Common Beginner Mistakes

Guides · beginner

Every new player makes these. So have we. The point isn't to avoid them perfectly -- it's to know about them so you can recognize what happened when they come up.

Tapping out before knowing if you should

Casting your last creature on turn 4 with no mana left means you can't respond to anything. Sometimes worth it; sometimes you should hold one mana up for Counterspell or Path to Exile.

Forgetting to play a land

A land drop is free and you only get one per turn. Missing one is a big tempo loss. Get into the habit of playing your land as the first thing on each turn.

Casting sorceries on opponents' turns

Sorcery-speed spells can only be cast in your own main phase, with the stack empty. New players sometimes try to cast a planeswalker on someone else's turn and get confused why it's illegal.

Confusing color identity with color

A Birds of Paradise makes any color of mana, but its color identity is just green. You can't include it in a non-green Commander deck.

Forgetting summoning sickness

A creature that just came under your control can't attack or use {T} abilities until your next turn. Haste removes this. New decks sometimes try to immediately attack with their commander on the turn it comes in -- they can't unless it has haste.

Not tracking commander tax

Every time you re-cast your commander from the command zone, it costs {2} more per previous time. So after the third recast it's {6} more. Easy to forget when you're trying to do other things.

Forgetting state-based actions

A creature with lethal damage doesn't die immediately. It dies the next time state-based actions are checked, which is the next time someone would gain priority. This sometimes matters when responding to combat damage.

Not saying "in response to that..."

If someone is targeting your creature and you have a way to save it, say so before the spell resolves. "In response to Doom Blade, I cast Heroic Intervention" is the magic phrase.

Forgetting to ask about the bracket

Power level mismatches are the #1 source of unfun games. Before shuffling, ask "what bracket are we playing?" If everyone says "casual" but one deck is clearly cEDH, things will go badly.

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