I sleeve my tokens in different color sleeves from my deck. Prevents accidental shuffling into my library and can serve as a helpful divide between my library and sideboard in my deck box.

I've trained myself to say "Untap, Upkeep, Draw" for every turn, it's useful for when opponents want to cast spells during my upkeep.

Man, as someone who only started watching The Professor's videos a year or so ago, going through the backlog is entertaining not just for the content but for how different he looks and sounds.

The upkeep tip blew my mind. I forget upkeep effects constantly.

MTG Life Hack: Meet someone new to the game? Give them some cards to help them get started.

When a creature comes into play, it has summoning sickness. Place the card upside down, bottom facing your opponent, not towards you. First, you won't be confused whether you can use it. Second, your opponent can read the card, if he is unfamiliar with it.

Tip: Never let your opponent overwhelm you with their deck. Just try to focus on what you need to do to win, not their 23 1/1 flying deathtouch Hornets...

The die on library hack is 100% must. I am suggesting the upkeep counter to help with the new scrye rule also. Move to attack is also just a competitive must do. Great video as always!

Never get confused about land drops again by playing them upside down when they first enter the battlefield!! Filp them right side up when it's your next upkeep!!

I usually say combat phase for going to attack especially if I see islands.

Please don't take this the wrong way. When I first started watching you me videos, your style of speech was somewhat annoying to me. But now I can't tell you how much I appreciate your clarity. It's so refreshing. Keep up the great work!

A way to prevent playing more than one land per turn is to play the land-for-turn where the creatures usually go, move it down with the other lands on your untap step. Or play it next to your library, or with the top of the card facing you. The point is, put the land-for-turn somewhere different on the turn it is played.

When you're attending a sealed deck event, have a pack of already sleeved basic lands - 10 of each - it will save your time for deck construction..

NEVER USE ELASTIC BANDS INSTEAD OF DECK BOXES. it's such a hassle to get the band off and it even ruins sleeved cards after time

It's 2020, Ugin is rampaging through standard, we're not quite sure when we get to go out again, and I just want to sit down with my buddies for some Friday Night Magic. All in all, these are still 10/10 tips and I love that this of all things popped up on my feed.

I see players who bundle all their lands together into a single pile or cluster. I like to separate my lands out by color, having vertical rows for each type. That way it's easy to simply look down and reference how many of each you have for planning combos ahead. Plus it looks nicer

It takes a little getting use too but when your opponent has seen your hand leave the cards upside down in your hand. That way you know what they have seen. It is legal to write down their cards just watch any tournament broadcast.

my tip is to play your new deck out by yourself just to make sure you have enough lands etc.

As a continuation on the upkeep effect hack, you could keep a bead of the same color as the one on top of your deck so you can quickly recognize which cards have an upkeep effect.

"OH GOOD! An island." I lost it.

"Use bath beads as counters" starts to break down when I buff my 4/4 creature to 34/34 until the end of turn.

If your game have an effect that makes either player reveal his/her hand write down the cards that are revealed (including lands), and when one of the cards is played from the list cross it out, this is so you still have the same information as you opponents.

Tip: Get into the habit of always attacking BEFORE casting things in the main phase. Yes, sometimes it is relevant, such as sorcery removal or haste creatures, but otherwise there is usually no benefit to casting them before combat, and leaving the mana up means your opponent has to keep guessing whether you may be ready to use a combat trick. A lot of players actually forget there IS a main phase. Another tip is to always bring the apropriate tokens. Often it can be a problem for both players when multiple tokens are in play that can not be indentified at a glance, and it will help avoid having to ask what the board state is, especially when having to figure out if that face-down creature is a morph or a manifest

This is a fairly simple one, but I've found the best way to both avoid arguments and avoid missing triggers in MTG is to just say each phase aloud as you go through it. Some people might find this irritating; I however appreciate when someone does this, as it gives me ample time to respond to phase changes and makes me feel less in the dark about my opponent's turn. Doing this is especially nice for upkeep triggers, because if you go through the motions of saying "Untap, upkeep, draw" every turn, it is harder to forget them.

If you happen to have a Crown Royal bag laying around, those make good dice bags. I was given one to me by my grandfather.

