How to be Successful at Magic: Noah Long's 5 Rules to Success
by Noah Long
Since starting competitive Magic, Noah has flown up the DCI rating charts. How did he manage to pull it all off? He kept 5 rules of success in mind and in this article, he plans to share these rules to our Mana Deprived readers. As a bonus, he offers an update on the 5C Teachings deck for Extended. He has told me in private that this just might be the best deck you can be playing the format!
It's a great day out today and I'm off to the park with my laptop to write this article and I think to myself "Hm… what to write about… can't believe I've run out of ideas already…… OMG! Got it! The guys are going to like this one!" The article is about how to be successful at Magic with me sharing the way I go about preping for large events. Stocked about writing it, I head over to the park where I enjoy the company of my girlfriend and friends while slack lining which I got pretty good at over the day. I start writing on and off and by the end of a perfect day, I finally get it done. Yay!!!
I guess to start off I'd like to say I'm having a lot of fun writing for you guys and for myself too. Thanks again to KYT for allowing me to do this!
Anyways, the article… right…
How to be Successful at Magic: Noah Long's 5 Rules to Success
Rule #1 – Remain authentic to yourself.
What I mean by that is, example: If you enjoy and have success playing control decks, I suggest not picking up an aggro deck and entering a big tournament if there's a good control deck out there you'd probably rather be playing instead. Since you're used to control decks you're probably not going to make as many play mistakes then playing a totally different strategy just because of your experience with it. This rule is obsolete if the specific archetype you're not used to playing is absolutely insane like Ravager Affinity or you have put an extensive amount of time into testing the entire format's metagame. If you do not make time for quality testing, stick to what you're used to, you'll probably end up playing better and placing much higher in the standings.
Rule #2 – Get other people's opinions.
In my opinion, it’s absolute suicide if you try to go about picking or building a deck all by yourself. You will always miss something as a result of seeing only one perspective. Sharing your ideas is extremely powerful in terms of brainstorming and will always benefit you as well as benefiting the people you share it with. Without sharing, this game would never grow so don’t hold onto your ideas, open up and everyone wins!
Rule #3 – Test, test and test some more.
Especially if you are still trying to top 8 your first PTQ, make sure you test, test and test some more. Here’s how I test for large events:
Make a Gauntlet:
A Gauntlet is a collection of all the decks in the specific metagame. You don’t need to collect all the cards, just use what you have and proxy the rest on unplayable commons and uncommons. In your Gauntlet you should include all the Tier 1, 2 and 3 decks just to make sure you cover all the basics in terms of interactions between cards in each match up. Also getting used to how each deck works gives you a huge advantage especially in bad match ups where you cannot afford to make a single mistake.
When you finish your Gauntlet, start with the Tier 1 vs. the other Tier 1 decks as they are the majority of the meta game and best decks overall in the format, basically “The Clash of the Titans.” After those match ups move onto the Tier 1 vs. Tier 2 match ups. The Tier 2 decks are usually designed to beat about two thirds of the Tier 1 decks but usually have a harder time vs. other Tier 2 and 3 decks because of their specific focus. These 2 levels of testing are the most important as the Tier 1 and 2 decks make up about 85-95% of the meta game. Depending on how much time you have and how many Tier 3 decks are out there, try to find some time and test the Tier 1 and 2 decks against the Tier 3 decks as some match ups may surprise you and be absolutely unwinnable due to how rogue they are.
For each level of testing, play about 15-20 game 1s per match up. Things to record when playing your game 1s:
– Practice keeping track of life totals on a piece of paper and not dice. In higher level events if there’s a discrepancy in life with one player having paper and the other dice, the judge will lean in favor of the player with paper since the dice has potential to move. Even the little things can come back to bite you.
– Also make good practice in playing with dice, tokens etc to represent either specific counters or other permanents. This helps indicate a proper game state and will also have you come across confident and assured. This will keep you involved in the game and keep you focused as well.
– Use and record your mulligans so you get a good feel for how consistent that deck is.
– Write down each card that isn’t strong in each match up. This will let you know how many cards you need to dedicate to your sideboard for each of those specific match ups.
– Write down each card that is strong against you that your testing partner is playing. This will also benefit your sideboarding choices.
Once you have finished your game 1 testing, move on to building your sideboards for another 20 games of testing for each post-board match up.
Remember, your sideboard is just as important as your main deck. To win game 1 then lose games 2 and 3 means your sideboard is probably not very strong. Don’t get me wrong, the odd time you lose games 2 and 3 those games could have been very close and well played games of magic, but the majority of the time the losing player’s sideboard is probably not well thought out.
