The road from Diamond to Mythic is the longest stretch of points in the game and competition is heated! In Diamond league every opponent you face is in it to win it so you better bring your A game. Here are ten helpful tips that can push you over the threshold so you can finally earn that coveted Mythic trophy.

1 - Play with power!

All people might be created equal, but that does not apply to Magic Spellslingers. Some Spellslingers outperform many others due to conditions in the current meta, or overtuned cards that they are best at taking advantage of. As noble as it is to be the low tier hero and take your Jace vampire tribal deck to the top of the ladder, you will see a noticable improvement if you stick to what works. Check out our tier list to see our thoughts on who the most powerful spellslingers are this season.

2 - Play to your strengths!

Everyone has a certain playstyle or decklist that they enjoy. While it is important to find a powerful strategy, it’s equally important to find one that works for you. Grinding countless games with a deck you hate playing with will inevitably lead to burn out.

3 - Practice. Practice. Practice!

‘Really? We’re talking about practice?’ Well, in the case of the climb to mythic nothing is more important. Having the latest and greatest deck is nice, but top ladder players are very experienced with piloting the decks they choose, which comes from getting in the reps to understand how your cards interact. If you are brand new to a deck, try getting a feel for it in a low stakes setting like a direct challenge with a clanmate, or even bot games. Here you can test certain cards to understand situations that will come up in actual high ladder games.

4 - Know your matchups!

Once you have a feel for your deck, it’s good to know how your deck plays against the rest of the field. It’s rare that a deck is completely uncontested in the metagame, there are usually foils for every strategy in collectible card games. When this happens you will want to recognize when you have to deviate from your deck’s normal gameplan. Magic players are familiar with the idea of recognizing ‘who the beatdown is” in a given game. In most games, there one deck that aims to be proactive, or play the role of ‘The beatdown’ in order to have the best shot at winning. The player with the most robust endgame can afford to instead play defensively to grant themselves the greatest amount of resources going into the late game. Recognize the role you must play in any given matchup so that you understand when you have to take risks, and when you can play safely and reactively.

5 - Take Notes!

After your play session, it’s a good idea to reflect on the games you played. Taking notes on how many games you played and lost is good information that will help you better think about your decks place in the metagame. You can take this one step further and add notes on individual cards that seem to be underperforming or opposing strategies that just seem to keep beating you.

6 - Stick to your guns!

Ranking up is a numbers game. So long as gain more points than you lose, you will eventually reach the finish line. This means that play over a long series of games is very important. You don’t do yourself any favors by wildly swapping decks after every loss. Once you have a solid strategy and list, it’s better to make small adaptations in playstyle or card choice if you seem to keep losing a matchup that you are supposed to win on paper.

7 - Use your sideboard!

The deckbuilder allows you to make three decks for every spellslinger. The metagame for Diamond ladder can changes every day. One day you might find yourself getting rushed down by red decks, the next every other game might be against Teferi control. If you are on the grind with a certain deck, you should have three copies of that list, with small adaptations to help with your matchup spread. If you are playing something like Vraska, perhaps you have one list with 2x treetop lookouts and a second list with 2x Elvish Archers instead.

8 - Pace yourself!

Even the best players have bad days. If you notice yourself unable to focus, or you feel ladder anxiety or tilt beginning to take hold, take a break and clear your head. The worst thing you can do to yourself is play while you are distracted, which is a quick way to kill all of your ladder progress. For some people, it can be a good idea to make a conservative point goal and try and aim for that mark each day rather than just grind non-stop. Try playing only for 100 pts instead of hoping to go all the way to mythic in one shot.

9 - Play when you’re hot!

On the otherhand, some days you feel like you just can’t lose! If you are on a hot streak that means you found yourself in a good spot in the metagame against favorable opponents. This is your chance to shine so push on and see how far you can carry your hot streak!

10 - Collaborate!

No one person has all the best advice for every deck. Magic Spellslingers has excellent in game resources for collaboration through the Team system. Find an active team with like minded players. There you can share your knowledge and gain some insight from other players that might be playing the same decks as you are. Another great resource are the various community discords and streaming communities built around Spellslingers.