Jedi Mind Tricks

[Dan Turner]

Actually this just happened about 30 mins ago. I was playing solidarity so i go to combo out get down to maybe 4 cards left in the deck (storm count is above 40) my friend looks at me and I ask him if he has a counter spell, he says no and scoops...last 4 cards in my deck were my 3 wishes and my only brain freeze. no other main deck win con. he looked at me and was mad. (we played for $20 a game tonight) So i ended the night with enough to get me a box just by asking for a counterspell.

[GreenOne]

You'd be surprised how long you can stall your opponent while keeping 2 blue mana open and telling them to "hold on a sec" or you "need to think" after each spell they play. Most players will hold back their bombs.

I do it all the time playing Doomsday or AnT! Well, not exactly keeping mana open, but just not playing Mysticals and Infernals until they're necessary. Fortunately, blue has FoW to feint. :) People also use their card selection (Brainstorm, Ponder, SDT) to find Threats and Critter Removal more than counters if they believe you're another blue based aggrocontrol deck.

[Pulp_Fiction]

This is not a Jedi Mind Trick. It is just plain unkind and unsportsmanlike. You see in order for it to be a trick you have to actually trick them, not exploit some poor kid's ADD or whatever.

To contribute: You'd be surprised how long you can stall your opponent while keeping 2 blue mana open and telling them to "hold on a sec" or you "need to think" after each spell they play. Most players will hold back their bombs.

Totally disagree, it was not unsportsmanlike at all, everyone was friends there and we all annoyed the shit out of eachother while playing. It was some kind of trick, be it jedi-like or not, but it won me cards and the Jedis' are winners :) And for the record, be it kind or not, I completely tricked him into losing the game.

[Dan Turner]

Totally disagree, it was not unsportsmanlike at all, everyone was friends there and we all annoyed the shit out of eachother while playing. It was some kind of trick, be it jedi-like or not, but it won me cards and the Jedis' are winners :) And for the record, be it kind or not, I completely tricked him into losing the game.

It is more like a Sith power called "being a dick". Jedi win by fair play and out thinking the opponent not bulling them. Honestly if the happened around me you would be thrown out of the store I have seen players try it and that is what happens.

[Raider Bob]

Better yet is when your playing a control deck and you have had 5 or 6 turns and your opponent says, you have to have counters by now and says lets goto game 3. When you see all whit cards in your hand and say ok.

[Shriekmaw]

A long ass time ago during a draft, I believe it was 3 packs of Torment but not sure. I was playing against this kid who was a decent player named Kevin and he was very easy to rattle. We used to always say "Kevin, your mom is here" and he looked everytime. It was fuckin pro! Anyway, I destroyed him game 1 but my deck decided it hated me on the second game and Kevin was drawing all of his bombs. I had a small army on my side and he had me dead on the board after he drew some other flyer. But I just drew Ambassador Laquatus, the guy who mills for 3 when you pay 3 colorless and I noticed I had enough mana to deck him in 3 more turns. So, after I drop Laquatus and tell Kevin to go I start talking to him about the car his mom drives, which is a Touareg (VW SUV) and then I keep asking "are you done yet Kevin, can I go, can I go?" And amazingly to my suprise he passed the turn with lethal damage on the board, so I say EOT mill you for 9 (this was fucking late in the game). I draw another pointless land and say go. On his turn I do the same thing except I got a little louder and I started saying "is it my turn yet Kevin, you are taking forever, can I go, can I go??" Still expecting him to swing and kill me dead he passes the turn!!!! I say EOT mill you for 12 and he has like 6 cards left in his library. On my turn I mill the rest of his library away and pass it back for the win!!!! And then I went on to split in the finals! This was certainly the closest thing I have done to a Jedi Mind Trick!

I can't believe you would tell this story and be proud how you actually won the game by being unsportsmanlike and breaking the rules of the game. You have to think to yourself what kind of player you actually are if you will go to any length to win a freakin' card game.

I try to play this game with a lot of respect not only for myself, but for everyone else as well. Regardless of what people may think of some of my post on these forms, I one of the nicest magic card player to play against in actually tournaments because I hold a very high level of respect for everyone.

[Ectoplasm]

I remember someone saying 'try to be that guy everybody likes playing against' and yes, he was right.

[iamajellydonut]

Two favorite mind tricks.

