My son just came back from camp and all the kids are talking about this game. Of course I have heard of it, but Pokemon was his game and now he wants to learn this. So I went out and bought a duel pack and started learning the basics. I get how play is done, but some of these cards are written ambiguously and detailed rules are hard to find.
Is there a place (and I did search this site so if it is here, I apologize) that I can enter a card name and it gives more detailed information on why and when I would use this card? so many little questions, I want to make sure I am teaching my son correctly. I don't need just the text of the card, but details about what it means for real.
For example if a card says X can do 3 damage to a target creature or player, who decides if it is attacking a creature or the player? If the other player has creatures to block with, is the attack forced to attack them (unless they can fly over,etc), or does the wording of the card saying creature "OR" player give the person playing the card a choice? Because if the other player didn't have a creature summoned, of course the attack is against the player.
Also, for example, Tribal Sorcery turns any land card to what that land card is as well as an island...I get that now it can be water and whatever the original card is, but it is not detailed enough to tell me if I can also use that land "stack" as two mana, or if it is still just one mana, but with a choice on which it is..
And the card "Blighted Gorge", man, that one is very confusing. I can add mana, but need to spend 4 mana if I want to "convert" it to an attack of 2?
Anyway, is there a site I can search by card, with more of this type of information?
So the game of magic has nearly 20,000 unique cards so the "when to use" every card is not only an impossible task to undertake but one that totally dependent on the situation its being used.
You could google the "comprehensive rules" but its probably going to leave you with more questions than answers.
MTG Gatherer allows you to search card by card, but the number of "advanced" rulings per card vary.
To be honest, you'd probably pick up on the game better by watching it. There are a number of pro level players that stream on Twitch that talk through their plays to explain the "how & why"
Some basics regarding some of your aforementioned confusion: The player casting a spell chooses its target assuming its a legal target.
Regarding combat, the attacker can choose to attack the defending player or a planeswalker that player controls. You cannot attack opposing creatures directly in combat. The defending player chooses how and if they block those attacking creatures assuming all blocks are legal per the rules.
If a spell changes or adds a land type to a land you control, that land will tap for 1 mana of either type that land could produce unless the spell says "adds x in addition to"
Blighted Gorge is a utility land. It taps for mana like a traditional land but has an added affect tacked on to allow you to pay 4R, sacrifice it (destroy it) and deal 2 damage to a creature or player. Planeswalkers are also considered players in this instance and thus are also legal targets
There is a lot to unpack here, and The Decepticon provided some good answers above. To be fair, Magic is a very daunting game and it does seem that you have some misunderstandings of the game already. Which is not at all uncommon so don't get too down on yourself. And definitely try not to get overwhelmed. Taking things one step at a time will help immensely.
One place you can start is reading up "How to Play" here. It is an article from Channel Fireball. I tried to find the one Wizards had but they seemed to have replaced their info with a 5 minute video that I don't think is all that great.
Another thing you can do is download and play Arena. I would focus on just playing against Sparky (the AI) in the tutorials to get a better feel for the game. It, again, will not cover everything, but it may help.
And, finally, going to a local store and talking to other players or workers there can help as they can show you how to play and try to clear up any confusion at that time.
Hi. I've been playing since I was your son's age, so I'll try and help if I can. The comprehensive rules can be viewed here, but that's probably just going to confuse you more. You're better off looking at the rulings on Gatherer. You can look up any card, and it will show you rulings on it, but that might not always answer your question. Here you can see the one ruling on a card I reference below. I used this to make sure I understood the card when I explained it. With further questions, the best thing is to ask somebody you know, or ask us here on the internet.
For example if a card says X can do 3 damage to a target creature or player, who decides if it is attacking a creature or the player? If the other player has creatures to block with, is the attack forced to attack them (unless they can fly over,etc), or does the wording of the card saying creature "OR" player give the person playing the card a choice? Because if the other player didn't have a creature summoned, of course the attack is against the player.
Lightning Strike is just such a card. One important thing is that Lightning Strike does not "attack" anything. Only creatures can attack, and they can only attack players and planeswalkers. (Some cards like Fountain of Ichor can become creatures and then attack, or may turn something else into a creature like Ensoul Artifact.)
The player who is casting the spell gets to choose its targets, so I can choose any target I want to target with my Ligtning Strike unless there's something that stops me (Invisible Stalker's hexproof stops me from targeting it). So if I target your Llanowar Elves, the elves aren't blocking Lighting Strike, they're just it's target. If the opponent has no creatures or planeswalkers, obviously you want to either shoot them directly or just hold onto your Lightning Strike. You should probably hold it unless you are playing a pretty aggressive deck that wants to attack their life total quickly.
