The best way to teach new players is to give them a m19 mono colored precon and then play vintage stax against them. They will quit and never lose money. It's honestly in their best interest.
First time I played a real game of Magic, I went to my friend's house with a 10$ Delver deck against my friend's Bogle... let say it wasn't a good experience lol
I've been teaching my girlfriend how to play. I have realised I am becoming a master at feigning losing. Playing suboptimally until they start to get ahead, then playing more optimally to make it look good, but ultimately letting them win. Most of the time, she doesnt realise I let her win. But now she is getting to the point where she is outright winning and I think I've created a monster...
I did a similar thing while teaching my wife. It was funny the first time I was looking at the board and realizing I’m about to be legitimately crushed without any misplay on my part.
Why would someone try to get their GF or wife into Magic? 90% of the time she will be faking interest just to keep a tighter leash on your extramarital activities smh...
@@Generic42 nah mate it's not about hurt feelings, I just see some things more clearly and I wish men in general were less simp-ish. I'm not saying you gotta hate women or divorce your wife or anything, it's just, you know, be more of a man and less of a pet in general.
My roommate got me into magic. He plays a lot of blue. He played mostly Azorious control against me while teaching me. To this day I never play blue because I can’t stop viewing it as the anti-fun color. It is the color that says no.
To be fair, blue is the least played color among my decks. The game is so vast and full of opportunities that you can really find combos and styles that fit you as a player. I personally like people taking their turns on theirs, not the opponents like Blue does hahaha!
@@dangusmedia Control matchups can be insanely fun sometimes. If you're playing against a control mirror you basically have to trick your opponent into letting them do what YOU want them to let you do, but what THEY think is ok to let you do. It's horribly frustrating for new players and I hated playing against control decks back when I first started playing until I slowly started to realize that I enjoyed piloting control decks. Once I learned how to play a control deck I stopped hating playing against them as I learned that it's really just about trying to outsmart them rather than having big threats they can't answer, a super aggressive start you can't keep up with or a combo. I get why people hate it, back when Arena was brand new people could just rope every single turn. I had an opponent who had literally no board because my Teferi emblem exiled all their permanents and I could tell if they drew a land or a spell based on whether it gave them priority or not. They salt roped me so long the game (not match, GAME) lasted over an hour. Quite the anti-blue protest that was. (note I don't play control decks that often, I like a nice healthy mix of playstyles)
@@braziliandre What was funny about the game the guy salt roped me for an hour was he was playing mono red. Apparently it's not fun to have a long game of back and forth but it's fun to end the game on turn 4.
@@Nightwishmaster cool, you're talking arena we're talking play groups. They'll know what to stop in your deck and it won't matter. You're more than welcome to play blue in our commander group. Just know it's 3v1 until you're gone
I have actually built 5, mono colored 60 card decks to teach people. They all consist of basic cards, with basic effects, showing off a little bit of what each color can do. Red has some haste creatures, black has some kill spells, blue has a few counters. I let them choose their deck first, then I pick mine, we play with open hands until they feel confident enough to play with concealed hands. I keep the little rule books that come with the cards sometimes to give them a reference to keep. They always go first, and I try to explain step by step what happens, loosening the reins as they get more confident. If they have an opportunity to clench a win, I will show them how to do it, if they can't see it, and if I win, I explain how it happens.
when i was first learning to play, my buddy's older brother slapped a Black Green deck on the table, and told me to draw seven. then he pulled out his Mono White, and walked me through then process. Since then, ive been addicted to Black/Green decks. I built my first Tournament deck around rat token generation that fed my mana pool, which fed my token generation. At one point, before several key combos were banned, and several cards re-released with new wording in them, i could have 30+ rat tokens on the field, by turn 3. i won a match on turn two, when my opponent played a card that doubled the amount of lands i could play per turn (all players can now play 2 lands per turn). Basic premise of my Rat Plague deck, was a series of card combos that allowed me to generate rat tokens based on the cards in my graveyard, and the mana i had available. One combo i had, if i got it first turn, and had a single land on the field, i could get 10 rat tokens on the field that first turn. Two years later, they re-released both cards with new wording, that made that impossible. Essentially one card allowed me to untap lands by sacrificing a creature for each land. the other allowed me to pay 1 mana and create 2 rat tokens. The rewording made it so i tapped both of those cards, on top of paying the fee. so couldnt actually pull it off anymore.
On your point about avoiding control decks at first. I would warn/explain that control and denial is a big part of the game. Example: I taught my wife how to play. I don't play control decks often and didn't own a control deck. I taught her how to play and she had a good time. We start playing with friends and she starts playing on arena. And this is when she met control decks. It was really crushing and demoralizing for a while. If I would have explained control and denial at a early point she would have had an expectation that other players will get to stay no very often in this game. I know I failed at setting that expectation and luckily she has bounced back and now plays can't be countered green decks. She has sworn off control and mill decks tho. Last point. Never ever play a deathtouch first strike against a new player. It breaks them.
I agree. I think of "keeping control magic out of the game" while teaching in the same way I think of "letting them win." It's ok to do it at first but it needs to be introduced eventually. With control magic, I also tend to give them a heads up as well. It all depends on the student too. Sometimes you mention control magic and you see a twinkle in their eye and you know that is a play style to get to sooner rather than later. Other players grimace, etc.
I'd just go with standard for anyone learning nowadays because control isn't too hasty, requires ramp, absolute-counters all cost more than 2cc, plus unsummons is in the current meta and that's less feel-bad, among other things. Plus we'll never see 2cc counterspell in standard ever again, it only just got introduced in modern this year. Shoot if we get into legacy, 2ccs counters are practically not even playable. Force of Will meta.
mmmmmmmm, mill Defiantly not for the faint of heart. One of my favorite decks that I threw together is lovingly called "Crab Cakes". Blue / Green mill crab landfall galore. Not top tier by any means, but it really messes up the tempo.
The best way to teach a newbie is to start them off with a Modern Dredge deck vs Ad Nauseum. They'll get a great idea for how Magic is supposed to be played. Then you can start mixing in decks like Lantern Control and Death's Shadow, you know, the basics.
Guys, you obviously wanna start out noobs with an Elemental tribal deck. They don't have to do much of anything other than throw the cards on the table. If you haven't legit beaten them by turn 6, then you probably won't (unless you're running heavy control which breaks the rules).
So glad you brought up the tangent issue. I was at an FNM a few weeks ago and watched this kid go down the rabbit hole explaining summoning sickness to a new player. After 5 minutes I interjected it and told him to just stop and explain it if it happens.
I found that comparing the mechanics of the game to others from a different media is a good way to help newbies understand better. One of my friends I was teaching is a big Smash fan, that's how we met, and I used terms he'd understand to explain the rules, like instants would have "no beginning lag" counters in magic were similar to the ones in Smash and so on.
I bought a box of Jumpstart, sleeved them in and whenever someone is willing to learn, I put it out. Its amazing, best set for newcomers EVER. Hope they will make it again.
@@go1988 First I Tried that, yes. But then you cant Play with different combinations every game. So I bought Cube Shells from Dragon shield, they are perfect to make Boosters yourself, 20cards, single sleeved and the Front Card of the jumpstart Boosters fit perfectly!
@@go1988 use your cellphone, snap a quick picture of all the cards in at least one of the decks laid out. Makes it real easy to tear down when you're done. there are lists though for each of the decks if you google them later. Some of the decks have 4 variations but it's usually pretty easy to figure out which one you have from the rares.
That's a great idea! Not only are you introducing them to the best game in the world, but also the best format (limited). Also Jumpstart 2022 has already been confirmed for Q4 of 2022!
Ya, when I teach someone I use two decks with vanilla creatures and easily understood spells, Once they get the basics i'll gradually add more complex cards. also basic lands only
Back when we still had a LGS in my town, I had started working on concept "tutor decks" to help people understand the game. One of each color, feature the main 5 planeswalkers, and each being tailored to something those colors did well. Green ramp, white lifegain, black discard, red agro/dd, blue mill/control. It was around the time of M12/13, so it was nice that each walker had them some companion cards to go with them that I was going to include as well. I've considered re-visiting the idea.
Something almost always that throws people hard at first is understanding Power and Toughness and its relation to another creature blocking it. When teaching somebody about this, instead refer to Power as their Damage, and Toughness as their Health. Honestly makes everything go much smoother. Mind blow.
This is a really good tip! My wife had a hard time with power toughness, but to be honest it was because she kept looking at it like a fraction. (She's a former math teacher.)
I've gotta say, when I first started playing EDH with my roommate, I had a self-made deck that was the definition of terrible. The guy teaching me how to play was playing the most degenerate Tasigur deck (you know the type). In hindsight there's no way I could have won, but to his credit he made a couple of 'mistakes' that allowed me to win. I don't think I would be as invested in magic now if he hadn't done that.
I still remember some of my early days of learning and playing Magic. One thing that got me when I first was learning was combos. I don't remember the first one I saw but I do remember the first one I used (or just the first one that I used wrong). I asked the person who was the judge/game store owner if I could use this recursion card to do an infinite loop. I showed him and he said "yes", so I started using it on all my games and no one could stop me. That is until I went to a different store with better players and a better judge. I got called out the first time I used it wrong and I thought my deck was a huge steamy pile of crap that didn't work. But after being completely embarrassed someone showed me that my deck still kind of worked. I kept playing and ended up taking first or second in the legacy tournament. The next week I went back and almost everyone put hate cards I their side board to stop my deck.
When I met up with my current playgroup, my one buddy had a combo deck. I remember for the first 3-4 months when he would play it, there would come a point in the game where my other buddy would just scoop because the combo was about to go off. Took them a bit to realize they were ending the game _before_ he actually did the combo so I never saw it in action so I didn't understand what it did. After a couple of times of him actually doing it did I realize the sequence.
The first time I've ever played magic, literally the first time, was when I stumbled upon my college's MTG group, they just said, "Hey, wanna play?" and gave me a deck of 60 cards. I joined a 7 player kitchen-table game with black-red "Deathtouch + Tap-Damage (Tim)" synergy concept. Thank god I came from a background of card-gaming because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to pick up the game this quickly. That being said, all the decks at the table were very low power level. Good times.
