The Game isn't Over....

...Until you're at 0 life
...Until you're at 10 poison
...Until you try to draw a card with no cards left in your library
...Until another effect causes the game to end

If none of these conditions are met, you HAVE NOT LOST. One thing that I see happen far too often is scooping up their cards before they should. As long as you are still able to untap and draw, you are still capable of winning the game. Even if the stars must align, you have to draw like a god, and your opponent has to drop his IQ down to 1, you still haven't technically lost yet! In fact, even when you know there are 0 cards left in your deck that can get you out of the situation, still don't scoop. Not scooping gives you the greatest chance of winning, obviously by definition, but also for psychological reasons. Your opponent may have to ask themselves, "why have they NOT scooped yet? What could get them back in this game?" Then they start thinking of all the cards that can beat them, and may even start playing around some of them, giving you a window to pull out the win from!

There are 2 obvious exceptions to this rule of course: When the clock is winding down and you want to ensure you have time to win game 3, and if you and your opponent both have each other's deck lists, and you can't actually bluff anything. This has recently been a recurring theme as the more I have thought about this topic, the more I have seen examples in real life. These first 2 examples are from 2 different matches in the same draft. The active player is Andrew Black, who was my teammate from this triple Innistrad Draft. Andrew has a GW deck, splashing red for Geistflame and Charmbreaker Devils. He also has notable cards like Garruk Relentless and Spidery Grasp.

I won my match, and I'm watching Andrew draw his opener for game 3 vs UW fliers with cards like Murder of Crows and Angel of Flight Alabastar. His opening hand is 5 lands, Avacin's Pilgrim, and Spidery Grasp. Andrew snap-mulligans into 5 lands, Spidery Grasp. Andrew loudly complains and shows Pete, his opponent. He then mulligans into: Plains, Geistflame, Blazing Torch, and Spidery Grasp (he had just 1 Spidery Grasp, it really like him!). Clearly we find ourselves in a position where many would say we are already dead: we can keep a horrifying mul to 5, or go to 4, and be forced to keep whatever it is. How much are we willing to sacrifice to even try staying in this game before it has even begun? Pete kept his opening 7, so we are severely down on cards no matter what happens. Now this sad bad beats story has a happy ending, but it takes some serious focus on what matters. How can we possibly plan on winning with this hand? Is it even possible to win with a 4 card hand? Yes. I joked out loud, "how sick would it be to mulligan into 3 lands, Garruk?" Andrew dramatically drew one card at a time... Plains..... Mountain..... Plains...... Garruk Relentless!!! Andrew threw his hand at the table jumped out of his seat and we shared a good half-dozen high fives. First topdeck: Forest! Andrew then proceeded to not draw a land for 6 turns, and was able to prevent Garruk from being taken off the table. Andrew played one of the tightest limited games I have ever seen and was able to pull out the victory, which naturally tilted Peter and he threw his cards across the table and made a B-line straight outside.

Later on in that draft, the teams were tied, so both teams picked a player to do the showdown, and we deemed Andrew's deck was a little better than my mono 3-drop BR aggro deck. Unfortunately, in one of the games, Andrew's position was slowly slipping away turn by turn. Eventually, the life totals were 13-16 with Andrew at 13. Andrew had 9 power on board that was being held back by a Murder of Crows that was joined by a Stitched Drake. The math came out that that Andrew would lose the race as he took 7 to the face in the air. Andrew drew up to 3 cards in hand, and had absolutely nothing in hand. He went into the tank instinctively, and after about 90 seconds he looks up and asks, "what are you at? 16?" After confirmation, he lit up dramatically and immediately swung with the team.

Let's take a moment and evaluate the situation. Andrew is at 6 life and is facing down 7 power of fliers with no blockers, however he didn't scoop. The only way that he can win this game is if Peter doesn't attack with both his creatures, and he is able to get in there for the last 7 damage. The only way he can do that is if he can convince his opponent that attacking is a bad idea. His opponent, Brendan, knows about the Spidery Grasp that Andrew could use to block the Murder of Crows. Brendan's choices is to attack with both, 1 or neither of his creatures. If he attacks with 1 or 0, Andrew will most likely win. If Brendan attacks with both, than he loses to Spidery Grasp, but otherwise wins. Brendan ultimately called the bluff and won the game, but it was a fantastic example of playing to your outs. While it could be argued that the mind game felt a little forced, its the only thing that could have possibly lead to a victory. Scooping is a 100% loss, playing that 1 last turn is a 90% loss, 10% victory. I like those odds so much better!

I have one last example of this happening from last night's Legacy event. I was playing a new deck called "Four Horseman" that I learned through a old Patrick Chapin article. I'm playing against a player who I have seen play mono-white Stax and Reanimator consistently. Game 1 I brick all game without any relevant plays towards the combo while he puts an Orim's Chant under an Isochron Scepter. Game 2, I am able to combo out on turn 4.