Other spells might direct a player to taker an action. That player makes any decisions for such an action. For example, Diabolic Edict targets a player, and that player chooses which creature of theirs to sacrifice. Likewise if I target you with Mind Rot, you choose which cards to discard. But if you only have two cards, you don't get a choice. Once again, something like Disenchant allows the caster to choose the target.
The real reason this is confusing is because it involves different wording conventions. Back in the day, there were no planeswalkers. Then when they printed planeswalkers, they had this rule that you could redirect any damage that would go to a player to one of that player's planeswalkers instead. So I could direct the damage from my Lightning Strike from you to your Jace Beleren. Not too long ago, they changed that so that new cards mention planeswalkers. For example, here's the new Lava Spike. and the old one. That's why your Lightning Strike may look like this or this. It's still the same card.
Also, for example, Tribal Sorcery turns any land card to what that land card is as well as an island...I get that now it can be water and whatever the original card is, but it is not detailed enough to tell me if I can also use that land "stack" as two mana, or if it is still just one mana, but with a choice on which it is..
So for example Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth makes it so that every land including Urborg is also a swamp. So an island is now an Island Swamp. That means it can do everything an island can do (tap for U) and everything a swamp can do (tap for B). It is not two lands. It's one land with the properties of both. It can't tap for more than one mana at a time. It also means that that if I have a swampwalk creature like Bog Wraith, it'll be unblockable.
On the other hand, if I cast Spreading Seas on a land, it's different. Spreading Seas just turns it into an island, so it stops being the land it was before and becomes a normal island. So it can tap for U, but if it was a mountain before, it can't tap for R. Or if it was a Blighted Gorge, it loses its 4R ability. Most cards let lands keep their old types.
And the card "Blighted Gorge", man, that one is very confusing. I can add mana, but need to spend 4 mana if I want to "convert" it to an attack of 2?
Blighted Gorge is a utility land as The Decepticon said. It can only tap for colorless mana, so in some ways a basic mountain is better. But it tries to make up for that with an extra ability.
You can pay five mana (four of any type and one red mana: 4R) and tap and sacrifice the gorge to shoot something for two damage. You basically turn the land into the card Shock. You might do this later in the game when you need the damage more than the land. if you have that mana open, the opponent knows you can activate the ability at any time, so they will have to play cautiously. For example, if I attack with Grizzly bears, and you have an Aerial Responder that you want to keep alive, you may not block my bear, since it would deal enough damage that I could finish the responder off with my Blighted Gorge. This principal is called "threat of activation" and it's an important part of cards like Blighted Gorge.
Remember, the Gorge never attacks anything. It deals damage to a target, which is different. Think of it as a land that turns into a Shock when the time comes. But if you're playing something like Crucible of Worlds, you can use the fact that it's a land to replay it.
Here's another thing to make clear: The Gorge taps to produce mana like a normal land, but it can't produce mana to use its own ability because the ability requires it to tap. That means that you have to have five mana PLUS Blighted Gorge to use the ability. As a rule, all utility lands work like this. In contrast, Mishra's Factory doesn't have to tap to pay its cost, so it can pay it itself, but if it does, it'll be tapped, and it won't do much good as a creature.
Magic is a great game, but it can get overwhelming at first, especially when the cards and players assume you know how everything works. It's hard to use Swiftfoot Boots if you don't know what Haste or Hexproof are, and you don't know what Equip means. Don't be ashamed to ask lots of questions. I promise it all makes a whole lot of sense if you give it time. Gatherer will help some.
Thanks everyone. It looks like I was about 85% correct in my judgement on the Blighted Gorge, it's just that the way it was written seemed ambiguous. And I read it wrong and thought it meant 4 mountains, when it means 4 of any color and 1 red. Is "colorless" good for "any color"?
My goal is to get my son knowledgeable enough to start his own games, then others can teach him the deeper meanings.
It actually brings up another question, not enough to start a new thread, but I blasted him yesterday easily because draw after draw he didn't get a land. I crushed him turn after turn. By the end I had 5 lands and he had 1. He got lucky and had a Goblin Grenade and made me take some damage, but that was his only attack. It made him ask, could this happen to a world champ? Someone who just tore through a tournament and at the finals, just couldn't draw a land to do anything? How much of the game is luck? Or is there "always another way"?
In a deck with a properly constructed mana base that's randomized with a legitimate shuffle, there's just about no way to get mana screwed that badly, but luck is always going to be a considerable factor in a game with randomly drawn pieces. If your opening hand is unfavorable, you should mulligan.
