problem. Wanna know how to cook an excellent pie? Fill yer boots. Wanna know my opinions on Ravnica, the Pro Tour, Rancored_Elf, Coldsnap, other collectable card games, the future of Magic, the history of Magic, the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow? I’m yours to command.
2) Please put “Ask the Editor” in the subject lines of your questions. I get so many emails every day, and I wouldn’t want to miss a question.
Until tomorrow…
Craig Stevenson
Scouseboy on MTGO
Mail us at https://sales.starcitygames.com/contactus/contactform.php?emailid=2