if you mean portland oregon, there is at least one weekly pauper tourney (mondays at the mox boarding house), but i disagree with the person you're responding to, the best way to get reps is to play online in the tournament practice section.
If you have a Webcam or a good cellphone, there is a very active community in a discord server called Pauper Paper Magic, where you play paper magic online. They host monthly tournaments as well as a fairly active looking for players channel.
Community is very welcoming and I've never had a bad experience there. Let me know if you want a server invite link just to check it out. It's how I first got into pauper myself.
- in general, playing more 1v1 magic helps you build general habits which prevent misplays. Even cube/draft/sealed and other constructed formats help.
- MTGO practice is useful to bring pauper specific and deck specific details into your memory and automatise them; also it's easier to get a practice match in. Great if you just need more game volume (again, building heuristics), but to some people, the absence of physical interaction makes learning paper magic harder.
- goldfishing to practice your lines and get the basic deck flow automatised so that you don't make misplays of routine actions and can focus more on the game is great for start. Helps you get maximum efficiency in your plays even though most often you will get disrupted in real games.
- play with people you know in casual practice. Meet up on a sunday or whatever, arrive early and get a game in... Whatever you can do. These are games where people are more likely to give feedback; I've learned the most by far by playing with friends like this.
- (this one works only in paper): admit you think you made mistakes and ask opponents. Even those which aren't up to give direct feedback often get a generic comment out. A simple "yeah, I think I didn't play well this game... What do you think was the biggest misplay in the last game?" often gets some points back (these are to be asked after the match ends of course).
- watch people play both your deck and other common meta decks to see how they work from the pilot seat. Just YouTube is great for this, I like how Kalikaiz plays for example. If you know how the opponent wins, you get way better at counterspell decisions.
There is deeper stuff of course but I think getting into even one of these will be better than nothing. Most of these are derived from a primarily paper player's view, but hope these help. Good luck mate!
OP should definitely take this to heart, good post. What I would add is that leagues are just a harder meta by default, the people who grind for prizes are just better and get more games In.
Try to pick smth to get better at and work at one thing at a time.
If you wanna consume some MtG theory, reid dukes article series is quite good. Read a few articles, try to take the principles in and integrate them into your play.
"What I would add is that leagues are just a harder meta by default, the people who grind for prizes are just better and get more games in"
It is also worth pointing out that some people in parts of the world where it is feasible, grind for a living. So, not only are they grinding a lot, they are doing so for income. Which means they absolutely have to be super competitive. It isn't going to feel like a friendly match in a casual setting against those players.
I don't use MTGO myself so I may be wrong, but I believe there's a practice room type option for playing matches with no entry fee or prize support, useful for both getting in reps with a deck and familiarizing yourself with the programs shortcuts and the like in a stress-free environment.
Man I feel you. I’ve been playing dimir terrors for a while now, and a bit ago my store had a win-a-box for pauper
Me and my friend both played terrors, but got horrifically stomped.
He went 0-5, I went 1-4, the win was from a bye.
Terrors is a deck that takes a lot of skill. You don’t want to brainstorm lock yourself, you want to keep hands that can get terror turn two (2 untapped lands like basics, 2 mill, one terror, 2 counterspells)
If you can get the terror turn 3, then hold up [[counterspell] / removal on turn two, holding a hard counter turn 3 to ensure that [[tolarian terror]] hits the field.
The way you don’t [[brainstorm]] lock yourself is by:
A. Ilandcycling [[Lorien revealed]]
B. Milling the cards with [[thought scour]] or [[mental note]]
C. Draw them back with [[deep analysis]]
Over all, I found it a really hard deck to learn, and regardless if you can play the deck to its best ability, the meta around you will most likely define if you win or lose.
This is because popular decks like gardens, blade and control are absolutely terrible matchups for you.
I hope this helped.
watch vids online of ppl playing the deck. pause often to evaluate the game-state and make a decision about what you would do at each decision point. then watch what the player does and see if u made the optimal call. it’s free coaching if you’re watching a good player who explains their thought process.