As others have said there's little point in asking about functions of individual cards without really knowing the rules, but once you do know the basic rules, the Magic Rulings forum is available to clear up any confusion about individual cards.
No. The mana produced by lands like Blighted Gorge can't be used to pay colored costs.
There are some cards like Skyshroud Elf that can turn colorless mana into colored mana. There are other things that can produce mana of any color, like City of Brass.
There are also a few cards that have costs that can only be paid for with colorless (C) mana, like Endbringer. These cards were only printed during one set. Blighted Gorge was actually printed around the same time as that to help support the concept with lands that tap for C. You can still pay for costs like Skyshroud Elf's 1 cost with any type of mana, colorless or otherwise.
How much of the game is luck? Or is there "always another way"?
Luck will always be a factor, but mulligans are an important tool to avoid what happened. I won't describe them in detail, since Void Nothing left a link. If your son had been an expert player, he would have taken a mulligan.
Your son got mana screwed, which is where you don't draw enough lands. You can also get mana flooded, where you get way too many lands. This has been part of the game since it was invented, and it can be lame. Every Magic player has lost these kinds of games. In tournaments, games are played best two of three, and mulligans and deck construction make it so that skill does absolutely win out over luck. Nevertheless, games are won and lost based on luck at every level of play every day.
The real thing that reduces the impact of random variance (other than learning how to mulligan) is simple repetition. The more you play, the more you'll begin to see how many lands you like to play, and how much card draw and mana fixing you like.
You can also resign at any time, so if you have one land and nothing, and your opponent has five lands and a board full of stuff, you don't really have to play it out. It's good to be sporting and not resign early, but sometimes it's best to just move to the next game.
Thanks everyone. It looks like I was about 85% correct in my judgement on the Blighted Gorge, it's just that the way it was written seemed ambiguous. And I read it wrong and thought it meant 4 mountains, when it means 4 of any color and 1 red. Is "colorless" good for "any color"?
Yes. Costs like 1, 2, 5, etc. let you use any type of mana (any of WUBRGC) to pay for them. As mentioned, though, with a card like Blighted Gorge you can't generally use the mana it produces for its other ability, since both require tapping (t) the Gorge to activate. You can't use a single dollar bill to buy a soda from two different vending machines. (Exceptions exist, such as tapping Gorge for mana, untapping it with a card like Fatestitcher, and then activating the second ability.)
It actually brings up another question, not enough to start a new thread, but I blasted him yesterday easily because draw after draw he didn't get a land. I crushed him turn after turn. By the end I had 5 lands and he had 1. He got lucky and had a Goblin Grenade and made me take some damage, but that was his only attack. It made him ask, could this happen to a world champ? Someone who just tore through a tournament and at the finals, just couldn't draw a land to do anything? How much of the game is luck? Or is there "always another way"?
There is always going to be some randomness, since you shuffle your deck and generally need lands to play your spells, and many (but not all) decks need 5 or more lands to play the stuff that's likely to win the game. However, deck construction helps a lot (ensuring there's a mix of nonland spells and lands of the appropriate types to be able to cast those spells regularly, and including cards that let you dig further into your deck to find the lands or the spells you're missing if you're getting mana screwed or flooded). One of the pitfalls some newer plays fall into is finding a new card they want for their existing deck, looking at what they've got and deciding they can't bear to part with one of their spells, so they take out a "boring" land for the new card. Do this enough times and suddenly your chances of drawing the lands you need are too low to have a decent chance of playing those fancy cards you've added. (Similarly, some players simply add the new card to their deck, increasing their deck size. This is usually a mistake, for the same reason of lowering your odds of drawing what you need.)
Knowing when to take mulligans at the start of the game because your hand isn't very good is another invaluable skill in this game. The current mulligan rules are that you shuffle your hand back in your deck and then draw 7 every time, and then once you're satisfied you put 1 card from your hand on the bottom of your deck for every mulligan you took. (So if you mulligan twice, you would end up with a starting hand of 5 cards.)
My son just came back from camp and all the kids are talking about this game. Of course I have heard of it, but Pokemon was his game and now he wants to learn this. So I went out and bought a duel pack and started learning the basics. I get how play is done, but some of these cards are written ambiguously and detailed rules are hard to find.
Is there a place (and I did search this site so if it is here, I apologize) that I can enter a card name and it gives more detailed information on why and when I would use this card? so many little questions, I want to make sure I am teaching my son correctly. I don't need just the text of the card, but details about what it means for real.
