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How to help?

One of the nicer jobs I have as Tournament Organiser at Happyland, Northbridge is watching the players there (most are under 15) slowly improve. Suddenly they start asking the right questions to try and better themselves in the game. Questions stop being "How many lands should this deck have?" to "Is Shatter a better choice than the Electrostatic bolt?"

So that comes to the 2 main questions in this article :
· How do you ask for advice?
· How do you give advice?

Several Key Points when asking for advice:

(1) Provide enough information
"How do I improve my B/G deck?" is not enough. Not knowing what's in your deck or how you want it to play will not provide anyone with enough information to provide constructive comments.

(2) Getting angry at advice
If the advice provided is sound but you disagree with it don't insult the person providing the advice. While not all advice is useful, you do have an obligation to be civil especially if someone is genuinely trying to assist. I stress the word genuinely here if the advice is really just an veiled insult, feel free to make appropriate comment as desired.

(3) Ask the right people
You would not ask a plumber how to fix your car so possibly the most important point is to ask the right person. There are some people who do not want to share ideas so it's usually best off not to ask them. There might be a good chance they might mislead you to gain a strategic advantage in the next game they play.

Ask people who know what they are talking about. For rules advice I find mmason (Michael Mason) to be the authority of all things magic rules related and he's always willing to impart not just what happens but why it happens. Just read through some of mmason's responses in the rules section of the forums.

Several Key Points I have learnt when offering advice:

(1) Be Patient
No everyone will understand things the way you do now. To be a beginner a Ravager is only a 1/1 so what's so good about it?

(2) Offer Sound Advice
If you don't know what the answer is or how to best approach the question, it is much better to not offer advice than to offer misleading or incorrect advice. The old saying rings very true here: "'Tis better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt". Ask other people's opinions as different ideas can often be extremely useful.

(3) Do not be patronising
Remember a new player now could be a Pro Tour player in the future. Never assume you are better or be arrogant. Humility and modesty are traits well worth learning.

(4) Sideboards
I often find that in deck construction sideboards are usually ignored. The fact is sideboard cards can account to up to 66% of all your games and is well worth taking into consideration.

Email requesting advice
One of the kids from Northbridge recently emailed me and asked about an Obliterate style build. I have cut and pasted the main section below as an example below:

"I finally decided to make a deck instead of playing with XXXX's leftovers.

I've opted for Turbo Obliterate. I was wondering whether you could help me with this deck list.

4 Darksteel Citadel
10 Island
10 Mountain

2 Condescend
2 Mana Leak
4 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Darksteel Ingot
4 Darksteel Pendant
4 Seething Song
3 Obliterate
4 March of the Machines
4 Pyroclasm
2 Magma Jet

3 Solemn Simulacrum

Thanks."

What not to do?
Response 1:
"Turbo Obliterate is a terrible deck. Don't waste your time playing it".
Here you already made an assumption it's a bad archetype and have put down the person. Comment on the deck archetype as having bad matchups but never just eliminate an idea if you don't like it.

Response 2:
"Obliterate is good. Did you know that? It's uncounterable and you can blow stuff up. Cool".
Doesn't really add much in terms of help. You can make the assumption the person already knows what Obliterate does and reiterating that can be patronising and of very little actual help.

My Response:
"XXXXX,
The decklist is pretty decent. I would adjust your mana base slightly:
+2 Mirrodin's Core
+1 Seat of Synod (Thirst for Knowledge bait)
+1 Great Furnace (Thirst for Knowledge bait)
-2 Island
-2 Mountain

I would work on your sideboard though :
(15 Cards)
4x Electrostatic Bolt (Ravager)
4x Echoing Ruin (Ravager)
2x Mana Leak (Control/T&N matchup)
2x Condescend (Control/T&N matchup)
3x Echoing Truth (Goblin matchup)

Ravager
-4 Darksteel Pendant
-2 Thirst of Knowledge
-2 Condescend
+4 Electrostatic Bolt
+4 Echoing Ruin

You have to keep Ravager off tempo. Keep blowing up key spells. Save Ruin when have they mulitples in play. Disciple should be removed very quickly. It's a race. If you can last to March you should get the game, otherwise not.

Control/T&N
-4 Pyroclasm
+2 Mana Leak
+2 Condescend

You have to stop T&N from resolving if you want a chance. This will up your counters to 8. Make sure you mulligan into a counter.

Goblins
+3 Echoing Truth
-3 Darksteel Pendant

Keep bouncing/playing Pyroclasm etc. until you can stablise for the Obliterate. Again it's a tight matchup as you have to live through early rounds. Goblins are fast.

Hope this helps. If you need any of the commons for your sideboard, let me know and I'll try and dig some up for you.

Stephen".

Conclusion:
While you may not have this much time to structure a full response, make sure you offer advice that can help. Even if you pose certain key questions and let them rationalise it. e.g. "What do you think of Darksteel Pendant?" This will make them consider certain card choices and how it will affect the deck.

This may not be the all encompassing response but it achieves its purpose of both demonstrating a sideboard and possible sideboard options as well as several hints on how to approach the deck against key archetypes currently in the Type 2 metagame. Although I freely admit not being the best Type 2 player around (anyone who has played me can attest to this) it's still not difficult for anyone to provide constructive comments or more ideas to better their deck construction or playing style.

Props:
(1) Always thanks to Toshi Onishi for sharing the TO responsbilities with me. It allows to join in on the occasional Friday Night Magic Tournament.
(2) Happyland kids who are really starting to impress with deck construction and play style.

Always remember to keep playing nice.
Stephen

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