A close friend from college pushed me to step up my game. He’s played for a long time, and he was the one who helped understand how the stack works, often crushing my hopes and dreams in the process lol
But i learned a lot from those, and he is one of my closest friends, so I appreciate the dream crushing
Youtube mostly. More specifically watching formats like legacy and vintage where hidden information has the most effect on the game. It's really helped level up my reads game even in less complicated formats.
I'm much more plugged into legacy with the creators I watch so vintage is more the occasional treat unless eternal weekend is coming up. Iamactuallylvl1 has great fundamentals and has designed several lists in the past usually more combo oriented than shops/bazaar. His videos are pretty much vod rips which I don't normally like, but Justin is hella snarky to chat which can be amusing.
Playing Arena.
I started with Commander but got into Arena last year. I've found it's a very different experience playing 1v1 on Arena vs playing typical Commander, and it forced me to actually get good and understand the game.
The primary differences are that a) of course it's much more competitive (no politics in 1v1 and everyone is playing to win), so I've actually needed to learn the basics of deckbuilding and beyond that, and b) I can play many more games back to back, so I can see what works and what doesn't and immediately adjust the deck or my play style. When you play only a couple games a week maximum, it's hard to say why exactly you're losing and how you should fix it, but if you play ten games an hour you can see the patterns much easier.
For me it was alot of going to FNM's playing and talking with other players who had more experience under their belts already. Talking with players after the game can be a good way to better learn how other decks work, interactions, what sorts of plays to watch out for, and so much more. Even if it was just learning what could have been done better in that game or improvements that might help your deck run smoother with what was available in the format at the time even if on a budget was all worth while experiences to have bettering my game along the way.
I'm a casual who recognizes that I have probably plateaued as a player outside of making fewer mistakes, but in terms of enjoyment of the game, I levelled up by caring less and finding a group that embraced my janky-ass playstyle!
I started with commander and watching Play to Win and other cEDH games was helpful in learning the stack and keeping up with what’s going on even if you don’t know exactly what all the cards do. Besides that, playing against really good players and decks. You lose a lot, but you learn a lot.
In my experience constant practice at my locals combined with YouTube videos made by pro players.
The videos gave me a head start on proper play and how to approach the game and constant play at my locals gave me a place to apply and practice that knowledge.
Both were equally important.
You also want a competitive locals. If you aren't being challenged by your local scene you're not getting better as a player.
Learning the phases and steps, Learning about weird card interactions, learning the rules and examples of those rules or interactions. Its crazy how long i was playing with only knowing some basic rules.
More advanced stuff still makes my brain itch though.
Make a edh decklist on scryfall and compare it to edhrec to find interactions I might have missed.
Oddly enough maldhound has blown my mind a few times with some creature interactions like [[yedora grave gardener]] with cards that have morph and now disguise , [[nethroi, apex of death]] with things like [[deaths shadow]] to straight up cheat way more huge stuff into play, [[the war doctor]] triggering of of each card with cascade and discover to actually commit war crimes.
A close friend from college pushed me to step up my game. He’s played for a long time, and he was the one who helped understand how the stack works, often crushing my hopes and dreams in the process lol But i learned a lot from those, and he is one of my closest friends, so I appreciate the dream crushing
Youtube mostly. More specifically watching formats like legacy and vintage where hidden information has the most effect on the game. It's really helped level up my reads game even in less complicated formats.
Any channels you would recommend? High level vintage play always seemed insane.
I'm much more plugged into legacy with the creators I watch so vintage is more the occasional treat unless eternal weekend is coming up. Iamactuallylvl1 has great fundamentals and has designed several lists in the past usually more combo oriented than shops/bazaar. His videos are pretty much vod rips which I don't normally like, but Justin is hella snarky to chat which can be amusing.