Quick Aside
{
Spoiler Alert: Rant
This guy could very well be one of the worst players I have ever played against. His brainstorms would be better if they were Preordains, and his Force of Wills would be better if they were Traumatic Visions so that he couldn't blow it off on completely irrelevant spells like when I cast Cabal Therapy turn 1 on the play game 1 just to do a non-cycling Gitaxian Probe mock-up. I felt I was playing as tight as I possibly could have, and he was playing stupidly loose, but he simply had all the answers! When I was comboing off game 2, said "so you're going to Dread Return Emrakul right?" I thought he was kidding, so I jokingly responded "Haha, yeah...." to which he said "Damn... I don't think I can beat an Emrakul with this hand, game 2?" Really!!?? Does he not understand Emrakul is specifically designed so you CAN'T do that!!??
}

So after I "combo killed" him game 2, I saw him emphatically reached for his sideboard and threw 4 cards on the table. I stupidly didn't switch plans, kept a sweet hand, and he plays a turn 0 Leyline of the Void! I have 0 outs to that card in my deck! Never mind he isn't even playing black in his deck in case he happens to draw it turn 4! However, I technically was not dead yet, I just had to play the tightest game of magic ever! I am not at 0 life yet, so I still have time. I cast a Narcomeba from my hand turn 2 which got hit by a Swords to Plowshares. I play another Narcomeba turn 3 and 4 (I happened to draw all of them) and swung into the red zone every turn while he sat there with no resources (he cast Brainstorm turn 1, and Forced my turn 1 Cabal Therapy leaving him with 3 cards in hand). I managed to attack him all the way down to 8 before things that getting awkward. He casts Baneslayer Angel, and I don't have the Force of Will. I do, however have 2 Brainstorms. Brainstorm, brick, crack fetchland, brainstorm, brick. Baneslayer resolves. How do I beat a Baneslayer with a pair of 1/1s!!?? I play a Blasting Station from hand, and start relying on the top of my deck. He swung in with the Angel, and I block and sacrifice my Narcomeba to push him down to 7. . Another turn of block-sac so he doesn't gain life, and I find myself with no creatures in play and he has a Baneslayer in play, and he is at 6 life. The only creature left in my deck is a 1-of Sharuum the Hegemon. Even if I draw and cast it, I still lose because of 1st Strike and Lifelink, so I can't even race it! However I felt he played so bad this entire match that I DESERVED to win! Sure I killed myself in sideboarding wrong, but still I played to my outs while he played like complete crap.

I top deck the Sharuum! Immediatly I slam it down and give him the look of "yeah, try and beat THIS". He untaps, and then chooses to not attack with the Banslayer! I top deck my 4th Narcomeba, and cast the Narcomeba, knowing that I now can eat the Baneslayer attack and swing for lethal. Once again my opponent doesn't attack, but casts a Batterskull, which I reluctantly let resolve. He passes back to me, and I play draw-go. He draws and decides to attack, tapping his Baneslayer and Batterskull. I block the Batterskull with Sharuum, and Baneslayer with Narcomeba, sacrificing it to Blasting Station before damage. He forgets about the Batterskull lifelink and passes turn saying "Sharuum is a 5/5 right?" Of course I confirm, and he goes "F#*@!" and scoops up his cards and reaches out the hand! While I knew he was really at 9 and not 5, he never asked for a confirmation of life totals, so I could not be held accountable for cheating. Afterwards I explained to him that Batterskull has Vigilance and he should have just equipped the Baneslayer and swung for Vigilance Lifelink damage and dominated the game, to which he muttered about how he misplayed that 1 last turn, even after I tried being the nice guy explaining why he sucks at Brainstorming.

I never should have won that last game. I sideboarded completely wrong, and was punished for it. However, I didn't throw away the game, and crawled for every point of damage to the face. At various points I had cast Spell Pierces just to be burn spells, forcing him to crack fetchlands to pay the 2 mana. Every turn he cracked a fetch was one less turn to draw an answer. He had 5 mana anyways, so that Spell Pierce was useless otherwise (he cast Batterskull with 9 mana). The most important thing that I learned from this game is that even if you don't know the plan B on hand, you have to be capable of writing one on the fly. Sure I'm a "graveyard combo deck", but a feature of the deck is that I can actually cast all of the cards I would be combo-ing with. I leaned on every single card in my deck at some point to gain an extra opportunity, including leaning on the fact that sometimes your opponent simply misplays.

That's all I have for today! I will talk more in detail about the four horseman deck next week, when I bring my updates to the field. But regardless if you're playing constructed or limited, sometimes the simplest way to win is to simply not lose! (The only time I ever scoop is when I'm playing online and my opponent plays 15 Armageddon effects, and his only win condition is Solemn Simulacrum..... That's not even worth trying to fight through.... ) Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack