From the desk of Patrick Chapin
Detroit, Michigan.
Tuesday 8:15pm
Hey Guys.
This week’s Next Level Magic preview is actually two previews in one, but I wanted to take full advantage of the rare privilege I have to feature original strategic material from Hall of Famer Jon Finkel, as well as some of his commentary on the advance copy of my upcoming home study course he insisted I send him.
But before we get to that, I have to clear the air.
Things are starting to get a little crazy around here…
… And I blame Jon Finkel.
Cage Match: Jonny Magic versus The Innovator?
Some folks might be wondering if this is pent-up frustration from when Finkel blanked me two-games-to-none in the finals of the inaugural “I Came to Game” Invitational.
But that’s not it.
You see, ever since I mentioned the release of my upcoming home study course, Next Level Magic, I’ve been inundated with emails, Facebook messages, and phone calls…
… Including one particular call with a certain Jon Finkel.
It turns out that when Jon heard the news about Next Level Magic, he had a few things to say.
Let me explain…
Let’s make one thing clear. Jon Finkel is passionate about Magic.
He loves the game, and all of the things that it’s done for him:
– Honed his strategic skills. (Winning at Magic can definitely cross over into winning in other areas.)
– Being honored and respected by his peers. (“It’s a great honor to be elected to the Pro Tour Hall of Fame,” Finkel said. “Playing Magic is one of the best experiences of my life, and it prepared me for everything else I have done since. I am very happy to be recognized by the Magic community for my accomplishments in this game.”)
– The friends and connections he made. (This aspect of the game is the most important to him; the relationships he has forged as a result of Magic are among his most treasured.)
Oh, and there’s one more thing:
– Jon has won well over a quarter of a million dollars in prize winnings to get him started on his way.
Like many folks, Jon is very appreciative for how much he’s gained from Magic. And like many folks, Jon loves to give back.
You’ll always find Jon helping folks with their ideas, or pulling them aside to give them advice or support.
So when Jon found out through the grapevine that I was coming out with a course to help folks enjoy some of the same kinds of things that have helped him on his way, he got really excited. He sent me some nice things he wanted to say about his experiences working with me, but he had a bit more in mind than just a few nice words.
Jon insisted that I send him the course, before its release.
(Even though I explained that nobody else had seen it, he wouldn’t take no for an answer.)
Jon told me he realized that this course could really help folks, and he wanted to become a part of the process. He said that he and I are friends, so how much does it really help the course if he just says nice things without having taken the course himself? Wouldn’t it be much more helpful if he read the material and provided feedback and insights on the text?
I was honored, as Jon is a very busy man, and the fact that he wanted to read my strategy guide is a very high compliment. I was proud to accept, especially because Jon never does anything without doing it well. I have included some of his notes here. In addition, his input is invaluable to me, as I aim to make this course the best possible program for improving at Magic, period.
First, here’s an excerpt he picked out that detailed some experiences of mine regarding Magic Teams that leads into the section where we discuss how to go about building or improving your own Magic Team.
From: History Lessons to Help with Forming a Magic Team
A Magic Team is like a jigsaw puzzle, each member is part of a bigger picture. The whole picture that we are looking for is to realize our Magic goals. Each player has a different part of the picture, but they are only useful when they learn to come together and build on one another.
I have been fortunate enough to have been a part of a number of fantastic Magic teams over the years, and even when I was directly a part of a Magic team, I have been blessed with great minds to help push me as well as enjoy good times.
I started playing Magic competitively in 1994. During my first tournament, Fallen Empires was the latest set, and it was a little daunting to try to explore the tournament Magic scene. I had just turned 14 and couldn’t even drive to events, nor did I live anywhere near any.
There was next to no online Magic community at the time, as this was before The Dojo, let alone StarCityGames or MTGO. Where was I to find people with which to play?
