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MTG Pro Tutor - Insights, Tips & Advice from Magic: The Gathering Pros

MTG Pro Tutor is a top rated Magic: The Gathering podcast and here's why: professional Magic players and community notables share their origin stories twice a week (Tue & Fri) and impart actionable tips you can use the next time you sit down to play. Learn from the wealth of experience they've built through hours of practice and playing against hundreds of opponents and start seeing improvements in your own skill right away. Don't you hate feeling like you play and play and don’t improve? Surrounding yourself with better players is the best way to level up and the MTG Pro Tutor podcast is your way of doing that. Subscribe if you want to take your Magic: The Gathering skills to the next level while hearing cool stories and getting actionable advice from the biggest names in the Multiverse.
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Now displaying: August, 2015
Aug 26, 2015

Evaluation Tips

In every Limited format there are archetypes. During spoiler season look for archetypes and keywords that support/synergize with those archetypes. However, nothing beats actually playing with the cards.

Limited Tips

Sealed: Look for creatures, cards that kill creatures and card advantage. Stick with two colors if at all possible for a stable mana base. Avoid more than 4 mana sources in a third color. Power level is slightly more important than mana curve but doing something productive every turn is key.

Draft: Take the best card and then identify what the second best card was so you can ear mark what color the next player is. Then know that the color is probably closed and avoid those colors moving forward.

The more you draft a set the more you will recognize synergies between cards.

Spending fewer resources than your opponent (when it comes to tricks) is to your advantage.

Don't commit fully to colors based on your first few picks. Understand you might be moved off those colors.

Beginner Tip: Draft two colors. Take the best card in two colors and stick with those.

Prepping for a Big Event

Healthy living is important. Getting enough sleep is critical. Loading your body with healthy food and avoiding drinking and drugs before the event gives you the best chance possible. You are playing against the best out there and you have to focused and on your game.

Get a team.

Team Building

Friendship and mutual respect come first and foremost. Then look for people with different strengths. If you are a good deck builder, look for a good sideboarder.

Play Testing

Organization and focus are important. Have a plan of action. Define the environment, build decks that represent the environment and then play against those.

Improvement

Find what color(s) resonate with you and just focus on that deck.

Interview Links

Star City Games Articles

Connect With Gary

@GaryWise1

jgarywise1@hotmail.com - email him article ideas for his Star City Games column

Like What You Hear?

If you like the show, head on over to iTunes and leave an honest Rating & Review.

Let me know what you like and what I can do better so I can make the show the best it can be and continue bringing you valuable content.

I read every single one and look forward to your feedback.

5-gold-stars1 small

 

 

 

 
 
 
Aug 25, 2015

First Set

REV_Symbol_Product

Revised (1995)

Favorite Set

Good tempo based set that lend themselves to exploitable Limited formats.

Urzas SagaUrza's Saga

 

Favorite Card

Brainstorm
Upheaval
Chaos Orb
Contract From Below
Cheatyface

What makes Magic fun for you?

Upheaval for 13 is fun! ;)

Early Challenge

Having a $2000 deck stolen was a huge set back. However, this opened Gary up to exploring other formats like Limited.

Level Up Moment

Making friends with the top player in Canada and playing with his group led to huge improvements in Gary's game.

Proudest Magic Moment

Making top 8 at the Worlds tournament in Japan.

Being inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Best Format

Limited

Connect With Gary

@GaryWise1

Like What You Hear?

If you like the show, head on over to iTunes and leave an honest Rating & Review.

Let me know what you like and what I can do better so I can make the show the best it can be and continue bringing you valuable content.

I read every single one and look forward to your feedback.

5-gold-stars1 small

 

 

 

Aug 19, 2015

Rich Hoaen is known for his skill in Limited formats and has one Pro Tour top 8, four Pro Tour 16s, three Grand Prix wins and five other Grand Prix top 8s!! He was also the runner up in the last ever Magic Invitational.

Evaluation Tips

Become intimately familiar with the combat tricks and their casting cost. This is essential for success in Limited play.

Limited Tips

Drafting: Figure out what colors the players to your right are NOT in or figure out what color is open at the table. These two methods are the basics of figuring out what colors you should play.

Team Building

Don't be a jerk and find players that are better than you.

Improvement

Get a commons box and learn card interactions.

Magic Resource

Cockatrice (free tool)

Connect With Rich

@rhoaen

Like What You Hear?

If you like the show, head on over to iTunes and leave an honest Rating & Review.

Let me know what you like and what I can do better so I can make the show the best it can be and continue bringing you valuable content.

I read every single one and look forward to your feedback.

5-gold-stars1 small

 

Aug 18, 2015

Rich Hoaen is known for his skill in Limited formats and has one Pro Tour top 8, four Pro Tour 16s, three Grand Prix wins and five other Grand Prix top 8s!! He was also the runner up in the last ever Magic Invitational.

First Set

WL_C Weatherlight

 

Favorite Set

OdysseyOdyssey block

 

Favorite Card

Battlefield Medic

Early Challenge

Coming to grips that he wasn't as good as he thought. It took a better player pointing out his misplays for Rich to realize he had much to learn.

Level Up Moment

Cheating is totally unacceptable and Rich learned early how abhorring it is when a team confessed to having cheated in a tournament they won.

Proudest Magic Moment

Winning Grand Prix Montreal (2011)

Best Format

Limited

Current Standard Deck

Rich only plays when he has to but is currently on a mono red build.

Biggest Mistake Players Make

Blaming games on luck. At lower levels players do this all the time, and it's wrong.

Connect With Rich

@rhoaen

Like What You Hear?