For example if a card says X can do 3 damage to a target creature or player, who decides if it is attacking a creature or the player? If the other player has creatures to block with, is the attack forced to attack them (unless they can fly over,etc), or does the wording of the card saying creature "OR" player give the person playing the card a choice? Because if the other player didn't have a creature summoned, of course the attack is against the player.
Also, for example, Tribal Sorcery turns any land card to what that land card is as well as an island...I get that now it can be water and whatever the original card is, but it is not detailed enough to tell me if I can also use that land "stack" as two mana, or if it is still just one mana, but with a choice on which it is..
And the card "Blighted Gorge", man, that one is very confusing. I can add mana, but need to spend 4 mana if I want to "convert" it to an attack of 2?
Anyway, is there a site I can search by card, with more of this type of information?
Thanks in advance.
You could google the "comprehensive rules" but its probably going to leave you with more questions than answers.
MTG Gatherer allows you to search card by card, but the number of "advanced" rulings per card vary.
To be honest, you'd probably pick up on the game better by watching it. There are a number of pro level players that stream on Twitch that talk through their plays to explain the "how & why"
Some basics regarding some of your aforementioned confusion: The player casting a spell chooses its target assuming its a legal target.
Regarding combat, the attacker can choose to attack the defending player or a planeswalker that player controls. You cannot attack opposing creatures directly in combat. The defending player chooses how and if they block those attacking creatures assuming all blocks are legal per the rules.
If a spell changes or adds a land type to a land you control, that land will tap for 1 mana of either type that land could produce unless the spell says "adds x in addition to"
Blighted Gorge is a utility land. It taps for mana like a traditional land but has an added affect tacked on to allow you to pay 4R, sacrifice it (destroy it) and deal 2 damage to a creature or player. Planeswalkers are also considered players in this instance and thus are also legal targets
One place you can start is reading up "How to Play" here. It is an article from Channel Fireball. I tried to find the one Wizards had but they seemed to have replaced their info with a 5 minute video that I don't think is all that great.
Another thing you can do is download and play Arena. I would focus on just playing against Sparky (the AI) in the tutorials to get a better feel for the game. It, again, will not cover everything, but it may help.
And, finally, going to a local store and talking to other players or workers there can help as they can show you how to play and try to clear up any confusion at that time.
Lightning Strike is just such a card. One important thing is that Lightning Strike does not "attack" anything. Only creatures can attack, and they can only attack players and planeswalkers. (Some cards like Fountain of Ichor can become creatures and then attack, or may turn something else into a creature like Ensoul Artifact.)
The player who is casting the spell gets to choose its targets, so I can choose any target I want to target with my Ligtning Strike unless there's something that stops me (Invisible Stalker's hexproof stops me from targeting it). So if I target your Llanowar Elves, the elves aren't blocking Lighting Strike, they're just it's target. If the opponent has no creatures or planeswalkers, obviously you want to either shoot them directly or just hold onto your Lightning Strike. You should probably hold it unless you are playing a pretty aggressive deck that wants to attack their life total quickly.
Other spells might direct a player to taker an action. That player makes any decisions for such an action. For example, Diabolic Edict targets a player, and that player chooses which creature of theirs to sacrifice. Likewise if I target you with Mind Rot, you choose which cards to discard. But if you only have two cards, you don't get a choice. Once again, something like Disenchant allows the caster to choose the target.
So for example Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth makes it so that every land including Urborg is also a swamp. So an island is now an Island Swamp. That means it can do everything an island can do (tap for U) and everything a swamp can do (tap for B). It is not two lands. It's one land with the properties of both. It can't tap for more than one mana at a time. It also means that that if I have a swampwalk creature like Bog Wraith, it'll be unblockable.
On the other hand, if I cast Spreading Seas on a land, it's different. Spreading Seas just turns it into an island, so it stops being the land it was before and becomes a normal island. So it can tap for U, but if it was a mountain before, it can't tap for R. Or if it was a Blighted Gorge, it loses its 4R ability. Most cards let lands keep their old types.
Blighted Gorge is a utility land as The Decepticon said. It can only tap for colorless mana, so in some ways a basic mountain is better. But it tries to make up for that with an extra ability.
You can pay five mana (four of any type and one red mana: 4R) and tap and sacrifice the gorge to shoot something for two damage. You basically turn the land into the card Shock. You might do this later in the game when you need the damage more than the land. if you have that mana open, the opponent knows you can activate the ability at any time, so they will have to play cautiously. For example, if I attack with Grizzly bears, and you have an Aerial Responder that you want to keep alive, you may not block my bear, since it would deal enough damage that I could finish the responder off with my Blighted Gorge. This principal is called "threat of activation" and it's an important part of cards like Blighted Gorge.