At the time, I played with my cousin, my brothers, and some local friends. More than anything, though, I just thought about the game and tried to figure out ways to find people to play. I asked everyone I met who played to refer me to other places to play and other people to play with. I was starting to amass a modest number of “connections” in my own little slice of the Magic Community.
I eventually found a store a little over half an hour from my house that held large tournaments every week. I did extra chores in exchange for getting rides up to the store to play whenever I could. While playing up there, I met a man named Eric D. Taylor (edt, or Eric “Danger” Taylor). He was not only one of the strongest local players, he was an active voice in the fledgling usenet community that helped define Magic’s early years.
Despite our age difference, Eric took me under his wing with regards to the tournament scene, and always treated me as an equal and as an adult when it came to discussing Magic theory. In fact, although he had more experience with tournament Magic, I was very successful in playtesting with him, and when I had demonstrated my ability, he had absolutely no qualms discussing theory with me and asking me questions when he wanted to learn something from me.
I had a number of early experiences learning about the tournament Magic scene from edt, as well as gaining confidence when edt made it clear that it was okay for me to teach him strategic concepts in the game, as well as learn from him, despite my being “just a kid.”
If not for this positive support, these life lessons, and this positive role model, I know for certain I would not have become the Magic player I am today or the theorist I strive to be. If I can help people to even a fraction of the degree that Eric helped me, it would make it all worthwhile to me… …That year (1996), I first discussed strategy with some of my early inspirations and role models, Chris Pikula and Brian Hacker. So much of what I learned about myself and that I value about the game I learned from these two men and would like very much for them to be inducted into the Magic Hall of Fame. If not for these two men, I would not be able to do what I do, today.
I talked theory with Brian Weissman, who at the time was probably the biggest name in Magic strategy writing. His Vintage creation “The Deck” was one of the most important advances in Magic strategy of all time, and I aspired to learn all I could about deck building from my interactions with him. I challenged his theory from the gate, as he was known as the best Vintage player at the time, a title I planned on taking from him.
He and I developed a tradition of playing hour after hour of Vintage (Me with Mana Crypt combo decks, i.e. essentially what is now Long.dec, and him with The Deck, which was essentially Five-Color U/W Control). We had all Beta decks and would play in front of crowds of twenty or more for hours on end at every event, and one of the most significant achievements of my early Magic career (to me) was when I argued that Force of Will was not only good, but vital to Brian.
At the time, he had made a stance against Force of Will, arguing that the card disadvantage was a weakness. I argued that the battles we were fighting were so important that you HAD to have Force of Will, or the other person could just use their Force of Wills to ensure that Timetwister, Wheel of Fortune, and Ancestral Recall would resolve.
One day, he and I played over and over and over again. Whereas initially he was willing to try two Force of Wills in his deck in place of Counterspells, he eventually ended up conceding that four was the correct number of Force of Wills for every deck. He told me he now realized that the battles we were fighting were worth far more than a card, and that if you use a Force of Will to protect an Amnesia or Timetwister, it is not really card disadvantage at all.
It may be easy to laugh about this exchange today, but the truth is that back then, the theory of “card advantage” had only recently took off, and people still did not know what to make of it. Also, you laugh about how “Obviously Force of Will is good,” but remember, there was a time when people didn’t think much of Yawgmoth’s Will, Necropotence, Demonic Consultation, Ball Lightning, High Tide, Tarmogoyf, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Elspeth, Mana Crypt, Hurkyl’s Recall, Bitterblossom, and more. Somebody’s got to play it first.
Hearing one of my idols and the strategist I admired the most tell me that I had taught him something had a profound effect on me. I had always been a deckbuilder, but it planted the seed for my desire to teach others. From Bucher to Finkel, from Garfield to Kenji, the friendships go so far beyond anything that I cannot stress enough that you should continually remind yourself to go to the lengths needed to meet everyone you can, and establish so many wonderful relationships….