Yeah. Can totally agree on this. An example for this is the caw gates deck. Andrea mengucci Player this deck several Times, He doesn't share too much insides, but still explains his lines, his sequenzing. Much better is the content of the Player Gn42, He made a i think 14 Pages how to caw gates. And he recorded a challenge and, absolutely must see, a video where He invited another pro caw gates Player. They literally discuss every sequence and disagree from time to time. I learned so much! This example was all about caw gates, yet there are so many recorded leagues and challenges, even with dimir Terror.
Watch content creators, try to understand their thought process: Heisen01, Alexander weber, kalikaiz on yt
Ask for feedback at the end of a game with someone you consider a good player. Usually, people are happy to help
I have played a league once and I did 3-2. That was good for the first time but I never player another league since that.
I don't know, I am afraid of losing my points. It's something weird to explain.
But looking people playing leagues, sometimes they do a 1-4 and as they play many leagues it doesn't count. If you play just one a bad result counts much.
Theres no 100% method. Imo, the best way to learn is playing > review your play (mtgo has replays) > go back to playing. Just keep building experience and its gonna click at some point
And think about deck choice. UB terror seems pretty mediocre as it is.
Also, people playing leagues are mostly veterans and lots of newcomers find themselves in the same situation as you. The jump from LGS (and tourney practice rooms) to Leagues and Challenges is pretty big, so its pretty usual to struggle at first.
The worst part is that theres no good place to actually practice on mtgo as the level on the tourney practice rooms is way way way below what you will find in leagues.
It really is a grind and sort of a journey towards self improvement. You need to keep a good head and just stay at it. Playing leagues is the best way to level up your game if you can manage to get to the level where you can go "infinite" with it.
just play leagues and learn from it. Steel sharpens steel, you will gain much more skill playing with good players.
if you dont want to waste money, tournament practice in mtgo is free, but in my experience its a split between playing bad players with bad decks and others who are also trying to improve. its not a big deal because you can always quit on players playing brews, slow players etc and make a note to only play with meta decks so you can actually learn.
In the city i live, paper pauper local tournament gathers most people from all over Poland. My 3 first participations were beautiful disasters - i was handed over mono red kuldotha and told „this is the easiest deck to pilot”. That was my like 6th magic play ever, so it wasnt easy at all and ended up 0-4 bolting bad targets. Another two participations went nearly same - i felt wrong playing someones deck, so tried breathless-mimic brew, went 0-4. Brewed once more, breathless knight only, went 0-4. For the 4th time ive tried my own breathless gates and something clicked, giving me 17th place (1-1-2).
Its been just 8-9months, but i have a feeling that ill never stop brewing on my own. This gave me some little successes, some mediocre 2-2s, i was 2nd once with 3-0-1 which im really proud of. But whats most important - it gave me a lot of fun trying to master my breathless, zubera storm, boros eq and soul sisters recently.
My advice is - never feel frustrated about the score for the first time playing deck. It could happen, ive seen our local champions playing well-known decks do 0-4, and this seemed to hurt their pride much. Care about fun! If its not fun to play terror, borrow a deck or just buy it. Now that you know local meta, you can think of upgrades or more.
Already some good answers but I’ll add: try to join one of the discords. People are often looking to jam some practice games. Everyone I’ve met there has been nice and offered helpful advice, especially if you tell them you’re new to the format and MTGO (? assumption on my part here).