Use deodorant

I like to keep 3 colors of bath beads; they represent 1, 5 and -1 for any counters I might need. So even a creature with 25 +1/+1 still only had minimal amounts of counters on it.

I hacked my mountains, now they produce 3 mana.

About last week one of my sleeves on my commander deck split and i didn't normally bring extra sleeves with me but after i watched this video I started keeping extras. Well I'll be damned if I wasn't in a similar situation prof explained. It was a long night of commander and the store i was at didn't have the sleeves I was using.

When watching Tolerian Community College videos, it can be a good idea to speed up the videos to 1.25 or even 1.5 speed if your English skills can accommodate it. At 1.5 speed, the speech is slightly fast (like normal conversation speed with an excitable friend) and due to near perfect articulation very easily understood.

MTG tips I've learned quite recently: 1. Don't leave unsleeved cards in a hot car, they will get ruined. 2. Even if your cards are in a box, AND in your backpack, try to avoid going anywhere in the rain. Somehow it always finds your cards. 3. (This one is a bit cheap and kind of not super nice) While drafting, if your local game store has an excess of lands to be used in drafts, usually they wont stop you from keeping the lands you use for the draft deck. This is a good way to get some lands if you're newer. 4. When drafting, it's usually safer to not listen to other people if they give you tips to "improve your draft deck". There are a lot of people out there who will actively give you bad advice so they have a better chance at winning more games. There are also people who sometimes will steal cards from you while modifying your deck. These people are rare, but they still exist.

Can I just say, I remember watching your videos since before this one, and Im really glad that your channel has grown like it has. So deserving.

Sleeve your commander in a different color sleeve from that of your deck. This makes sure you will never have to waste time searching your deck for your commander, and makes him stand out. Many card stores send cards in colored sleeves, which can allow you to have unusual colors at the ready for that one centerpiece of your deck. Sleeve tokens in old sleeves that you no longer use for your decks. This protects them without needing additional investment, makes them look better, and since you don't shuffle tokens, those sleeves will last basically forever. I still keep my tokens in red ultra pros from the early 2000s! (which have faded a bit, so now have a very unique semi-transparent look) As much as possible, bring the tokens your commander deck uses before the game, and store them with the corresponding deck. This cuts down on time lost looking for the right token, makes the boardstate clearer, and allows you to customize decks with themed tokens!

Sometimes players get confused as to which creatures attacked last turn (especially when Vigilance creatures are attacking). So, as a courtesy to my opponents, I always place attacking creatures either to one side of my board OR I push them up just a little bit further than the rest of my non-land permanents (sort of forming a third row of permanents on my end of the board).

Man DRAFT chaff will be hilarious at my local game store when the full art Battle For Zendikar Lands Are Released

Stack similar lands on top of each other (but not so it covers the bottom ones) to save space on the table. Carry a pen and paper set with you to write down life totals and notes, especially if you get to see their hand. It's much better than dice and judges can easily track the life totals if there's a disagreement between players. If you aren't playing anything until second main phase, announce you're going to second main phase, as it makes a difference with cards like Infectious bloodlust.

I like to take a draft kit with me with 50 or so sleeves and 18 of each basic land. Usually good enough to save on time during the draft :)

I just wanted to tell you thank you for helping me learn everything I needed to know to start playing MTG a year ago :)

Wait ... I CAN TAKE PENNIES FROM THE JAR AT STORES

My opponents usually complain that they don't know what a card does, so if I know the cards well enough, I play with the card flipped, so that the opponent is able to read it. It helps speed the game along.

to stat remembering upkeep, I stated playing Oloro in Commander. Not only is he my new favorite Commander next to Marath, his ability forces me to remember my upkeep before I do anything at at all

For the Rebound mechanic, I put the card that will be rebounded next turn on top of my library face up :D

Every time you talk, it makes me feel like sneezing, but your calm demeanor and thorough clear analysis on everything in life makes it all better..

Draft chaft is an awesome concept. My store does it and it is amazing for just picking up single card of some common or uncommon needed for standard or some casual deck with friends. Its a great system.

