SHORT THEORY TIME

Getting back to the concept of C-M-C, that is, Cards-Mana-Cards, in a standard Magic: The Gathering (TM) game, we have learned that by playing cards we reveal information, and we exchange revealed information for some form of an advantage. In that discussion, we touched on some terminology and refused to define said terms, opting to leaving the meaning implied.

Let's talk more on those meanings, and how they impact the game.

Mana Source:

We draw our opening seven and have yet to reveal any information about our game plan. Let's visualize our hand.

In the most rigid of terms, we have a "2-lander" or 2 lands. We know that lands produce mana and are thus mana sources, meaning in this hand we have two confirmed mana sources. We also know our deck wants three lands to be able to win the game. Why do we keep this?

Realistically speaking with both Ponder and Lorien Revealed, we are guaranteed our third mana source. This is because we can discard two cards, an Island into play and cycle Lorien Revealed, and transform Cards into Mana. C-M relationship.

Consider another scenario:

Three years ago, this was a perfectly reasonable opening seven:

My how prices change. Here we have zero lands in hand. But if you are in the know, you have 5 specific Mana Sources. In fact, unlike our first opening hand example, we have the luxury of opening into this sequence: ESG Exiled - G, Tinder Wall, Tinder Wall Sacrificed: RR, Spend R on Wild Cantor, Cantor Sacrificed to Dark Ritual, BBBR spent to deploy Balustrade Spy. This isn't the only optimal opening hand but it is very much plausible...well, if you have a time machine. C-M.

Source of Card Quality

C-M-C. We've taken our opening cards and transformed them into Mana. We still have spare cards in hand, of course, and now we need to transform those cards into something else. Without regard to other definitions, we use the term "card quality" to describe a card that is net neutral or negative but exchanges itself and another "undesirable" card for one or more new cards, considered to be of a higher "quality" than the exchanged cards. Likewise, if our exchange is only useful for clearing the top of our library, those cards were undesirable and the idea is that we will now draw higher quality cards. We can even say that card quality is the act of arranging our resources where we want them, where they are optimal.

Our example:

Here we take our opening turn to deploy Marauding Mako, then we pass. On our next turn, we would like a few things to be true. We would like Hobgoblin and Hollow one to join Marauding Mako, and we'd like to make our Mako more powerful. We'd also like to assemble the situation in such a way that we can make use of Detective's Phoenix as soon as possible. We've gained one card from a natural draw after we discarded one Mountain and one Mako to deploy them on the battlefield. When we untap, we can reasonably assume we'll have access to a second Mountain and have to choose between deploying the hobgoblin and swinging for two damage or increasing the Mako's ability to deal damage. We opt to Faithless Looting, and without respect to the draws, we discard Hollow One and Detective's Phoenix. We deploy a Mountain and cast the Phoenix using bestow, exiling Looting and Hollow One. We have made the Mako more powerful and we've moved our resources to more optimal zones - we've used Faithless Looting to enact card quality. C-M-C

Card Advantage

Card Advantage is easy enough to understand. At the most basic level, each player draws one card per each of their turns, or .5 cards/turn cycle - one on your half of the cycle, zero on the opponent's. We gain an advantage if we, say, increase this to drawing two cards on our turn or one card on our turn and one on their turn - this means they draw at .5 while we draw a 1. 1:2, 1.5:3, 2:4 and so on until we've "outdrawn" the opponent. Note that we don't have to draw the cards, we have to have relevant access to the cards to generate card advantage.

Yet another example:

Consider our first list again. The one with all those Island. We deploy our third island on our third turn and face certain defeat. Unless we can somehow break card parity - that is, .5 per turn cycle, we lose. We cast High Tide.

This card can be considered a source of mana like Dark Ritual. We tap our two remaining lands and cast Frantic Search, acting as both as a Mana Source and a source of Card Quality. We cast a few more spells and generate sufficient mana to cast both Turnabout and Mind's Desire, protecting our deck from fizzling. Our storm count is at six. We deploy Mind's Desire.

This effectively draws seven cards, pushing us well past the breaking point of parity. We now have access to up to seven new spells. If we're really lucky, we've casted 7 instants/sorceries and in our Mind's Desire exile pile, we have Lock and Load.

We can immediately deploy it - for free (Mind's Desire is also a Mana Source) - or we can hold off until we've casted more spells. We've now generated even more Card Advantage to break the parity and overcome our opponent. C-M-C.

Disruption

Disruption functions to negate some kind of rival advantage and should be deployed when a rival's advantage is so great that it may become insurmountable to win. Disruption comes in a myriad of forms.

We have a tendency to call things that attack the hand or stack 'disruption' while we call permanents that slow down or stop a rival's plan a 'hate piece' and we call things that destroy/exile something in play 'removal.' All of these are disruptive and for our discussion there isn't a difference. Another form of C-M-C.

Example: Wind that third turn back. My opponent has me to the point where I might die if I do not go off with my High Tide. I attempt to deploy. My opponent counter deploys Minor Misstep.

This is a near fatal or fatal spell. It is a false choice if I am on the ropes, that is, if I am about to die there is no correct way out. Protecting the High Tide taps us out and defeats the purpose. Allowing it to be countered ends the turn. We cannot bluff our way out of death - we'll have counter-disruption to stop their win attempt or we will die. And the opponent will not self-fog to delay an attack.

Another example: We cast Balustrade Spy. We generate a copious number of triggers as our library flips, placing it all in the graveyard. We want to resolve our Narcomoeba triggers. We are met with Ravenous Trap. Without Memory's Journey, our plan is totally disrupted, and we will die on our next upkeep.

Yet another Example:

We are on a Blue-Red-Black pile, Grixis Control, and our opponent resolves a Great Sable Stag. It isn't necessarily fatal, but if left to strike us seven times, it will kill us. We're also limited in what will actually interact with Great Sable Stag. Fortunately, after suffering two hits, we draw a Lightning Bolt.

Now, at our need, we can deploy Lightning Bolt to disrupt their plan to beat us to death with the elk. C-M-C.

Value Engine

Value Engines used to be repeat sources of card advantage that either scaled or provided an overwhelming advantage. We often use the term now for cards that are self-contained repeated sources of tokens or cards draw.

In modern Magic: The Gathering, we don't really deploy cards like Frantic Inventory despite the fact it can represent eight mana for a total of 10 cards. We have more elegant weapons like Up the Beanstalk, which while representing just one card for two mana, it adds a cantrip ability to every card above casting cost 5, creating an endless supply for that initial investment. Likewise Caves of Chaos Adventurer introduces the Initiative, which brings a host of spells in one specific tracker token, as well as having a built-in Card Advantage engine and serving as a Win Condition [see the next section.]

Example: In our Blue-White control deck, we deploy Thopter Foundry and Sword of the Meek. While it is inefficient, as we always pay 1 + the initial investment of four for our army, we have a two-card engine that produces an endless supply of life and flying attackers and blockers. In the long run efficiency will not matter, as the engine itself becomes overwhelming. C-M-C.

Win Condition

This is the easiest to define. This is how you intend to end the game and end it in your favor. Be it our Thopter Foundry and Sword of the Meek combination, Great Sable Stag, Laboratory Maniac, whatever card you plan to close the game out with is your Win Condition. C-M-C.

And now for my win condition: closing out this article. Until next time!