Welcome to today's article. Sit right down and take a load off your feet. Grab the deck of your choice. This is Margaret, Darryl, Mika and Roger. Along with me, we are all going to shuffle up some decks, sit at this large table just off my kitchen, and then play some seriously awesome multiplayer.

Are you ready? That's not a bad deck you've got there. It looks like you were reading last week's article. Alright, I'm ready to play. We just finished a game, and Roger over there won.

You can play all sorts of variants and formats when you play against many people. Today, we are just going to play general Chaos Magic. That way, you can see a normal game, without Planes or Schemes or anything else. You have no allies, no secret alliances, and no help on the way. It's just six people, fighting it out.

Mika won the dice toss and she goes first. She leads with an Island. After the first round, I've played a Steel Wall and Roger dropped a Chromatic Sphere. After the second round, Roger sacs the Sphere to make Green for a Rampant Growth and has three lands. Darryl dropped an Auriok Champion. No one else has played anything yet.

Two more turns pass. No one has out anything tremendously threatening. The biggest creature is your Spike Weaver, at 3/3. Mika has played some spells – the Ponder she just drew, and then a Sol Ring. Darryl is at 24 life and just played a Wall of Glare. I have dropped an artifact in my graveyard after a Thirst for Knowledge. Margaret has nothing. Roger's acceleration gave him a Giltspire Avenger.

Then, on turn five, the craziness begins. I Trash for Treasure my wall into that discarded artifact – it's just a Darksteel Gargoyle, but a 3/3 indestructible creature with flying is not good news. With six mana, Roger goes for a Rampaging Baloths. Mika drops an old school Rainbow Efreet. It's your turn. You top deck a Sudden Death in your Green/Black deck. What do you do?

You do not kill anything. You can hold off and kill something later. Instead, just sit behind your Spike Weaver, and watch as the sparks fly.

Two turns later, several attacks have been exchanged, and then Darryl casts a Wrath of God, mostly sweeping the board. You are still at 20 life. The Rainbow Efreet is phased. My Darksteel Gargoyle is still in play. No one else has any creatures out. The only other cards in play are a Jace Baleren and Sol Ring under Mika's control, and Margaret's Journeyer's Kite.

You played this very well. It's like you've been playing multiplayer your whole life. You already know principle #1 of winning at a multiplayer table:

1). Never get in the way of other people fighting.

In this case, no one wanted to attack you, because doing so just pulled a counter off the Spike Weaver. No want wanted to attack into Roger's Rattlesnake Giltspire Avenger either, save me. (I hit him once - indestructible creatures don't fear it).

One of the most common things you'll witness in a multiplayer game is two or more of your opponents going at it, and ignoring you. When this happens, you have to learn not to say anything. You can't gloat, make comments, or otherwise reveal that you are even in the game. Likewise, don't play something big and strong. Let the limelight shine on the others, not on you. Then you won't get hurt in the crossfire.

A few turns later, the board has again changed. I have out a few artifacts, Mika still has just her Sol Ring and Efreet (After Jace was killed). Margaret has a full grip, a ton of lands, her Kite, and a couple of small creatures. Darryl is rocking an Exalted Angel and a Beloved Chaplain. Roger found an Ascetism and has a Watchwolf and Meddling Mage (naming Wrath of God). You have dropped a free Avatar of Woe, which got Swords'd, and are sitting at 26 life. You still have out a Vulturous Zombie with two counters on it.

I swing with my Gargoyle at Roger. I drop him to 8 life. I Transmute Artifact a Trigon of Thought into a Darksteel Forge. Mika suspends a Deep-Sea Kraken. Margaret does nothing. Darryl Swings at Roger to drop him to 4, and bring himself to 35. It's your turn. What do you do?

Well, if you learned principle #2, you attack Roger and kill him.

2). Don't let a person hang around a game. If Roger is able to stabilize and keep around, then your card disadvantage ratio will not shrink. You don't know what Roger's plans are. I've seen people upset at one or two people attacking them play Armageddon, Earthquake, and more. I've also seen them linger and come back and win from 1 or 3 life. Don't let them stay, kill them. Eliminate an opponent. You will also win the good graces (perhaps) of those attacking him.

You attack and kill Roger. Sorry Roger. Maybe next time. You did win the last game, after all. It's only fair that you are the first one out this time.

You take three from my Gargoyle since you are untapped and open. 23 life for you. The others keep switching targets and play more cards, mucking up the board. You swing at Darryl with a much larger creature than he has, and he takes 7 damage. I hit you again for three in the air, as an attack of opportunity.

You still have that Sudden Death in your hand. Do you use it on me? Do you cast the spell and take out my Darksteel Gargoyle? Not if you understand principle #3. And this may be the most important principle of all.