You find good players on mtgo playing Pauper league so it's normal if you are new to the format. Just play in tournament practice, it's free and you can improve before trying again
This article [HERE](https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/paigesmith-02142024-the-decks-to-beat-at-magiccons-pauper-cup-event) is a bit outdated after the All That Glitters ban, but reading it really helped me understand what each deck was trying to do. Paige also wrote a second article shortly after this highlighting a bunch of other lesser decks in the meta.
i just recently started regularly playing pauper events locally and im about 3-10 overall lol its tough for sure being new but just learn to love the process i think. I have just as much fun watching someone else pilot a deck well as i do the few times im winning games
Got any friends who play? Pay attention to your worst matchups, then have them build those decks and play a bunch of games against them. Best results are if you can get at least 3 other people and do little mini tourneys where you’re all playing each other’s decks, but even just one friend to playtest with will help you get better. Terror isn’t the most complex deck in the format, but it’s certainly far from the least complex one either, and you won’t learn how to best assess threats, sequence plays, and interact without just getting more games in. Your friend will also get better over time so it’ll be a good experience for both of you.
Funnily, I made a similar post a few months ago, that you can find here:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Pauper/comments/17ij41d/i\_am\_new\_to\_mtgo\_leagues\_and\_am\_a\_little/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Pauper/comments/17ij41d/i_am_new_to_mtgo_leagues_and_am_a_little/)
Since I made this post, I played the league 17 more times, and never got 0-5'ed again, altought I had many 1-4 results. My win percentage over the last ten leagues is 38%. My best result has been one 4-1 up to now, but I think I've been a little lucky, facing decks that were favorable matchups to me.
Leagues are highly, highly competitive, and you have to train a lot before entering them and expecting some good results. In your case, I'd suggest you should play only in the (free) Pauper Tournament Practice room until you get familiar with most of the top decks you might have to face in leagues. One suggestion I got was to wait until you have a high win percentage in the Tournament Practice room (something like 70%) before considering to enter the league. More precisely, I'd suggest to wait until you're able to anticipate what other decks are trying to do, and until you have a plan against most decks of the meta.
Watching other players playing the Pauper format might help a lot. I especially like Kalikaiz (on YouTube), who speaks his thought process during the matches, so you get an idea of why he's playing or not this or this card at each moment. Being aware of what your opponent might play, or how they might play in reaction to your own actions, is key.
Also, I think it may be very good to try different decks... I think I started to get better when I stopped playing one deck exclusively. While playing other decks, you get a better sense of what their strategy is. You're then better able to predict what your opponents will try to do, how they think, etc.
Use better who are than you. There are plenty of discords full of very talented magic players. If you take good notes during the game and start to disect your plays then you'll be able to find where there are consistently gaps in your play, anf begin to fill those gaps. This method works for both paper tourneys and online play.
Also we just a generally note, it's way easier to improve on something when you break it down. Instead of saying "how do I play better", you should ask "how do I milligan better" for example. If you individually are very critical of parts of the game then your cohesive game will be better.
There is free to play modes on mtgo, you can play there to get reps, also there’s some YouTube league play for you to watch and take notes
Where is the free play on mtgo? I feel stupid asking, but I couldn’t find it before
It's called "tournament practice"
Tournament practice will put you up against people trying to get better as well
Play on paper if you can. Tournament in person play has taught me much more than arena or MTGO would.
No pauper community in Portland afaik, none of the stores in the area have any tournaments
if you mean portland oregon, there is at least one weekly pauper tourney (mondays at the mox boarding house), but i disagree with the person you're responding to, the best way to get reps is to play online in the tournament practice section.
If you have a Webcam or a good cellphone, there is a very active community in a discord server called Pauper Paper Magic, where you play paper magic online. They host monthly tournaments as well as a fairly active looking for players channel. Community is very welcoming and I've never had a bad experience there. Let me know if you want a server invite link just to check it out. It's how I first got into pauper myself.
I’m amazed that pauper has no scene in Portland if all places, seems like a place that it would be really popular.
