Sam Pardee. Did you really get mana screwed against Todd Anderson?

So I was reading a tournament report from Sam Pardee and he made the following comment, "I was given a rematch with Todd Anderson, and the games played out similarly to our first match—except with him getting mana-screwed in game 3 instead of me,"

I read this line and immediately I react with the following question, "was he actually mana screwed?" This issue is one that I have been grappling with for a while. You absolutely no doubt 100% can just get screwed, sometimes with your pants on. But sometimes our perception is a bit in accurate, especially in the heat of battle. I like to dissect my losses and figure out why I lost. If I did get a bad mana then it is important to recognize that and not waste time. However as I say, I identifying those instances is tough. The best advice you can get is to realize that your choices are why you lose. But sometimes you just aren't going to win. (enough back and forth? I think you get it?)

First a general comment on luck and skill to set the mood and then I'll move into defining mana screw (and all it's flavours, and kin, oh my!). In magic there is randomness and there is hidden information, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Those features are what make the game exciting year after year (that and a bunch of new rare lands that I just have to acquire). They can be annoying but ultimately without them the game turns into chess, and chess sucks. So how does luck and skill come into it.

In Magic your luck sets the potential. Your skill is what makes the most of it.

Does bad luck suck. Yes, yes it does. Can you control it? Nope. You can stuff your deck with all the best cards but sometimes you shuffle up and draft 7 lands. So don't worry about it. Focus on what you can control.

Concerning the definition of luck: I lump everything I cannot control in to the category of luck. In deckbuilding I get to pick what's in my deck but for these purposes we'll treat the deck as fixed, so something like "the card on top of my deck" is luck.

 So with that "brief" discussion out of the way.

There are two main families of mana screw. The first deals with your opening hand (Type I) and is intrinsically tied to the decision to mull or not to mull. The second deals with drawing poorly throughout the game (Type II). Let's start with the latter.

Type II Mana Screws:

False Start: You kept your hand but it needs some help to get there. For example you stumbled out of the gate by missing land drop #3. Some think this is actually a sneaky Type I mana screw. They are wrong! You take the math into account and you rough out a plan from your initial hand and it just doesn't get there. You made the decision that it was worth taking on the risk of not hitting that 3rd land (btw: if you're playing the right numbers of lands you are going to hit that 3rd land drop on a 2 land opener). Maybe your hand looked great on paper but you never drew what you needed. 

Migitation tactics: Really know the odds for your deck, how important to my deck is the 4th land drop, etc. Know the format. It's Gatecrash, you have to come out with fire. It's M14, I've got all the time in the world. These things help your mull decision and help you game plan for how to survive and bridge to the next part of the game.

Half Deck: This is the kind of screw where you just see the wrong part of your deck. I hate that one. Maybe your hand had great mana and some good early action. But then you just never draw your real gas. You saw half your deck. You weren't gonna mulligan a perfect mana hand with early action. There is also a subset of this guy where you are rocking a two-color deck and only see the lands of the wrong color.

Mitigation tactics: You really gotta get a feel for what your opponent is up to. If you have the early half of your deck make sure not to race, you are running out of gas. If you get the late half of your deck, watch what you opponent does and try to push the game to a stall, you should be strong in the late game. The key is to watch your opponent. But most importantly DO NOT SIDEBOARD. Trust the math. If you see a weakness in your opponent's deck and have a good board card against them, by all means do it. But just because you see one slow draw from your deck don't go busting up your curve. One game means nothing.

Heartbreaker: This is the worst. You are playing a great game and then your turn five draw is a land, and six, and seven, and so on. These are the worst for me. Sometimes it goes on for five turns and you just run out of steam. 

Mitigation tactics: I got nothing for this one. Just learn how to recognize it and don't waste your time trying to find a mistake.



I started to write about Type I mana screws, but that leads directly into a discussion of mulligans and is a full post in its own right. See you next time.