Visit 17Lands and use the filters to view the commons of one color. Sort them by 'games drawn win rate'. Make a list of the top ten commons for that color. Then repeat this for the other colors.

Study the lists, and try to learn the top 3 commons from each color.

Choose two legendary creatures. One might have a quote in its flavor text.

Write a story about what happens when they encounter each other.

Normally, during a draft, you will select which colors to play based on what the best cards you find in your first 2-3 packs are. Rather than this, you are going to pick your colors before you begin, and try to optimize their strategy using the cards that you happen to find.

In each draftable set, each of the 10 color pairs is designed to favor a certain game plan, such as generating tokens, or filling the graveyard. You should research what this preference is for the color pair you've picked. This may help you predict which colorless cards can add to the synergy of your deck.

If you have drafted this set before, consider forcing a color pair or trio that is very different from what you built in the other drafts. Another way to do this is, if your first pack has a multicolored uncommon, you should pick that card and those colors, as it is a 'signpost' showing pretty clearly what your strategy should be. This will help you decide when to prefer creatures with flying, for example, or creatures that cost very little mana, versus ones that could dominate in the late game.

Visit MTG Goldfish and pick one of the decks they catalog. Look at each card in the deck and start to memorize what it does. Write down the names of the cards if they're not familiar to you.

Try to examine the number of cards that are there to build up the deck's own board, and how many are there to disrupt the opponent's board.

Go through the list of names and try to recite from memory what each card costs and what its stats are, and what effects it has.

If a deck has some cards that are very expensive, you should look for cards that can achieve the same effect or play the same role, which are more affordable. These spells likely won't be as powerful, as flexible, or as mana-efficient, but in some matches they will be able to get the job done.

Alternately, you can replace one strategy with another in the deck's game plan. For example, in place of a card that destroys creatures, you could try a spell that counters creature spells, or one that stops them from attacking.

Register to compete in a draft or constructed event. During setup, take some time to introduce yourself to your fellow players. Shuffle well and play carefully, calmly try to win each game if possible, and following the games that you don't, try to remain satisfied and grateful for any lessons you can take from the match.

If you notice any plays you make that you feel were mistakes, or if you forget to execute some of the rules of your and your opponents' cards, make a note of this, forgive yourself, and think a bit about what can help you remember the scenario and interaction that you misjudged.

At the end of each game, take a look at the cards left in your hand, consider why they were not useful or able to be deployed in that game, and what kind of spells would have been more useful if you had them in your deck. You can ask your opponent for an opinion on this if you like.

Given a deck of two or more colors, and a format, you should select the lands that you would add to the deck to give it the best chance at generating the mana it needs to cast spells early, to cast multiple spells on some turns, and possibly to avoid getting too many lands when they're not needed, or to get utility value out of the lands when the mana is not needed for spells.