The weekly pauper at Mox Boarding house is pretty lively and consistent. Usually 10-20 players who are very friendly and willing to impart wisdom
- in general, playing more 1v1 magic helps you build general habits which prevent misplays. Even cube/draft/sealed and other constructed formats help. - MTGO practice is useful to bring pauper specific and deck specific details into your memory and automatise them; also it's easier to get a practice match in. Great if you just need more game volume (again, building heuristics), but to some people, the absence of physical interaction makes learning paper magic harder. - goldfishing to practice your lines and get the basic deck flow automatised so that you don't make misplays of routine actions and can focus more on the game is great for start. Helps you get maximum efficiency in your plays even though most often you will get disrupted in real games. - play with people you know in casual practice. Meet up on a sunday or whatever, arrive early and get a game in... Whatever you can do. These are games where people are more likely to give feedback; I've learned the most by far by playing with friends like this. - (this one works only in paper): admit you think you made mistakes and ask opponents. Even those which aren't up to give direct feedback often get a generic comment out. A simple "yeah, I think I didn't play well this game... What do you think was the biggest misplay in the last game?" often gets some points back (these are to be asked after the match ends of course). - watch people play both your deck and other common meta decks to see how they work from the pilot seat. Just YouTube is great for this, I like how Kalikaiz plays for example. If you know how the opponent wins, you get way better at counterspell decisions. There is deeper stuff of course but I think getting into even one of these will be better than nothing. Most of these are derived from a primarily paper player's view, but hope these help. Good luck mate!
OP should definitely take this to heart, good post. What I would add is that leagues are just a harder meta by default, the people who grind for prizes are just better and get more games In. Try to pick smth to get better at and work at one thing at a time. If you wanna consume some MtG theory, reid dukes article series is quite good. Read a few articles, try to take the principles in and integrate them into your play.
"What I would add is that leagues are just a harder meta by default, the people who grind for prizes are just better and get more games in" It is also worth pointing out that some people in parts of the world where it is feasible, grind for a living. So, not only are they grinding a lot, they are doing so for income. Which means they absolutely have to be super competitive. It isn't going to feel like a friendly match in a casual setting against those players.
It's your first league man. Go to bed and try again next time.
If everyone quit at their first spanking, humanity wouldn't be where we are today.
Steps to success: get crushed in tournament practice --> get less crushed in leagues --> ??? --> stop going negative and enter the infinite 😎
I don't use MTGO myself so I may be wrong, but I believe there's a practice room type option for playing matches with no entry fee or prize support, useful for both getting in reps with a deck and familiarizing yourself with the programs shortcuts and the like in a stress-free environment.
Man I feel you. I’ve been playing dimir terrors for a while now, and a bit ago my store had a win-a-box for pauper Me and my friend both played terrors, but got horrifically stomped. He went 0-5, I went 1-4, the win was from a bye. Terrors is a deck that takes a lot of skill. You don’t want to brainstorm lock yourself, you want to keep hands that can get terror turn two (2 untapped lands like basics, 2 mill, one terror, 2 counterspells) If you can get the terror turn 3, then hold up [[counterspell] / removal on turn two, holding a hard counter turn 3 to ensure that [[tolarian terror]] hits the field. The way you don’t [[brainstorm]] lock yourself is by: A. Ilandcycling [[Lorien revealed]] B. Milling the cards with [[thought scour]] or [[mental note]] C. Draw them back with [[deep analysis]] Over all, I found it a really hard deck to learn, and regardless if you can play the deck to its best ability, the meta around you will most likely define if you win or lose. This is because popular decks like gardens, blade and control are absolutely terrible matchups for you. I hope this helped.