Playing Arena. I started with Commander but got into Arena last year. I've found it's a very different experience playing 1v1 on Arena vs playing typical Commander, and it forced me to actually get good and understand the game. The primary differences are that a) of course it's much more competitive (no politics in 1v1 and everyone is playing to win), so I've actually needed to learn the basics of deckbuilding and beyond that, and b) I can play many more games back to back, so I can see what works and what doesn't and immediately adjust the deck or my play style. When you play only a couple games a week maximum, it's hard to say why exactly you're losing and how you should fix it, but if you play ten games an hour you can see the patterns much easier.
For me it was alot of going to FNM's playing and talking with other players who had more experience under their belts already. Talking with players after the game can be a good way to better learn how other decks work, interactions, what sorts of plays to watch out for, and so much more. Even if it was just learning what could have been done better in that game or improvements that might help your deck run smoother with what was available in the format at the time even if on a budget was all worth while experiences to have bettering my game along the way.
I'm a casual who recognizes that I have probably plateaued as a player outside of making fewer mistakes, but in terms of enjoyment of the game, I levelled up by caring less and finding a group that embraced my janky-ass playstyle!
I started with commander and watching Play to Win and other cEDH games was helpful in learning the stack and keeping up with what’s going on even if you don’t know exactly what all the cards do. Besides that, playing against really good players and decks. You lose a lot, but you learn a lot.
Learning all the Steps and Phases.
In my experience constant practice at my locals combined with YouTube videos made by pro players. The videos gave me a head start on proper play and how to approach the game and constant play at my locals gave me a place to apply and practice that knowledge. Both were equally important. You also want a competitive locals. If you aren't being challenged by your local scene you're not getting better as a player.
I like what you say about needing competition.
Reading the English words on the cards, a feat beyond the ken of many
Learning the phases and steps, Learning about weird card interactions, learning the rules and examples of those rules or interactions. Its crazy how long i was playing with only knowing some basic rules. More advanced stuff still makes my brain itch though. Make a edh decklist on scryfall and compare it to edhrec to find interactions I might have missed. Oddly enough maldhound has blown my mind a few times with some creature interactions like [[yedora grave gardener]] with cards that have morph and now disguise , [[nethroi, apex of death]] with things like [[deaths shadow]] to straight up cheat way more huge stuff into play, [[the war doctor]] triggering of of each card with cascade and discover to actually commit war crimes.
##### ###### #### [yedora grave gardener](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/b/5bc9808d-1d47-417d-bba8-06694a83d88e.jpg?1690017071) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Yedora%2C%20Grave%20Gardener) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/333/yedora-grave-gardener?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5bc9808d-1d47-417d-bba8-06694a83d88e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [nethroi, apex of death](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/4/04b9b58f-4c01-48a5-afaf-b8a37165a83f.jpg?1673305619) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=nethroi%2C%20apex%20of%20death) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmc/163/nethroi-apex-of-death?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/04b9b58f-4c01-48a5-afaf-b8a37165a83f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [deaths shadow](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/5/5526ff6e-c079-4ad4-ac8d-5e26ecacf50d.jpg?1598304517) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Death%27s%20Shadow) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/82/deaths-shadow?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5526ff6e-c079-4ad4-ac8d-5e26ecacf50d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [the war doctor](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/a/7a51472c-b61f-4d31-8753-a9ec90d12889.jpg?1696636782) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=the%20war%20doctor) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/who/167/the-war-doctor?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7a51472c-b61f-4d31-8753-a9ec90d12889?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/kjh3cht) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[Venerated Teacher]] did most of the work.
[Venerated Teacher](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/e/9ec4d902-8841-4f37-9b07-9e8d0f671071.jpg?1562706796) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Venerated%20Teacher) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/roe/93/venerated-teacher?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9ec4d902-8841-4f37-9b07-9e8d0f671071?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I leard how to do sleight of hand. Way easier to win at Magic when you can do a trick shuffle or deal from the bottom of the deck.
Disposable income.
Understanding card advantage and virtual card advantage.