MTG Fundamentals #2 Resources

In the last article, we talked about goals in Magic. No matter what goals you have, you will need to understand how to win a single game. To talk about winning a game of Magic, we need to understand resources.

Magic is a game of resources.

What is a resource? I will define a resource as a quantifiable asset. (Something you have that can be counted.) Magic is a game of resources because whenever you make a decision, you are trading off between your different resources.

The options here are to either crack my vessel, cast harnessed lightning, or do nothing. Each option will affect my resources differently (as well as my opponent's).

The ultimate resource is the ability to continue playing the game.

You can think of it like the King in Chess. You lose this resource and you lose the game. Usually, it's when you run out of life.

If you are at 2 life and your opponent attacks with [[card_link: Goblin Guide ]], you can in essence trade your [[card_link: Lightning Bolt ]] for the ability to continue playing the game.

[[card: Lightning Bolt | set: M10]] [[card: Goblin Guide | set: ZEN]]

So what kinds of resources are there? Can we list them all?

I would hesitate to create an all-encompassing model for resources. Almost anything you can count can be thought of as a resource. Life, cards, lands or even something as specific as "the number of [[card_link: Void Shatter ]] left in a deck" can be considered resources.

[[card: Void Shatter | set: OGW]]

But which resources are useful to think about?

Time, or "tempo," is often referred to by Magic players, and for good reason. Many times in a game of Magic, you will purposefully trade resources to either slow the game down or to speed it up. At any moment in a game between two players, one will prefer extending the game and one will prefer shortening it. Understanding this idea is at the crux of "Who's the Beatdown."

Cards, or "card advantage" is another resource that is extremely useful to think about. Often times a game of Magic will end because one player has run out of cards to play from their hand. This is very roughly the concept of "card advantage."

Tempo and card advantage are the two most cited resources in Magic. For newer players, it will help to frame decisions through these three questions:

1. "Will this play help me do things in a timely manner?"

2. "Will this play help me get full value out of my cards?"

3. "How important in this game/matchup is timeliness versus getting full value?"

[[card: Ruinous Path | set: BFZ]]

This is a trade-off that comes up very often in Magic. With [[card_link: Ruinous Path ]], for example, you can choose to cast it for its regular cost (more timely) or for its awaken cost (full value).

Most experienced players, however, already understand tempo and card advantage very well. To these players, I suggest considering the full spectrum of resources and thinking about their relative importance. To a delirium deck, for example, the number of card types in its graveyard is a highly important resource. Similarly, to a vehicles deck, the number of artifacts in play is a highly important resource.

[[card: Ishkanah, Grafwidow | set: EMN]] [[card: Toolcraft Exemplar | set: KLD]]

Magic is a game of resources. In this article, I covered the concept of resources and introduced the most important resource: the ability to continue playing the game. In the next article, I will discuss how we use resources to preserve our most important resource or to remove our opponent's.

-Luca

[[published_at: 12 Feb 2017, 3:00 pm]]
[[category: article]]
[[preview_content: Learn what we mean when we say Magic is a game of resources.]]
[[preview_image: http://magic.wizards.com/sites/mtg/files/image_legacy_migration/images/magic/daily/li/li228_0u87kyj62f.jpg]]