The Number One Key to Consistent Success in Magic: the Gathering's Constructed Formats

When consuming content from your favorite streamers, YouTubers, or pro players, it's easy to get tempted by the different and interesting decks and archetypes on display. Even without watching all that content showcasing the latest and greatest new decks, seeing the variety of decks at your local metagame can make you want to buy a new 75, sleeve it up, and take it to your next local event or RCQ. However, this is often a mistake.

Picking up any deck and putting up results in an event may sound easy, but it often proves to be a punishing and challenging feat. This isn't to say you'll always lose when trying a new deck or strategy – you may even find a lot of success, especially if your local metagame isn't yet prepared to play against you. But this is often a mistake, especially if your goal isn't to pivot off your old favorite strategy.

The plain and simple truth is that most players find success in Magic: The Gathering because of the experience they have piloting their deck and learning from prior mistakes. The following statement may seem counterproductive, but hear me out: the best way to become a great Magic: The Gathering player is to find a deck you like and lose as many matches as you can against the best players you know. It sounds crazy, but it's true.

Losing is always going to be part of Magic, no matter how long you've played, what deck you play, what format you're playing, and no matter who you're playing against. If you're not prepared to lose, you shouldn't be playing the game, as losing is the most quintessential part of playing and improving. Every loss, every bad beat, every game with just not enough lands, every close game being decided by one final spell to push forward just enough to close the gap or push beyond it is far more than a loss of points on a standings board; it is a lesson learned.

Although the argument of variance is thrown around a lot, there are things you can do to use variance as an advantage, but that is neither here nor there. No matter your format of choice, the cards you see being played the most will continue to be being played until they are power crept or rotated out the format you are playing. Learning the pitfalls of your deck of choice, familiarizing yourself with the cards that win and lose certain matchups, the cards you need to be weary of, and the sideboard strategies that win games 2 and 3 can only be found from sitting and playing games of Magic.

The ability to just take 75 cards and know exactly how you can use them perfectly and and squeeze every last drop of efficiency from said cards is a talent reserved for the top .1% of players, something most players just won't ever be able to even come to close to achieving. This by no means is here to discourage players from trying out other decks, and experimenting with other strategies, as there is merit behind playing other decks to learn how they function, learning the traps they fall into, the key lines that lead them to victory, and using these lessons to better learn how you can beat them, but ultimately sticking behind a deck and learning how and why it wins is the key to long-term success. I see many players around me playing a new deck every time something new and flashy comes out, or after they feel like they just aren't winning with their current deck, and then switching again and again in a cyclical pattern. While this doesn't mean they can't play these decks well and aren't good players, it is a trap and hinders them from becoming the players they could be.

There's going to be times when your favorite deck isn't well suited to play in the current meta game, and it feels like the deck is bad and not worth playing, but sticking through these times is when you learn the most and are rewarded so much more heavily for it. The way you learn to optimally pilot a deck, is by learning what does and doesn't work.

In the world of Magic: The Gathering, it's easy to get caught up in the hype of new decks and strategies, but the key to true success lies not in constantly switching decks with the metagame around you, but in mastering one. By finding a deck you enjoy and dedicating yourself to learning its ins and outs, you'll gain the experience and knowledge needed to navigate each metagame with confidence. Don't be discouraged by losses – they're an essential part of the learning process. Embrace the challenge, stick with your deck through thick and thin, and you'll find yourself sitting in top tables more times than not.