I know this video is pretty old but this is something I’ve found helpful in my experience. Before going to any limited event you should sleeve up 10 of each color basic lands. That way you have a little extra time to deck build instead of spending time sleeping cards. It may seem minute but it helps immensely

My tip is: if you're casting a bunch of spells for a combo or something, don't just rapid fire cast those spells. Ask your opponent if it resolves or if he/she has any responses.

Here's a tip: When you want to represent +1/+1 counters on a creature, put a dice on the top of the card, on the picture. When you want to represent -1/-1 counters on a creature, put a dice on the bottom of the card, on the text box. It can seems useless while there is only one kind of these counters, but taking the habit makes it more clean when you encounter situations when both are presents.

Play with the cards in your deck facing you. This way you draw them directly into your hand and not from the side. This also prevents accidentally giving your opponent a peek at your cards.

Something I like to do with my printed sleeves is to double sleeve them in clear Penny Sleeves. They are sized just right to cover the printed sleeve, makes it easier to shuffle them, and you save your printed sleeves from damage. They also come in packs of 100 so you always have an extra 25 if one of them gets damaged. This has allowed me to use a pack of my Ashiok printed sleeves for the past year and they still look fresh to this day, without any blemishes, scratches, or the back printing peeling off in any way.A set of Kiora printed sleeves I own are in the same condition and all it costs to have them stay like that is 1 dollar. Very well placed investment if you're one of the players who loves to keep their sleeves clean and in good condition.

Draft chaff can also be useful in a Standard Pauper deck. Frankly, I'd love paper pauper support. It'll help get people into the game., as it has a low cost of entry (if you're spending $100, you'd better be pimping that deck).

I must say, using counter on the deck to not forget upkeep always help me, and I always announce "battle" wait a lil "attacks?" to make sure I can declare attackers and I also always announce "go to damage? " to confirm there's no trick they want to use before damage. It's helpful for both players :)

Bring a binder with you, filled only with cards to are comfortable trading, to any event you attend at your local game store. Try and sort it by color and type. Also bring a pad of paper and pen. This can be helpful for keeping track of life totals during game play, but can be useful in lots of other situations as well. I also recommend the MTG: Familliar App

Life hack on how to shuffle a cube would be awesome :D

You know, during the intro the first thing that came to my mind was "why didn't he ticked up the vial?" I'm proud of myself.

I personally am new to the MtG scene, but I know with our group, you need to specify if you want to cut decks. A way we've remembered is to roll, then ask as you roll "Cut or Uncut" it becomes habit after you do so multiple times, making it easier.

Use the boxes that come in pack bundles to store multiple decks! I use them to carry at the most 3 sleeved commander decks at once! (Depends on sleeves, I use eclipse)

Try arranging your graveyard in a vertical stack along the left side of your play area, spread out enough so you can read the names - makes it a lot easier to keep track of what's available from it

"There's a lot with Magic: the Gathering that doesn't have to do with skilful gameplay." Abzan.

For counters have a few distinctly different colors to represent different types of counters ie red for -1-1 and green for +1+1, it helps to eliminate confusion as to what has pulses or minuses ect. Oh another great thing if you play a lot of limited is to pre-sleave about 15 of each basic lands, it will give you more time to build your deck.

One idea I use that nobody seems to consider is to always carry a mini Post-It notepad and a pen. Slap the post-its on card sleeves, tokens, or wherever to keep track of game state, like whether a permanent can't untap during your next untap step, what creature your clone is copying, or other special effects. And hey, carry some ad cards (the kind you pull from packs) and together with the post-its, you can have a token for every occasion.

One mtg hack: watch tolarian community college videos

Wow. Baron Sengir saw the light of day! Homelands was a hell of a set.

Your videos have got me into magic and the thumbnails clearly states the topic of the video (plus your modern merfolkwas my first modern deck, a deck i was skeptical about at first, but have grown to love as a solid teir 2 modern choice)your videos have helped me navigate the seas of accessories,deck boxes and sleeves, so can I say from the bottom of my heart, you are tolarian community college's equivalent of pulling a alpha black lotus:A blessing.

