Next level strat imo. Would buy an online workshop for thousands of dollars

There is one great LR episode featuring Ben Stark and Huey Jensen where they talk about this, it makes in game decisions a lot different if you think it this way.
And nope you should not focus on winning either you should play in a way that you are constantly increasing your chances of winning, you win by reducing your opponent life to 0 -95% of the times- but often that means you don’t straight up attack every turn.
That also means that pros have 65% winrate so you should know that you are going to lose lots of games, and there is nothing you can do about it.

Couple of turns later, used it on a Leonin Warleader.

If I had Essence Scatter mana available the turn opponent cast Shalai, I'd have used it to force the Curious Obsession creature through.

In an effort to save you thousands of dollars here is the link to the Vid:
Note that this is one post produced episode and indeed has the kinda of music a cheese workshop would use -Just ignore the music and avoid puking all over your screen-

https://youtu.be/6W0kEBsZMnA?t=1716

I think this is basically saying to focus on your process and not individual results.

I know. I'm a poker player. I was just teasing the weird phrasing.

Goddamn this game is so hard.

Board: me Mist-Cloaked Herald with two Curious Obsession + Siren Stormtamer + 4 lands
Him: three Wildgrowth Walker + 4 lands

I'd been beating him down for a few turns so he was at 12 life, and my Curious Obsession had kept my hand stacked. Enter turn five ...

Me: attack you for four, draw Nightveil Sprite, play it, leave two mana up and holding both Wizard's Retort and Essence Scatter.
Me: do you surrender??
Him: Merfolk Branchwalker.
Me: Essence Scatter.
Him: Land, Jadelight Ranger, go up to 26 life, hit you for nine.

I concede. Why I did not leave up two counterspells, I'll never know.

Haha. You know you'd love that turn from the other player's PoV

Basic anti-counter-measure to make him counter a weak(er) card so he can't counter the big one.

I'd probably have lost even if I countered Jadelight Ranger. A single Explore at that point was worth 9 life and 6 damage. Massive mistake on my part not to leave up two counterspells there, because there's no other way I could've lost the game.

I'm playing a controlling Dimir deck in GRN draft. I'm on the play, and the game goes like this:

T1: Me land go, him land go.
T2: Me land Passwall Adept, him land Sunhome Stalwart

It's turn 3, and my hand is Dimir Informant, Watcher in the Mist, Muse Drake, Thought Erasure and one land (I mulliganed). What's the play?

I went with Dimir Informant both to find more lands and to be mana efficient, but I'm seriously questioning not playing Thought Erasure now to break up his curve. As it was he played Roc Charger the next turn which was mentored up, and I was at 7 life before I stabilized (actually 3 but I gained 4 with Severed Strands). Again I had the option to be mana efficient or to play Thought Erasure, and this time I went with Thought Erasure which proved to be correct because he was holding a lethal Cyclotronic Wave. Should I have played Thought Erasure on turn 3?

I find that discard effects in limited are usually at their best if used early, especially to screw up their curve and gain some tempo. Later on they tend to lose value because hands tend to get emptier.
But I'm not a huge fan of discard in limited and they don't usually make the cut.

Creature I think, forces him to use a trick to barely trade up in mana and might allow a turn 4 muse drake, you get punished by maniacal rage and some uncommons iirc, and maybe by letting a skiknight legionnaire attack once?

Two mana targeted discard is decent if it has no or next to no restiction.

T2 Thought Erasure is at its best IMO

Game 3 with Selesnya tokens vs. Dimir control. The field looked something like this come turn 4:

Me: Adanto Vanguard, Knight token, History of Benalia @ 2nd chapter
Him: nothing (lands only)

I know he has Fungal Infection + Ritual of Soot in his deck, as well as Disinformation Campaigns and The Eldest Reborn (at least these were in game 2 - he might've taken them out after seeing Nullhide Ferox).

My play for the turn is either Nullhide Ferox or another History of Benalia. What's the play?

I went with History to save Ferox in hand for any future "discard a card" effects, but he had the right answers to kill both Vanguard and Knight. Thought Erasure revealed I was holding Nullhide Ferox, and since I hadn't drawn my fifth mana I had to play Nullhide Ferox the turn after the sweepers. It was killed by The Eldest Reborn and I lost with opponent at 4 life when it reanimated my Carnage Tyrant (earlier discarded by Thought Erasure).

If I had played Ferox, I'd likely have won - in fact it's in the deck for this very reason, as a big threat that either trades up vs. single-target removal (= lets rest of board attack) or survives sweepers. This was a special case though because I was playing against Dimir control, and I had a reasonable other play for the turn. What's the right play?

Benalia into benalia is usually a very strong play, but sometimes opponents just have all the answers.
I would probably have played the same and lost too...

Benalia into Benalia Vs Control is not a good play IME I would rather mix things, with 4 cmc creatures to play around Soot, I would have played Fox in your spot, I have been blown out too many times by soot at this stage of the season.

I'm with Cucho. As much as I like Benalia tokens (my #1 favorite card art), the point is, your opponent needs to kill the token(s) you already have. Now whatever does that will likely also kill any additional tokens en passant. The Foxy on the other hand demands a very specific answer and demands so much mana that your token(s) are likely to live and swing another day. Your situation sounds like he played Golden Demise (removing Adanto and tokens) into Thought Erasure on his t5. That would have left your Foxy intact. If he had opted to kill him, that would've cost at least 4 mana, leaving 1 mana to Fungal Infection Adanto and chump-block the Benalia 3 attack of one token. Worstest case scenario

Keeping Foxy in hand as discard-fodder is probably too cute in this situation given that you're not in game 1 (for he knows about it).

But.. remember that in hindsight we're all "pros" I can't say I would have come to this conclusion during the game. Maybe yes, maybe not, but my usual learning process is to make the wrong call first, realize it later and remember it every time that situation comes up in the future. So thanks for sharing this.

Had two interesting situations yesterday.

1. Postboard Selesnya tokens vs. Golgari midrange. Both of us are in topdeck mode and comfortable life totals. The board is:

Him: Doom Whisperer, 2 Llanowar Elves, 2 Ravenous Chupacabra
Me: 2 Thorn Lieutenant, Emmara, 1/1 lifelink token, 2 2/2 knight token, History @ 2nd chapter

He draws for the turn and attacks with everything. What's the play?



2. GRN draft, Dimir vs. Boros. I don't remember the situation clearly anymore, but it was fairly early in the game so both of us still had cards in hand. The board is:

Him: Legion Guildmage, Goblin Banneret, 3 lands
Me: tapped Nightveil Sprite, untapped 4/4 Thoughtbound Phantasm, ~4 (?) lands

He plays Gird for Battle, buffs Goblin Banneret, and attacks. The Banneret mentors the Guildmage to 4/4 and is attacking as a 4/2. I'm at 18 life. Do I trade?

Seeking opinions on this because it's something I might be doing wrong. I don't have the exact situation anymore, but the board looked something like this:

Opponent (Esper control): about 8 lands, Chemister's Insight in the graveyard, nothing else in play, 5 cards in hand. Opponent is at 13 life.
Me (Temur reclamation): about 7 lands, Rekindling Phoenix in play, Wilderness Reclamation in play, 6 cards in hand including two Niv-Mizzet, two Sinister Sabotage, and another Wilderness Reclamation, but no lands.

It's post-board. Do I play Niv-Mizzet?

Waiting would be the better option. No doubt about it.
But I think nearly everyone would have played Niv-Mizzet in that situation.