3). Never, ever, ever, ever, ever take anything personally. Don't get upset, don't narrow your focus on one person, and don't lose your cool. Once you do that, you lose the game. You also turn a game into something more, so don't let it happen to you.

Since you know that, you don't respond with anger. My attacking you is simply because you left yourself open. It's not a product of me thinking you are in the best board position, or have the best card, or have the highest life total or anything else. It is merely an attack of opportunity. What happens if you kill my Gargoyle? Then I may begin to see you are more dangerous than before. Also, I have a bunch of indestructible artifacts – what if I play a better target? It's also one of the only ways to kill that Rainbow Efreet that's out. Why waste it here?

So you hold onto it, and next turn, you don't attack. You keep yourself from getting attacked. A Deep-Sea Kraken resolves. Mika is considering who to attack with the Kraken. Never one to miss an opportunity, you convince her that Daryl is the right target because of his high life total and two great creatures.

Which brings us to the next principle:

4). Never pass up an opportunity to convince people who is the greatest threat, has the most powerful card, and so forth. Magic is a social activity, so be social. What is happening in the game is in bounds to talk about, and use to your betterment.

A couple of turns later, you draw an Agonizing Memories and play it against Darryl. You see his hand. He has several White creatures, a Return to Dust, and a Path to Exile. No mass removal. You put two creatures on the top of his deck.

A turn later, Margaret is ready to attack with her 11/11 Terravore she played last turn. You know what Darryl has in his hand. You want it to attack Darryl so he will either take a bunch of damage, or be forced to use that Path to Exile. You could lie to Margaret about what Darryl has in his hand. You consider it, but then decide against it. Instead, it attacks me and I take 4 after blocking with all of my indestructible artifact creatures. I'm at 9.

5). You should refrain from lying or bluffing in multiplayer Magic. Once it has been revealed that you lied, you lose all credibility in the future. No one will ever trust you again. It's also possible that people will take that personally and start attacking you always, ensuring you die, and carrying it over to the next games. Don't do it.

Mika's Control Magic'd Terravore is really dealing some damage. She attacks you after I play another small creature which prevents me from taking any overflow trample damage. Darryl doesn't like that you Agonizing Demised him, so he is not helping you. Margaret is safe from it since if she were killed, the Terravore would go away too. You top deck an Eyeblight's Ending and kill the Terravore before Mika can untap from her Tidings.

Your players left are me with my Blue/Red artifact deck, Darryl's mono-White control deck, Mika's mono-Blue control deck, your B/G multiplayer deck, and Margaret's deck that you still don't know what it does.

Darryl plays another good creature – Eternal Dragon, and passes the turn. Margaret draws and passes the turn after laying yet another land. Mika plays a Honden of Seeing Winds so she can draw double cards. It's back to you. You attack Mika with your 10/10 Vulturous Zombie and before she can block with her Efreet, you Sudden Death it. It dies, permanently, and you dole out a serious hand slap of pain to her.

Mika has gone from 15 to 5 in one attack from you. Darryl takes his turn, and uses the opening to attack her for 6 with his Dragon and Chaplain, and you for 4 with his Angel. Mika plays a Capsize without buyback to bounce his dragon, and goes at 4 life. Darryl is reminded of principle #6:

6). Don't get cocky. Always assume that your opponent can stop one or more of your attackers.

Had Darryl attacked her with the Angel too, she would be dead right now. As it is, he left her alive, and hit you for four, increasing the attention he gets from you while failing to eliminate an enemy.

Margaret draws, plays a land, and passes again. Mika untaps and casts an Evacuation she just drew. Now that the board is clear of creatures of all types, she drops a Cephalid Looter and passes. Darryl and I have had our board positions compromised significantly.

After a few turns, and some removal flying, the board has stabilized. Mika has 4 life, a Cephalid Looter, Sol Ring, Honden and a Morphling plus 6 cards in hand. I have several minor artifacts, the Forge, my Gargoyle again, and a Faerie Mechanist and 2 cards in hand. Darryl has his Dragon and Chaplain out after the Angel died and a Dawn Elemental went with it and 3 cards in hand, and is back down to 24 life. Margaret has almost 20 lands in play, her Kite, a full grip of cards, and she played a Budoka Gardener after the removal flew about. It just flipped. You have your Zombie now at 6/6, and an Ebony Treefolk.

Who is your biggest threat?

Threat Assessment is important.

In order, who are your greatest threats?

Mika

Margaret

Me

Darryl

Let's talk about why:

Mika has a great set up. She has a ton of mana and a very strong card drawing engine yielding her three cards a turn to her enemy's four. She has a creature that is downright deadly in play. And she has almost a full slate of cards in her hand, which could be anything. The cards she has already played have proven that she plays strong control cards, and she appears to be without counter magic.