Remember, the Gorge never attacks anything. It deals damage to a target, which is different. Think of it as a land that turns into a Shock when the time comes. But if you're playing something like Crucible of Worlds, you can use the fact that it's a land to replay it.
Here's another thing to make clear: The Gorge taps to produce mana like a normal land, but it can't produce mana to use its own ability because the ability requires it to tap. That means that you have to have five mana PLUS Blighted Gorge to use the ability. As a rule, all utility lands work like this. In contrast, Mishra's Factory doesn't have to tap to pay its cost, so it can pay it itself, but if it does, it'll be tapped, and it won't do much good as a creature.
Magic is a great game, but it can get overwhelming at first, especially when the cards and players assume you know how everything works. It's hard to use Swiftfoot Boots if you don't know what Haste or Hexproof are, and you don't know what Equip means. Don't be ashamed to ask lots of questions. I promise it all makes a whole lot of sense if you give it time. Gatherer will help some.
Low-power cube enthusiast!
My 1570 card cube (no longer updated)
My 415 Peasant+ Artifact and Enchantment Cube
Ever-Expanding "Just throw it in" cube.
My goal is to get my son knowledgeable enough to start his own games, then others can teach him the deeper meanings.
It actually brings up another question, not enough to start a new thread, but I blasted him yesterday easily because draw after draw he didn't get a land. I crushed him turn after turn. By the end I had 5 lands and he had 1. He got lucky and had a Goblin Grenade and made me take some damage, but that was his only attack. It made him ask, could this happen to a world champ? Someone who just tore through a tournament and at the finals, just couldn't draw a land to do anything? How much of the game is luck? Or is there "always another way"?
As others have said there's little point in asking about functions of individual cards without really knowing the rules, but once you do know the basic rules, the Magic Rulings forum is available to clear up any confusion about individual cards.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
No. The mana produced by lands like Blighted Gorge can't be used to pay colored costs.
There are some cards like Skyshroud Elf that can turn colorless mana into colored mana. There are other things that can produce mana of any color, like City of Brass.
There are also a few cards that have costs that can only be paid for with colorless (C) mana, like Endbringer. These cards were only printed during one set. Blighted Gorge was actually printed around the same time as that to help support the concept with lands that tap for C. You can still pay for costs like Skyshroud Elf's 1 cost with any type of mana, colorless or otherwise.
Luck will always be a factor, but mulligans are an important tool to avoid what happened. I won't describe them in detail, since Void Nothing left a link. If your son had been an expert player, he would have taken a mulligan.
Your son got mana screwed, which is where you don't draw enough lands. You can also get mana flooded, where you get way too many lands. This has been part of the game since it was invented, and it can be lame. Every Magic player has lost these kinds of games. In tournaments, games are played best two of three, and mulligans and deck construction make it so that skill does absolutely win out over luck. Nevertheless, games are won and lost based on luck at every level of play every day.
The real thing that reduces the impact of random variance (other than learning how to mulligan) is simple repetition. The more you play, the more you'll begin to see how many lands you like to play, and how much card draw and mana fixing you like.
You can also resign at any time, so if you have one land and nothing, and your opponent has five lands and a board full of stuff, you don't really have to play it out. It's good to be sporting and not resign early, but sometimes it's best to just move to the next game.
Low-power cube enthusiast!
My 1570 card cube (no longer updated)
My 415 Peasant+ Artifact and Enchantment Cube
Ever-Expanding "Just throw it in" cube.
There is always going to be some randomness, since you shuffle your deck and generally need lands to play your spells, and many (but not all) decks need 5 or more lands to play the stuff that's likely to win the game. However, deck construction helps a lot (ensuring there's a mix of nonland spells and lands of the appropriate types to be able to cast those spells regularly, and including cards that let you dig further into your deck to find the lands or the spells you're missing if you're getting mana screwed or flooded). One of the pitfalls some newer plays fall into is finding a new card they want for their existing deck, looking at what they've got and deciding they can't bear to part with one of their spells, so they take out a "boring" land for the new card. Do this enough times and suddenly your chances of drawing the lands you need are too low to have a decent chance of playing those fancy cards you've added. (Similarly, some players simply add the new card to their deck, increasing their deck size. This is usually a mistake, for the same reason of lowering your odds of drawing what you need.)
Knowing when to take mulligans at the start of the game because your hand isn't very good is another invaluable skill in this game. The current mulligan rules are that you shuffle your hand back in your deck and then draw 7 every time, and then once you're satisfied you put 1 card from your hand on the bottom of your deck for every mulligan you took. (So if you mulligan twice, you would end up with a starting hand of 5 cards.)
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)