Magic the Gathering Turn Considerations

 

MTG Turn Considerations

An oversimplification

Intro

MTG, or Magic the Gathering, is a trading card game dating back to 1993

(oddly enough, '93 is also the year of my birth!)

During a typical game of MTG,

each player takes turns "casting spells"

These spells are represented in a pre-assembled deck of cards

As the game progresses & more turns are taken,

spells get increasingly more powerful / impactful

Thus,

it can be loss-inducing to have a sub-optimal turn

Turn Importance

In a recent MTG tournament I played,

my games lasted approximately 10 ~ 15 turns each

But the writing can be on the wall as soon as turn 5

So if we assume an average of 10 turns per game,

a sub-optimal turn means you gave up 10% win-equity

Win-Equity, or WeQ

For want of a better term,

I will be using "win-equity",

or sometimes WeQ,

as a quick shorthand meaing a game action moving a player closer to a win

While a negative WeQ moves a player closer to a loss

Turn 0, a.k.a. T0

It may seem odd to a non-MTG player,

but we spell-slingers often make our most valuable decision in T0

During T0,

we must decide whether to keep the initial hand of 7 cards we drew

or instead shuffle those cards back & draw a new 7

Some opening hands do not provide many options for impending turns

These poor openers have a low WeQ

Other hands have a clear out-of-the-gate strategy

These optimal hands have a high WeQ

T1 : Turn 1

T1 is a player's first opportunity to cast a spell

But in order to cast the vast majority of MTG cards,

a player first needs to drop a "Land" card

Land cards provide the fuel / resource to cast spells

but the normal rules of MTG dictate that a player

may only drop 1 land per turn

(not to get too much in the weeds,

but there do exist cards that work-around this normal rule,

and any card-specific rule supersedes a normal rule)

That land the player chooses to drop on T1 will impact the entire game

There are 2 main approaches to the T1 land drop:

1) Drop an "un-tapped" land

2) Drop a "tapped" land

"Tapping" is a way to indicate that a land has been used for that turn

Hence if a player picks option (1) to drop an un-tapped land,

they create an opportunity to cast their first spell of the game

Some decks depend on this early start to gain leverage,

increasing their WeQ

Other decks require option (2)

in which the player drops a tapped land

But being tapped usually provides a benefit down the road

For instance,

a basic land card can only produce 1 of the 5 possible colors in MTG

(the 5 colors are : White, Blue, Black, Red, & Green)

However,

a tapped land may allow the player to choose between 2 of the 5 colors

Another common benefit of tapped lands would be gaining life

(each player starts a game with a set number of life points

and a player loses if their life points hit 0)

Oh but wait!

The complicated forethought does not end there

Suppose a player has a deck that uses 2 different colors

In their opening hand,

there is a card that would require 1 of each of those 2 colors

in order to be cast during T2

Then the player must ensure to drop the lands during T1 & T2

that would produce both of those colors

T2 : Turn 2 & Beyond!

When a player reaches T2,

they have many, many options to pick from

Which land to drop ...

Which spell to cast ...

Or perhaps sit back,

relax,

and wait to react to their opponents actions

That complexity means that an oversimplified guide
(such as this one)

cannot go into enough detail to provide much value

The value I am hoping to convey is

to consider how each turn influences all the turns that follow

So execute each & every turn wisely
as to not give away too much WeQ!