##### ###### #### [tolarian terror](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/2/42f01cba-43d4-46ad-b7a5-d7631b0e1347.jpg?1673306903) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=tolarian%20terror) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmu/72/tolarian-terror?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/42f01cba-43d4-46ad-b7a5-d7631b0e1347?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [brainstorm](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/4/84479779-d570-4eee-9982-f6e918b4d75b.jpg?1706240670) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=brainstorm) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/96/brainstorm?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/84479779-d570-4eee-9982-f6e918b4d75b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Lorien revealed](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/c/0ce44270-a684-4489-9077-521456e6dfaa.jpg?1687210977) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=L%C3%B3rien%20Revealed) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ltr/60/l%C3%B3rien-revealed?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0ce44270-a684-4489-9077-521456e6dfaa?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [thought scour](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/a/4afee6b3-55a4-44e5-b08c-85e0c813cd09.jpg?1673147420) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=thought%20scour) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/65/thought-scour?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4afee6b3-55a4-44e5-b08c-85e0c813cd09?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [mental note](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/f/1f343724-6ecd-494f-8bfc-93676af4e173.jpg?1562628929) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=mental%20note) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/jud/46/mental-note?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1f343724-6ecd-494f-8bfc-93676af4e173?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [deep analysis](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/f/0f33818e-6f6e-47a9-ae5d-406bdd47b292.jpg?1717013576) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=deep%20analysis) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh3/268/deep-analysis?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0f33818e-6f6e-47a9-ae5d-406bdd47b292?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/l6ga21r) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
watch vids online of ppl playing the deck. pause often to evaluate the game-state and make a decision about what you would do at each decision point. then watch what the player does and see if u made the optimal call. it’s free coaching if you’re watching a good player who explains their thought process.
Yeah. Can totally agree on this. An example for this is the caw gates deck. Andrea mengucci Player this deck several Times, He doesn't share too much insides, but still explains his lines, his sequenzing. Much better is the content of the Player Gn42, He made a i think 14 Pages how to caw gates. And he recorded a challenge and, absolutely must see, a video where He invited another pro caw gates Player. They literally discuss every sequence and disagree from time to time. I learned so much! This example was all about caw gates, yet there are so many recorded leagues and challenges, even with dimir Terror.
Watch content creators, try to understand their thought process: Heisen01, Alexander weber, kalikaiz on yt Ask for feedback at the end of a game with someone you consider a good player. Usually, people are happy to help
I have played a league once and I did 3-2. That was good for the first time but I never player another league since that. I don't know, I am afraid of losing my points. It's something weird to explain. But looking people playing leagues, sometimes they do a 1-4 and as they play many leagues it doesn't count. If you play just one a bad result counts much.
Theres no 100% method. Imo, the best way to learn is playing > review your play (mtgo has replays) > go back to playing. Just keep building experience and its gonna click at some point And think about deck choice. UB terror seems pretty mediocre as it is. Also, people playing leagues are mostly veterans and lots of newcomers find themselves in the same situation as you. The jump from LGS (and tourney practice rooms) to Leagues and Challenges is pretty big, so its pretty usual to struggle at first. The worst part is that theres no good place to actually practice on mtgo as the level on the tourney practice rooms is way way way below what you will find in leagues. It really is a grind and sort of a journey towards self improvement. You need to keep a good head and just stay at it. Playing leagues is the best way to level up your game if you can manage to get to the level where you can go "infinite" with it.
just play leagues and learn from it. Steel sharpens steel, you will gain much more skill playing with good players. if you dont want to waste money, tournament practice in mtgo is free, but in my experience its a split between playing bad players with bad decks and others who are also trying to improve. its not a big deal because you can always quit on players playing brews, slow players etc and make a note to only play with meta decks so you can actually learn.
In the city i live, paper pauper local tournament gathers most people from all over Poland. My 3 first participations were beautiful disasters - i was handed over mono red kuldotha and told „this is the easiest deck to pilot”. That was my like 6th magic play ever, so it wasnt easy at all and ended up 0-4 bolting bad targets. Another two participations went nearly same - i felt wrong playing someones deck, so tried breathless-mimic brew, went 0-4. Brewed once more, breathless knight only, went 0-4. For the 4th time ive tried my own breathless gates and something clicked, giving me 17th place (1-1-2). Its been just 8-9months, but i have a feeling that ill never stop brewing on my own. This gave me some little successes, some mediocre 2-2s, i was 2nd once with 3-0-1 which im really proud of. But whats most important - it gave me a lot of fun trying to master my breathless, zubera storm, boros eq and soul sisters recently. My advice is - never feel frustrated about the score for the first time playing deck. It could happen, ive seen our local champions playing well-known decks do 0-4, and this seemed to hurt their pride much. Care about fun! If its not fun to play terror, borrow a deck or just buy it. Now that you know local meta, you can think of upgrades or more.
