Keep Your Cards Organized

This is basic etiquette. Depending on where you're booster drafting, it may or may not be permitted to look at previously drafted cards before the drafting is complete. Always keep your cards in neat piles so they don't get mixed with the cards you're drafting. If the person in front of you is still choosing a card, place the remaining pack face down on the table neatly where it won't get mixed with their other piles.

Picking The Right Cards

In a booster draft, powerful Magic cards are in short supply. A creature with an evasion ability such as flying or fear will be a huge boon in this format. Similarly, direct damage and creature removal are also going to be hard to come by. It's wise to draft powerful creatures and removal spells before someone else does, sometimes even if you're not playing that color. Anything powerful that you don't pick up will probably be used against you by an opponent!

Picking The Right Colors

When booster drafting you'll be playing at least 2 colors, often splashing in a few mana of other colors for killer creatures and removal spells. When you're continually being passed cards of a certain color, it's a signal that no one else is drafting that color. Similarly, the lack of cards of a particular color is often a signal that someone else is drafting that color. Your main colors should contain enough cards to flesh out the bulk of your deck. If your primary colors are weak, you'll probably get beat by a deck with stronger cards in those colors. Try to find a niche that no one else has drafted yet.

Using "Mana Fixers"

Especially when you have 4 or 5 colors of cards in your deck, you'll need to keep an eye out for artifacts, lands, and other cards that will help you access additional colors of mana in a pinch. Often called 'mana fixers', these will help prevent you from losing a game because you didn't draw the right type of mana fast enough. Even if you don't have all five colors in your deck, mana fixers can also help with cards that have multiple mana symbols in the casting cost.

A Word on Rare Drafting

In a sanctioned Magic The Gathering booster draft, you will always get to keep your cards. If you see a very expensive card that won't help with your deck, whether to 'rare draft' it will depend on the prizes being offered, and your expected chance of winning. If you're a beginner at Magic, you may as well rare draft the expensive rare as there is little downside. In a private booster draft, it is common to draft off the rares at the end depending on your match score. In this circumstance there is no reason to rare draft. Always find out how the Magic cards will be distributed at the end before the draft starts if you aren't sure.

Assessing the Value of a Magic Card

Often when entering into a trade, the other person will ask "what do you value [name of Magic card] at?" This is a difficult question – answer too high and you risk being laughed at; answer too low and you aren't getting the fair deal you deserve! Price guides can be a handy medium to resolve this issue as they're unbiased, and they will help you determine relative card values. Perhaps the person you are trading with doesn't value a card by what it goes for in a price guide, but the object is not as much to determine a price as it is to determine the relative values of two different cards.

Don't rely on price guides alone, though. There are a number of things that can affect the price of a card, or relative value of a trade. Demand is a consideration: a card may be worth a lot, but not be in high demand. Just the same, a lower priced card in high demand may be worth relatively more in trade than its list price. Perhaps the popular decks in your area are a bit different than they are in other locations. It is important to consider the demand of a particular card when making a trade.

Considerations also should be made for cards based upon their condition, language, and edition. Generally, cards from earlier editions of Magic will fetch a higher premium than their reprinted counterparts. Non-English cards are usually worth slightly less than the English versions. Always keep your cards in near mint condition. Use sleeves when possible, and don't bend your cards when you shuffle & play with them.

How to Spot an Opportunity

Spotting an opportunity should not mean finding ways to rip people off. However, there are times when you will legitimately be able to swing the trade in your favor due to various circumstances. As alluded to earlier, a card sought after by many people may be more valuable in trade than its list price.

If there are only a limited number available in your circle, it is not unreasonable to ask for more in trade for a "chase card". If someone needs a card to complete their deck the day of the tournament, they will gladly trade for it at a premium. The bottom line is that it is not dishonest to expect more in trade if the card is in high demand. Wherever you can find demand, opportunity will not be far off.

How to Prevent Getting Scammed

Unfortunately, it would be naive to think that everyone trading Magic cards is completely honest, and wants to give you the best trade. Trading is often a game of wheeling and dealing, and it's full of sharks. This is not to say "sharks" should not ask for a higher profit – anyone is free to turn down a deal at any time – but sometimes you will encounter someone who will outright lie to you about a card's value! Dishonest traders do exist, and luckily there are a few ways to protect yourself.