Margaret has an amazing set up. She has a huge amount of land. We have seen barely anything from her at all. This game she has been content to use her Kite, add to her huge land pile, and occasionally play a card here and there. However, her cards have been very synergetic. She's no bum. She's been sitting back, quietly, letting everybody else run amok, on a full hand, and now has a flipped Budoka Gardener in play, which is about to get incredibly powerful.

I have a very synergetic deck as well but the Darksteel Forge is the real issue. It's giving me a lot of power. The only thing keeping me from getting a higher spot on the list is the fact that my creatures are small – a 3/3 and a 2/2, and I have just two cards in the grip. That's not mega powerful.

Darryl does have a good flyer, but that's it. With just three cards in his hand, it's not likely that in the next few turns he will dominate the table.

7). Seeing past the cards that are hurting you, and how people have been playing is an important skill to pick up. Threat assessment is not always easy. When you do it right, you are on the path to victory.

The important key you are learning is to take in information from other players with a giant ton of salt. All of your opponents at various times have suggested that a card is the biggest issue on the board, or someone is the biggest threat. Filtering through the comments to find out who is really the threat at the table for you is an important part of politics.

Knowing Mika is the threat, you and Darryl agree to start attacking her. Despite her card drawing, she is unable to fend you off for long, and dies.

8). Don't be afraid to make temporary alliances in Magic. At some point in time, they will end. Please don't take it personally when they do. Use whatever resources you have, including other players.

However, during that turn, Margaret has become even more powerful, with several tokens from the Gardener. I have out a couple more indestructible creatures to block, and just before she has enough to crush you and me on the same turn you play the Punishment half of Crime and Punishment for 0 mana and kill off the tokens. It just buys you some time. Darryl finds a Path and exiles the Gardener after it makes one token. One roughly 20/20 token, but still just one token.

Darryl can block it all day with his Chaplain, and I have indestructible creatures. So she attacks you, even though you are with a color of creature removal.

9). You never want to be the path of least resistance. People tend to attack with small aggro creatures early, and super big creatures late. You never want to find yourself as the one with the least defense when this happens. You can use the Rattlesnake Effect from last week's article, or just have defenses.

You chump block and lose your Treefolk. You do have Creakwood Lieges in your deck, and one would make creatures to chump block with, but you are unable to find any. You play a Quirion Elves just to jump in front of a 20/20 for a turn and swing for 10 in the air. Margaret drops to 12. Darryl and I are staying out of this.

Margaret begins to control the board. She smiles. She's been building up her hand the entire game. An Avenger of Zendikar is played, and she suddenly has an instant army. She plays a land, and then drops Concordat Crossroads and swings with everything! She doesn't attack you though. Her threat assessment is different. She wants the guy with mass removal out of the way. The horde runs through Darryl and he is completely surprised and dies despite his previous life gain. She finishes with a Joyous Respite and goes to 32.

She smiles and passes the turn. I have nothing to stop her, so I play the Bribery in my hand on her. I search through her deck, and then grab Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer. I now have an 11/11 trample creature out. She takes the hit from it and my flyers. (Haste due to Concordat Crossroads). You add some damage from your V. Zombie. She's barely below 10 but we all know she's won the game.

Without any other mass removal in hand, she untaps and kills you with her horde. She doesn't have quite enough damage to kill me in one attack, so she takes you out. Then she plays a Glacial Chasm, sacrifices a land, and basically wins the game. I can't attack and kill her with that out. She can pay for it a couple of times, and by then, she's won. Her little land deck kicked all of our decks around the place.

10). Just like you shouldn't let someone linger around with a low life total, thinking they are no longer a threat, you also shouldn't let a player linger in the game without ever being forced to defend themselves. Push that player to see what their deck is truly capable of, and to get them to use their resources. I've seen somebody mop up a table in the late game too often for my tastes. They were allowed to get a free pass to the endgame, and everybody else paid the price.

Margaret just sat back the entire game, barely playing any threats until her deck was at lethal levels. Everybody else played threats, played removal, and so forth. She played minor cards here and there to keep her involved and perhaps steal a win here and there. Overall, she just sat back, watched as people expended their resources, and then cleaned up. You cannot allow a Margaret at your table. You need to push into her and force her hand. Cards in hand and lands in play are very vital resources, as Margaret's example shows.

Hopefully you've learned Ten Lessons about Politics in Multiplayer. We'll see you next week when one final multiplayer article will go over a few final strategies. Then we'll shift topics significantly.

See you next week,

Abe Sargent