I don't usually have trouble remember upkeep triggers, it's usually remembering combat triggers which is why I always say my steps outloud now. MTGO has helped a lot with remembering steps and informing my opponent. I feel much more confident in my play now that I sort of verbally and mentally go through it. A good thing I find is always looking at your opponent and keeping your board as consistent as possible, the cleaner and easier it is to understand at a glance the easier it is for both players. Follow your opponent steps as well! Remember at any point where your opponent interacts with the stack or moves to attacks you have priority, and you can always speak up to inform them if they've skipped ahead. It's a lot easier to go back a second then to get half a turn confused.

MTG hack: When you get a fat back box, pull out the cardboard piece in the top and rip off the ends. Then use glue to stick the cardboard piece to your lid. Now your cards at the end won't get their tops dented, and you won't waste hours putting that cardboard piece back in the top of the box.

Life hack that can make the board state much clearer: Seperate cards by permanent type - do an area for creatures, for enchantments, etc. This way you can save a headache for everyone. Also, sort your lands by the colors they produce, in piles.

Here's a tip: When you play your land (or your lands, in certain situations) for turn, or when you cast/create/return to the battlefield a creature that have summoning sickness, don't hesitate to put it completely on the right, or the left, of your battlefield, separetely from the others. It will help you remembering either you played your land for turn or you can't attack yet whith the creatures or use their abilities that requires them to tap, and so to your opponents, leading to a clearer comprehension of the battlefield. When it comes back to your turn after, you can put it with the others, to mark that you're free to attack or play more lands!

This came up on my recommendations in 2021. Was expecting the (current) Prof's slightly sarcastic lilt. Ended up getting a genuinely good set of advice that I already share with newer folk at my LGS. Was surprised.

There is a box of free cards at my local RU Game. I always put cards I don't want in there and I take some cards I need from there as well.

Wow, that counter idea is brilliant...I'm so doing that. Thank you!

A personal lifehack I have is when going to a draft or sealed event if you prefer to play sleeved, sleeve up about 10 of each basic with your "draft" sleeves that way you can more easily sleeve your deck for the actual event. They are basic lands and one of the only outside the Limited pool cards legal.

Just a small thing our group does, but if a creature gets tapped and does not untap during the next untap phase, we "tap it twice", making it face down towards us (like 6 o'clock rather than 3 o'clock). Next upkeep, "untap" it into the tapped position, then next upkeep after that, untap it fully.

The problem with carrying around extra sleeves is that the new sleeves, most likely, haven't seen any sort of damage. If you have played with dragonshield sleeves you have noticed that the sleeves scuff up over time. If you throw in a random new sleeves, then it becomes real obvious what card you are about to draw.

I use Legos as counters

I always have two Duel Decks in my backpack for either teaching new players if they're curious or a good way to sneak a match in with someone who didn't bring a deck or has something that will totally blow yours out of the water but you both still want to play a fun match. Speed vs. Cunning, at the moment.

A habit I had picked up when I started playing was to say the different phases out loud so I could remember the order of operations properly. Even though I don't say all of them now I usually go through "Untap, upkeep, draw," and the common statement for combat where I play is "going to combat" or "entering combat". The other and most important announcement where I play outside of the entering combat is "second main phase" since a lot of people seem to assume that because I finished attacking I end my turn.

Wow... that's a great shop your at Professor!

Wow. This is the first video I have seen on this channel. You have a new subscriber.

I use metal washers for counters. they are a little bit more expensive, but are more compact, and I have glued paper to both sides, and added text so they have a specific value on the field.

Here's a tip: When you tutor for something, reveal it and put it on top of your library, or when a face up permanent you own (so not a morph or manifested card) is put back on top of your library, don't hesitate to put it on top face up, so everyone can see it. It will help everyone (including you, because believe me, you look very dumb when you realize you don't remember what you did) remembering it, and it will be more easy to prepare to you drawing it (in theory, we can know what the card is, but it can be hard to keep everything in mind in some situations, so it will be kind to help!)

Hello, this is the first video i have seen on your channel. Thanks for this informing video. I love that style. I am a new subcriber of your channel.

big thing I have seen over the years is people playing a PW and then only putting counters on them for the +1 in a multiplayer game. for instance Ajani, Caller of the Pride and only 4 counters on it but the guy did the Ult. We all at the table went crazy thinking he was doing it early until we realized it was out for 4 turns. This caused all other players to ignore it thinking the Ultimate was far off and the guy won with his army if 40 cats. This is one example I have witnessed. Please mention this in your next video. Loyalty counters need to be placed on resolution of cast then added or removed afterwards to show accurate representation of the PW total loyalty not accumulated loyalty after initial.