This man gives awesome advice, most people I've taught, I kinda did give them tangents, but only specific ones of keywords in the deck they wanted to use. They never wanted me to just let them win and they'd sit and beat the mess out of me lol
Play with some precons or straight forward Timmy style decks.... 1. Play with decks that have at least 1 of each type of card (creatures, artifact, enchantment, planeswalker, instant, sorcery) and include creatures with a variety of tap, instant pay, and static abilities to get instantly familiar with all card types, creature abilities, and combat interaction. 2. Help them understand the different battlefield zones and outside the game zones, responding to abilities/triggers/spells on the stack, and ways of losing/winning the game. 3. Play with hands face open for first couple games so that you can explain basic "best decision/s to make given the circumstances" scenarios. Explain why you make the decisions you do and explain the options afforded to them by their hand. 4. Once these basics are down along with how phases/turns look, play several games normally (hands not showing). 5. After they are comfortable: Buy 12 boosters and do a sealed 1-on-1 (6 Boosters each, 40 card deck builds). Assist them the entire way of the deck building process and help them understand the mana curve, appropriate land-to-spell ratios, color balancing, qualities each color in magic possess, and lastly synergy. This will also cover Sideboarding as you play best-of-3 games and allow card changes in between games. I've followed this approached with several players and they now are addicted :D
As a magic player with two young cousins interested in the game, I'm waiting for them to be a little bit older before handing them their first decks, but right now I'm spreading the idea of card games around their school by handing them pokemon cards, I'll be back in a couple years because this was very helpful
Personally (only a minute and a half into the video), I've found that one of the best things to tell people at first (whether you are introducing them to Magic for the first time, or they've asked you how to play and you're teaching them) is the following: "Magic is a Role-Playing TCG. You play as a Wizard who is trying to defeat an enemy Wizard. Land cards produce mana for you which goes into your 'mana pool' ー think of something akin to a birdbath atop a pedestal, ー then the mana in your pool is spent to cast your 'Spells' ー or basically any card that isn't a 'Land' ー from your hand. Your hand is akin to a page in a spellbook, and your deck is akin to a library (hence, being called as such). Each player starts with 20 life ..." and yadda yadda about how Mana Values work (insert meme about CMC being exiled).
Hi, I wanted to thank you for mentioning Magic Jr. I really appreciate it. I had let the project languish a bit because I've been super busy at work (yay!) and also dealing with the covid-lockdown blues (sigh), but you've sent a lot of people my way, and that has inspired me to get the project back on track again. Can't thank you enough for the motivation!
Well this was about the best comment I could get this morning! I can't thank _you_ enough for putting the effort into putting together Magic Jr. It has really helped me get my daughter into playing Magic. (That, and the unicorn cards....she LOVES the unicorn cards...) And I'm so happy this video is boosting interest! I have loved the idea ever since I found it on reddit a couple of years ago. Thank you so much for stopping by and making a comment! Made my _week_ !
This is not only a great list of techniques for teaching MTG but a plethora of other hobbies and skills. I’m a huge board game fan but a lot of my friends are hesitant to get into something they might find too complicated or sluggish. These tips are a big help that I will use to ease that transition to make them board game fanatics like myself. Thank you!
How is this channel so small? This video is incredible! Everything said is delivered well, and just so happens to speak directly to my experiences learning this game
This rings true with my experience of introducing the game to children and family. It's hard to balance tangents with avoiding surprise. I lean strongly towards not describing keywords and card text that's not on the battlefield and try to remember to explain near the beginning that card text can change pretty much everything I'm saying, "so watch out for any rule bending stuff." If you keep some teaching decks ready, you can control what keywords are going to come up and limit that "but I thought!" for the first few games. Official starter/welcome decks are not bad but may have more keywords than you'd like for teaching. It's actually fun to discover something like haste or flying by reading it on a card, so long as it's got reminder text and it's you (the student) that's playing it, not your opponent. So, yes, as the teacher, you can pick the most vanilla, possibly weaker deck.
My uncle of all people picked up magic when he came to visit and saw my collection. He picked up 2 commander decks from target the following week and brought them over to play not knowing how. We played a few games and I gave him some upgrade cards for his decks and now he's building a vampire commander deck haha. I'm 29 and he's in his 50's btw. Pretty sweet because now I have someone to play with.
There's legitimate studies that show that a larger rat competing with a smaller rat produces interesting results. If the smaller rat can't win around 33% of the time, it loses interest after a while and won't play/wrestle with the larger rat. If you're teaching someone, you have to allow them the leeway to succeed to feel encouraged. Otherwise you'll just run them off.
That's exactly what happened with me learning- I learned during high school but the guy teaching me didn't pull any punches. I was so soured on the experience I didn't play the game properly until university.
@@dustinwilson4815 I was just joking. MTG Arena allows you to win around 50% of the time, however, if you create a deck that wins too much you will be matched with people who have cards you don't have or are way overpowered compared to yours. It is designed to make you want to buy more packs in hopes you get better cards. You can tell the people in Mythic ranks spent too much money on virtual cards, virtual sleeves, virtual alternative art cards. If you haven't played it... I suggest you don't, it will make you hate what MTG has become.
I think you are a very good person. you perfectly summarised the notion of frustration, and you clearly have great deal of understanding when it comes to dealing with other humans. good job!
4:30 a good way i have found to explain to them that there are basic rules to the game, but each card sometimes comes with its own set of rules that can change the normal set of game rules to game.
I started teaching my nephew's who have some attention issues. To help give them all the rules in small bites, I started off with small mono colored decks consisting of only vanilla creatures. Once they got the hang of that, I added in evergreen abilities followed by some more simple abilities. I'm now at the point of adding in artifacts and enchantments to the decks (again, very simple abilities). Next I plan to add in sorceries followed by instants. Finally, I'll add in multicolor and planeswalkers. My nephews are unique and need the slow build of knowledge, but I share this because I think people could try and teach in this order in an accelerated rate rather than trying to teach the full game in a slowed rate (if that makes sense.) This way, you can teach you the pace of their understanding.
This is an awesome way of doing it! I think everyone needs to be introduced to it in pieces. It depends on the person how quickly you can add more pieces as you go.
When I first learnt to play, I learnt the following: 1 land per turn, land taps for mana of its colour to cast spells, creatures must wait a turn to attack and tap when they attack, and that you can cast instants on your opponents turn. Every other mechanic after that was just seeing a new keyword on a card and asking about it while playing with the decks my friends lent me. From that point, I learnt about more and more intricate things from watching good players and seeing them do something I had never seen before. I never needed any of this stuff to play when I was getting started, and I think this is the thing that made me keep playing. It was always really cool to have that epiphany moment when you learn something more advanced by just playing or watching someone else. I remember the first time I learnt to use the upkeep phase and tap permanents to do something before I drew a card even if I had fully tapped out the previous turn. This is second nature to me now but nobody taught me how to do it, I learnt about it when I saw someone else do it.
Great video! I am excited to teach my son to play. I still have some years to go before then, but never would have known about Magic Junior without your video and it seems like a great starting point for the young ones. Awesome tips to help get more people into the game!!
Great video! A mistake ive made when trying to teach new players is to try to teach them using one of my personal "pet" decks. I thought "oh i know this deck it will be easy to teach" but ive found even my ayula commander deck seems too complicated for a new player who doesn't understand anything about the game. Since then i keep a couple of super cheap decks just for teaching new players, mono colored, sorcery speed, mono green ramp vs mono red goblins, basic artifacts like mind stone, no $$ value cards. After they're comfortable with that the mtg Game Night product has some pretty well balanced, medium complexity decks.
Thanks to this video I started teaching my fiancee to play again, I realized that she was feeling frustrated playing with me without understanding some keywords and how to make the most of the deck, I'm going to build some simple decks and slowly advance the level again. Thanks for the video.
This is a useful video that I will share it would of helped many moons ago but I got my wife and kids to play mtg. By starting fresh with them (I didn't play any decks that I already owned) we started with draft and went from there. I explained the basic rules, mechanics of the game and told them reading the card explains the card. Which is why I think all cards should have reminder text on them no matter how many times they are reprinted.
Man, thank you for this video..I mean I learned close to 20 people playing magic...I use to overinform people even while I am talking (now I feel like a big monster to your head hahaha but..) I always try to help or share fun moments and I get to the trap you are saying...Maybe I make them feel amazed but on the other hand yeah, I might make them feel tired and overwhelmed... Good think to know so... Second check is that I always try to understand their view of how they feel losing or wining... So yes.. Letting them win 2/3 times is cool...I have the spirit of a fair fighter,I love to lose fairly and this pushes me to battle fairly so i don't want to let somebody feel I gave him the win because he is new..But you are right,I could let them win...I know it's a complex game and remembering the rules is already a win for them, or even remembering the half rules is a win for them...punishig them with experience or luck or whatever reason is cruel for starters...(Specially when I start playing with them with commander decks 1 Vs 1).... (Ok now I feel not just like a monster but Like a Cruel Monster too) :( ... You are right..Even if people never complained to me I need to concider what you are telling again...My win is to make them feel happy playing magic and sharing my decks with them and see them have fun...Their win is to remember all these rules, learning on the fly their commander exceptional rules etc...not to win the match..so letting them win for the first matches is ok..Is better playing 4 matches and be half "let them win", "I go full power" than.."I go full power" 3 matches and push them away from the game in general or pushing them to become tough players because they had a touch teacher... Thanks ^_^
Outstanding video dude! I have been designing/playing/teaching complex "Euro" board games and this list translates PERFECTLY to just about any game with a degree of complexity.
Interesting that a month after upload it seems this video is gaining traction. I hope this continues for your videos and channel! The quality here is FAR above average and I hope I get to see you become a prominent MTG figure
This is such a well made video, you even explained why we need to care about knowing how to teach someone MTG... Agreed with your points! I hope I get to teach someone MTG soon
The best way to teach a newbie is to start them off with a Modern Dredge deck vs Ad Nauseum. They'll get a great idea for how Magic is supposed to be played
In 2008 or so, I taught my then 9 year old daughter to play using a primarily Green deck. She actually asked me if she could play after seeing me play with friends so I threw a deck together for her. She loved it so much that she immediately asked if she got her own deck. It was primarily Green and basically Snake tribal. (She loves snakes). Now she is 22 and she has quite a pricey and competitive Modern Sultai Snake deck that originated from her first deck almost 14 years ago. Green has changed drastically over the last decade, but it still has plenty of options for keeping the concepts simple, and is probably still the single best color to learn the game with.
About "letting them win", here's what I do. I set up scenarios. I goal as the teacher isn't to win. It's to set up as many scenarios in the gameplay as possible that speak to what the newbie is learning. For example, I tend to use some bounce effects while teaching only so I can know what's in their hand. I use this info so purposely set up situations where they can use the card reactively to what I do. Example - someone I was teaching played a Nekrataal killing one of my 1/1 saprolings. After it got a few hits in, I drew an Unsummon and bounced it back to their hand. I had plenty of ways to deal with the Nekrataal, but I needed it back in my hand, because.... next turn I played a really big hyrdra and hoped she saw what she could do. And she did :)
Before the pandemic I've been doing small MtG basic tutorials in our local gamestore and during local conventions and I'm not sure if the trainees are getting all of the idea I'm teaching on the rules and gameplay. Thanks for pointing out the things that I missed during the tutorial sessions.
My boyfriend with at least a decade of experience has done a few of these, especially tangents, when he was introducing me to the Legacy format. He saw me watching this video and got a little butthurt. You're right though! All the scenarios went over my head!
