A while ago now I wrote an article titled the easy edge, it was about how you can up your game without spending anything, or doing anything that wasn’t easy. It had some tips and tricks that might even catch some seasoned veterans eyes and if you would like to give it a read, it can be found here.

This is a follow up of some of the other tricks of the trade that I use to help myself out at no cost at all, so if you’re in search of an effortless way to up your game a percentage point or two look no further.

You sideboard in 15 cards every time………yep every time!

Nowadays most tournament deck lists are pretty much the stock 75 same cards (for that type of deck), and you could bet on at least 60 out of 75 will be the same. If you only side in a few cards then your opponent will likely know exactly what you put in.

Let me explain with an example. Say that we go to side boarding and I’m playing a combo deck, I see you put in 2 cards and the deck that you are playing usually has 2 Transgress the Mind in the sideboard among other crossover cards that are good against my combo deck.  Transgress the Mind is the best you have but others have their uses and may or may not be brought in. So if I see you put in just 2 cards then I know they will be Transgress the Mind because they are the best two your deck usually plays and I won’t have to go through the bother or mind ache worry about playing around any potential others. I will also know that I’m playing against the same list as before with only minor changes.

Now say you put in all 15 cards shuffle your deck and then take 15 out again. I am completely clueless about what has gone in or come out or even how many cards came in or out. This can leave opponents playing around imagined cards that they think you put in that actually aren’t even in your sideboard at all! This one is especially helpful in older formats like legacy or modern where decks have a huge number of potential sideboard cards to play.

You will often see this one on the coverage of pro tours. Not to small advantage gained but none given away.

Your life pad is the story of your tournament life

At higher completive events most people use life pads to keep track of the game. A lot of people also bring last rounds life scores to the table this round.

Let me tell you why this could be costing you!

You basically just told a quick witted opponent what deck you’re playing before mulligans have even happened. It’s actually really easy for tournament veterans to tell what kind of deck someone is playing from looking at the previous rounds life pad. Lots of small chunks of damage at a time that rapidly increase, nice aggro deck you have there. No life score for the opponents? I would bet my money on that being a combo deck!

The worst I have seen is an infect player doing this in modern with roman numerals instead of numbers, there is only one deck that uses poison counters. Opponents didn’t hesitate to mulligan their removal free hands back into their 60 in search of those fast removal heavy hands.

This can cost you games and is a really easy mistake to correct, just get a new piece of paper or if you want to save paper scribble over your previous battles so no one can read them.

Be friendly but don’t tell them what your deck is

Now if you are new to this you are probably sitting there thinking ‘huh what, I never tell my opponent what deck I’m playing until they see it’ but you’d be surprised. This is a more common one I see at tournaments all the time, many people give away the deck they are playing in the pre-game hello/ banter stage of the round. Someone will say something along the lines of ‘how’s your tournament been?’, ‘how was your last round?’ or even in extreme cases ‘what decks have you played against today?’ Their opponent will then offer up ‘ohh yeah I played against deck-X 3 times it’s such a bad matchup!’ or something along these lines. Much like the life pad one above, a good player will know exactly what deck you are playing (or a very good idea) from this and mulligan accordingly.

The goal here is also not to lie, be completely rude, cold or socially uncalibrated, still have fun just don’t go the extra mile and tell them what decks you played against and the specific ins and outs of the games unless you don’t mind them possibly know what deck you are playing. Also don’t be that guy that tries to trick your opponents into telling you about their deck for an extra advantage. This type of thing really leaves a bad taste in the mouth and seriously reduces the fun and all-around pleasantness if you are too pushy.

These edges may be small but every extra percentage point your game gets better by counts!

If there’s anything you have picked up over the years feel free to share in the comments below and as always keep crushing at cards!