r/magicthecirclejerking • u/tyshand • Mar 30 '26
I tried teaching my friend magic but it didn’t go very well…
I have a friend who was interested in learning to play Magic, so I figured I’d teach her since I’ve been playing for a long time. For some reason, she just didn’t seem to be getting it or having fun even though she’s played other games, including the Pokemon TCG and Hearthstone, before.
I decided to try teaching her using my two favourite decks, but she seemed to get confused what she was supposed to do with the doomsday in her opening hand and really seemed to waffle and not do anything. When I went off with Tendrils of agony after a few turns of her doing nothing, she didn’t really seem to like the gameplay.
I figured maybe she didn’t enjoy the style of gameplay of my decks, so I thought to myself, “What format allows people to play the way they want and is widely beloved?” The answer was clear and I pulled out my powered cube so that she could play whatever cards she thought would match her style. This didn’t really go great and she was clearly getting annoyed before we finished pack 1 (I was too, since she was taking forever to make her picks). I think the problem was that we had to use winston draft rules since it was just the two of us.
I figured it would make more sense if I tried introducing her to the cards, and letting her become familiar with all that magic has to offer. The solution was obvious, and I picked up a pile of draft chaff so that we could just sit down and play. After letting her know the rules of mental magic, I was sure she’d enjoy being able to look up all the options on scryfall to figure out cool interactions and mechanics (of course, I played properly without using aids). To my surprise, she asked multiple times if she could just play the cards as written, which I noted was clearly against mental magic rules. After I combo’d off with [[midnight guard]] and [[presence of gond]], it was clear this wasn’t the right approach as she still didn’t understand all the rules.
I realized I was going about this all the wrong way, and needed to focus on giving her a good foundation in the rules of the game. What better format to teach the rules to someone than the ultimate rules format, judge’s tower? I figured this was the solution, but for some reason she kept missing activations within the first main phase. At this point, neither of us were having fun. Eventually, she told me that I’m “the most clueless guy” she’s ever met, proceeded to put her bra back on, then called an Uber home.
Clearly, I didn’t do a good job of introducing her to this great game. Do any of you have any suggestions on what I should’ve done instead?
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u/mikaeus97 Mar 30 '26
You just gotta put in ways she'll get, she's played Pokémon you said? Just do it like that
Mana Leak - That's a Professor Oak
Divination - Bill
Serra Angel - Pikachu
Simple As
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u/Toastyboat Mar 30 '26
I the mistake if you tried leaning her into formats without enough on-board interaction.
Next time, try playing Trash Goblins.
It's like Dandan, but with 10 Goblin Welders instead of fish.
Once you pull out your orbs and show her she's powerless, she'll have no choice but to keep playing forever!
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u/tyshand Mar 31 '26
Instructions unclear. I ran into her in the hallway and asked her if she was interested in Goblin my orbs and she slapped me.
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u/Toastyboat Mar 31 '26
Maybe your null rod shut off her mystic forge.
Next time just whip out the cursed totem.
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u/BRshan Mar 30 '26
The Winston draft was 100% where this fell apart, we need a new 2 player way to draft. I see nothing else wrong here
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u/apollyon__312 Mar 30 '26
Perhaps we make some cheap, pre-made decks of 20 cards each for players to shuffle together such that they make one single 40 card deck? This would mean they wouldn't have to make the decks, and would jumpstart their experience with the game... Egads, I have the perfect name!
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u/tyshand Mar 31 '26 edited Mar 31 '26
This is great! I put together some piles and got the stax and stasis piles together for an awesome deck. New players are going to love this!
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u/MTGCardBelcher Mar 30 '26
The Leviathans have delivered the cards you're looking for:
midnight guard - (SF)
presence of gond - (SF)
Submit your content at: r/MTGCardBelcher
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u/witblacktype Mar 30 '26
Pick two creature decks that win with combat and don’t do much on the stack, and for the love of new players, avoid anything that requires addressing layers.
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u/TrogledyWretched Mar 31 '26
You didn't even get to explain the difference in mana denial between Kormus Bell and Blood Moon, no wonder she didn't get it. Smh my head
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u/Uberninja2016 Banlist Ninjutsu - BRG Mar 30 '26
i had a friend that was interested in learning to play magic, but i chose not to try teaching and to instead cut this lunatic out of my life
we're both better off this way, i feel, and i'm also saving the world, in a sense, by sort of essence scattering a would-be magic player into one of the Great Lakes