These tips are great. I've tried so many times to teach people mtg and its always seemed to make them never wanna try it again. The strange thing is while I've made a point of mentally breaking down the interactions and not repeating teaching errors, like the haste example, there's always a new unique reason it doesn't work. Its just a really complex game One thing I've learned that makes a massive positive difference is to teach 2 people together. Something about playing against your student makes it hard to ask questions, hard to separate teacher and rival roles for them. I've also found the deck they use doesn't have to be a weak deck, its actually better if its powerful, because of the winning thing, just not complicated. Text like 'target non-black artifact or enchantment with converted mana cost 5 or less'...all of that is no good... a beginner card should just say 'target permanant'. Related to that, synergy focused decks like tribal decks and life decks are great, as long as there's very few things to keep track of. The joy will come from their piloting, so you don't want it to pilot itself, or for it to feel like solving a puzzle The other super important thing I learned while teaching is that explaining the cost of cards needs its own isolated explanation near the very beginning and should involve some practice scenarios playing various cards. I don't mention lands adding mana anymore, as its just a layer that confuses people, I say that lands pay for spells and it really helps. Thanks for sharing your insights, I like how you positioned us as 'stewards' of the game, and that we want to make it fun for people. Totally agree about counterspells and control magic. I get that some people's fun is about taking away fun from others and inclusivity is important. But I also know I wouldn't have grown to love mtg if I'd encountered that stuff too soon and to this day would stop playing if I saw it too often. Very happy to shelter new players from that style of play unless they seem to be one of them
Awesome video! Thank for the excellent tips. I failed miserably with my daughter when she was young, and now I'll try to do a better job teaching my son.
Teaching someone how to play a game you are extremely passionate about is an art. Also, Learning how to lose on purpose but make it seem like you were trying to win is a skill.
I actually teach new players frequently and I have decks set aside that focuses on the colors strengths. After they have a grasp on the mono colored strengths then I move on to color pairs featured in guilds of ravnica, then go onto tricolor, and eventually teach them other formats. Now if it is a child I usually give them that deck and tell them to have fun and remember it's a game.
To learn how to play magic the new player has to play actual cards himself. Then the first question is "Which deck should a newcomer play?" In my opinion we should avoid both commander decks and tuned decks for any contructed format. Try to build up a couple (or more) decks similar to the ones you could draft from a set (just 40 cards, better if there is no rare or mythic, since they are usually overpowered and overcomplicated). Then focus on explaining the main mechanics of the archetypes you build (in general they are both simple and interesting) and try some games. If the decks are built in a simple enough way you probably don't even need to "let them win", since there won't be too many wrong decisions they could take or sudden game-determining moves. I have 10 of such decks, each themed on a guild of Ravnica, so the new player could even taste a bit of lore while watching the different aspects of the color pie.
I had not played since the 90’s. Then I started playing again. OMG, the new powers and effects left me baffled. “What does that do?”, was a common thing for me to ask. About 50% of the players told me, “get a rule book”. Many just don’t want to play with people who have not kept up with the game. They want a fast win, lots and lots of Ego boosting fast wins.
I'm sorry to hear you running into players like that. A large part of the community are wonderful, but a certain subset...are not. Personally it's the game itself I enjoy and I couldn't care less if I win. (Most of the time anyway.) I hope you have a found a play group that are more welcoming.
@@beyondthedeckbox Thank you so very much for the kind words. I pretty much stopped playing with strangers. Now, I only play with friends when they are in the mood. I find it better that way anyway. None of us have kept up with the game so we don't have all the modern cards. Heck, I bet were I to start again I would find half my cards might be banned cards due to their age alone. The majority of my cards are commons from 2nd Ed. Unlimited.
Lol, I was explaining Modern to someone who had only ever played arena last week. We were in a discord call, and they cast lightning bolt on my 2/3 tarmogoyf when there weren't any instants in the yard..... that was a fun one to explain hahaha.
I make multiple decks that are identical and simple to teach new players. I assist them to play the deck. While we play, I'll explain as simply as I can how the cards work. I never won a game against a new player that I'm teaching. I actually play MTG for fun, not to win. If I get paid to play, then I'll be playing for the win. You may win the game against me, but if I had fun, I still won.
I always just make sure to say "there's a card that breaks every rule" and then repeat this whenever vigilance or haste or whatever shows up. That way I don't have to qualify every single statement about the rules. You can play one land per turn. We don't need to mention the cards that say you can play more
I was fortunate enough be enrolled in the guru program as a guru in the early days. I think I still have the "teaching materials". Always thought it was kinda cool to be a licensed mtg teacher.
That's awesome! The guru program was kicked off right after I started a brief break in my MTG playing. And I happened to come back right after it was shut down. I only found out about it a few years ago. It sounded like a thing I would have absolutely been a part of.
very good video. The "try to be not THAT competitive" it's very important. Some years ago, a friend tried to teach me how to play Catan, but he on purpouse don't teached me some rules because he wanted to win that game.
Thank you so much! When I learned to play MTG I was taught by my best friend at the time. He did the same thing. There were rules he didn't "like" so he ignored them. (I do cut him some slack, we were 12...)
@@beyondthedeckbox to be fair, when all of us were 12 we pretty much all just used the rules that worked for us. hell, to this very day nobody at ANY age plays Monopoly the "right" way.
I am teaching my super salty dad before lotr comes out and your video has given me a lot of ideas. Also love the lofi it provides the right vibes for teaching. Easiest subscribe of the week.
I have only won one game ever when not playing 1v1 so I am totally up for teaching the people and letting them win because that makes it way more fun for the new palyers. Mess up a few plays, give them advice, and forgive mistakes.
Most of your mtg card shops will have free beginner decks that you can take to teach new players with. They’re 40 card decks, mostly lands and creatures that follow the color plans. They don’t omit keywords but they aren’t filled with them. See which color they like and they should be able to play the deck well in about half an hour.
My friends taught me magic and they tried to compare it to yugioh when I started. Basically saying, instants are like quick spells, sorcery are like regulars spells, creatures cannot attack the turn they're summoned unless they have an ability, and instead of tribute summoning you are creating a resource pool similar to pokemon like energy cards in order to play every card. I pretty much got it after that. From there, they said just read the card and it will tell you what it does and overrides any other rule in the game and just realize that if a player leaves their mana unused (up) they have a potential counter in their hand which is like trap cards. I pretty much got it after that and I played with their decks for a few games until I understood the game. The only thing that I struggled with was honestly the combat system because of how you need to declare attackers and they can choose to take damage or combat and the first time I went up against flying was frustrating but made me realize how powerful that was. Also when to use tap creature abilities, I almost always miss the trigger because I wait too late but that's part of the learning. Another rule that was eventually explained to me is that i can look at every card ability as a kicker. Basically, thr player is almost always paying an additional cost to execute an ability or some abilities are zero cost. That also simplified most of the different abilities in the game into two categories for me (kicker costs and attacking abilities like death touch/haste/flying, etc). Some other confusing points of the game are things like treasure tokens, clue artifacts, food tokens etc. When I first started, it seemed very weird to me that there were commonly used and understood effects for some tokens that doesn't require explanation on the card itself. So coming across that is sometimes frustrating
I always start by explaining lands and spells, permanent and non permanent, the card types, instant speed and sorcery speed, priority and the stack, creatures then play. I definitely avoid explaining in detail any of them just start with the lands and go from there if you can understand how a land works you can understand how to play lol
I like to start with the basics pure vanilla creature decks, single color and build from there. slowly upgrade the decks along the way to show new mechanics until they get how everything interacts with eachother and when.
Give them a mono green deck because it has cool and strong creatures, mana dorks and instants that are pump spells. They will see their permanents and how they interact with enemy permanents and also start to see when it is advantageous to play an instant (do I use my giant growth to pump my attacker so it survives being blocked, or do I save that for later to block an enemy creature? Or do I throw it in when my damage comes through?)
You: "Avoid putting hard control cards in your deck because they're not fun for newer players to play against!" The guy who taught me 10 years ago: "I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that!" No kidding, the deck he had built to "Teach" me was Esper control, and I strung together a deck out of a box of OG Innistrad. Somehow, I still enjoyed not only our games then, but I still love playing Magic now!
would you let the student learn control magic if that is what they are interested? or should a student start with less control more proactive list? I would love to hear peoples thoughts on what are the best decks to learn with.
Control is hard for newer players because you need to have really good threat assessment and board awareness. I wanted to be a blue player when I started but turns out you need a really solid understanding of the game to play control effectively. I would suggest combat tricks to ease them into control and once they understand the deck they are up against, they can try control. Just my two cents anyways. I personally learned with an orzhov vampires deck that was lifelink based and then moved on to other black central decks before moving into other colour combos. Also, I would start with 60 card because the newcomer will see the same cards and get consistency which will help solidify the concepts and have keywords but avoid lengthy cards at first. Start with the typical lifelink, haste, trample etc. Then move to more complex or wordier cards later
This is great question! The way I tend to handle it is give them the concept of it, see how they react, and then when I introduce instants a few games in I'll use control instants and give those to them. That way they are telling me "No, you can't do that." Which, I'll admit, is a lot more fun.
The best way i have found is to play several games where both players play with their hands eevealed the ease them in by goving them a aggeo dexk and play something slow to build confidence
i was teaching a roommate how to play and he was very staunch that i shouldn't just let him win, like he had to win on his own merits and if I was going to feign letting him win he'd get upset if i had mana open and cards in my hand if i showed him that i could win with it. so we played and i beat him every time, but man after probably a couple dozen games (i would also point out tips and stuff to help him do better but he didn't want a ton of it) when he finally beat me he was so hyped. he still plays to this day although I've not seen him in years
That's awesome! It does also depend on the player too. When I started playing with my current playgroup they were much better than me. Understood the game at a deeper level. And they never let me win. I had to earn it. But since I already knew the game and I enjoyed playing it didn't bother me too much. And it did make the wins I did eek out that much more exciting.
When my dad taught me the basics we played with tiny leaders, a mostly dead format but it's much simpler than commander, and we played with our hands revealed so it wasn't giving info when asking questions like "what does vigilance do"
You can also play a horribly bad deck and try to beat them using a decent deck, I did this with my little cousin and she was able to get a legitimate win that way and I got to actually try my best against her, it was fun for both of us and she was excited to go again.
I have taught about 2 dozen or so people at this point. The only one thus far that is up to my level in terms of strategy is the only person I know that has read every page of the rule book. I have had a few "students" stop playing after playing a few sessions, but for the most part they stick around.
I just recently got a friend to play mtg. It's been a bit rough because hes had a hard time understanding. But now after tons of games I think I've got my friend completely addicted. Lol
One note: Power level. I bought a precon to drop down to the power level of one of my friends who's still very new. They won their first game last night (against myself and one other player too!). Very proud moment, *and* dropping the power level made games with them just more interesting. They also had more fun, of course. Also, I usually avoid the "A creature *usually can't* attack the turn you play it..." scenario by informing new players right off the bat "Most rules have exceptions, and those exceptions are usually right on a card. So we'll cover that as cards come up." Then you don't have to explain how every rule has exceptions. They're expecting them to come up.