If you like the show, head on over to iTunes and leave an honest Rating & Review.

Let me know what you like and what I can do better so I can make the show the best it can be and continue bringing you valuable content.

I read every single one and look forward to your feedback.

5-gold-stars1 small

 

 

Aug 12, 2015

Dan Jordan has 3 Pro Tour top 16s, 4 Grand Prix top 8s, and 4 Star City Games Open wins under his belt. He has also top 75'd another Pro Tour and has cashed in numerous other Grand Prix.

Evaluation Tips

Dan admits to being a terrible card evaluator but still thinks about cards as they are released and their possible impact on Standard.

Limited Tips

Sealed: Identify a deck plan and build around that.

Draft: Be very mindful of your mana curve.

Team Building

Find A team. Ideally you'll want a team with Pro players but if you can't find one then just get on A team that play tests regularly.

Play Testing

Take good notes and don't waste play testing time. Be mindful of "inbred" play testing.

Improvement

Invest in Standard and stick with your deck as you improve and move up to bigger tournaments.

Magic Resource

The Elephant Method (you just have to read it for yourself)

Connect With Dan

@DanJordanMTG

Like What You Hear?

If you like the show, head on over to iTunes and leave an honest Rating & Review.

Let me know what you like and what I can do better so I can make the show the best it can be and continue bringing you valuable content.

I read every single one and look forward to your feedback.

5-gold-stars1 small

Aug 11, 2015

Dan Jordan has 3 Pro Tour top 16s, 4 Grand Prix top 8s, and 4 Star City Games Open wins under his belt. He has also top 75'd another Pro Tour and has cashed in numerous other Grand Prix.

First Set

Blizzard_Elemental_Destiny01 Urza's Destiny

 

d9d283d85948ce435543d897557305b2a86cc9d4_small Apacolypse was his first booster pack.

 

Favorite Set

96px-Ravnica_expsym.svg Ravnica: City of Guilds

Dan loved the complexity and depth of the set.

Favorite Card

Dark Confidant

What makes Magic fun for you?

The life long friends you make and get to travel the world with is the best part about the game.

Early Challenge

Due to an early success, Dan struggled with understanding that you're not going to win every tournament. You have to put in effort and stay on top of your game.

Level Up Moment

Watching the best players in the world and asking "why are they the best?" "What are they doing that I'm not doing?"

Proudest Magic Moment

Placing in GP New Jersey.

Best Format

Legacy; casting Brainstorm is so much fun.

Biggest Mistake Players Make

Not practicing enough. Get on Magic Online and play and play and play. Play with people who are better than you.

Connect With Dan

@DanJordanMTG

Like What You Hear?

If you like the show, head on over to iTunes and leave an honest Rating & Review.

Let me know what you like and what I can do better so I can make the show the best it can be and continue bringing you valuable content.

I read every single one and look forward to your feedback.

5-gold-stars1 small

Aug 5, 2015

Evaluation Tips

Compare new cards to old, similar cards. That's why constantly playing Limited is important.

Limited Tips

Don't force a deck around pet cards that you like. Be willing to switch colors and ditch your first few picks if another strategy presents itself.

Play Testing

There is no substitute for practice. Use proxies or an online client to get reps in with a deck before you decide to invest in it.

Check out:

Magic: The Gathering Proxy Generator - Input the cards you need and the site will generate card images the perfect size to print, cut out and sleeve up.

Cockatrice - An online client to build decks and play against yourself to test things out.

Improvement

Organize your board in a consistent way that makes sense to you. ie Creatures by power in descending order. Find something that works for you and be consistent.

Magic Resource

Puca Trade

Send and receive cards from everywhere! We also talked about how to tell if a card is fake.

Interview Links

LSV set reviews on Channel Fireball

Limited Resources

The Magic Show

Connect With A.E. Marling

@AEMarling

A.E. Marling on Facebook

Aug 4, 2015

A.E. Marling has won a Modern Star City Games invitational qualifier and has been one game away from the Pro Tour TWICE. He writes the incredibly popular and gratefully useful Foolproof Magic series for GatheringMagic. He is also a cosplayer, a Level 20 flavor judge, and a fantasy author.

Mr. Foolproof Magic Himself

A.E. shared some amazing tips all throughout the episode and I'd be remiss if I didn't try to catch them here for you.

Consume Magic event coverage. Watch what the pros are doing and learn from their successes as well as mistakes.

Play your land "in isolation" to create a visual queue that you've played a land this turn. That way you won't accidentally play two lands in a turn.

Organize your board in an easy-to-track way.

Bottom line: Develop a system that works for you and use the Foolproof Magic articles as a spring board into systematic.

The Foolproof Magic suite:

Foolproof Magic

Foolproof Magic 2

Foolproof Magic 3

First Set

Revised

Favorite Set

272px-Innistrad_expansion_symbol.svgInnistrad

 

Favorite Card

Arcbound Ravager

What makes Magic fun for you?

The imagery and imagination are so fascinating while the mental sport is captivating.

Early Challenge

Feeling like he deserved to win and then tilting when he didn't was A.E.'s biggest struggle. One mistake cost him a tournament when he was young and this drove him away for a time. A.E. eventually realized that losing because you made a mistake is one of the beauties of Magic: The Gathering.

Level Up Moment

Realizing that your decisions matter and Magic is a game that when you make a mistake you lose. That's awesome because it shows that every choice is important.

Best Format

Sealed / Draft and Modern

Biggest Mistake Players Make

Tilting and not understand why it happens or how to control/curb it. We had a great discussion about stoicism and it's application to Magic.

Connect With A.E. Marling

@AEMarling

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