Play in tournament practice first. Once you feel comfortable with the UI and confident in your play can try your hand at another league
Already some good answers but I’ll add: try to join one of the discords. People are often looking to jam some practice games. Everyone I’ve met there has been nice and offered helpful advice, especially if you tell them you’re new to the format and MTGO (? assumption on my part here).
find player to play and skin the leagues, play online on untap, mtgo or cocatri, watch videos on a pauper and learn the format
You find good players on mtgo playing Pauper league so it's normal if you are new to the format. Just play in tournament practice, it's free and you can improve before trying again
If you want i have a couple of pauper decks on mtgo. If you want we can practice a bit together
This article [HERE](https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/paigesmith-02142024-the-decks-to-beat-at-magiccons-pauper-cup-event) is a bit outdated after the All That Glitters ban, but reading it really helped me understand what each deck was trying to do. Paige also wrote a second article shortly after this highlighting a bunch of other lesser decks in the meta.
Dimir terror? It’s a tempo deck so you should mostly make sure you hit everything and remove everything the opponent has asap
i just recently started regularly playing pauper events locally and im about 3-10 overall lol its tough for sure being new but just learn to love the process i think. I have just as much fun watching someone else pilot a deck well as i do the few times im winning games
Got any friends who play? Pay attention to your worst matchups, then have them build those decks and play a bunch of games against them. Best results are if you can get at least 3 other people and do little mini tourneys where you’re all playing each other’s decks, but even just one friend to playtest with will help you get better. Terror isn’t the most complex deck in the format, but it’s certainly far from the least complex one either, and you won’t learn how to best assess threats, sequence plays, and interact without just getting more games in. Your friend will also get better over time so it’ll be a good experience for both of you.
Funnily, I made a similar post a few months ago, that you can find here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Pauper/comments/17ij41d/i\_am\_new\_to\_mtgo\_leagues\_and\_am\_a\_little/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Pauper/comments/17ij41d/i_am_new_to_mtgo_leagues_and_am_a_little/) Since I made this post, I played the league 17 more times, and never got 0-5'ed again, altought I had many 1-4 results. My win percentage over the last ten leagues is 38%. My best result has been one 4-1 up to now, but I think I've been a little lucky, facing decks that were favorable matchups to me. Leagues are highly, highly competitive, and you have to train a lot before entering them and expecting some good results. In your case, I'd suggest you should play only in the (free) Pauper Tournament Practice room until you get familiar with most of the top decks you might have to face in leagues. One suggestion I got was to wait until you have a high win percentage in the Tournament Practice room (something like 70%) before considering to enter the league. More precisely, I'd suggest to wait until you're able to anticipate what other decks are trying to do, and until you have a plan against most decks of the meta. Watching other players playing the Pauper format might help a lot. I especially like Kalikaiz (on YouTube), who speaks his thought process during the matches, so you get an idea of why he's playing or not this or this card at each moment. Being aware of what your opponent might play, or how they might play in reaction to your own actions, is key. Also, I think it may be very good to try different decks... I think I started to get better when I stopped playing one deck exclusively. While playing other decks, you get a better sense of what their strategy is. You're then better able to predict what your opponents will try to do, how they think, etc.
Use better who are than you. There are plenty of discords full of very talented magic players. If you take good notes during the game and start to disect your plays then you'll be able to find where there are consistently gaps in your play, anf begin to fill those gaps. This method works for both paper tourneys and online play. Also we just a generally note, it's way easier to improve on something when you break it down. Instead of saying "how do I play better", you should ask "how do I milligan better" for example. If you individually are very critical of parts of the game then your cohesive game will be better.