Shannon Error Magic style

Problem
I often have unspent mana during my untap step. Since I started playing UG I am seeing more of this. Some of it may be acceptable because I am holding mana back for counter spells which I do not need to use, but I am concerned that my mana ramp is not aligning with my deck and/or my draws.

Error Definition

The Shannon Error  is based on one of the Great Lewis & Clark explorers, who thought he had fallen behind, when in fact he had gotten ahead, of his team. So he rushed to catch up, which only compounded his problem by moving him further away from the rest of the expedition and further from much needed supplies.

From Shannon's experience, we can deduce the Shannon Error: the pursuit of a goal with great effort, the attainment of which is through less effort, not more; or, trying to catch up when you are already ahead.

Example

My current concern is that I find myself often not spending all of my mana each turn. This happens in two ways--I create I have found that this happens to me a lot in magic. New to the game, I find myself drawn to large Timmy creatures that have clearly defined rolls on the battlefield.

Thus, I am a big fan of any thing that encourages Mana acceleration so that I can get these guys out as soon as possible.

Solution

Actual Play Legacy of the Crystal Shard--D&D Encounters S16 S1

Legacy of the Crystal Shard--D&D Encounters S16 S1

I am DM'ing this Season of D&D Encounters at Mercenary Market in Costa Mesa, CA. 

We are using the D&D Next rules, which I have not read.

My plan it to run a fairly loose and off the cuff campaign.

I started this by modifying the first encounter to involved Plague Touched Arctic Creatures [I plan to use a lot of Spell Plague stuff this season--since it will likely be completely retcon'd by the Sundering, I may as well do my best to make it memorable].

I started with a spell touched arctic hound to replace the Crag Cat in the adventure

And because I had twelve players at my table, I added a Plague Touched Boar.

FEAR IT!

The party slaughtered them no problem--D&D Next threat level is very old school--everything is fairly squishy in ways that are often unpredictable.

Jake is playing a mage. Brian is playing some kind of Hip Hop bard. Scott is playing Drizzt. Thor is playing a broken Death Cleric.

Sarah also has a bard. Jack is a gnome theif.

Will, who actually knows the rules, is playing a barbarian, Cody has a bard or something as well, 

Elizabeth was playing the NPC Aldo--she had not played in a while. Carlos has a knight with a foil riding an ice crocodile or something. Eric is playing Druid the Druid.

The adventure began with the players rolling on my Random Ideals Table:

They made quick work of the Plague Touched Beasts. They split the party to repair Aldo's cart, but I did not know how to take advantage of that--out of practice as a DM, I think. I will make them pay for that next time.

The combat with the Yeti's went well--players learned their characters.

There was not a lot of threat--the Yeti's were very squishy.

Looking foreword to next week.

Unboxing Legacy of the Crystal Shard

Single Shot Gruul Key Rune

Another great week of Tuesday Morning with Magic--Evan's mom sent over tangerines & Lisa made banana chocolate chip muffins.

The Boys all rolled in right around 8:00 AM--at this point they all have their own decks & we are looking to create a tournament pool going foreword.

Andrew, Evan, and Dylan all had winning records.

Derek [who cracked a fantastic Planeswalker], Matt, and Jack did not fair as well--actually, I think Jack was undefeated--but Derek struggled and Matt got crushed.

We had more questions on Double Strike and blocking--still something that confuses the boys--we think Double Strike deals damage two times [once during first strike, once during normal combat], even when it is blocking.

The First Strike vs Deathtouch also came up again--we think First Strike damage is applied before Deathtouch & if the creature dies during First Strike Phase Deathtouch does not come into play.

And finally we had a question about the Grull Keyrune

can the Rug Cutter be summoned and turned into a creature in one turn for 3RG? We voted that it could--Artifacts do not have summoning sickness.