Asking for Browbeat targets. (Browbeat, lol. I know. Whatever. I't saved my ass.)

Only actually got this to happen once. Kudos to the guy on Gleemax for thinking of this. p.s. This was pre-M10.
Opponent's combo ready to go off. Mana in pool. Pause him and ask for priority. Move to combat phase.

[mossivo1986]

I do agree with the find a feared card and use it as bate for mind trickery theory. Personally i'm a talker in tourneys. This is especially useful when I play against players who think its their manifest destiny to win said tournament and that because they don't know me that they should win. Generally these are very quiet players who pay extremely close attention to the game. The idea is that if your confident enough in your deck and your skill you can focus more on playing the positive mind games on your opponent. They tend to lose focus on board position for small bits at a time and thats precisely when your able to gain your advantage. It works game 1's primarily as it allows you to get something in play thats lethal to their board position.

Then when you shuffle for the next game using that one card as bait you talk to them about how powerful it is and your not suprised that they got caught off gaurd by said play which ended up beating them. Thats when you can bait that reaction as if your going to play said combination/ or card and hoze them for overprotecting themselves against it. I've won so many games off of playing to my decks advantages and my own positive attitude.

Also a specific jedi mind trick that I happen to partake in is with vendillion clique. Saying the words cast vendillion clique? or Resolve? and they nod and dump their hand. This happens ALL the time. It's actually rediculous how many players you can jedi mind trick into dumping their hand.

Another might be when I played U.R Izzetron in standard regionals a while back. I was sitting against an R.I.W. player (known for cockiness" in a bad game 2 situation. He had lethal on the board and didn't have to do anything in order to win. I on the other hand was stuck with compulsive research, demonfire, and a second unplayable land in my hand. I knew he had counter-magic, so the demonfire with no hellbent wasn't good. He had plagiarize'd me the game before. So I cast compulsive research and I say "well... go ahead and plagiarize me." Sure enough he bites and I discard the land(, giving me just enough to demonfire him for nine hellbent (lethal) He gives me the "Thats the absolute only way you could have won was with a lethal demonfire!" grabs the match slip, signs, and walks away a tortured soul.

I'll post more later.

[PhanTom_lt]

Two favorite mind tricks.

Asking for Browbeat targets. (Browbeat, lol. I know. Whatever. I't saved my ass.)

Only actually got this to happen once. Kudos to the guy on Gleemax for thinking of this. p.s. This was pre-M10.
Opponent's combo ready to go off. Mana in pool. Pause him and ask for priority. Move to combat phase.

The second one is illegal. If a player specifically asks for priority and does nothing with it, i.e. passes, his opponent can resume his phase.

[Manhattan]

I and my opponent shuffle up before the match. He throws the die but only glances at it before continuing to shuffle. I throw the die for a lower number but say with full confidence "I'll go first.".
He looks a little confused but then says "Ok."

[Ectoplasm]

I and my opponent shuffle up before the match. He throws the die but only glances at it before continuing to shuffle. I throw the die for a lower number but say with full confidence "I'll go first.".
He looks a little confused but then says "Ok."

That's great
Me at 3 life playing landstill, hand filled with counters staring down 2 cursecatchers after having to break his standstill, I sigh and ask 'are you holding any lords?' and he promptly drops them on the table for me, I pass the turn and counter his shit, thanks for the information :D
I ended up losing that game but I thought it was pretty neat anyway.

[Nightmare]

I and my opponent shuffle up before the match. He throws the die but only glances at it before continuing to shuffle. I throw the die for a lower number but say with full confidence "I'll go first.".
He looks a little confused but then says "Ok."

Also illegal. You aren't allowed to mis-represent the results of a randomization for choice of who plays and draws.

[DrJones]

The second one is illegal. If a player specifically asks for priority and does nothing with it, i.e. passes, his opponent can resume his phase.

In fact, it became illegal after the trick became popular because it was busted.

[emidln]

In the last grinder for GP Chicago I'm playing against Merfolk in round 2. I'm packing a 4 Duress, 3 Pyroblast, 1 Chant list of ANT/Doomsday and I win game one while showboating for the crowd that develops around us. In game two I do my best big tourney routine of talking a lot when my opponent recognizes the EMIDLN on my playmat. I confirm that I'm the combo player from the internet and we shuffle up for g2.

