At some point in the life of many spell slingers, there comes a realization that building decks that are flashy and fun to play is not always the same as building decks that are good. For some this spawns a desire to advance to an intermediate skill level of deck construction. Whether acquired intuitively through experience or by a deliberate effort to study the game, or often a little of both, this advance is characterized by an understanding of some of the foundational theoretical concepts of Magic: the Gathering.

In this series we follow such a player as his eyes are opened to the world of Magic theory and it's application to constructed decks built for a “competitive casual” environment. In the previous installments we looked at resources and lineup theory. In this episode these concepts are pulled together into a discussion of card advantage, one of the most essential theoretical concepts for budding deck builders and players alike.

Cue theme song.

The Saturday morning rain couldn’t stop Dave from getting to the Magic shop. After last week’s lesson he barely missed the booster pack that he’d given to Sam in exchange for sharing his knowledge. Whenever Dave had some free time during the intervening week he looked at the cards that he already owned in a different light. He began to think of them in terms of threats and answers and built a couple of decks which he took with him for his next visit with his mentor.

When he arrived, Dave was a bit surprised to find that there were already a couple of people milling about the place. Sam greeted him and after the initial pleasantries they were both eager to get down to business. “We have a lot to cover today,” began Sam. “In the first two lessons we established some fundamental principles related to Constructed Magic,” recalled Sam. “Initially we took a look at resources and how they develop over time as a benchmark for further discussion of resource advantage. We then went on to discuss lineup theory and its implications for deck strategy.” Dave nodded his agreement and Sam continued. “Now we begin to build on these principles as we establish more intermediate concepts. The first of these is perhaps the most discussed and debated historically and thereby one of the most well-known: card advantage.”

“That’s when one player has more cards than the other, right?” asked Dave.

“Sort of,” replied Sam, “but let’s take a closer look at what it means. In our discussion of lineup theory we established that a deck has lineup advantage if it has the better unanswered threats once the threats and answers of each deck are lined up. The theory provides some meaningful information about the in-game tactics that two players should adopt and it also provides some clues about how card advantage can be established. However, the flaw with this theory was that players do not play a game with all of the cards from their deck in hand. Rather, a game is begun with a random sampling of cards from the deck and each turn an additional card is added to the random sample. With these cards, each player must try to create some sort of advantage over the opponent using the threats and answers drawn. Essentially, what we have is a microcosm of lineup theory.

“Based on lineup theory, card advantage is an effort to generate one of the following:

• more threats than your opponent has threats;
• more threats than your opponent has answers; or
• more answers than your opponent has threats or answers (so that you can eventually introduce your own threats without fear of answers or opposing threats).

“In a given game of Magic, then, the player that has access to the most cards that can affect the outcome of the game at a given time has an advantage over the other players. If you consider lineup theory, the player with more playable cards and unanswered cards in play has access to more threats, answers, or both and therefore has an advantage. “

“It’s a type of resource advantage, right?” asked Dave.

“That’s right,” confirmed Sam. “Card advantage theory makes no judgment about the quality of each of those cards but simply states that with access to more cards a player has an advantage over his or her opponents. It is worth noting, however, that card advantage has been proven over time to be one of the most effective kinds of resource advantage that you can have; card advantage wins games.”

Active Resources

“In analyzing the definition of card advantage it is important to understand what is meant by ‘cards that can affect the outcome of the game at a given time’, as this is not always as simple as it may first seem and can be a source of confusion. Simply put, a card that can affect the outcome of the game is one that is in play, or in a zone from which it can be played and for which its controller has enough resources available to play it or activate its abilities. These are known as active resources. The following are some examples of active resources:

• A land card in play;
• A land card in hand when you may play a land during the current turn;
• A creature card that is in play and can attack an opponent each turn for damage;
• A permanent (artifact, creature, enchantment, land or planeswalker) in play that has some continuous effect on the game state;
• A card in hand for which the player controls enough mana or other resources (life points, creatures to sacrifice, etc.) to pay the casting cost and play the card;
• A permanent in play with an activated ability and whose controller controls enough resources to pay such activation costs;
• A card in a graveyard with the flashback ability;
• A card in hand with an activated ability such as cycling, channel, evoke, etc.;
• A creature token that is in play and can attack an opponent each turn;
• A permanent in play with a triggered ability;
• Etc.

“This is by no means an exhaustive list. Rather, it is intended simply to illustrate that active resources do not have to be in play already, be in your hand, or even be actual cards. They simply must be able to affect the game state at a particular moment in time.”

“But a creature token isn’t really a card, is it?” queried Dave.

