MTG Standard Playskill Critique: UW Lark Vs GB Elves
September 18, 2009
I wrote a couple days ago that I helped a fellow MTG blogger, bettermtg, by finding misplays in his Magic Online game videos.
I thought it would be helpful to you if I posted his new videos on my blog and critiqued his play. By doing this, hopefully you won’t make the same mistakes.
Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments, but please be civil. There’s no need to bash anyone and I’ll delete any comment that is not respectful.
None of us are perfect Magic players and we all have areas in our game where we need to improve. You can check out my game videos and see that I made mistakes. I’m sure 99% of us would have misplays too if we posted videos of our games.
Also, I’m not doing this to make fun of bettermtg. Instead, I’m doing it to improve his game. I’m glad that he’s seeking feedback since getting good feedback is one of the best ways to get better at Magic The Gathering.
This following two videos are from this post. Check out the post to see bettermtg’s comments about the games.
This first video is game two of a match between UW Lark and GB Elves. Bettermtg is playing Lark.
0:20
I wouldn’t Path because Finks and Clique can block his 3/3 well. Plus, you want to save Path on a more dangerous creature like Cloudthresher and Stag.
0:27
I would evoke Mulldrifter. This allows you to get the fourth land so you can play Sower and Cryptic. He misplayed by not playing Cloudthresher during his main phase, so if you had played Mulldrifter, you would’ve drawn a land, which would’ve let you Cryptic his Cloudthresher.
The principle behind evoke Mulldrifter is spending your mana wisely. If you’re slightly mana screwed, it’s good to spend mana to draw cards in hopes of drawing a land so you can play more spells. Plus, you’re under no pressure since you’re at 20 life and he only has a 1/1. That’s a great situation to play Mulldrifter and get out of your mana screw.
0:58
I would play Mulldrifter at full cost. Hopefully, you draw a land. Then, on his turn, you can go Clique, chump block, and then EOT play the other Clique. This should strip him of his removal. And then you play Sower and Meddling Mage and name Nameless Inversion that he could draw.
I’m not sure why you played Clique on his turn and left two mana unused. This seems to be a recurring hole in your game. Don’t leave mana unused unless you have a very good reason to do so. You should’ve played Meddling Mage before passing and named Nameless Inversion.
I don’t think you realize that one of Mulldrifter’s main uses for a control deck like Lark is to draw land early in the game so you don’t miss land drops. Control decks love land 
Having a lot of land helps a lot because you can play more spells during the game including playing multiple spells in one turn.
Again, it goes back to maximizing the mana you spend every game. Mulldrifter at full cost is awesome since you can draw more lands and you get a 2/2 flying creature for an undercosted five mana.
1:16
Again, you left two mana unused. If you had played Meddling Mage before passing and named Nameless Inversion, your Clique would’ve been protected and you could’ve chump blocked with it. Plus, you strand a card in his hand.
1:49
Play Mage and Finks to stay alive. Plus, Finks can kill his Stag.
The biggest reason you lost this game is because you didn’t have enough lands to play a lot of spells. Playing Mulldrifter early probably wins you the game because then you have enough lands to play Cryptic on turn four and then play Sower later and protect it.
Try playing your next match by focusing on maximizing your mana, which includes playing Mulldrifter early so you can draw more lands. This strategy will improve your game a lot.
Magic The Gathering at its heart is a resource management game. The more resources (mana) you use and have, the better your chances of winning are. Before passing the turn, ask yourself if you’ve spent all your mana wisely.
Another suggestion is to scale back on the learning curve by playing a more straightforward but solid aggro deck. I don’t have any recommendations for the actual deck since I haven’t followed the current Standard metagame. But if you do a little bit of research, you should be able to find a strong aggro deck.
Here’s my reason for playing aggro. It’s a lot easier to get the fundamentals down like maximizing mana and timing removal well with an aggro deck over a control deck. Aggro decks have less options and more provide more linear gameplay, so you can focus better on the fundamentals.
And there’s no shame in playing an aggro deck. Two of the top players in the world, Shuuhei Nakamura and Tomoharu Saito, routinely play aggro decks even if the “best deck” is a control deck.
Also you wrote, “I also probably should have run out my clique before trying to draw cards with drifter, as I could have snagged that cloudthresher.”
However, running out the Clique doesn’t work because he responds to the Clique trigger with Cloudthresher, which also kills your Clique.
The next video is game three of the same match.
0:28
Again, the name of the game is mana maximization. I would Path and Mulldrifter. Even if he ramps, there’s not a lot of scary cards he could have at five mana with the hand you have. Plus, Mulldrifter allows you to dig for your best cards.
1:01
Don’t block Mulldrifter because you need a beater to take down Garruk, or Garruk will kill you. You’ve got Celestial Purge and Path to clear the way for your Mulldrifter to attack Garruk.
1:27
Path and then Sower.
2 Responses to “MTG Standard Playskill Critique: UW Lark Vs GB Elves”
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Just wanted to pop in and thank you for the feedback.
I certainly don’t feel ‘bashed’, even when I receive fairly blunt comments. For one thing, I’m a big boy and I’ll be fine. For another, I appreciate you getting the blog out to your readers, because I need the feedback to get better.
New videos are up, so go ahead and come over and bash away. Can’t wait until the comments manage to help me make the leap and I can post some more positive results.
I appreciate your mindset. I think being teachable and seeking feedback is the best way to improve.
I’m pretty busy with work right now but I will try to check out your new videos soon.