I like teaching people with simple without staples pauper decks, by playing like 2 games with our hands open. That way I can tell him which card type can be played at each part of a turn and why, that way I don't fill the person with information that if they ask I'll know the cards they have.
I bought the 6.50 arena starter kit with two decks to teach my niece. I find the two decks are fairly evenly matched. The deck boxes and sleeves were the most expensive part of the purchase.
I found a good way is to build some weak and simple decks. Give one to the student. And play a couple rounds with that, getting to teach them all the very basics. And then slowly ramp up the decks you both use. Til they have a grasp of the big pictures in magic. After that just show them how to look things up so they know how to quickly figure out something you may have not had a chance to explain, when they eventually come across it.
I also like to tell them that it takes time and playing to really understand everything in magic. They ussually ask how long I been playing. I say almost 10 years, and then tell them that even I still learn something new every now and then.
I know a lot of times I sometimes forget stuff like control are more advanced. It’s a hazard of being so familiar with a game that has a lot of depth of strategy.
"let them win." this is why I started building more 'budget' decks. So that people have more of a chance of beating me. Not that I run tier 1 or even 3 legacy decks, but I do invest quite a bit into my decks.
Same. I have an oppressive control deck that I put way too much money in. My win rate is the highest in my group. But no-one was having fun. Not even me. So now I play Simic Stompy and Temur Dragons with the friends.
@@seifer447 ya, I still play my strong stuff on occasion, I like to win at least once every friday, but If I win with a deck I'll move on to another one. I have a blue white deck I built around teferi's puzzle box for fun, but I was told I needed a wincon so I threw and second sun and it's insane how often I win with it even in a 4-5 player match. I miss more 1v1 games...
While I agree with what you said about not saying "Go play Arena", I always suggest a new player that's serious about learning the game play some online games once they get the basics down. My friends were the ones who taught me the basics when I first learned to play but it was xmage and Magic Online that REALLY taught me the game inside and out. It started to make SO much more sense to me when every single step and phase was laid out one at a time and I had a visual representation of the stack, etc. Within a couple months I was deep into the rabbit hole and teaching them what the best sideboard cards were for the current modern meta. (they didn't give a shit, they were competitive but aside from EDH hadn't played formats like Standard in years, they just brewed random casual decks) If they hadn't taught me the basics I don't know if I ever would have really stuck with it or not, but if I never went home and downloaded xmage and later MODO I never would have learned the game as easily as I did either as it's basically a never ending tutorial.
That is an excellent point! Having all of that laid out all the time can be really beneficial. I just wish Arena had the Magic Online economy, or Magic Online had Arena's graphics and UI.
@@beyondthedeckbox You and me both brother! I'm just starting to get back into MTG after taking a year off (I just couldn't take the way the game was developing but it turned out I couldn't live without it. As they say, we always come back hahaha) and I still haven't wanted to craft any kind of new Arena deck (I have about 25 rare and 10 mythic wildcards left from last year) because the system is so awful I can't bring myself to pull the trigger on spending those precious wildcards. I think their terrible Arena economy is going to be a roadblock to just as many people as it will help onroad once people realize how much of a money pit it is (and unlike MODO you can't even sell or trade cards, how is that supposed to encourage new people?!?) Also, xmage might be slow, but being able play any kind of deck in any format you want, plus play any kind of limited format including cube for free makes it well worth it to newer players!
I just explained it as if your lands are just like spending, so you need to spend an island and any other colorless to cast a spell and they usually understand it.
I did explain that creatures can't attack the turn they enter the battlefield but gave the other person a card with haste, instead of making them feel like I was being unfair I let them discover the fact that card rules override the basic rules(also red is by far the easiest color to learn with) and I used core set cards for those with evergreen keywords so they can get all the information from the cards themselves. the decks I made were super simple and relay heavily on each color's theme and main gameplay tactics(as much as I could). I had a REALLY good hand against them but I decided to mulligan because the hand was 4 control spells and that would've been a seriously not fun game... they ended up losing because they drew nothing for 4 turns straight... feelsbadcity. I was dead to shock or even a goddamn goblin but they only drew lands and I couldn't just stopped swinging with the bird because than I would have too many blockers...
I would say when someone is new, Not to let them win but to give them tips on the best turn. Using what they have to do as much damage as they can. So many people miss 1 damage & when I loos it is all the things I missed that I hate not the fact that I lost. I think back to, "what if I had attacked that one turn" or why did I not sac that monster that would have come back regardless...
My favorite part with one of my friends was when it was the final swing, a bunch of creatures, tons of damage going his way and little abilities to be aware of, some trample, some deathtouch, and he's thinking about how to not die.... And after 5 to 10 minutes of thinking, he reveals his hand and just straight up asks me to join him in "solving the puzzle" of not dying! And I'm kinda stunned, but quickly adapt to be in his shoes; he's not brand new but he's still learning the ropes - we're playing with commons and uncommons, both are decks he built (so they'd be the same power level) - and I'm trying to find a way to help him not die. I do end up finding a way for him to live, but disappointingly, he had no reaction to my boardstate and lost the next turn. 😂
I have been teaching people to play magic to over 20 years now. I have a great success rate. And yes, I still have the deck I use to teach 20 years later. I enjoy teaching it. I also never play to win. I also play to stalemate. That is a complicated thing to achive. I hope people don't jump into Arena. Its horrible and is a huge money trap for something that at the end of day could be gone in the flip of a switch. So yeah, buy the buy cardboard, get some pretzels and hangout with people.
When I have to explain summoning sickness, I find it easier to say that creatures with summoning sickness aren't able to tap themselves, which also explains why they can't attack, as I would've already explained how creatures normally tap themselves when they attack. Haste just means a creature doesn't get summoning sickness.
I was first introduced to Magic in college, where my entire friend group played, but I'd never heard of it. One of my friends tried to teach me by starting a game with me. I don't remember how he explained anything, but I do remember being very lost. I tried to directly attack his creatures, for instance, and it took me several turns before I understood why *he* was allowed to "decide who I attack" (i.e. declare his blockers), because I didn't understand that we were attacking each other and not our creatures. Lots of things like that happened, and by the end of the game, I was just like, "...nah, I don't think this game is for me." Fast-forward a few weeks, and I was hanging out with friends while they were playing Commander (our format of choice), and they asked if I wanted to play. I told them no, that I didn't really "get it", but I'd watch them play. One of them -- a different friend than the first one who'd tried to teach me -- was just like, "nope, I'm teaching you right now". I was hesitant, but he basically plopped a Riku of Two Reflections deck in front of me and said "let's go". I don't remember what he did differently, but by the end of that game, I felt way more confident and had so much fun. I've been a player ever since and *love* the game. So having someone teach you the right way is definitely important to whether you end up sticking with the game or not.
That reminds me of when a friend of mine in college tried to teach me the original Wizards of the Coast Star Wars TCG. He tried his best but he wasn't the greatest at explaining things. It basically was an hour of him going, "You can't do that because XYZ. You could have done it last turn because you had ABC but that ability faded and now you..." We stuck to Magic after that.
This video definitely helped me recalibrate my mindset in teaching new players toward a more patient and organized approach, but I still think I would scream at all these people playing magic without sleeves or masks >_
When I try to teach new players magic, I usually use the ravnica guild kit decks, honestly the best place to start for most people as it can have the best selection of main keywords, while showing off how some sets use different mechanics. I just usually stay away from any guild with blue or black in it the first two or three games as those decks tend to get more complicated.
Playing since '94 and control magic nearly killed it for me back then with the few counterspells that existed then. Good advice on control cards for beginners.
The way I teach them I teach them with ABC decks. First off I tell them MTG is extremely simple that can become super complex depending on who and what you are playing, and that if a Rule and a card interact the card wins. But ya moving on. I start them out with A class decks that are just basically monocolored creatures which are basically green decks sometimes its a red or black but normally green. Depends on what I have avaliable/what they like made a simple rat deck because he loves rats. Then I give them a B class deck that is more interactive and controlly. Usually Blue or Red with Instants and a second color so they learn dual cored decks. Then finally I ease them into Class C decks which play radically different then normal decks you are going to see like mill, graveyard decks or enchament overload decks like Shrine or Curses. Decks that win using basically alternate win cons that break the rules more often. So far the only person I have taught of my friends that stopped was because of financial reasons so I say that's a solid way to teach them in basically 3 steps.
The best way to teach new players is to give them a m19 mono colored precon and then play vintage stax against them. They will quit and never lose money. It's honestly in their best interest.
that got my giggling way harder than it should have
The Greater Good
Thats legitimately what happened to me when I got into magic. Soin brawl/modern deck and a sliver modern deck
No, you pull that out when they get cocky and say you can't win.
First time I played a real game of Magic, I went to my friend's house with a 10$ Delver deck against my friend's Bogle... let say it wasn't a good experience lol
I've been teaching my girlfriend how to play. I have realised I am becoming a master at feigning losing. Playing suboptimally until they start to get ahead, then playing more optimally to make it look good, but ultimately letting them win. Most of the time, she doesnt realise I let her win. But now she is getting to the point where she is outright winning and I think I've created a monster...
I did a similar thing while teaching my wife. It was funny the first time I was looking at the board and realizing I’m about to be legitimately crushed without any misplay on my part.
I did the same thing with my wife. She told me to stop letting her win, to which I said, I did a while ago. Hahaha
Why would someone try to get their GF or wife into Magic? 90% of the time she will be faking interest just to keep a tighter leash on your extramarital activities smh...
@@PraetorGix Who hurt you bro
@@Generic42 nah mate it's not about hurt feelings, I just see some things more clearly and I wish men in general were less simp-ish. I'm not saying you gotta hate women or divorce your wife or anything, it's just, you know, be more of a man and less of a pet in general.
I often say, 'this is the rule, unless you have a card that says otherwise."
That’s a great way to put it! I’m definitely going to use this.
In a similar way I say "the game has a set of rules" and cards allow you to break those rules
@@xayidegreymind5782 This is my go to as well.
Yup when I explain I tell them about "rule 0" and that is if the card says something that contradicts anything I'm about to say, the card is right.
I like to state that the most important rule is "What the card says goes."
My roommate got me into magic. He plays a lot of blue. He played mostly Azorious control against me while teaching me. To this day I never play blue because I can’t stop viewing it as the anti-fun color. It is the color that says no.
To be fair, blue is the least played color among my decks. The game is so vast and full of opportunities that you can really find combos and styles that fit you as a player. I personally like people taking their turns on theirs, not the opponents like Blue does hahaha!