“Well, I find that the easiest way to think about it is that a creature token counts as a card for the purposes of card advantage. Don’t read too much into this – it affects the game state and therefore it counts. If you use a token card to represent the token then you get a visual representation of what is happening. A token may not go to the graveyard when it is destroyed, but unless your deck is specifically trying to use graveyard recursion or other mechanics then this should have no other effect on card advantage; a 1/1 Goblin token is the same as a Mon’s Goblin Raiders card unless you are recurring that card. When you put a token into play, you have gained a card on your opponent.”

“What if my opponent uses Boomerang on my token?” asked Dave.

“In the case of tokens, bounce effects will act as effective answers to the token ‘card,’” answered Sam. “But the token has still drawn a card from your opponent in answer which means that he has had to spend one of his valuable resources. Some people will tell you that a token does not count or that it does not count as a full card but this is irrelevant. Keep in mind that card advantage is only one factor to consider and that it says nothing about the quality of the card in a particular match-up.”

Dave nodded in acknowledgment.

Sam continued. “It’s also important to note that some cards could affect the game state but due to the actual state of the current game or the zone in which they are located, they can have no effect at a particular moment in time. These are known as inactive resources. The following are some examples of inactive resources:

• Cards in a library;
• Creatures in play that cannot attack and have no other abilities that will affect the outcome of the game;
• Permanents in play that have activated abilities for which an opponent has provided a continuous answer;
• A land card in hand during an opponent’s turn or during your own turn when you have already played a land;
• Cards in a graveyard that cannot be reused (a.k.a. spent cards);
• Cards in hand that cannot be played due to a lack of resources, such as mana;
• Cards that have been removed from the game;
• Etc.

“But last time you said that the cards in my deck will affect how I play in a particular game,” said Dave, slightly confused.

“Inevitability implied that the cards in each player’s library have an effect on the game,” explained Sam. “When two decks lineup outside of the context of an actual game, all of the cards in each deck will contribute to the assignment of threats and answers and a judgment can be made about which deck has lineup advantage. In-game, however, only active resources can have an effect on the game state. Cards in your library may very well affect the manner in which you play the game, causing you to play more aggressively if you do not have an answer to one or more threats that your opponent can present or less aggressively if you are hoping that you will eventually draw into one or more cards that will win the game for you. However, a card does not actually affect the outcome of the game until it becomes active. If you can’t play a card, then it can’t help you.”

“So, card advantage is really active resource advantage” concluded Dave.

“That’s right,” agreed Sam. “Now, let’s take a look at some ways in which card advantage can be achieved. Most good decks will take advantage of one or more of these techniques in order to gain the upper hand. Card advantage theory generally identifies four categories:

• Net Card Draw;
• Mass Disruption;
• Virtual Card Advantage (VCA); and
• Effective Card Advantage (ECA).

“The first two, taken together, are often referred to as Pure Card Advantage, or PCA, and can be contrasted with VCA and ECA in terms of how they function.”

Sam was distracted for a few minutes while he dealt with some customers and more seemed to be coming in all the time on this unusually busy morning. “It looks like we’ll only have time to cover some of these today,” said Sam when he had a moment. “We’ll pick up the rest next time.”

Net Card Draw

“The first and most obvious way to gain card advantage is to draw more cards than your opponents. As we found out in our first lesson, game rules limit each player to drawing one card per turn. But there are many cards that break this rule by allowing you to draw more cards. Over time, the more cards you have to use as threats and answers the more resources you have to affect the outcome of the game. However, if you do not gain any advantage from them then the effort has been wasted. For example, if you have to discard cards at the end of your turn then you lose the advantage that you gained as discarding a card without gaining any resource advantage from it (i.e. playing it) is effectively providing an answer for that card on behalf of your opponent.

“It is also important to note that in order to actually gain card advantage from card draw you must net more cards than you spent and you must also net more cards than your opponent. Playing a card that draws cards as its effect still includes itself as part of the resource cost of playing the spell.”

In order to illustrate the point, Sam opened a card binder that one of the customers had been perusing and started flipping through it. He asked Dave to point out some cards that result in card advantage through net card draw. Dave selected a few and Sam analyzed each one. “Take a look at these two,” said Sam, pointing to Brainstorm and Telling Time. “These cards do not actually result in card advantage.”

“Why not?” asked Dave, looking confused.