He loses an early Standstill and is pretty depressed about his hand. I'm not drawing any accel at all and can't find a bomb either. I begin making my land drops while using REB/Duress to keep him from even considering plays. He gets some dudes, begins the beats, and I'm low on life. My hand is pretty marginal with double Mystical Tutor, a chant, and a dark rit + two more lands when he puts me on my final turn with a resolved lord. I quick play a Mystical Tutor on his end step asking if I can go get my Doomsday to win now. He nervously says wait and just looks at me. I count my cards in hand and lands in play for his benefit before he decides to tap out for FoW. I calc up the life he has and my storm and Mystical again. It resolves and I immediately go for my only out, a meditate into the nuts (draws me 4 cards and I skip a turn).

At this point I need like runner, runner, with 2 additional decent cards to even think about winning this game. I untap, Chant him which runs into Daze that I pay for and start in with the Rit + Meditate. I'm at 4 storm and manage to hit one of my out draws: Mystical, SDT, LED, Brainstorm. I count up my mana and realize that I'm short a mana for IGG to do anything relevant. I have the choice of Brainstorming into a +2 ritual effect (4 left in the deck) or going for Mystical -> Tendrils, LED, Top that should leave him at 1 life.

I decide all of this in moments while I'm making my plays (lots of practice) and smoothly Mystical tutor. He asks for spell count and I give it to him at which point I realize that he has already lost the game in his head. I then flip my hand face up (which gets a pale look), cast SDT, and tap top, breaking LED for BBB floating BBBB into the Tendrils that I just windmill onto the table while I extend my hand. I think I see movement to my right (where some friends were observing) and catch Dave Caplan ushering Lam Phan from the area. My opponent looks at his life pad (which reads 19 mind you), says something about Force of Will, and then takes my hand before grabbing the match slip and signing 2-0. I thank him, wish him luck in the GP, and move to my friends who are staring at me in utter disbelief. As we're walking away, Lam points out that my opponent wasn't dead to which I responded that he appeared to scoop up his cards and concede.

A slightly shorter tale:

I'm playing NLS in Boston against Thrash. It's game one and I pulled off a turn 1 Duress, Mox, LED into an eot Mystical Tutor to set up the turn 2 Ad Nauseam. I'm clear and go for Rit and break my LED for BLACK mana against all advice that I normally give out. I proceed to draw Ad Nauseam and float B when I cast it. I proceed to draw like 25 cards while looking for a win condition. At 5 life I flip a Tendrils of Agony and mentally despair as I stop the Ad Nauseam. I startt separating my cards into a pile of free mana, rituals, duresses, and the Tendrils while counting under my breath and making notes on my pad to count storm. I ask "move to main phase?" (which is where I burn to death if he passes back) to which my opponent tells me I don't have to because he's scooping up his cards (and he does).

[DrJones]

I was playing a game on Shandalar against my brother, when he sees me drop a forest first turn followed by a Bird of Paradise. He drops a land, pass, and then asks what deck I'm playing, because he has never seen it. I respond that it's "a deck able to play second turn Force of Nature while being able to maintain it", and I play another forest, emerald mox, black lotus and cast it. He gets absolutely dazed at my deck, so he just concedes and ask me to swap decks next game.

At next game, he suddenly discovers that my deck was nothing more than forests, a mox, a black lotus, and a single copy of every green card in the game.

[Manhattan]

Also illegal. You aren't allowed to mis-represent the results of a randomization for choice of who plays and draws.

Well the line is thin there. I can only imagine that you are refering to section 6.2: Cheating - Fraud of the DCI Infraction Procedure Guide which gives the example "D. A player lies to his opponent about his life total."
However I didn't lie about the number I rolled, or the number he rolled, or that my number was higher. I just made a statement that mindtricked him into letting me go first.
Maybe it's only a matter of opinion but consider these sentences:
"May I go first?"
"I go first, ok?"
"I go first."
When does a naive question turn into fraud?

[mossivo1986]

I do agree with the find a feared card and use it as bate for mind trickery theory. Personally i'm a talker in tourneys. This is especially useful when I play against players who think its their manifest destiny to win said tournament and that because they don't know me that they should win. Generally these are very quiet players who pay extremely close attention to the game. The idea is that if your confident enough in your deck and your skill you can focus more on playing the positive mind games on your opponent. They tend to lose focus on board position for small bits at a time and thats precisely when your able to gain your advantage. It works game 1's primarily as it allows you to get something in play thats lethal to their board position.