@@dangusmedia Control matchups can be insanely fun sometimes. If you're playing against a control mirror you basically have to trick your opponent into letting them do what YOU want them to let you do, but what THEY think is ok to let you do. It's horribly frustrating for new players and I hated playing against control decks back when I first started playing until I slowly started to realize that I enjoyed piloting control decks. Once I learned how to play a control deck I stopped hating playing against them as I learned that it's really just about trying to outsmart them rather than having big threats they can't answer, a super aggressive start you can't keep up with or a combo. I get why people hate it, back when Arena was brand new people could just rope every single turn. I had an opponent who had literally no board because my Teferi emblem exiled all their permanents and I could tell if they drew a land or a spell based on whether it gave them priority or not. They salt roped me so long the game (not match, GAME) lasted over an hour. Quite the anti-blue protest that was. (note I don't play control decks that often, I like a nice healthy mix of playstyles)
Blue is the anti fun color
@@braziliandre What was funny about the game the guy salt roped me for an hour was he was playing mono red. Apparently it's not fun to have a long game of back and forth but it's fun to end the game on turn 4.
@@Nightwishmaster cool, you're talking arena we're talking play groups. They'll know what to stop in your deck and it won't matter. You're more than welcome to play blue in our commander group. Just know it's 3v1 until you're gone
I have actually built 5, mono colored 60 card decks to teach people. They all consist of basic cards, with basic effects, showing off a little bit of what each color can do. Red has some haste creatures, black has some kill spells, blue has a few counters. I let them choose their deck first, then I pick mine, we play with open hands until they feel confident enough to play with concealed hands. I keep the little rule books that come with the cards sometimes to give them a reference to keep. They always go first, and I try to explain step by step what happens, loosening the reins as they get more confident. If they have an opportunity to clench a win, I will show them how to do it, if they can't see it, and if I win, I explain how it happens.
*nods*
Yep that is a very sound and great way to ease people into it. Especially the "Play with open hands" part.
when i was first learning to play, my buddy's older brother slapped a Black Green deck on the table, and told me to draw seven. then he pulled out his Mono White, and walked me through then process. Since then, ive been addicted to Black/Green decks.
I built my first Tournament deck around rat token generation that fed my mana pool, which fed my token generation.
At one point, before several key combos were banned, and several cards re-released with new wording in them, i could have 30+ rat tokens on the field, by turn 3. i won a match on turn two, when my opponent played a card that doubled the amount of lands i could play per turn (all players can now play 2 lands per turn).
Basic premise of my Rat Plague deck, was a series of card combos that allowed me to generate rat tokens based on the cards in my graveyard, and the mana i had available. One combo i had, if i got it first turn, and had a single land on the field, i could get 10 rat tokens on the field that first turn.
Two years later, they re-released both cards with new wording, that made that impossible.
Essentially one card allowed me to untap lands by sacrificing a creature for each land. the other allowed me to pay 1 mana and create 2 rat tokens. The rewording made it so i tapped both of those cards, on top of paying the fee. so couldnt actually pull it off anymore.
"Monocolored decks showing off a bit of what each color can do."
Yeah, but what if they want to play something besides Green? :P
New player finally plays the cool creature they put in their deck. Boom. Polymorphed into frog
Frogs are cool tho why would they be mad?
I did this to my friend who I just got into magic
"I hate to send people to their addiction" - continues to teach someone about (paper) MTG
Yeah I was gonna say it's the same loop but in a different medium
ssssshhhhhh...you weren't supposed to notice that...
@Sid The sloth Just shoot them over to MTGO ;D
I was thinking the same thing. At least on arena, you can get everything for free if you play a lot.
@@dustinroberson1865 You literally can't since there is a limit to daily/weekly missions. If you play a lot AND win a lot in events you might tho.
On your point about avoiding control decks at first. I would warn/explain that control and denial is a big part of the game.
Example: I taught my wife how to play. I don't play control decks often and didn't own a control deck. I taught her how to play and she had a good time. We start playing with friends and she starts playing on arena. And this is when she met control decks. It was really crushing and demoralizing for a while. If I would have explained control and denial at a early point she would have had an expectation that other players will get to stay no very often in this game. I know I failed at setting that expectation and luckily she has bounced back and now plays can't be countered green decks.
She has sworn off control and mill decks tho.
Last point. Never ever play a deathtouch first strike against a new player. It breaks them.
I agree. I think of "keeping control magic out of the game" while teaching in the same way I think of "letting them win." It's ok to do it at first but it needs to be introduced eventually. With control magic, I also tend to give them a heads up as well. It all depends on the student too. Sometimes you mention control magic and you see a twinkle in their eye and you know that is a play style to get to sooner rather than later. Other players grimace, etc.
I'd just go with standard for anyone learning nowadays because control isn't too hasty, requires ramp, absolute-counters all cost more than 2cc, plus unsummons is in the current meta and that's less feel-bad, among other things.
Plus we'll never see 2cc counterspell in standard ever again, it only just got introduced in modern this year. Shoot if we get into legacy, 2ccs counters are practically not even playable. Force of Will meta.
mmmmmmmm, mill
Defiantly not for the faint of heart. One of my favorite decks that I threw together is lovingly called "Crab Cakes". Blue / Green mill crab landfall galore. Not top tier by any means, but it really messes up the tempo.
@@dangusmedia Yes, defiantly.
The best way to teach a newbie is to start them off with a Modern Dredge deck vs Ad Nauseum. They'll get a great idea for how Magic is supposed to be played. Then you can start mixing in decks like Lantern Control and Death's Shadow, you know, the basics.
Naw, you have to start with Amulet Titan, Ad Nauseum is too linear.
@@philcoats6812 I guess that rules out Twin variants and Pod too?
@@IntegralKing Twin no, Pod yes... But you shouldn't be bringing banned stuff to newbs.
I thought that was too obvious so I didn't include it in the list. But I agree.
Guys, you obviously wanna start out noobs with an Elemental tribal deck. They don't have to do much of anything other than throw the cards on the table. If you haven't legit beaten them by turn 6, then you probably won't (unless you're running heavy control which breaks the rules).
So glad you brought up the tangent issue. I was at an FNM a few weeks ago and watched this kid go down the rabbit hole explaining summoning sickness to a new player. After 5 minutes I interjected it and told him to just stop and explain it if it happens.
I found that comparing the mechanics of the game to others from a different media is a good way to help newbies understand better. One of my friends I was teaching is a big Smash fan, that's how we met, and I used terms he'd understand to explain the rules, like instants would have "no beginning lag" counters in magic were similar to the ones in Smash and so on.
I bought a box of Jumpstart, sleeved them in and whenever someone is willing to learn, I put it out. Its amazing, best set for newcomers EVER. Hope they will make it again.
How did you sleeve them up to make them recognisable (sortable for after the game)? Did you use differently coloured sleeves for every booster?
@@go1988 First I Tried that, yes. But then you cant Play with different combinations every game. So I bought Cube Shells from Dragon shield, they are perfect to make Boosters yourself, 20cards, single sleeved and the Front Card of the jumpstart Boosters fit perfectly!
This is a great idea!
@@go1988 use your cellphone, snap a quick picture of all the cards in at least one of the decks laid out. Makes it real easy to tear down when you're done. there are lists though for each of the decks if you google them later. Some of the decks have 4 variations but it's usually pretty easy to figure out which one you have from the rares.
That's a great idea! Not only are you introducing them to the best game in the world, but also the best format (limited). Also Jumpstart 2022 has already been confirmed for Q4 of 2022!
Ya, when I teach someone I use two decks with vanilla creatures and easily understood spells, Once they get the basics i'll gradually add more complex cards. also basic lands only
Back when we still had a LGS in my town, I had started working on concept "tutor decks" to help people understand the game. One of each color, feature the main 5 planeswalkers, and each being tailored to something those colors did well. Green ramp, white lifegain, black discard, red agro/dd, blue mill/control. It was around the time of M12/13, so it was nice that each walker had them some companion cards to go with them that I was going to include as well. I've considered re-visiting the idea.
This is a great idea!
Something almost always that throws people hard at first is understanding Power and Toughness and its relation to another creature blocking it. When teaching somebody about this, instead refer to Power as their Damage, and Toughness as their Health. Honestly makes everything go much smoother. Mind blow.
This is a really good tip! My wife had a hard time with power toughness, but to be honest it was because she kept looking at it like a fraction. (She's a former math teacher.)
I've gotta say, when I first started playing EDH with my roommate, I had a self-made deck that was the definition of terrible. The guy teaching me how to play was playing the most degenerate Tasigur deck (you know the type). In hindsight there's no way I could have won, but to his credit he made a couple of 'mistakes' that allowed me to win. I don't think I would be as invested in magic now if he hadn't done that.
I still remember some of my early days of learning and playing Magic. One thing that got me when I first was learning was combos. I don't remember the first one I saw but I do remember the first one I used (or just the first one that I used wrong). I asked the person who was the judge/game store owner if I could use this recursion card to do an infinite loop. I showed him and he said "yes", so I started using it on all my games and no one could stop me. That is until I went to a different store with better players and a better judge. I got called out the first time I used it wrong and I thought my deck was a huge steamy pile of crap that didn't work. But after being completely embarrassed someone showed me that my deck still kind of worked. I kept playing and ended up taking first or second in the legacy tournament. The next week I went back and almost everyone put hate cards I their side board to stop my deck.
When I met up with my current playgroup, my one buddy had a combo deck. I remember for the first 3-4 months when he would play it, there would come a point in the game where my other buddy would just scoop because the combo was about to go off. Took them a bit to realize they were ending the game _before_ he actually did the combo so I never saw it in action so I didn't understand what it did. After a couple of times of him actually doing it did I realize the sequence.
The first time I've ever played magic, literally the first time, was when I stumbled upon my college's MTG group, they just said, "Hey, wanna play?" and gave me a deck of 60 cards. I joined a 7 player kitchen-table game with black-red "Deathtouch + Tap-Damage (Tim)" synergy concept.
Thank god I came from a background of card-gaming because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to pick up the game this quickly. That being said, all the decks at the table were very low power level. Good times.
This man gives awesome advice, most people I've taught, I kinda did give them tangents, but only specific ones of keywords in the deck they wanted to use. They never wanted me to just let them win and they'd sit and beat the mess out of me lol
Play with some precons or straight forward Timmy style decks....
1. Play with decks that have at least 1 of each type of card (creatures, artifact, enchantment, planeswalker, instant, sorcery) and include creatures with a variety of tap, instant pay, and static abilities to get instantly familiar with all card types, creature abilities, and combat interaction.
2. Help them understand the different battlefield zones and outside the game zones, responding to abilities/triggers/spells on the stack, and ways of losing/winning the game.
3. Play with hands face open for first couple games so that you can explain basic "best decision/s to make given the circumstances" scenarios. Explain why you make the decisions you do and explain the options afforded to them by their hand.
4. Once these basics are down along with how phases/turns look, play several games normally (hands not showing).
5. After they are comfortable: Buy 12 boosters and do a sealed 1-on-1 (6 Boosters each, 40 card deck builds). Assist them the entire way of the deck building process and help them understand the mana curve, appropriate land-to-spell ratios, color balancing, qualities each color in magic possess, and lastly synergy. This will also cover Sideboarding as you play best-of-3 games and allow card changes in between games.