“This is because, from a pure card number perspective, these cards do nothing except replace themselves,” explained Sam. “Spending a card to get a card is a net gain of zero. In the case of Brainstorm you spend one card, draw three cards and then finally put two cards back on top of your library. The net change in the number of cards in your hand is zero. What these cards do provide is better card quality by allowing you to choose – from a limited sample – the cards that you wish to replace them. On the other hand, cards like Counsel of the Soratami and Concentrate replace themselves with more than one card, netting you additional cards in the process. Cards like Whispers of the Muse cast with buyback – or even Think Twice cast from hand and then again from the graveyard via flashback – replace themselves with more than one card and therefore provide actual card advantage.”

Then Dave pointed to Howling Mine. “Check out this card!” he exclaimed. “I pay only two mana and one card and I get an extra card every turn!”

“Correction,” replied Sam, “we each get a card every turn. What’s more, the first person to draw the extra card after you play Howling Mine is me! Since it cost you one card – the Howling Mine itself – and I get the first benefit, I’m already two cards ahead of you by the time you get to draw your first extra card. Even when you draw your extra card from Howling Mine I’ll still be one card ahead, so I get the card advantage!”

Dave, looking perplexed, asked why such a card would ever be printed.

“Every card has a purpose,” replied Sam, thinking fondly of his old Stasis deck. “You just need to match the card to the purpose. Howling Mine is not about card advantage, it is about card draw, and the two are not the same.”

Investment

“I have another question,” added Dave. “You said that when I play Howling Mine it costs me one card. But the card doesn’t go to the graveyard, it goes into play. Why does that cost me a card?”

Sam explained that there are essentially three states for cards; drawn or otherwise gained, invested, and spent. “Once a card becomes active, it means that you can play it. If it’s an instant or sorcery, then once it is played it becomes spent since it can no longer affect the outcome of the game unless it has some graveyard ability like flashback. On the other hand, permanent cards like lands, creatures, artifacts and enchantments enter play and may still affect the outcome of the game at some point in time. The key question is really when?

“In order to put a permanent into play you must pay the cost to do so. In the case of non-land permanents this will usually be the mana cost and the card itself. In the case of a land card its cost is really the resource granted by the game allowing you to play one land per turn – once you’ve played a land you cannot play another during the same turn. This is known as investment as you are investing those resources in a permanent. If you can use that permanent right away, then you have spent the card and gained an active resource. The net gain is zero. On the other hand, if you are not able to use the resource until some time in the future, then it has cost you a card now but is inactive by definition. You don’t recoup that card until it becomes an active resource.”

“Can you give some examples?” asked Dave.

“Sure,” said Sam. “Consider most land and creature cards. When you play them, they are immediately active since you can tap the land for mana the same turn that you played it and while most creatures can’t attack until the next turn, they can at least block. An exception to the land example might be Coastal Tower, which comes into play tapped meaning that you can’t use it until you can untap it. Goblin Raider can’t block, so it can’t be used until your next turn. Look at Serrated Arrows,” continued Sam, placing the card on the table. “Once you’ve played it, you can use it immediately. In contrast, take a look at Jayemdae Tome. If you play this card before you have access to eight mana, then you won’t be able to take advantage of it until you can untap your mana sources and pay the activation cost. It costs you one card to play it, then the first time you use it you recoup that card. You don’t actually get any advantage from it until the second time you activate its ability. That will likely be two turns down the road which makes it a longer-term investment.”

“I see,” said Dave. “When I play the Howling Mine, I spend the card but don’t get any advantage from it until my next turn so it is a delayed investment.”

“You got it,” agreed Sam.

Conclusion

There were more customers now and with all of the interruptions Dave’s time was up. He pulled out his money and put it on the counter while Sam selected a booster pack from the shelf. “Your payment, sir,” said Dave, grinning.

“Thank you,” said Sam with a slight bow. “What we’ve learned here is that card advantage is really the in-game, concrete version of lineup theory and that it’s about having more active resources than your opponent. It is therefore comparative by nature and can be gained in a number of ways. We’ve talked about one way, which is to simply break the rules of the game by drawing more cards than the game normally allows. If you manage to draw more cards than your opponent can draw, then this will allow you to bring more resources to bear on the outcome of the game.

“Next time we’ll take a look at the other ways in which card advantage can be established and we’ll also take a brief look at card quality.”

Until then,
Amadeus

Brad Lohnes, masquerading in the MDV forums as Amadeus, is a casual player from the early days of Magic. After a ten-year hiatus from the game he stumbled upon it once again. This has sparked a passion to fathom the depths of this complicated pass-time while continuing to enjoy it at its most basic level. Originally from Canada and having lived in New York City for several years, Brad now lives in New Zealand with his wife, dog and cat. He is a software engineer and enjoys traveling, hiking, and writing.

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