When building your sideboard you need to look back at your game 1 test results. If the deck you are testing is around a 50% win percentage, make sure there’s an equal amount of cards dedicated to your sideboard to the number of cards that are weak in the tested pre-board games. For each match up that is around a 70% win percentage or higher, you’ll probably only need 3-4 sideboard slots because the main deck is already strong in that match up. Just remember, the deck on the losing end of that match up will probably be bringing in a lot of cards so keep into account what those cards are so you are still a favorable match up. If you are on the losing end of a match up then you have two options. You can either ignore the match up (if the match up is a Tier 1 or a popular tier 2 deck I would suggest against ignoring it) or you can dedicate enough cards so you can be favorable.
Another thing to think about is to not play too many narrow cards for your weaker match ups. What I mean by this: If you have more then 1 bad match up, try to fill your sideboard with mainly cards that can go in for multiple match ups and still produce similar results. Some people call this splash damage, but that is a term I find is mainly used when people haven’t tested and do not understand this concept of sideboarding and how important it really is. Lastly, when making your sideboard choices make sure you include cards that keep the integrity of the style of deck you are playing. It is very important you do not lose focus of what the deck is trying to do.
Once your sideboards are done for each deck in your Gauntlet, move on to your post-board testing games. Since 2/3 games are played with the sideboard, I suggest playing no less then 20 games for each match up. These games are the make it or break it games and if you lose game 1, both games 2 and 3 are must win games to boot! After you have finished these games make a note of the new percentages and see how they have changed. From these results you can now adjust your sideboards and keep testing until you have found the right 75 cards you feel are the best to go into battle with.
Rule #4 – Tilting is all in your head.
Another reason why people do not perform well even after following rules 1-3 is because they can’t accept that losing is part of the game as well as all the other aspects like mana screw and mana flood, sabotaging their mental state in the process. The more you can let go of your inner anger and just play win or lose and have fun without any bitterness and negativity, the more you will stay focused and mentally present to what you are trying to accomplish. One more thing to remember is to not get mad at your opponent. One of the things most people think is that your opponent is out to get you. In a way they are, but not in a personal way. All he or she wants to do is do what you’re trying to do, win the match. Just by staying pleasant and positive, good things will come to you.
Rule #5 – Never concede until you are actually dead.
This rule is short and to the point. DO NOT SCOOP UNTIL YOU ARE ACTUALLY DEAD. I see so many people who do not play into their outs and just concede even though they still have some outs left in their deck to potentially still win. The more patience you have, the more you will win. Just stick with it and you’ll start winning a lot more.
Other then knowing how to actually play magic this is my 5 rule system to becoming the best player you can be. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me and I’d be glad to clear anything up.
BONUS: Update of Extended 5C Teachings
5 Colour Teachings: a potential Extended deck by Noah Long
4 Wall of Omens
3 Kitchen Finks
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Cloudthresher
2 Jace, the Mind Sculpter
2 Cruel Ultimatum
4 Cryptic Command
4 Mana Leak
4 Esper Charm
2 Mystical Teachings
2 Path to Exile
2 Punishing Fire
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Volcanic Fallout
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Vivid Creek
4 Vivid Meadow
3 Vivid Marsh
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
2 Sunken Ruins
2 Mystic Gate
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Flooded Grove
1 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Island
Sideboard:
4 Great Sable Stag
3 Negate
1 Wrath of God
1 Damnation
1 Consume the Meek
1 Volcanic Fallout
1 Path to Exile
1 Pact of Negation
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
In my other list I wasn’t playing with the Punishing Fire Combo. I thought with Grove of the Burnwillows in the deck it would be harder to cast Esper Charm on turn 3. I did cut 1 Creeping Tar Pit and an Island, which help cast Charm, but I also cut a Flooded Grove which didn’t help cast Charm so that didn’t change anything. This still means there are 2 more lands in the deck that prevent the turn 3 Charm but adds a lot of power to the deck which I think is more valuable. Overall there are only 5 lands out of 27 that do not allow a turn 3 Charm but as I stated, the power potential is too much to pass up. I have been testing these 75 cards and only once in about a week have I not been able to cast Charm on turn 3 so I’m sticking with this.
I also cut the 2nd Wrath of God in the sideboard in favor of the instant Consume the Meek. Being able to Teachings for this card is insane especially against the mid-ranged decks like Tokens, Doran, Elves etc. Lastly I also cut the Extirpate. It wasn’t do much for me even against the graveyard based strategies. If you chose to test this in your Gauntlet I’d love to hear any feedback of your results.
For reference here’s my email again: baba_baba_33@hotmail.com
Hope to hear from you guys soon!
Noah
Kar Yung Tom (KYT) is the Digital Content Manager for Face to Face Games. He oversees the F2FTour.com and Magic F2F websites. He is also the lead host of the First Strike podcast.
