My initial idea for this week’s article involved talking about Planar Chaos. I’d write about the cards and the set, and my experiences at the Prereleases, as I played one on Saturday and another on Sunday (and will do it again next week). The thing is, my column is not so orientated towards Limited or Constructed like some others, which means I have a little more variety in topics, so I decided not to steal topics and leave Planar Chaos opinions and reviews to Limited and Constructed columnists. What could I say anyway? Damnation looks awesome – it kills all the creatures and allows decks not playing White to play an exact copy of arguably the best card in Standard? I don’t envy those who talk about newly released sets.
Last week I focused on preparation for Constructed tournaments. However, even if you’re playing the best deck in the field, victory is far from guaranteed. There are a lot of other elements involved, such as random factors (e.g. the pairings), and your own ability. In order to simplify things we usually refer to those random factors as “luck,” and to our own abilities as playskill, but as you can see it’s hard to have a single word to describe such abstract elements. Today, I’ll talk about playskill. Next week, I’ll conclude with luck.
I have a theory to explain playskill and how it develops. This started as nothing more than a silly idea, spawned when I had nothing to do, probably on a flight to somewhere or during a night of terrible insomnia…
First, imagine every Magic player in the world is a Role-Playing-Game videogame character. I’m keeping this basic, as I’ve never played a computer RPG (or a real-life RPG with books). My experience with RPGs is limited to pretty straightforward non-complex videogames for Playstation or Sega Mega Drive (called Genesis to some of you).
In the beginning, a Magic player can be compared to a RPG character at Level 1. These characters have multiple stats such as Attack Power, Defense, HP, MP, and Agility. If you compare some characters at this point, you will see some differences in their attributes, but not by a large margin as they’re all still very undeveloped. Then, those who are used in battle will gain experience, and as their experience grows, it will trigger a “level up” resulting in improvement of some of the stats.
Each character is different, and they will not improve at the same rate even if they go through the same scenarios. There are those who level up very quickly, needing only a couple of hits or kills to gain the experience required, while others will gain less experience with the same actions, or they need more experience points to level up. Even when they do level up, their stats do not improve in a symmetrical way. Some will gain an overall improvement factor that is better than others. Some will only improve specific stats, leaving others unaffected by the “level up.” In the beginning of this “levelling characters” process, you can see some stereotypes in the character “classes.” For example Warriors have great defense, while Mages have a lot of MP and intelligence. Some characters will level up very quickly and gaining a huge boost, making them tower above the others, but they’ll eventually catch up. Some will require great patience to level up; for example, non-human characters such as newly hatched animals, baby dragons, or birds. They start out as mediocre, but once they reach a certain level, they can become your MVP.
Another aspect of levelling up is that the higher you are, the harder it gets. Each time you’ll need to perform more actions or gain more experience, and the enemies are stronger. If at some point you become stuck and can’t advance any further into the plot, you’ll be battling the same enemies time and time again, gaining less experience each time you do so. The further you advance in the plot, the higher you’ll expand your characters towards the top of their potential. In real life, this is something no one can see… what is the maximum value of a “stat” that a character can reach? We can estimate that it has the potential to be really high… but we never truly know how close we are to the character’s limit, or if he has already achieved it.
Videogame RPG characters have many points in common with Magic players, in the way they gain experience and level up. Almost everything I said so far about RPG characters can be seen as a metaphor for becoming a better Magic player.
While they do have many similarities in the way they evolve, Magic players have something the characters don’t, which is our own free will and freedom to do whatever we want. As humans and Magic players, we cannot choose our inherent skills, as talent is something distributed in a very unfair way. But we can choose what to do with what we’re given. We re obviously limited by the conditions surrounding us, but we do have many more choices to make than RPG characters.
In a game, a Mage will always be something magical, whether it’s a Wizard, a Sorcerer, or maybe a Healer. It’s very unlikely he can become a Warrior later in the game. There are no such limiting “character classes” in Magic. A Constructed specialist might do specific training to improve his Limited game: playing with Limited decks, drafting and deckbuilding, and soon becoming a feared Limited player. While we can’t decide our initial stats, strengths, and weaknesses, we can make our own story, rather than follow a pre-established path like in a game.
However, while a fine story for one guy may take him to the top, the same story for another guy will not bear the same fruit. Let’s say someone tries to follow what I did at Pro Tour: Honolulu to a Top 8 finish. In a Standard Pro Tour, where I expected a lot of control decks, I played Owling Mine. This crushed all of them, but couldn’t win against decks with Char. It worked for me, but if I had to repeat it again I would most likely get crushed.