Then when you shuffle for the next game using that one card as bait you talk to them about how powerful it is and your not suprised that they got caught off gaurd by said play which ended up beating them. Thats when you can bait that reaction as if your going to play said combination/ or card and hoze them for overprotecting themselves against it. I've won so many games off of playing to my decks advantages and my own positive attitude.

Also a specific jedi mind trick that I happen to partake in is with vendillion clique. Saying the words cast vendillion clique? or Resolve? and they nod and dump their hand. This happens ALL the time. It's actually rediculous how many players you can jedi mind trick into dumping their hand.

Another might be when I played U.R Izzetron in standard regionals a while back. I was sitting against an R.I.W. player (known for cockiness" in a bad game 2 situation. He had lethal on the board and didn't have to do anything in order to win. I on the other hand was stuck with compulsive research, demonfire, and a second unplayable land in my hand. I knew he had counter-magic, so the demonfire with no hellbent wasn't good. He had plagiarize'd me the game before. So I cast compulsive research and I say "well... go ahead and plagiarize me." Sure enough he bites and I discard the land(, giving me just enough to demonfire him for nine hellbent (lethal) He gives me the "Thats the absolute only way you could have won was with a lethal demonfire!" grabs the match slip, signs, and walks away a tortured soul.

I'll post more later.

[pi4meterftw]

Well the line is thin there. I can only imagine that you are refering to section 6.2: Cheating - Fraud of the DCI Infraction Procedure Guide which gives the example "D. A player lies to his opponent about his life total."
However I didn't lie about the number I rolled, or the number he rolled, or that my number was higher. I just made a statement that mindtricked him into letting me go first.
Maybe it's only a matter of opinion but consider these sentences:
"May I go first?"
"I go first, ok?"
"I go first."
When does a naive question turn into fraud?

Lol when you intend it to be a fraud. Was it really a naive question? If honestly so, then it's not cheating.

[xTrainx]

In the last grinder for GP Chicago I'm playing against Merfolk in round 2. I'm packing a 4 Duress, 3 Pyroblast, 1 Chant list of ANT/Doomsday and I win game one while showboating for the crowd that develops around us. In game two I do my best big tourney routine of talking a lot when my opponent recognizes the EMIDLN on my playmat. I confirm that I'm the combo player from the internet and we shuffle up for g2.

He loses an early Standstill and is pretty depressed about his hand. I'm not drawing any accel at all and can't find a bomb either. I begin making my land drops while using REB/Duress to keep him from even considering plays. He gets some dudes, begins the beats, and I'm low on life. My hand is pretty marginal with double Mystical Tutor, a chant, and a dark rit + two more lands when he puts me on my final turn with a resolved lord. I quick play a Mystical Tutor on his end step asking if I can go get my Doomsday to win now. He nervously says wait and just looks at me. I count my cards in hand and lands in play for his benefit before he decides to tap out for FoW. I calc up the life he has and my storm and Mystical again. It resolves and I immediately go for my only out, a meditate into the nuts (draws me 4 cards and I skip a turn).

At this point I need like runner, runner, with 2 additional decent cards to even think about winning this game. I untap, Chant him which runs into Daze that I pay for and start in with the Rit + Meditate. I'm at 4 storm and manage to hit one of my out draws: Mystical, SDT, LED, Brainstorm. I count up my mana and realize that I'm short a mana for IGG to do anything relevant. I have the choice of Brainstorming into a +2 ritual effect (4 left in the deck) or going for Mystical -> Tendrils, LED, Top that should leave him at 1 life.

I decide all of this in moments while I'm making my plays (lots of practice) and smoothly Mystical tutor. He asks for spell count and I give it to him at which point I realize that he has already lost the game in his head. I then flip my hand face up (which gets a pale look), cast SDT, and tap top, breaking LED for BBB floating BBBB into the Tendrils that I just windmill onto the table while I extend my hand. I think I see movement to my right (where some friends were observing) and catch Dave Caplan ushering Lam Phan from the area. My opponent looks at his life pad (which reads 19 mind you), says something about Force of Will, and then takes my hand before grabbing the match slip and signing 2-0. I thank him, wish him luck in the GP, and move to my friends who are staring at me in utter disbelief. As we're walking away, Lam points out that my opponent wasn't dead to which I responded that he appeared to scoop up his cards and concede.

Nice.