Don't ever feel pressured to complete a trade. Take the time to look up card values from an independent source, and ask a friend if he thinks the trade is fair if you aren't completely sure. Especially with very valuable cards, make sure you're getting genuine cards and not counterfeit ones (a more experienced Magic player may be able to help you identify these). Selling counterfeit Magic cards is a crime! The main point you should take away from this is that if you're unsure about a deal, or the person you are dealing with – just walk away!

Main Sets

Revised Edition & Unlimited Edition

Revised (3rd Edition) and Unlimited Edition cards are rather similar, but have a few key differences that set them apart. Cards from Revised Edition and Unlimited Edition have the following characteristics:

• No expansion symbol
• No copyright date
• Unlimited cards have a double beveled inside border, while Revised cards have a single beveled border
• Unlimited card titles are more left justified than Revised
• Unlimited card ink colors are darker than Revised

4th Edition & 5th Edition

• No expansion symbol
• 4th Edition has a 1995 copyright
• 5th Edition has a 1997 copyright

6th, 7th, 8th, 9th Editions

• 6th Edition has a "VI" expansion symbol & copyright 1993-1999
• 7th Edition has a "7" expansion symbol & copyright 1993-2001
• 8th Edition has a "8" expansion symbol & copyright 1993-2003
• 9th Edition has a "9" expansion symbol & copyright 1993-2005

Other Sets

Chronicles: Chronicles cards are white bordered reprints of cards from Arabian Nights, Antiquites, Legends and the Dark, and have a 1995 copyright date.

Starter: Starter cards have a star for an expansion symbol.

Sanctioned Magic: The Gathering Tournaments

Wizards of the Coast has a tool on their website that will let you search for a store in your area. Click "Play" at the top, type in your city or postal code, and a date range. You can also select which types of games and events you're looking for. Click on "Get Map" and a list of locations will appear. You can click on each store's name to see a list of events in the date range you've chosen. DCI sanctioned tournaments contribute to player ratings and rankings, and often have additional prize support from Wizards of the Coast.

Non-Sanctioned Magic: The Gathering Tournaments

You may also be able to find non-sanctioned tournaments in your area. Hobby stores in your area are the first place you should look. College campuses can also be a good place to meet up with Magic players, as almost every campus has a gaming club or organization. Additionally, sites like Meetup.com offer a way to find and connect with Magic players in your area to start a group.

How To Get Your Tournaments Sanctioned by the DCI

Visit the Wizards Play Network (WPN) Organizer Resource Page for details on how you can get your tournaments sanctioned. You do not need to own a store (or have a judge) for some kinds of events, but you may for others. The WPN website has all the information you need to start organizing sanctioned Magic tournaments!

What Is Card Advantage?

In Magic, both players start with seven cards. Each player only has access to one new card each turn (unless you play a card that says otherwise.) Similarly to chess, advantage is gained when you seize the opportunity to take out multiple cards of your opponent's with only one card of yours. By using one card to destroy several, you gain card advantage.

Which Cards Give Card Advantage

Removal Spells: Mass creature removal spells like Day of Judgment can help you gain card advantage, as long you aren't blowing up your own creatures! Direct damage cards like Pyroclasm that can affect multiple targets work great too. Use Creeping Corrosion to gain card advantage blowing up artifacts in the same way.

Comes Into Play Effects: Creatures that have come into play abilities can be awesome for gaining card advantage. When you play Viridian Corrupter you can blow up an artifact, and have a 2/2 creature on the board that your opponent must deal with. If he expends a Lightning Bolt to destroy it, you've taken out two of your opponent's resources with one of yours.

Cards That Let You Draw: If you can draw more cards than your opponent, this also will help you gain card advantage (assuming those cards are useful!) Cards that let you Scry (like Preordain) that don't increase the number of cards in your hand can still help by improving your overall hand quality. A useful spell is better than a dead card in your hand.

When Card Advantage Matters Most

If you've ever been in a game that was at a standoff – both players with no cards in hand and only land on the board – you've probably seen the power of card advantage at play. In this situation it is common to be trading card for card as you hope to gain board advantage and win. If you can take out two cards for the price of one in this situation, you will gain a tremendous advantage and probably win the game.

