Once again, another guest post from B-Ric. He should be putting together a post ever week, so look out for that. Without further ado:
One of the strongest effects in Magic is what is referred to as the telepathy effect. This is a condition, generally caused by the card Telepathy, that forces both players to play the game with their hands revealed. It doesn’t take a lot of in-depth understanding to see how something like this can create an advantage. Not only do you get to see what your opponent has coming, but they also get to see what you have as well.
The main deck archetype this effect works well for is control. By knowing what your opponent has coming into their hand, you can plan your control a lot better. For example say that your opponent has a 1/1 weenie on the board and you have a card that can get rid of it. By looking over at what will be in your opponents hand you can make a much better decision on whether or not nuking the weenie is really worth it.
~B-ric (http://www.twitter.com/thegrizz)
Just to expound on the idea of seeing your opponent's hand, consider the deck Thopter Depths in Extended. The deck typically runs 6-7 copies of Thoughtseize and Duress. While the primary goal of those cards is to discard any potential threat to the combo (counters, removal, etc.), those discard spells also give the following information:
- What kind of deck is your opponent playing?
If you see Wild Nacatl, Tarmogoyf, and Qasali Pridemage, chances are your opponent is likely playing Zoo. If you see Progenitus, Angel of Despair, and Violent Outburst, your opponent is likely playing Hypergenesis combo. With this information and knowledge about popular deck archetypes, you can estimate what other cards are in your opponent's deck. - Should I combo early or not?Even though you may not see an answering card, you can predict if they will have it or not. In addition, use your own hand to determine if the risk is worth taking it--do you have a backup plan you can get should they topdeck an answer to your combo?
What card should you discard?
With combo decks, the typical answer is the biggest threat right now. Combo decks usually work on either comboing early or comboing at the last possible second. Whatever the case, the gamewinner works in one turn, so taking out short-term threats is the priority.
With control decks, the answer is anything that prevents you from controlling the other player. This can range from counterspells, discard, or protection from destruction. Early creatures are not a number one priority since you have 20 life points to cushion your death.
I remember one of my friends around Time Spiral time was playing with a RGW Kavu Predator/Fiery Justice deck. He had Stormbind on the field and the opponent was down to 4. With enough cards in hand to activate for lethal, my friend held off killing my opponent.
He knew that if he activated Stormbind, the opponent would respond to a burn spell killing him off instead.
This was just from looking at him. Was he telepathic? Or just a good reader of body language. I'd say the latter. Like poker, part of Magic the Gathering is learning to read bluffs and gather information from sources behind the playfield.
Here's a classic example: Bob Maher(Mono U Artifacts) vs. Gabriel Nassif(UG Enchantress)
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZFPTfL_c9Y
You'll notice that Nassif is fidgety, while Maher is calm and reassured. Typically, if your opponent is fidgety and nervous, chances are that you're in a winning position. But beware of bluffers.
Telepathy is not a cheap magic trick--it is an acquired skill. Whether it be from cards you play or reading your opponent, knowing what your opponent has against you is powerful information. Practice either learning how to get this information or how to use this information to become a better Magic player.
Till next time,
www.twitter.com/shadowsketched
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