Team CMU and the Deadguys Experiment with the Uber-Team
In 1999, we (team CMU) teamed up with Finkel and Team Deadguy (Chris Pikula, David Price, Worth Wollpert, Tony Tsai, and David Barthelow) to prepare for the Urza’s Saga Block Constructed Pro Tour. We were attempting to form the “Uber-Team.”
The Uber-Team was heralded as the “Yankees of Magic,” and everyone we talked to wanted to be a part of it. At the time, we were trying the experiment of working with everyone who wanted to, and by the time the Pro Tour rolled around, we had 21 members (!)
Team “meetings” were disorganized, and information was not communicated to everyone in the group. There was no structure and no focus. When all was said and done, team members were dismayed by the near universal failure of everyone on the team.
I finished just outside the Top 8, but this was because I had chosen to go a different direction than the rest of the team. I had come up with a crazy combo deck that revolved around Snap, Gaea’s Cradle, and Deranged Hermit. I had tried for weeks to work on it with the “Uber-Team,” but to no avail. They had a team deck that they had built, and they were all married to it without ever giving my crazy deck a try.
None of them can really be faulted, though, as we just didn’t have a good team structure or a useful system of playtesting. All the talent in the world is going to make up for a lack of structure. The team was unwieldy and inefficient. We were not learning all that we could from ourselves.
I learned a lot from my experiences with the Uber-Team, though it was quickly disbanded. First of all, “Uber-Teams” never work. People keep trying them and they will continue to do so, but they just don’t work because of the breakdown in communication.
How big is the biggest a team can be? I really don’t know, beyond that it obviously depends on the people involved, particularly the leadership. Some people call the people I currently work with (Bucher, Nassif, Wafo-tapa, Heezy, and the Ruel brothers) a super team, but notice that while this may be a talented squad, it is much more manageable than 21 people. Even when we collaborate with others, whether it is LSV, Jamie Parke, or Michael Jacob, the core stays relatively small and cohesive.
When teammate after teammate Top 8 and win Pro Tours (armed with decks that you helped build) it is exhilarating, just as it was to celebrate with them after each of my Top 8s.
Working alone is not only inefficient; it leaves you open to massive metagame errors. Besides, it isn’t nearly as much fun! I know it seems like a serious undertaking to create a Magic Team like that, but the way to start moving in that direction is to start moving in that direction. Let’s examine step by step how to do just that…
Jon Finkel: Patrick’s love of learning, and his willingness to learn from anyone, is one of the keys to his success, and something everyone should try to emulate. Ideas don’t remember who thought of them — whether the player is good, bad or indifferent. A good idea is a good idea is a good idea. Sometimes someone will have a “bad” idea and it will still help you to approach the problem the right way. Looking at everyone as someone to learn from (and also teach) is really the best way to approach the game.
I’ve also had the pleasure of playing with many good players in my time, and pretty much all of the best decks I played (excluding Prison at 97 Chicago) were someone else’s design. Deadguy Red at Worlds 98, I can thank Dave Price for making me embrace the Jackal Pup; Mono Black at Nats 2000 (thank you Mike Flores); Tinker at Worlds 2000 (Dan OMS, who got the idea from someone at Canadian Nationals); and even Dragonstorm recently at Worlds 2007 (thank you Patrick Chapin).
While Patrick was probably better than me when I played his deck, no one was going to mistake Mike Flores for a PT champion. He might have only had 3 Vampiric Tutors in his Vampiric Tutor deck, but it was a great idea and a great deck, and I was happy to play it. Patrick says it perfectly — listening to and learning from everyone is the single most important thing you can do.
On a related note, listening to Patrick talk about meeting edt reminded me of another thing I love about Magic: how it brings together people in a peer environment from all age groups. Even now I regularly play Magic with teenagers, through to people in their forties. I can be on a draft team and turn to Brian David-Marshall for deck construction advice, and then turn to Steve Sadin (who’s half Brian’s age) and get his take on things (Note: I’d probably take Steve’s advice here).
