Tips and Tricks - Part 1 (Cephalid Coliseum)

One of the best articles that I have read in 2014 was the following article by Frank Karsten:

http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/frank-analysis-tips-and-tricks-for-modern/

These sort of Tips and Tricks are often told by players at events and lauded by commentators on stream. As my time to play Magic decreases I appreciate having these shortcuts in my back pocket to pull out when I do get the time to play. Some of the Tips and Tricks might be very straightforward but I think that those are also very useful as they will apply to more situations.

For Part 1 I wanted to make the Tip and Trick personal. To set the scene I was playing in my first PTQ back when dredge had become an extended deck around the time of Kamigawa Block. I was playing a totally outdated Pschatog deck because I thought it was cool/fun. I was also playing Gifts Ungiven with a tool box to deal with some of the more popular decks. I wasn't doing that great in the PTQ (shock horror for my first PTQ) though in round one I did force spike an entwined Tooth and Nail, so I was feeling pretty happy on the day.

Mid-way through the PTQ I get paired against a dredge deck and we split the first two games and shuffle up for game 3. We are on turn 4/5 of the game and he has just dredged almost his whole library and put a ton of Zombies into play. He has me more than dead on board when he extends his hand to say good game. I told him to wait and continued to play the game, I knew that at the very least I had a Silent Arbiter in my deck that could stop me losing. I play a cantrip on his end of turn (I believe a mental note), then I untap and draw a Cephalid Coliseum.

I was playing Cephalid Coliseum as an almost free roll to try and "thresh" up my pschatog. Only there is some more text on this little guy.

Card Text:

: Add to your mana pool. Cephalid Coliseum deals 1 damage to you.

Threshold — , , Sacrifice Cephalid Coliseum: Target player draws three cards, then discards three cards. Activate this ability only if seven or more cards are in your graveyard.

I asked my opponent how many cards he has in his library. He responds that he has 3 cards. I played the Cephalid Coliseum and targeted him with it, he of course lost on his draw step.

I think there are a couple of things to take away from this story:

1. Don't give up;
2. Play to your outs (and you may have more outs than you think);
3. Make sure you read what your cards do;
4. Life total is not the only way to win or lose at Magic.  

Cheers,
Simon

All copyrights Wizards of the Coast, Inc.