This article will focus on easy things that you can do to give you small advantages or an edge in your game. I personally do all of these and have found them helpful over the years, so thought I would share. Most of these edges are in saving brain energy so you can focus on the match properly and the cost is nothing. The edge may be small but I promise you if you are planning on playing magic for the years to come there will be a time when one of these tips could win you a game.

1 – Artwork is important

Well, I can safely tell you that there is a reason that a lot of players play the same art on all their basics, if someone see’s your hand via say, Thoughtseize and they see two mountains but then then you play some non-basics and a mountain of a different art, they will know that you drew that mountain at some point.

Now I know you’re probably thinking ‘Hey, I can easily remember this kind of stuff’ and many players write down hands and keep track of things like this in a notebook but for me the bonus of not having to remember to play certain arts in certain orders means I won’t fry my struggling brain by concentrating on hundreds of things during the game. While the advantage given is very small it isn’t nothing either and relatively easy to do. So this is the reason why so many of the big names have all their basics the same art on the coverage.

I’d recommend a set of snazzy beta basics  for maximum distraction and pimp value because who wouldn’t get distracted by how nice these look: (Beta Island)

2 – Upside-down cards? What’s that about?

For anyone who has seen me play in person you will notice I sometimes have the cards upside-down in my hand. Are you keeping a record of cards that you have seen when looking at an opponents hand? Because it’s a really good practice to get into and saves a lot of mental energy.

Now many people do this but a lot less keep track of their cards that opponents have seen. Its as simple as just turning the cards upside-down in your hand once the opponent sees it. I know this sounds small but it is a good habit and does actually come up in long games where your opponent is playing around specific cards they have seen. After seeing your hand, an opponent will build a strategy in their head based around what they think you might do and because you remember what they are playing around you can hit them out of nowhere with a completely different play.

3 – The Graveyard Grab

If you watch a lot of live coverage then you will notice that a lot of players look through their opponent’s graveyard just before they are about to die or a few turns before. This is them making either a mental or physical note about some of the cards they need to remember for games 2 and 3.

Especially seen in limited where decks could contain anything, so noting what removal, tricks and bombs the opponent has can really help you out. Say a game goes long and your opponent only has a few cards left, knowing they have played two titanic growth is really useful because they likely don’t have a third meaning you’ve no need to play around one. The same goes for bombs, if they have a lot of flyers like angels or dragons, side in plummets etc. checking the graveyard is almost as good as looking through their deck in some scenarios.

These are just a few of the tricks I have seen and use to help up my game a little.If you use or have seen anything interesting or unusual, I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

Have fun and keep gaming.