When Card Advantage Won't Help You

If there aren't any cards in your deck that can save you, having more cards than your opponent won't really matter much. If you run out of cards and lose because you can't draw, that won't help either. Card advantage alone won't win you games, but when combined with an effective deck it will help improve your odds for victory.

Be Friendly and Courteous

This should go without saying, but being friendly and welcoming can make your tournament experience a more positive one. Even though Magic tournaments are meant for competitive play, that doesn't mean you need to be rude to your opponent! Be courteous, and the favor will often be returned. Show good sportsmanship, even if you are beaten, and it will go a long way to make a good impression.

General Game Procedures

At the beginning of a match, you will use a random method (die roll, coin flip, etc) to determine who picks who goes first. Whoever wins the roll will choose to either play first and skip their first draw, or play second and not have to skip their first draw. Shuffle your deck, allow your opponent to cut your deck, and cut their deck. Magic tournament rules also permit shuffling your opponent's deck, and vice versa, if you desire.

After choosing who plays first, and shuffling & cutting decks, both players will draw seven cards. The player who is going first will choose whether to keep their hand, or take a new hand with one less card. After that player has decided to keep his hand, the other player will do the same.

At the end of your first game, the person who lost will choose whether to play or draw, and the second game will begin. The first person to win two games wins the match, and reports the match to the tournament organizer.

Magic Tournament Do's and Don'ts

Do shuffle your Magic deck thoroughly between games, and take your time to carefully consider every play. Don't intentionally take an excessive amount of time to stall the game.

Don't play out of turn. Do make sure your opponent is done before you untap and draw a card. If you draw a card out of turn, you may be given a warning and/or a game loss.

Do ask a judge if you aren't sure about a particular card ruling, or have any general Magic rules questions. If there is a problem during the game, don't wait until later to resolve it as it will further complicate the situation!

Find a Deck That Doesn't Require Expensive Cards

If a deck's staple cards are pricey chase rares, substituting cheaper cards may risk diluting the deck's theme and making it nonviable for tournament play. Instead of copying a high level tournament deck and stripping it of the expensive cards, find a deck theme where you can work with cards that you can afford.

Use Cheap, Powerful Cards To Destroy More Expensive Ones

Fill your deck with powerful common cards like Duress, Lightning Bolt, and Mana Leak. Some of the best removal cards in the game are commons and uncommons. These cards get the job done and don't cost an arm and a leg. Besides, what's better than negating a $30+ card with a cheap common card?

Play The Metagame, Frugally

If you know what kind of decks you're going to be up against, figure out an effective strategy to beat those decks and employ this strategy as cheaply as possible. For example, if you are expecting to play against a lot of slow control decks, you might build a deck with lots of discard spells. If you're anticipating burn decks, a deck with lots of life gaining and some creature removal would be helpful.

Use Proxy Cards

A proxy card is a placeholder for a card you don't own, or don't wish to damage by shuffling it in a deck. Using proxies is a great way to test out a deck's effectiveness before putting down cold hard cash to buy those cards. This is great when playing with your friends, but keep in mind that a sanctioned Magic tournament will not allow the use of proxies.

Get The Best Price

If you absolutely need a power card to complete your deck, make sure you get the best price possible. Check your local hobby store, and compare it to the prices on eBay and online Magic stores. Often it's cheaper even with the cost of shipping to buy Magic cards online!

How Many Colors?

A mono-color deck will generally need fewer land than a multi-color deck. If playing multiple colors, consider including lands that can provide more than one type of mana. If you have a lot of cards with more than one colored mana symbol, your land mix will need to be heavier toward that color as well.

Use Mana Acceleration

Using mana-producing artifacts can sometimes be more beneficial than adding extra land, as artifacts do not count toward your one land per turn limit. Being able to gain an extra mana resource early in the game can help you cast a crucial spell one turn sooner if you get the right draw!

How Much Mana Do I Need?

If your deck can function fine with only three or four land out, you probably won't want to include more than 20-22 land. If you need massive amounts of mana, you may include 26-28 land. Knowing how your deck works, and lots of playtesting will help you find the right number for your deck.

Add More Land, or Blame Bad Luck?

No matter how many or how few land you include in your deck, you're not always going to draw the right number that you need. This makes it important to both shuffle your deck well, and test it a fairly large number of times before drawing a conclusion that your deck is either too heavy or too light on land.