Lately I’ve been talking to many Magic players who found themselves going through a streak of unimpressive results that never seem to never end. They know they can obtain better results – they already posted some in the past, yet in spite of doing things “by the book,” they keep adding frustrating results. I feel powerless to help them, as I can’t point them a magical formula to solve their problems. Every person is different, and so is every Magic player. What might be a road to victory for one might be a terrible plan for others. While there are no “character classes” within the community of Magic players, it’s safe to say that there are certain types of players that can be categorized. No category of player is necessarily superior to another – each type of player can, and has, found success at the highest level.
Now that I’ve explained this simplified view of talent / playskill / experience using the metaphor of videogame characters, and knowing that every Magic player has his own path to follow, I’m going to present some stereotype of players, based on the Top players in Portugal that I’ve known for a very long time. Each player has his own style, but one way or another they found their own path to success. The three categories I’d like to cover are The Talented, The Focused, and The Experienced.
The Talented
Unfortunately this is a rare species of Magic player. At Level 1, and in the early stages of development, you can already see he’s very gifted. Learning the game and the strategies is all so natural to him. Only after advancing a couple of levels will we discover if he has a great talent or a medium one (i.e. someone who levels up through the early stages ahead of the others, but eventually stabilizes his game). I have only met two players in Portugal that I consider to be great talents (one of which is no longer active). There is a third one that I’ve heard of but never met… He’s a myth.
And there is a myth surrounding The Talented: they never practice. Most of the time, this myth is created by their followers. They claim, “if he practiced he could [insert random big accomplishment in here].” The talented players I met (I’m not talking about the biggest names, like Kai Budde or Jon Finkel) practiced no less than the other players. The difference was that when they did attend tournaments unprepared, they had a better chance of success, thanks to their natural talents. They usually see all the angles and possibilities much faster that others, and even when they’re not comfortable with a format they don’t know, they generally don’t make awful plays thanks to their base understanding of the game.
During their peaks, The Talented players I met were undeniably the best players in my country, and they were playing a lot (contrary to some thoughts out there). When they were not so interested in the game, they would remain up there with the best, as their talent would make up for the lack or insufficient practice.
What advice can I leave to players like this? Talent is a gift few have. They probably don’t need my advice, as success for them comes with such ease they can’t even explain how it happens. It’s very rare to hear a true talented player complain about not reaching his goals (if they’re reasonable). They know they’re good, so when they’re not winning they usually maintain a cold head to analyze the causes.
What lessons can we learn from The Talented? Watch them play! Sometimes it’s like watching a foreign movie. We can’t understand unless there are subtitles. There are games that you or I would’ve lost on numerous occasions, but they turn it around and win. Usually talented players are very confident in themselves. This is something we all should be… but not arrogant.
The Focused
Some would say that this is more an attitude rather than a stereotype of player. That doesn’t work for me, as no matter how much I try I can’t focus myself in such a restricted time period… but these players do. Let’s go back to high school and compare the “focused” students to the “talented” students – those students who would always get an A grade, as if it were the easiest thing in the world. This stereotype of Magic players can be compared to the students who obtained good grades, but had to work hard for them – studying all day and all night for a given exam during the week before.
In Magic, these players are not as naturally gifted as The Talented, but they are no slouches either. People usually see them as very dedicated, or players that practice a lot. We tend to dismiss their talent, but trust me: they do have it. They’re above average. But they need to work a lot harder than The Talented. With the appropriate amount of preparation, these players can certainly be at the highest levels of the game, but unlike The Talented (who have their own natural skill to make up for some lack of preparation), The Focused can “only” be above average, or in the middle of the pack, when unprepared.
For a Limited Pro Tour they have to draft plenty of times to understand the format, and they usually do a number of drafts that some might consider ridiculous just to try to reach to their best. A lack of preparation is generally reflected in their performances… it’s easy to see when these players are prepared or not. One thing’s for sure, when they’re preparing a format, they don’t distract themselves with others. This can be a sacrifice, as they won’t draft when preparing for a Constructed event.
What can we learn from The Focused? At first, we need to understand our skills and limits. The Focused know their strengths and weaknesses. After they honestly realize their potential and limitations, they understand how much they need to do in order to be successful. They accept the fact that they are not so naturally gifted as The Talented, but they make up for that. The hardest part for us will be to make an honest evaluation of ourselves – no overrating or underrating – to discover where we are and how far can we get. Then, and only then, can we work hard to get there.