I've followed this approached with several players and they now are addicted :D
As a magic player with two young cousins interested in the game, I'm waiting for them to be a little bit older before handing them their first decks, but right now I'm spreading the idea of card games around their school by handing them pokemon cards, I'll be back in a couple years because this was very helpful
Personally (only a minute and a half into the video), I've found that one of the best things to tell people at first (whether you are introducing them to Magic for the first time, or they've asked you how to play and you're teaching them) is the following: "Magic is a Role-Playing TCG. You play as a Wizard who is trying to defeat an enemy Wizard. Land cards produce mana for you which goes into your 'mana pool' ー think of something akin to a birdbath atop a pedestal, ー then the mana in your pool is spent to cast your 'Spells' ー or basically any card that isn't a 'Land' ー from your hand. Your hand is akin to a page in a spellbook, and your deck is akin to a library (hence, being called as such). Each player starts with 20 life ..." and yadda yadda about how Mana Values work (insert meme about CMC being exiled).
Hi, I wanted to thank you for mentioning Magic Jr. I really appreciate it. I had let the project languish a bit because I've been super busy at work (yay!) and also dealing with the covid-lockdown blues (sigh), but you've sent a lot of people my way, and that has inspired me to get the project back on track again. Can't thank you enough for the motivation!
Well this was about the best comment I could get this morning! I can't thank _you_ enough for putting the effort into putting together Magic Jr. It has really helped me get my daughter into playing Magic. (That, and the unicorn cards....she LOVES the unicorn cards...) And I'm so happy this video is boosting interest! I have loved the idea ever since I found it on reddit a couple of years ago. Thank you so much for stopping by and making a comment! Made my _week_ !
This is not only a great list of techniques for teaching MTG but a plethora of other hobbies and skills. I’m a huge board game fan but a lot of my friends are hesitant to get into something they might find too complicated or sluggish. These tips are a big help that I will use to ease that transition to make them board game fanatics like myself. Thank you!
Thank you! I'm really glad you found this helpful!
How is this channel so small? This video is incredible! Everything said is delivered well, and just so happens to speak directly to my experiences learning this game
Thank you so much! I really appreciate that and I'm so glad you liked it!
This rings true with my experience of introducing the game to children and family. It's hard to balance tangents with avoiding surprise. I lean strongly towards not describing keywords and card text that's not on the battlefield and try to remember to explain near the beginning that card text can change pretty much everything I'm saying, "so watch out for any rule bending stuff." If you keep some teaching decks ready, you can control what keywords are going to come up and limit that "but I thought!" for the first few games. Official starter/welcome decks are not bad but may have more keywords than you'd like for teaching. It's actually fun to discover something like haste or flying by reading it on a card, so long as it's got reminder text and it's you (the student) that's playing it, not your opponent. So, yes, as the teacher, you can pick the most vanilla, possibly weaker deck.
My uncle of all people picked up magic when he came to visit and saw my collection. He picked up 2 commander decks from target the following week and brought them over to play not knowing how. We played a few games and I gave him some upgrade cards for his decks and now he's building a vampire commander deck haha. I'm 29 and he's in his 50's btw. Pretty sweet because now I have someone to play with.
There's legitimate studies that show that a larger rat competing with a smaller rat produces interesting results. If the smaller rat can't win around 33% of the time, it loses interest after a while and won't play/wrestle with the larger rat. If you're teaching someone, you have to allow them the leeway to succeed to feel encouraged. Otherwise you'll just run them off.
You sound like you work for Arena.😂
That's exactly what happened with me learning- I learned during high school but the guy teaching me didn't pull any punches. I was so soured on the experience I didn't play the game properly until university.
@@alexandersupertramp6027 Nope. Never played it. I have played MTG since 3rd edition was brand new, though...
@@dustinwilson4815
I was just joking. MTG Arena allows you to win around 50% of the time, however, if you create a deck that wins too much you will be matched with people who have cards you don't have or are way overpowered compared to yours. It is designed to make you want to buy more packs in hopes you get better cards. You can tell the people in Mythic ranks spent too much money on virtual cards, virtual sleeves, virtual alternative art cards. If you haven't played it... I suggest you don't, it will make you hate what MTG has become.
@@alexandersupertramp6027 You got a source for this or just anecdotal evidence ?
I think you are a very good person. you perfectly summarised the notion of frustration, and you clearly have great deal of understanding when it comes to dealing with other humans. good job!
Thank you! I really appreciate you saying that!
4:30 a good way i have found to explain to them that there are basic rules to the game, but each card sometimes comes with its own set of rules that can change the normal set of game rules to game.
6:12 Yes exactly! Your aren't playing the game you are TEACHING the game.
I started teaching my nephew's who have some attention issues. To help give them all the rules in small bites, I started off with small mono colored decks consisting of only vanilla creatures. Once they got the hang of that, I added in evergreen abilities followed by some more simple abilities. I'm now at the point of adding in artifacts and enchantments to the decks (again, very simple abilities).
Next I plan to add in sorceries followed by instants.
Finally, I'll add in multicolor and planeswalkers.
My nephews are unique and need the slow build of knowledge, but I share this because I think people could try and teach in this order in an accelerated rate rather than trying to teach the full game in a slowed rate (if that makes sense.) This way, you can teach you the pace of their understanding.
This is an awesome way of doing it! I think everyone needs to be introduced to it in pieces. It depends on the person how quickly you can add more pieces as you go.
When I first learnt to play, I learnt the following:
1 land per turn, land taps for mana of its colour to cast spells, creatures must wait a turn to attack and tap when they attack, and that you can cast instants on your opponents turn.
Every other mechanic after that was just seeing a new keyword on a card and asking about it while playing with the decks my friends lent me.
From that point, I learnt about more and more intricate things from watching good players and seeing them do something I had never seen before. I never needed any of this stuff to play when I was getting started, and I think this is the thing that made me keep playing. It was always really cool to have that epiphany moment when you learn something more advanced by just playing or watching someone else. I remember the first time I learnt to use the upkeep phase and tap permanents to do something before I drew a card even if I had fully tapped out the previous turn. This is second nature to me now but nobody taught me how to do it, I learnt about it when I saw someone else do it.
Great video! I am excited to teach my son to play. I still have some years to go before then, but never would have known about Magic Junior without your video and it seems like a great starting point for the young ones. Awesome tips to help get more people into the game!!
Thank you so much!
Great video! A mistake ive made when trying to teach new players is to try to teach them using one of my personal "pet" decks. I thought "oh i know this deck it will be easy to teach" but ive found even my ayula commander deck seems too complicated for a new player who doesn't understand anything about the game. Since then i keep a couple of super cheap decks just for teaching new players, mono colored, sorcery speed, mono green ramp vs mono red goblins, basic artifacts like mind stone, no $$ value cards. After they're comfortable with that the mtg Game Night product has some pretty well balanced, medium complexity decks.
Thanks to this video I started teaching my fiancee to play again, I realized that she was feeling frustrated playing with me without understanding some keywords and how to make the most of the deck, I'm going to build some simple decks and slowly advance the level again. Thanks for the video.
That is FANTASTIC to hear! Thank you so much for letting me know! Have fun and let me know how it goes!
This is a useful video that I will share it would of helped many moons ago but I got my wife and kids to play mtg. By starting fresh with them (I didn't play any decks that I already owned) we started with draft and went from there. I explained the basic rules, mechanics of the game and told them reading the card explains the card. Which is why I think all cards should have reminder text on them no matter how many times they are reprinted.
Man, thank you for this video..I mean I learned close to 20 people playing magic...I use to overinform people even while I am talking (now I feel like a big monster to your head hahaha but..) I always try to help or share fun moments and I get to the trap you are saying...Maybe I make them feel amazed but on the other hand yeah, I might make them feel tired and overwhelmed... Good think to know so... Second check is that I always try to understand their view of how they feel losing or wining... So yes.. Letting them win 2/3 times is cool...I have the spirit of a fair fighter,I love to lose fairly and this pushes me to battle fairly so i don't want to let somebody feel I gave him the win because he is new..But you are right,I could let them win...I know it's a complex game and remembering the rules is already a win for them, or even remembering the half rules is a win for them...punishig them with experience or luck or whatever reason is cruel for starters...(Specially when I start playing with them with commander decks 1 Vs 1).... (Ok now I feel not just like a monster but Like a Cruel Monster too) :( ... You are right..Even if people never complained to me I need to concider what you are telling again...My win is to make them feel happy playing magic and sharing my decks with them and see them have fun...Their win is to remember all these rules, learning on the fly their commander exceptional rules etc...not to win the match..so letting them win for the first matches is ok..Is better playing 4 matches and be half "let them win", "I go full power" than.."I go full power" 3 matches and push them away from the game in general or pushing them to become tough players because they had a touch teacher... Thanks ^_^
Outstanding video dude! I have been designing/playing/teaching complex "Euro" board games and this list translates PERFECTLY to just about any game with a degree of complexity.
Thank you so much! I'm so glad it helped!
Interesting that a month after upload it seems this video is gaining traction. I hope this continues for your videos and channel! The quality here is FAR above average and I hope I get to see you become a prominent MTG figure
That is so nice of you to say. Thank you so much!
For a channel with under 1k subs, this video was put together very well. Kudos.
Thank you so much!
This applies to most competitive scenes and should be pinned at the top of most local groups.
This is such a well made video, you even explained why we need to care about knowing how to teach someone MTG... Agreed with your points! I hope I get to teach someone MTG soon
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you so much!
I just say creature can’t attack the turn they came out unless they have haste
Always teach them with a green deck, by far the least confusing cards
That is a excellent idea! One of the easiest things to grasp in Magic is turning creatures sideways!
My dad has a green deck
The best way to teach a newbie is to start them off with a Modern Dredge deck vs Ad Nauseum. They'll get a great idea for how Magic is supposed to be played
In 2008 or so, I taught my then 9 year old daughter to play using a primarily Green deck. She actually asked me if she could play after seeing me play with friends so I threw a deck together for her.
She loved it so much that she immediately asked if she got her own deck. It was primarily Green and basically Snake tribal. (She loves snakes).
Now she is 22 and she has quite a pricey and competitive Modern Sultai Snake deck that originated from her first deck almost 14 years ago.
Green has changed drastically over the last decade, but it still has plenty of options for keeping the concepts simple, and is probably still the single best color to learn the game with.
@@IntegralKing Nah, underworld breach cedh decks are the way to go
About "letting them win", here's what I do.
I set up scenarios. I goal as the teacher isn't to win. It's to set up as many scenarios in the gameplay as possible that speak to what the newbie is learning. For example, I tend to use some bounce effects while teaching only so I can know what's in their hand. I use this info so purposely set up situations where they can use the card reactively to what I do. Example - someone I was teaching played a Nekrataal killing one of my 1/1 saprolings. After it got a few hits in, I drew an Unsummon and bounced it back to their hand. I had plenty of ways to deal with the Nekrataal, but I needed it back in my hand, because.... next turn I played a really big hyrdra and hoped she saw what she could do. And she did :)
This is a great way to do it!
