We were playing Extended; I was playing my Junk deck (green/white/black), and my opponent was using his own black/red/white deck. It was early in the game, and both my opponent and myself were at a high life total. I was in control of a Spectral Lynx which was ready to block with enough mana to regenerate it twice, if need be. My opponent controlled a 1/1 creature, and was pondering what to do on his turn when he decided to Shock my Lynx and attack me for 1 damage. I went down to 16 as a result.

It was when he made this highly questionable play that I got to thinking about how often Magic players, beginners in particular, allow their own cards to be made worse in the middle of a game. If A=B and B=C, then A=C, right? So then, in the example I gave above, my opponent turned his own Shock into the following card:

Shock
R
Sorcery
As an additional cost to play Shock, tap a creature you control.
Shock deals 1 damage to target opponent.

There are several other reasons why my opponent's play was a bad one, but I'm not going to go into those here and now. My point is, the Shock in the hand that can deal 2 damage to any target at any time later in the game is worth so much more than the terrible card listed above.

Another mistake I've seen beginners make too often is when, usually in a limited game, there will be several creatures on both sides of the board, and neither player is attacking for fear of losing his creatures. The one player finally draws a combat trick (we'll use Giant Growth for this example) and decides to try to push some damage through. They attack with everything, but their opponent has the advantage, because their opponent decides how to block, so the attacking player loses several creatures to blockers simply to push through three or four damage.

Giant Growth
G
Instant
As an additional cost to play Giant Growth, sacrifice three creatures.
Giant Growth deals 3-4 damage to target opponent.

Again, this is a poor example, and a good player will not make such a mistake, but that's not the point. My point is that you should think about what it is, exactly, that your cards are doing when you play them. Let's say you trick your opponent into overextending and commiting too many creatures to the board. Then you play Wrath of God...

Wrath of God
2WW
Sorcery
Trade this one single card for four of your opponent's best cards.

Now imagine that a little Raging Goblin is beating down on you, and you decide you've had enough. Your only answer is Wrath of God, so you let the little punk have it.

Wrath of God
2WW
Sorcery
Destroy target 1/1.

You see the point? So many times we allow ourselves as Magic players to transform the best cards in our deck into cards that nobody would ever play. The best players in this game see this, and try to set up situations where they get the most out of every mana they use, and every card they play. Conversely, some of the best cards in the game force your opponent to turn his own cards into bad cards. For example, let's say you play a Teferi's Moat for green against a red/green beatdown deck...

Raging Kavu
1RG
3/1
Raging Kavu can't attack.

Kavu Titan
1G
2/2
Kavu Titan can't attack.

Wild Mongrel
1G
3/3
Whenever Wild Mongrel attacks, choose and discard a card from your hand.

It is the ability to make good cards bad and bad cards good that separates the good players from the bad players in this game. It's a crucial technique in limited play, and equally important in constructed, and understanding this concept is just one of the keys to becoming a successful Magic player.

As soon as he attacks with it unblocked he sacs it...for no reason!!! He try to help but there is no helping him

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