Always remember to bring a bottle of water to a tournament and maybe some sunglasses or other way to cover your eyes from light. Sometimes a tournament location doesn't have a lot of concessions to last a larger than usual tournament or their AC system dies off, or you're playing close to time too often to buy a snack/water, having water in these cases can save you potentially some wins later in the tournament when fatigue can be a factor. The sunglasses also help with this by wearing them between rounds to keep your eyes from fatiguing.

Here's a tip: Especially when the stack become complicated, but pretty much anytime, don't hesitate to be clear with the stack and the priority. It can seem annoying and useless, but a great amount of mistakes are made in these situations. Clearly declare anything that goes up on the stack (with, eventually, something to mark it, like a token), and ask your playgroup in the turn order (the majority of the time clockwise) if they have something to say. At the beginning it may seem useless and exhausting, but the habit is quickly taken, and it save from mistakes, conflicts with opponents, and save time in complicated situations (if you do everything clean, you don't have to restart an action because it went too fast).

i really enjoyed this video Professor. Keep up the good work!

Thanks Steve Zahn mixed with Heath Ledger.

When Playing, be audible, it reminds you of each action you have to take during each phase of your turn, as well as letting other players know what you are doing, and I am glad I am not the only one that carries extra sleeves.

Great idea on using a counter/bath bead on top of your library as a reminder of an upkeep effect!

when playing high tide have two or more calculators handy.

Play creature upside down to indicate that they are summoning sick.

My very first standard deck prominently featured the Rebound mechanic. Needless to say, I learned that upkeep trick very quickly.

Damn I had no idea you going at it for 8+ years prof! I’m very happy for you and your success! Thank you!

Number 6: Always use siege rhino, even when rotating out

Life hack: Instead of lame bath beeds use breath mints. After you remove a counter offer it to your fellow players. Instant friendship. Also as a side bonus everyone gets to have nice breath.

Hello Professor, I've watched your videos for quite some time now I made your mardu budget deck which I loved an added a lot more too, but I"ve watched all your product reviews multiple times now because you sound so professional which you are and I'm making my switch from standard to EDH I plan on making a sliver edh deck and a Merfolk tribal deck. I just can't thank you enough for posting youtube videos!

4:21 'FILTHY CASUALS'

i can't thing of any time i'd rather use glass counters instead of dice

Why do you need Counters when you can just use Dice? So much easier... I always carry a bunch of D6s in my Deckbox for Events. (Dice is easy, because counting Counters is hard...

I keep my mini-dice, d20s, and bathbead-type tokens/counters in a cheap, clear plastic fishing lure box with separators that are moveable...it's single level, so if you turn it upside down or sideways, the tokens don't mix much together. You can find in any Walmart dirt cheap. It's great for keeping the different colored tokens separated, in case you want to use them (instead of token cards) for your token creatures, and with a good variety, you can differentiate squirrels from pests from saprolings.

always call your opp for atention when you are about to draw or manipulate your deck, so he actually sees you everytime you do that. I tap on the top of my deck and look at my (often distracted) opponent: "draw for the turn/spell" and wait for his ok. sometimes I dont shuffle or cut my opponents decks to save some time. It also helps to set up a more friendlier environment. Before the start of the round I pile shuffle to count my cards in front of my opponent, while paying attention to his pile shuffle. It prevents more pile shuffling/counting to save even more time. New land into play? put it separatedly on the side of your other lads. Announce it: "land drop" and put it there. Its quick and simple and no one will ever be confused again. I do the same with creatures. Opponent is tapped out and you cracked a fetchland? Announce your play sequence to save time: "I will fetch a swamp and cast a Scathe Zombies and pass". Some opponents will untap and start their turn, saving time. It requires a bit of trust from both sides but it helps setting up a friendlier environment while making games go quicker. Speaking of fetchlands. 4 good riffle shuffles are more than enough randomization, I guess.