The Experienced
In this category, I view the players as just as determined as The Focused. However, their efforts aren’t concentrated in a single short period of time, with an eye on the next event. Instead, it is distributed over their lifetime. They have been playing the game for a very long time with some relative success. They have taken bad beats, but remain in the game. Despite not having the natural talent of The Talented or the force of will of The Focused, some of these players almost manage to reach the very top. This is a result of a very long process of internal growth, where they matured both as players and human beings.
I talked to some good players in my country – players I consider to be in The Experienced category – and asked them how their experience made them better players. The most common answer was related to reading the opponent’s moves and possible plays, which allowed them to plan ahead more precisely. Other very interesting answer was that “experience made it easy to arrive at play decisions by feeling and instinct alone.” While most of The Talented claim there’s one best or correct play, others who aren’t that talented – who can’t figure out which play is the best – rely on their experience and decide by harnessing their “feeling.”
Another benefit of The Experienced player is a heightened level of concentration. The Experienced have played so many tournaments, and have had their backs against the wall with the crowds watching them time and time again. They don’t feel any added pressure, and are usually more resilient against psychological pressure from the opponent.
…
Of course, most players do not slot neatly into one of these stereotypes; we’re all hybrids. Each one of us has a mix of talent, experience, and force of will. I created these stereotypes by asking some successful Portuguese players the following questions…
“What distinguishes you from other Magic players?”
“What is your main factor to your success?”
I grouped the answers, and came up with the three categories outlined above. To recap:
The Talented player works hard (contrary to some myths), and benefits from the experience he gains. But what really distinguishes them from the rest is their heightened level of natural skill.
The Focused player needs to have some amount of talent to succeed, but the main factor he credits for his success is his will to work hard.
The Experienced player also works hard. His experience, coupled with his talent and determination, carry him to the top. Once there, the experience pays back in spades – their concentration is extremely beneficial.
…
Lets’ go back to the eternal questions:
“How do I get better?”
”Why I can’t win more?”
“How can reach my goals?”
After examining some Roads to Success that friends of mine followed, I see them as inspiring examples. Instead of copying them, take some personal lessons from each one. We have to discover our own “thing,” the collection of characteristics that distinguishes us from the others. Then, after honestly analyzing our talent level, our will to work hard, and our experience, we can set our goals accordingly, increasing them when we “level up” and as we evolve as players. It might be difficult for us to do an accurate analysis of ourselves; usually, others have a better perspective of our characteristics.
I have a friend who loves to play Magic, but he knew he wasn’t too good. He was, however, an excellent trader, someone to whom I could entrust my collection for any given tournament. I’d let him do all the trading, and at the end of the tournament my collection would be much improved. My friend had humble goals. He attended PTQs like many others, and he aimed to make Top 8 and reach the elimination rounds, hopefully to win some product. After making some Top 8s at PTQs he realized he could set his goals a little higher. He eventually won a PTQ, and reached the Pro Tour. Not once, but twice. Even though he was not so good in the playskill area, he knew his weaknesses. He stuck to a plan. He chose to play the same deck for every single tournament in the approaching Pro Tour format, so that at least he had some practice with the deck for the appropriate PTQs. This would help him avoid silly mistakes.
Currently, he’s set his goal to eventually make Day 2 of a Pro Tour, despite not being (currently) qualified for any, and having only attended two Pro Tours in his career. He was someone who clearly does not have the raw talent, which is the most difficult element to make up for, but he still manages to obtain some progressive success.
The first part of this article was completely abstract, but the second was taken from examples from within the Portuguese Magic community. Our community is similar to so many other countries, cities, or stores. Feel free to post comments in the forums, with your own visions on the categories of player and skill.
In writing this article, I gathered the opinions of some successful players. Quentin Martin summed it up the best. According to Q, the base concept is this: everyone has to have some talent. If it’s a lot, they will level up quickly and easily. Talent can be substituted with hard work and perseverance. In that case – i.e. if you’re not overly talented – you’ll have to play more often to overcome that, while watching better players.
You can read more opinions on these subjects in the following articles:
“Style – The Art Of Playing To Your Strengths,” by Quentin Martin.
“What Level Are You? Evaluating Magic Play,” by Raphael Levy.
After talking about playtesting and playskill, I plan for next week to discuss the random elements in the game… namely, luck. This is the other element that stands between you and victory. After that, I’ll leave the theory behind and concentrate on the practical. After all, Pro Tour: Geneva is coming.
Thank you for reading.
See you all soon,
Tiago