Before the pandemic I've been doing small MtG basic tutorials in our local gamestore and during local conventions and I'm not sure if the trainees are getting all of the idea I'm teaching on the rules and gameplay. Thanks for pointing out the things that I missed during the tutorial sessions.
Thank you so much! I'm so glad I could help!
My boyfriend with at least a decade of experience has done a few of these, especially tangents, when he was introducing me to the Legacy format. He saw me watching this video and got a little butthurt. You're right though! All the scenarios went over my head!
These tips are great. I've tried so many times to teach people mtg and its always seemed to make them never wanna try it again. The strange thing is while I've made a point of mentally breaking down the interactions and not repeating teaching errors, like the haste example, there's always a new unique reason it doesn't work. Its just a really complex game
One thing I've learned that makes a massive positive difference is to teach 2 people together. Something about playing against your student makes it hard to ask questions, hard to separate teacher and rival roles for them.
I've also found the deck they use doesn't have to be a weak deck, its actually better if its powerful, because of the winning thing, just not complicated. Text like 'target non-black artifact or enchantment with converted mana cost 5 or less'...all of that is no good... a beginner card should just say 'target permanant'. Related to that, synergy focused decks like tribal decks and life decks are great, as long as there's very few things to keep track of. The joy will come from their piloting, so you don't want it to pilot itself, or for it to feel like solving a puzzle
The other super important thing I learned while teaching is that explaining the cost of cards needs its own isolated explanation near the very beginning and should involve some practice scenarios playing various cards. I don't mention lands adding mana anymore, as its just a layer that confuses people, I say that lands pay for spells and it really helps.
Thanks for sharing your insights, I like how you positioned us as 'stewards' of the game, and that we want to make it fun for people. Totally agree about counterspells and control magic. I get that some people's fun is about taking away fun from others and inclusivity is important. But I also know I wouldn't have grown to love mtg if I'd encountered that stuff too soon and to this day would stop playing if I saw it too often. Very happy to shelter new players from that style of play unless they seem to be one of them
Awesome video! Thank for the excellent tips. I failed miserably with my daughter when she was young, and now I'll try to do a better job teaching my son.
Thank you so much! I'm glad this helped you!
Teaching someone how to play a game you are extremely passionate about is an art. Also,
Learning how to lose on purpose but make it seem like you were trying to win is a skill.
You are absolutely right on both points!
I actually teach new players frequently and I have decks set aside that focuses on the colors strengths. After they have a grasp on the mono colored strengths then I move on to color pairs featured in guilds of ravnica, then go onto tricolor, and eventually teach them other formats. Now if it is a child I usually give them that deck and tell them to have fun and remember it's a game.
To learn how to play magic the new player has to play actual cards himself. Then the first question is "Which deck should a newcomer play?" In my opinion we should avoid both commander decks and tuned decks for any contructed format. Try to build up a couple (or more) decks similar to the ones you could draft from a set (just 40 cards, better if there is no rare or mythic, since they are usually overpowered and overcomplicated).
Then focus on explaining the main mechanics of the archetypes you build (in general they are both simple and interesting) and try some games. If the decks are built in a simple enough way you probably don't even need to "let them win", since there won't be too many wrong decisions they could take or sudden game-determining moves.
I have 10 of such decks, each themed on a guild of Ravnica, so the new player could even taste a bit of lore while watching the different aspects of the color pie.
I had not played since the 90’s. Then I started playing again. OMG, the new powers and effects left me baffled. “What does that do?”, was a common thing for me to ask. About 50% of the players told me, “get a rule book”. Many just don’t want to play with people who have not kept up with the game. They want a fast win, lots and lots of Ego boosting fast wins.
I'm sorry to hear you running into players like that. A large part of the community are wonderful, but a certain subset...are not. Personally it's the game itself I enjoy and I couldn't care less if I win. (Most of the time anyway.) I hope you have a found a play group that are more welcoming.
@@beyondthedeckbox Thank you so very much for the kind words.
I pretty much stopped playing with strangers. Now, I only play with friends when they are in the mood. I find it better that way anyway. None of us have kept up with the game so we don't have all the modern cards. Heck, I bet were I to start again I would find half my cards might be banned cards due to their age alone. The majority of my cards are commons from 2nd Ed. Unlimited.
Lol, I was explaining Modern to someone who had only ever played arena last week. We were in a discord call, and they cast lightning bolt on my 2/3 tarmogoyf when there weren't any instants in the yard..... that was a fun one to explain hahaha.
I make multiple decks that are identical and simple to teach new players. I assist them to play the deck. While we play, I'll explain as simply as I can how the cards work. I never won a game against a new player that I'm teaching. I actually play MTG for fun, not to win. If I get paid to play, then I'll be playing for the win. You may win the game against me, but if I had fun, I still won.
I always just make sure to say "there's a card that breaks every rule" and then repeat this whenever vigilance or haste or whatever shows up. That way I don't have to qualify every single statement about the rules. You can play one land per turn. We don't need to mention the cards that say you can play more
I was fortunate enough be enrolled in the guru program as a guru in the early days. I think I still have the "teaching materials". Always thought it was kinda cool to be a licensed mtg teacher.
That's awesome! The guru program was kicked off right after I started a brief break in my MTG playing. And I happened to come back right after it was shut down. I only found out about it a few years ago. It sounded like a thing I would have absolutely been a part of.
very good video. The "try to be not THAT competitive" it's very important. Some years ago, a friend tried to teach me how to play Catan, but he on purpouse don't teached me some rules because he wanted to win that game.
Thank you so much! When I learned to play MTG I was taught by my best friend at the time. He did the same thing. There were rules he didn't "like" so he ignored them. (I do cut him some slack, we were 12...)
@@beyondthedeckbox to be fair, when all of us were 12 we pretty much all just used the rules that worked for us. hell, to this very day nobody at ANY age plays Monopoly the "right" way.
I am teaching my super salty dad before lotr comes out and your video has given me a lot of ideas. Also love the lofi it provides the right vibes for teaching. Easiest subscribe of the week.
Thank you so much!
The Daddy's Magic set was what Portal was supposed to be. A set devoted to teaching one how to play.
I have only won one game ever when not playing 1v1 so I am totally up for teaching the people and letting them win because that makes it way more fun for the new palyers. Mess up a few plays, give them advice, and forgive mistakes.
Most of your mtg card shops will have free beginner decks that you can take to teach new players with. They’re 40 card decks, mostly lands and creatures that follow the color plans. They don’t omit keywords but they aren’t filled with them.
See which color they like and they should be able to play the deck well in about half an hour.
My friends taught me magic and they tried to compare it to yugioh when I started. Basically saying, instants are like quick spells, sorcery are like regulars spells, creatures cannot attack the turn they're summoned unless they have an ability, and instead of tribute summoning you are creating a resource pool similar to pokemon like energy cards in order to play every card. I pretty much got it after that.
From there, they said just read the card and it will tell you what it does and overrides any other rule in the game and just realize that if a player leaves their mana unused (up) they have a potential counter in their hand which is like trap cards. I pretty much got it after that and I played with their decks for a few games until I understood the game.
The only thing that I struggled with was honestly the combat system because of how you need to declare attackers and they can choose to take damage or combat and the first time I went up against flying was frustrating but made me realize how powerful that was. Also when to use tap creature abilities, I almost always miss the trigger because I wait too late but that's part of the learning.
Another rule that was eventually explained to me is that i can look at every card ability as a kicker. Basically, thr player is almost always paying an additional cost to execute an ability or some abilities are zero cost. That also simplified most of the different abilities in the game into two categories for me (kicker costs and attacking abilities like death touch/haste/flying, etc).
Some other confusing points of the game are things like treasure tokens, clue artifacts, food tokens etc. When I first started, it seemed very weird to me that there were commonly used and understood effects for some tokens that doesn't require explanation on the card itself. So coming across that is sometimes frustrating
I always start by explaining lands and spells, permanent and non permanent, the card types, instant speed and sorcery speed, priority and the stack, creatures then play. I definitely avoid explaining in detail any of them just start with the lands and go from there if you can understand how a land works you can understand how to play lol
I like to start with the basics pure vanilla creature decks, single color and build from there. slowly upgrade the decks along the way to show new mechanics until they get how everything interacts with eachother and when.
Give them a mono green deck because it has cool and strong creatures, mana dorks and instants that are pump spells. They will see their permanents and how they interact with enemy permanents and also start to see when it is advantageous to play an instant (do I use my giant growth to pump my attacker so it survives being blocked, or do I save that for later to block an enemy creature? Or do I throw it in when my damage comes through?)
You: "Avoid putting hard control cards in your deck because they're not fun for newer players to play against!"
The guy who taught me 10 years ago: "I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that!"
No kidding, the deck he had built to "Teach" me was Esper control, and I strung together a deck out of a box of OG Innistrad. Somehow, I still enjoyed not only our games then, but I still love playing Magic now!
Well spoken! I agree with u. I’m subscribing. Looking forward to more Mtg content.
Thank you so much!
would you let the student learn control magic if that is what they are interested? or should a student start with less control more proactive list? I would love to hear peoples thoughts on what are the best decks to learn with.
Control is hard for newer players because you need to have really good threat assessment and board awareness. I wanted to be a blue player when I started but turns out you need a really solid understanding of the game to play control effectively.
I would suggest combat tricks to ease them into control and once they understand the deck they are up against, they can try control. Just my two cents anyways.
I personally learned with an orzhov vampires deck that was lifelink based and then moved on to other black central decks before moving into other colour combos.
Also, I would start with 60 card because the newcomer will see the same cards and get consistency which will help solidify the concepts and have keywords but avoid lengthy cards at first. Start with the typical lifelink, haste, trample etc. Then move to more complex or wordier cards later
@@brittanynagy2193 For sure I play pauper so i mainly play with those archetypes and there is certainly a place for something like that. Thanks
This is great question! The way I tend to handle it is give them the concept of it, see how they react, and then when I introduce instants a few games in I'll use control instants and give those to them. That way they are telling me "No, you can't do that." Which, I'll admit, is a lot more fun.
The best way i have found is to play several games where both players play with their hands eevealed the ease them in by goving them a aggeo dexk and play something slow to build confidence
i was teaching a roommate how to play and he was very staunch that i shouldn't just let him win, like he had to win on his own merits and if I was going to feign letting him win he'd get upset if i had mana open and cards in my hand if i showed him that i could win with it. so we played and i beat him every time, but man after probably a couple dozen games (i would also point out tips and stuff to help him do better but he didn't want a ton of it) when he finally beat me he was so hyped. he still plays to this day although I've not seen him in years
That's awesome! It does also depend on the player too. When I started playing with my current playgroup they were much better than me. Understood the game at a deeper level. And they never let me win. I had to earn it. But since I already knew the game and I enjoyed playing it didn't bother me too much. And it did make the wins I did eek out that much more exciting.
