The Mana Curve: Make the Most of Your Mana

My apologies for the delay.  I'm preparing to transfer schools, so I've had a lot on my plate.  I hope this post makes up for it!

Okay, so we know what our deck wants to do, and we know what cards can help us do it.  Now what?

Now we need to make the deck flow.

We can define a deck's "flow" as its efficient use of mana throughout each turn of the game. Most decks can rely on playing one land per turn for the first 4-5 turns (though green decks can often accelerate their mana production).  For now, your goal is to use as much mana as possible while still being productive during those turns -- because if you don't, your opponent will.

However, the cards we draw are random.  How can we maximize our productivity during these crucial early turns if we don't even know what we're drawing? The answer is simple: We do.  At least we have an idea, and that's because we are the ones building the deck.  Even though we might not know the exact hand we'll draw in a given game, we control what goes into the deck, so we can have a good guess as to what will come out.

This leads me to my useful tool for the post: The Mana Curve.  If you want to get an idea for how your deck flows, this tool is as simple as it is useful.  Simply separate every spell in your deck according to its converted mana cost (total amount of mana they cost).  Be honest with your assessments -- sure, that Hopeful Eidolon only costs 1 mana, but we all know you plan on paying its 4-mana bestow cost unless you're desperate, so put it under the 4's. Here's an example:

It's as simple as ABC. Courtesy Channel Fireball

Where your curve actually falls will depend on your deck archetype.  Aggro decks tend to have lower curves featuring low-mana Threats and Answers.  Control decks have higher curves, with heftier but more potent Answers and expensive but resilient Threats. Midrange decks have, well, midrange curves.  (Combo decks by their nature are hard to classify.)  However, the overall curves between the Archetypes do not change all that much -- Control decks still need inexpensive Answers to stop Aggro decks before they get overwhelmed, and Aggro decks often feature a couple of expensive cards to finish an opponent off.  I don't want to break out my graphs so as not to scare people away, but a Google image search for "mana curve" will demonstrate my point.

Competitive players are familiar with the concept of the Mana Curve, such that it has become part of the Magic jargon.  For example, an Aggro player casting a 1-mana card on turn 1, 2-mana card on turn 2, and so on is considered to be "curving out" because he is using his mana optimally.  In general, it's better to "curve out" than not, so make sure to keep the Mana Curve in mind when you build your decks!

I'm looking forward to the upcoming posts.  I want to talk about Limited, Combat, and so much more.  But the next one is a break from theory and more about you, the player.  Make sure to come back and discover why you should be playing in Friday Night Magic (and the misconceptions that keep you home)!

Happy Planeswalking.

B-Tops