So why am I saying it’s all Jon Finkel fault?
It’s been a rewarding, but exhausting process going from A to Z with the blueprint for Magic Success with my Next Level home study course.
But now what Jon has done is given me a wonderful opportunity to add the value of his perspective on some of the sections of my course, helping me perfect the material I present and the way that I present it. This is obviously a very good thing for me, but it does mean even more work, and I have been focused on this project for months.
You see, Next Level Magic doesn’t just reflect my own learning and experiences, but ideas and contributions of some of the greatest minds in the history of the game. Obviously, those taking the course will benefit from the lessons I’ve gained from teammates of mine like Gabriel Nassif, Manuel Bucher, Mark Herberholz, Luis Scott-Vargas, Olivier Ruel, Guillaume Wafo-Tapa, and many others.
In addition my theoretical model of Magic, based on ideas by Michael Flores, Zvi Mowshowitz, Adrian Sullivan, Mike Long, David Mills, Brian Weissman, Eric Taylor, Sam Stoddard, Brian Schneider, Andrew Cuneo, Alan Comer, Jay Schneider, and more, is broken down at length with a step-by-step guide through the what it takes to play top level Magic – so they can share the same experience I’ve had.
Now of course I’m totally flattered by Jon’s words, and I’m thrilled to have his help perfecting this course. In fact, Jon ended up sending me more material than I can possibly fit in this article today, but I am trying to pack every last drop I can into this sneak preview of just a tiny portion of the Next Level Magic home training course.
Here are a couple of segments from a section on the mental game in Magic, and Jon’s insights.
From: The Mental Game
Is it possible to give people instructions so that they seem to be coming from themselves, so that the person feels compelled to obey? It is, and the key to understanding this “me/us” idea and how it is fulfilled is by building “Rapport.”
Rapport is when you have a connection with someone that causes them to identify themselves with you.
One of the most profitable styles of “Mind Control” that one can hope to add to their game is that of building Rapport with your opponent. Remember, however, what we said about mind games being only a fraction as relevant as tight technical play.
Tight technical play decides more games of Magic than all other factors combined.
The idea behind Rapport is to pace the game, pace your language, pace your actions, do everything you can to mirror their current experience and develop that connection. It is as though you and the other person are running, and you are taking steps equal to theirs, at the same speed, with your right leg moving with their right leg, and so on.
When you have set your pace to be that of your opponent’s, you eventually reach an opportune moment and take the lead. The mirroring and imitating, as well as the subtle suggestions that you are like your opponent, you are on the same page, you are having similar experiences, and you see the world the same way he or she does, helps bring them to a point of feeling like you and them are an “us.”
Once your opponent identifies with you with some sort of sense of unity, you have built “Rapport.” Ways to discern if you have Rapport with your opponent include them agreeing or saying “yes” to most of what you say, them mimicking your emotion or words, them talking about what you want them to be talking about, and having your emotional state match theirs.
Peer pressure is so very effective because friends develop strong Rapport with one another. Instructions from one peer to another feel very much like they are coming from within. When an idea comes from you, you generally do not feel like questioning it. You typically just do it.
If you have a Mountain Dew on the table and the idea comes to you that you want to drink some, you reach over, pick it up, and take a drink. Now here is the where it gets interesting. If you are talking to someone at the table and you two are in sync, agreeing on ideas, maybe both leaning forward with similar posture, when you take a drink, they reach for their drink and take one as well! This is not to say that you can command people at will this way, but most of the time, if one has Rapport with another, they will feel inclinations to do many of the things suggested by the other.
The most common and obvious example of the “Pace, Pace, Pace, Lead” style of Rapport in Magic is when people say “Done?” at the end of their opponent’s turn. Every time the person says “Yes” in response to this, they are taking a step closer to automatically obeying the other person.
