Comments on: Beginner’s Luck: Information and Misinformation

By: Zage

Zage — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 22:15:34 +0000

A nice article for the true beginner, I suppose. Or the overly cautious player.

Remember: If you can’t beat something, assume your opponent doesn’t have it.
This little rule has saved me many games. If you really can’t beat a counterspell, just play your creature. If you die if he has a kill spell, assume he doesn’t have it.
Playing like he has it means you lose, so you might as well give yourself a chance of winning by assuming he doesn’t have your foil in his hand.

It is *not* naive to play this way. You’re simply maximising your chances of winning. Even if he is telegraphing a counterspell by keeping islands open, if you lose when he has a counterspell, so be it. You’ll lose if you assume he has it and don’t play anything, too.

Just a little additional tip for the cautious player

By: Ranth

Ranth — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 18:57:03 +0000

Great article and welcome to the Academy family. Looking forward to more from you

By: Zimbardo

Zimbardo — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 18:26:57 +0000

Nice article. I like your first piece of summary advice – don’t let your opponent intimidate you into doing nothing. Especially with regards to counter-magic – that has been an issue for me, but I think I’ve gotten it through my brain that I should just play through it, like you said. Good advice.

By: Travis R. Chance

Travis R. Chance — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 17:27:58 +0000

I really enjoyed not only editing this (if such a thing could be said about such an airtight execution), but reading it as well. Great job, Peter, and welcome to The Academy roster!