Tight Play

I will always remember a friend that during Standard with Lorwyn Block legal he would leave a filter land untapped without anything to filter. I always laughed when he couldn't pump Figure because he only had colorless available due to a mistap.

I have another friend forgets on board tricks. It's doubly true when I used them a few turns ago, he just doesn't remember and runs into the same trap. There was one multiplayer game where someone literally talked about the on board trick if this friend attacked, I casually mentioned he was going to fall for it anyway, my friend got all huffy and said he wouldn't fall for it, and then walked right into it 30 seconds later!

When keeping your play tight, you have to remember that life is ultimately a resource. Can you trade blows and win a long game? Is it more advantageous if you just trade? Sometimes just trading your life for more resources to be used later is helpful. I've seen games where the opponent tries to save their life in unprofitable trades and later on down the road wishes they had those resources.