While the mind tricks are not for everyone, and it is left to the reader to be disciplined enough to focus their primary efforts on improving their technical play, there is no denying that mind games are able to produce some big results for some. Still, something that EVERYONE needs to know is when to avoid mindlessly agreeing with their opponent. I highly recommend that you get into the habit of NOT answering “Yes” to that question. It is a trap. When you do, it leads towards mindlessness. It leads to saying “Yes” without even stopping to think about it.
By the time you realize you didn’t attack or didn’t use your Vithian Stinger, it is too late. Be especially careful when you play someone you are in rapport with. You may have more influence over them, but you are especially vulnerable to their influence as well.
How do you know if you are “In Rapport” with someone? Ask yourself some questions. How do you feel about them? Have you two been agreeing in general or on a few things in a row? Have you been talking about things you have in common? Do you two both say “Yes” a lot? Are you seated similarly? Are your facial expressions similar? The list goes on and on, but the primary question is “are you and the other person connected?”
Building Rapport is quite simple, really. For instance, when your opponent wins the die roll, you ask, “You are playing first, right?” When they say, “Yes,” you smile and after they play their first land, you politely ask, “Done?” They are.
A couple turns later, they play Boggart Ram-Gang when you have no creatures in play. You say “Attack for 3?” They agree.
By keeping the energy positive and agreeable and suggesting the things they want to do anyway, they begin to view your commands as coming from within, as thus far, everything you have suggested has meshed with their internal views.
Later in the game, you may decide you want to give them a simple instruction they might otherwise have not done. If it is not obviously stupid, they will be far more likely to follow it because of the Rapport. People are obviously going to have their guard up, though, so if you try telling someone who has a creature when you have no blocker, “Don’t attack,” you will accomplish little beyond breaking Rapport.
A much better attempt to exploit this Rapport is to say “Got the Counter?” when you play a spell that is decent, but that you don’t really care about and you want them to waste a Counterspell on it.
When I am playing a match against someone, one of the first things I try to do is figure out is whom the match-up favors, as well as if my opening hand is good or a touch weak. Aside from helping me make in-game strategic decisions, this information is useful for helping me figure out what I am really doing.
At the beginning of your match, you can ask your opponent what he has played against so far, how is doing today, or just talk to them about a cool deck you saw. You want to be careful not to give them a lot of information about you that they didn’t already have, but at the same time, this can be an opportunity to find out if your opponent is chatty and likely to be in Rapport with you, or if he is reserved and likely to keep shields up at all times.
This is a key distinction to make in order to assess your plans and whether or not mind games fit into them, as well as if you are going to have to take bigger risks to get edge, or just nurse an advantage that you already have.
We want to know if our opponent is likely to get on board with our pacing and our leading. What better way to find out then to try pacing them. Talk about something of mutual interest. A good way to find out a mutual interest is to talk about something you know they are interested in. For instance, a player they played earlier, a friend they playtest with, a deck they played in a previous tournament, and so on.
Even if you don’t have a ton in common, you both play tournament Magic, so you have a foundation to work with. Try to get them to talk about their experiences and then demonstrate to them that your experiences are much like theirs. While you talk to your opponent, don’t judge them. Rather than tell them your thoughts on their deck, be a good and positive listener. Rather than try to “act” friendly and fake, you should instead look to see the genuine similarities in your experiences…
… It is important to keep in mind; however, more Magic games are decided by technical play than all other factors combined.
In any one given scenario, it may come down to a mind game being your best or only shot at winning, but the vast majority of your wins are going to come from tight technical play. Besides, the games that do come down to mind games typically never would have gotten to that point if you played tighter… or perhaps you only arrived at this opportunity because of your tight play.
No one has ever truly excelled at Magic on the back on mind games without technical play. If you want to get better at Magic, focus on decreasing the number of mistakes you make per turn. If you think you aren’t making mistakes every turn, you are probably making a mistake.
Try to learn how to better analyze your play, as a clear understanding of the types of mistakes you are making will lead to a huge increase in your ability to improve.