There Is No Magic Number

Since there is no universal equation to finding out how many land your deck needs, the best you can do is to estimate and tweak your deck as needed. If you're playing a mono-color deck, start with 22 land. For a two-color deck, 24 land. Take ten "test draws" and see if the amount of land looks right. If not, change it up as needed.

Why Magic Online Rocks

1. MTGO is Instant Gratification For Your Magic Fix

Looking for a game of Magic at 2 AM? Your chances are good that there's someone, in some part of the world logged on to MTGO. Finding a game of Magic is practically instant, compared to finding someone to play with in real life. If your friends have all quit playing Magic, or simply aren't interested in Magic, MTGO offers a great way to stay in the game.

2. MTGO Keeps Your Collection Organized

Magic Online makes it easy to sort your collection, and find what you need when building decks. Sorting cardboard Magic cards can often be a pain, and digital versions of Magic cards can never get damaged or bent! The sorting feature makes Magic Online a handy deck building tool, and makes it easy to maintain your collection.

3. MTGO Lets You Get More Play Testing In

If you're a hardcore tournament player, MTGO is a great place to playtest your deck against the field. You have access to a wide variety of opponents with a multitude of decks. This gives you more time to practice playing your deck, and tweak it to perfection.

Why Magic Online Isn't So Great

1. MTGO is Expensive!

Don't be fooled – paper Magic cards are expensive, too. But with Magic Online, you cannot purchase them by the box at a discount. Each pack you open costs full retail price, which can get very expensive if you buy boosters. If you buy one booster box of each set when it comes out, that means you will be spending about $50 per month to play MTGO. This is over 3 times as much as World of Warcraft, and doesn't even include event tickets for tournaments.

TIP: Instead of cracking booster packs, use them to enter booster draft tournaments where you can rare-draft and possibly win more boosters! This will help you get the most value for your money spent.

2. MTGO is More Impersonal

Along with the Internet comes its share of trolls. There will always be unpleasant opponents out there, and it can be aggravating at times. This can happen at real-life Magic tournaments, too, but seems to be a lot more common online because the face to face element is lost. Additionally, it's harder to get a "read" on your opponent when playing online, just like with Internet poker.

TIP: Put any irritating people on your ignore list, and make sure to report them if they're harassing you.

3. MTGO Enforces Rules Strictly and Impartially

Overall, this is a good thing. However, if you're not familiar with the intricacies of how priority works, you may find yourself missing out on opportunities to cast spells where you intended to. If you're not careful, yielding to your opponent unintentionally could cost you a match.

TIP: Configure your stops, and make sure not to automatically yield priority during any phases of either player's turn where you could potentially be casting a spell.

Life Gaining

One way to counteract all the direct damage spells you're taking is by gaining the life back! Nature's Grasp and Gerrard's Wisdom are two spells that will give you a chunk of your life back. Creatures like Staunch Defenders that gain you life when they come into play are also great because you both gain a creature and gain life. Artifacts that let you gain life when you play spells – such as Kraken's Eye – can also help restore life points over time. Warmth is a white enchantment that will give you 2 life whenever a red spell is cast, which will also help.

Damage Prevention

Ever since the beginning of Magic, Circle of Protection: Red has been the poster child for anti-red decks! Throw down a CoP: Red and your opponent won't be able to damage you unless you're tapped out of mana. Reverse Damage is also a great way to turn your frown upside down – if you've got an incoming 20 point Fireball, why not gain 20 life instead?

Don't Get Mad – Get Even!

You can redirect their spells with Deflection, or redirect damage with Honorable Passage. Turn all their mountains into plains with Conversion, and use Chill to make their spells more expensive. The two biggest weaknesses of a mono-red burn deck are that it's mono-colored, and that it's a burn deck. (No, really?) Mono-colored decks are incredibly easy to hose, and burn decks can fizzle out if they don't win right away. By launching a counterattack you can easily turn the tide in your favor.

You Still Need To Win

As important as it is to dodge your opponent's incoming barrage of damage spells, you still need to keep victory in mind. If life gaining is your deck's forte, Test of Endurance will give you the win if you're at 50 life. If you can stay alive long enough to summon a large flying creature like Exalted Angel or Serra Avatar, that can work equally well. Include lots of anti-burn cards in your Magic deck, but don't forget to include enough cards that will let you win!