Ummm excuse me but at 1:30 the proper elevator pitch for MTG should always start with the phrase "You are a planeswalker" obviously
When my dad taught me the basics we played with tiny leaders, a mostly dead format but it's much simpler than commander, and we played with our hands revealed so it wasn't giving info when asking questions like "what does vigilance do"
Dude you did a great job of that video, came off as a guenuine guy and made some rally good points, top bananas
Thank you so much!
You can also play a horribly bad deck and try to beat them using a decent deck, I did this with my little cousin and she was able to get a legitimate win that way and I got to actually try my best against her, it was fun for both of us and she was excited to go again.
That's good advice to explain most games actually. Great video.
I have taught about 2 dozen or so people at this point. The only one thus far that is up to my level in terms of strategy is the only person I know that has read every page of the rule book. I have had a few "students" stop playing after playing a few sessions, but for the most part they stick around.
I just recently got a friend to play mtg. It's been a bit rough because hes had a hard time understanding. But now after tons of games I think I've got my friend completely addicted. Lol
One note: Power level.
I bought a precon to drop down to the power level of one of my friends who's still very new. They won their first game last night (against myself and one other player too!). Very proud moment, *and* dropping the power level made games with them just more interesting. They also had more fun, of course.
Also, I usually avoid the "A creature *usually can't* attack the turn you play it..." scenario by informing new players right off the bat "Most rules have exceptions, and those exceptions are usually right on a card. So we'll cover that as cards come up." Then you don't have to explain how every rule has exceptions. They're expecting them to come up.
My go to on the rules is to explain the basics, but remind the person I'm teaching that EVERY rule has at least one card that is an exception.
I like teaching people with simple without staples pauper decks, by playing like 2 games with our hands open.
That way I can tell him which card type can be played at each part of a turn and why, that way I don't fill the person with information that if they ask I'll know the cards they have.
I bought the 6.50 arena starter kit with two decks to teach my niece. I find the two decks are fairly evenly matched. The deck boxes and sleeves were the most expensive part of the purchase.
I found a good way is to build some weak and simple decks. Give one to the student. And play a couple rounds with that, getting to teach them all the very basics. And then slowly ramp up the decks you both use. Til they have a grasp of the big pictures in magic. After that just show them how to look things up so they know how to quickly figure out something you may have not had a chance to explain, when they eventually come across it.
I also like to tell them that it takes time and playing to really understand everything in magic. They ussually ask how long I been playing. I say almost 10 years, and then tell them that even I still learn something new every now and then.
One thing I always say is “this happens, unless another card says otherwise”
Lol, "avoid tangents"
So, this conversation goes infinite.
"avoid control magic"
Makes sense, not just on a frustration level, you don't teach advanced strategies to someone who has never played the game.
I know a lot of times I sometimes forget stuff like control are more advanced. It’s a hazard of being so familiar with a game that has a lot of depth of strategy.
@@beyondthedeckbox understandable, I sometimes forget that my proliferate deck is.
Magic game night is perfect for teaching new players decks are super easy to follow
"let them win." this is why I started building more 'budget' decks. So that people have more of a chance of beating me. Not that I run tier 1 or even 3 legacy decks, but I do invest quite a bit into my decks.
Same. I have an oppressive control deck that I put way too much money in. My win rate is the highest in my group. But no-one was having fun. Not even me. So now I play Simic Stompy and Temur Dragons with the friends.
@@seifer447 ya, I still play my strong stuff on occasion, I like to win at least once every friday, but If I win with a deck I'll move on to another one.
I have a blue white deck I built around teferi's puzzle box for fun, but I was told I needed a wincon so I threw and second sun and it's insane how often I win with it even in a 4-5 player match.
I miss more 1v1 games...
While I agree with what you said about not saying "Go play Arena", I always suggest a new player that's serious about learning the game play some online games once they get the basics down. My friends were the ones who taught me the basics when I first learned to play but it was xmage and Magic Online that REALLY taught me the game inside and out. It started to make SO much more sense to me when every single step and phase was laid out one at a time and I had a visual representation of the stack, etc. Within a couple months I was deep into the rabbit hole and teaching them what the best sideboard cards were for the current modern meta. (they didn't give a shit, they were competitive but aside from EDH hadn't played formats like Standard in years, they just brewed random casual decks) If they hadn't taught me the basics I don't know if I ever would have really stuck with it or not, but if I never went home and downloaded xmage and later MODO I never would have learned the game as easily as I did either as it's basically a never ending tutorial.
That is an excellent point! Having all of that laid out all the time can be really beneficial. I just wish Arena had the Magic Online economy, or Magic Online had Arena's graphics and UI.
@@beyondthedeckbox You and me both brother! I'm just starting to get back into MTG after taking a year off (I just couldn't take the way the game was developing but it turned out I couldn't live without it. As they say, we always come back hahaha) and I still haven't wanted to craft any kind of new Arena deck (I have about 25 rare and 10 mythic wildcards left from last year) because the system is so awful I can't bring myself to pull the trigger on spending those precious wildcards. I think their terrible Arena economy is going to be a roadblock to just as many people as it will help onroad once people realize how much of a money pit it is (and unlike MODO you can't even sell or trade cards, how is that supposed to encourage new people?!?) Also, xmage might be slow, but being able play any kind of deck in any format you want, plus play any kind of limited format including cube for free makes it well worth it to newer players!
I just explained it as if your lands are just like spending, so you need to spend an island and any other colorless to cast a spell and they usually understand it.
This is great way to explain it!
8:15 Missed things when I was starting? Hell I still miss triggers and such once in a while. Lol
You and me both...
I did explain that creatures can't attack the turn they enter the battlefield but gave the other person a card with haste, instead of making them feel like I was being unfair I let them discover the fact that card rules override the basic rules(also red is by far the easiest color to learn with) and I used core set cards for those with evergreen keywords so they can get all the information from the cards themselves.
the decks I made were super simple and relay heavily on each color's theme and main gameplay tactics(as much as I could).
I had a REALLY good hand against them but I decided to mulligan because the hand was 4 control spells and that would've been a seriously not fun game...
they ended up losing because they drew nothing for 4 turns straight... feelsbadcity.
I was dead to shock or even a goddamn goblin but they only drew lands and I couldn't just stopped swinging with the bird because than I would have too many blockers...
I would say when someone is new, Not to let them win but to give them tips on the best turn. Using what they have to do as much damage as they can. So many people miss 1 damage & when I loos it is all the things I missed that I hate not the fact that I lost. I think back to, "what if I had attacked that one turn" or why did I not sac that monster that would have come back regardless...
My favorite part with one of my friends was when it was the final swing, a bunch of creatures, tons of damage going his way and little abilities to be aware of, some trample, some deathtouch, and he's thinking about how to not die....
And after 5 to 10 minutes of thinking, he reveals his hand and just straight up asks me to join him in "solving the puzzle" of not dying! And I'm kinda stunned, but quickly adapt to be in his shoes; he's not brand new but he's still learning the ropes - we're playing with commons and uncommons, both are decks he built (so they'd be the same power level) - and I'm trying to find a way to help him not die.
I do end up finding a way for him to live, but disappointingly, he had no reaction to my boardstate and lost the next turn. 😂
I have been teaching people to play magic to over 20 years now. I have a great success rate. And yes, I still have the deck I use to teach 20 years later. I enjoy teaching it. I also never play to win. I also play to stalemate. That is a complicated thing to achive. I hope people don't jump into Arena. Its horrible and is a huge money trap for something that at the end of day could be gone in the flip of a switch. So yeah, buy the buy cardboard, get some pretzels and hangout with people.
When I have to explain summoning sickness, I find it easier to say that creatures with summoning sickness aren't able to tap themselves, which also explains why they can't attack, as I would've already explained how creatures normally tap themselves when they attack. Haste just means a creature doesn't get summoning sickness.
I was first introduced to Magic in college, where my entire friend group played, but I'd never heard of it. One of my friends tried to teach me by starting a game with me. I don't remember how he explained anything, but I do remember being very lost. I tried to directly attack his creatures, for instance, and it took me several turns before I understood why *he* was allowed to "decide who I attack" (i.e. declare his blockers), because I didn't understand that we were attacking each other and not our creatures. Lots of things like that happened, and by the end of the game, I was just like, "...nah, I don't think this game is for me."
Fast-forward a few weeks, and I was hanging out with friends while they were playing Commander (our format of choice), and they asked if I wanted to play. I told them no, that I didn't really "get it", but I'd watch them play. One of them -- a different friend than the first one who'd tried to teach me -- was just like, "nope, I'm teaching you right now". I was hesitant, but he basically plopped a Riku of Two Reflections deck in front of me and said "let's go". I don't remember what he did differently, but by the end of that game, I felt way more confident and had so much fun. I've been a player ever since and *love* the game.
So having someone teach you the right way is definitely important to whether you end up sticking with the game or not.
That reminds me of when a friend of mine in college tried to teach me the original Wizards of the Coast Star Wars TCG. He tried his best but he wasn't the greatest at explaining things. It basically was an hour of him going, "You can't do that because XYZ. You could have done it last turn because you had ABC but that ability faded and now you..."
We stuck to Magic after that.
This video definitely helped me recalibrate my mindset in teaching new players toward a more patient and organized approach, but I still think I would scream at all these people playing magic without sleeves or masks >_
I'm glad this was helpful! And yes, I agree, the no sleeves or masks drive me bananas.
When I try to teach new players magic, I usually use the ravnica guild kit decks, honestly the best place to start for most people as it can have the best selection of main keywords, while showing off how some sets use different mechanics. I just usually stay away from any guild with blue or black in it the first two or three games as those decks tend to get more complicated.
I loved those guild decks! They were so fun to play!
That's what I used to teach my wife how to play! It worked really well.
Playing since '94 and control magic nearly killed it for me back then with the few counterspells that existed then. Good advice on control cards for beginners.
Same here! Thankfully the kid teaching me hadn't discovered blue and preferred red. So I thankfully I dodged the counterspells early on.
this is why I keep around some old pre-cons to help teach and to play non-competivly.
The way I teach them I teach them with ABC decks. First off I tell them MTG is extremely simple that can become super complex depending on who and what you are playing, and that if a Rule and a card interact the card wins. But ya moving on.
I start them out with A class decks that are just basically monocolored creatures which are basically green decks sometimes its a red or black but normally green. Depends on what I have avaliable/what they like made a simple rat deck because he loves rats.
Then I give them a B class deck that is more interactive and controlly. Usually Blue or Red with Instants and a second color so they learn dual cored decks.
Then finally I ease them into Class C decks which play radically different then normal decks you are going to see like mill, graveyard decks or enchament overload decks like Shrine or Curses. Decks that win using basically alternate win cons that break the rules more often.
So far the only person I have taught of my friends that stopped was because of financial reasons so I say that's a solid way to teach them in basically 3 steps.