The types of mental shortcuts that are important to start to form on a fundamental level involve how you think about what happens in Magic. For instance, how do you respond to your losses?
Most top players generally take responsibility for their losses much more often than weaker players. They have developed a shortcut for improving at Magic that includes honestly assessing the decisions they made in the game and evaluating what they could have done to change the outcome.
Most players just want to feel better about themselves, so they tell themselves a version of the truth that involves them losing because of “mana screw,” a “lucky topdeck,” or “a bad match-up…”
Jon Finkel: The mental game of Magic is something that other people have often referred to as of my biggest strengths, but it’s something I don’t even notice — which might be the key. I don’t get phased or rattled easily, I don’t dwell on past mistakes, or mana screw, or bad luck. There are things outside of all of our control, and they can lose you games, matches, or tournaments but there’s no point in focusing on them instead of the things you can control.
It’s easy to blame mana screw for a loss, but did you still play your best? Did you lose your focus and only have a 5% win rate instead of a 10% win rate? I always play at my best when I’m losing, and I think that’s important. Not having excuses also helps after the fact, when examining your play and your decision making.
Nobody ever learned anything by saying, ‘I got mana screwed’ (except maybe to play more land), or ‘he topdecked.’ Sometimes when he topdecked you could have won one turn earlier, if you’d made a slightly more optimal play earlier. Be self critical, but divorce your sense of self from your play. You can’t let things effect you emotionally, but at the same time you have to really examine your choices, question them, and see what you could have done better.
Patrick is absolutely right when he says that sometimes you win but gave them an extra turn to kill you, or draw their out. Sometimes you wasted a card. Just because you won doesn’t mean you played optimally, so you have to be equally critical even when you win. Only by objectively observing your choices and decisions, win or lose, lucky or unlucky, will you improve, and only by not letting your mistakes rattle you will you win the next game or the next round.
…
I hope you have had as much fun as I have, but I’ve got to run, I’m putting on the finishing touches.
Later…
Patrick Chapin
“The Innovator”
PS: Probably the number 1 question about Next Level Magic that I’ve been getting in from folks is “What’s it going to cost?”
The short answer is: I don’t know yet.
The bottom line is that I haven’t made a final decision…
… But I also want eliminate the wild speculation surrounding a massive price tag for this thing.
One reader went so far as to suggest the cost for this home study course would be comparable to the $700 per person training camp weekend auctioned off late last year.
I have a message for folks who are worried that this thing will cost hundreds of dollars…
CHILL!
It’s nothing like that at all… I just have to see what the research says about this type of product.
But that doesn’t mean that I pulled any punches regarding what’s offered in the Next Level Magic home study course. I wanted to stuff as much value into it as possible and I have spent the past 6 months writing 300 pages of step-by-step instructions on how to improve your game, and your understanding of the game.
Sure, I’ve poured my heart and soul into this course. And yes, I agree with Jon Finkel, when he says that this course is “unparalleled,” but it is much better if everyone who is serious about competitive Magic has access to it and Next Level Magic is affordable.
It is in my selfish best interest to make sure that I can reach as many people as possible with this strategy guide and training course. I have to pay my bills in order to be able to play Magic full time, and as a result I am capitalizing on the expertise I have in this area in order to allow me to continue to do the writing and playing that I love so very much, so don’t think this strategy guide is just kindness from the bottom of my heart, although I do love to help.
I do love discussing this game with people, but when people are able to achieve real results from things I have taught them, well, that is supremely satisfying. I could be playing Poker or in a variety of corporate jobs, but Magic is what I love, and I am doing all I can to make it in the professional Magic “game.”
I’ll get back to you soon with the final word on the price, and with answers to your other questions.
(Like the #2 question that’s been coming in: “What day exactly will my Next Level Magic home study course be available?” Answer coming soon!)
PPS: Bonus Regionals Decklist:
Creatures (17)
Lands (26)
Spells (17)
