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Reflecting Ruel – Triggers for Success

Read Olivier Ruel every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Thursday, March 27th – Today’s Reflecting Ruel sees Olivier in fine form. He dissects exactly what’s required to improve your game through a set of theoretical skill levels, and supplies the triggers on which we should concentrate if we want to join him at the top of the Magical tree. This is a must-read for any player serious in improving their game!

If you want to get better at Magic, working on your mental and on your game is, of course, very important. But there is a third factor required for improvement: the “trigger” that will help you level up.

We can consider that there are ten levels of Magic players:

Level 1: A beginner player. He plays casual decks with own rules.
Level 2: Has been playing for a few months. He started trading and buying the cards he needed to make his deck better at the same time as he was getting better.
Level 3: An average local player. He doesn’t post spectacular finishes, but he gains experience.
Level 4: A good local player. He regularly posts decent finishes at the events he attends.
Level 5: A local champion. He does well almost all the time, and starts becoming interested in PTQs.
Level 6: A good PTQ player. He reaches the Top 8 every once in a while, and he may have played in one Pro Tour already.
Level 7: A PTQ specialist. He plays at least one Pro Tour a year via PTQs, and his level is very close to the professionals.
Level 8: A player at Level 5 in the Pro Player Club. He is qualified for every PT. He can’t make money with Magic, and barely pays for most of his trips via playing, but his playing skills are very high.
Level 9: A player at Level 6 in the Pro Player Club. He makes a little money with Magic, and his playing skills are excellent.
Level 10: A player at Level 7 or 8 in the Pro Player Club, meaning one of the top 10 or 15 players in the world. His level is almost perfect, and he may even make a living from Magic.

Do not worry if you recognize yourself and realize you’re in the bottom levels. This is the case of most players. These levels are not a scale, but a pyramid. In any level, there are about one-fifth of the players below. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it is impossible to leap up several levels, and we are actually just about to see how to provoke the trigger that will help you jump from one level to another.

Level 1: Start Playing
You only have to find your very first cards and buddies with which to play. As you may have guessed, the most exciting part of the adventure is not the most difficult.

Level 2: Learn the Game and its Rules
Going from Level 1 to Level 2 is something that occurs naturally. It occurs over time; you assimilate the basics of the game and the rules. The period necessary to do so depends on the efforts and skills of each player involved, but after a few months, decisions are made faster, and you spend less and less time reading your rulebook. Performing correct plays without thinking is sign of progress

Level 3: Attend Tournaments
You join Level 3 when you start playing in sanctioned events. The very first time is pretty much the same for everyone: an absolute fiasco. You arrive at the event confident in your deck and in your skills (after all, you do beat your friends most of the time), and you just get crushed by better decks ran by better players. Then you have no choice but to admit that you were not as high on the pyramid as you would have liked to think. But do not worry, it is no big deal. After all, nothing’s better than a good dose of humility.

Back home after this painful experience, you’ll notice that not only did you get your ass kicked, you are now totally exhausted. The efforts you put into focusing for a whole day will drain you in a very surprising way. Don’t worry though, it gets a lot easier when you get used to it.

Also, at your first few events, don’t be afraid to ask more experienced players for tips. You still have so much to learn, such as how to make your deck better, how to correct your mistakes, or even how to shuffle.

Level 4: Form a Group of Players
This is usually when things are becoming difficult, as you start needing assistance. From Level 3, if things go right, you should start meeting local players, and even playing with them outside tournaments. Having a group of friends as players is advantageous in many ways.

Your practicing becomes more and more frequent, and you can exchange ideas on plays and decks. Furthermore, at some point, you’ll realize your relation with your pals is somewhere between friendship and rivalry, and this will helps you all get better. There is one last advantage, which is extremely important: you can now lend and borrow cards, which will help you save money and give you the opportunity to play more, and to build and play much more varied decks.

From this point, and no matter how skilled you are, you should be doing fine. Also, it would be good to start playing Limited formats. Why not start with a prerelease, for instance?

Level 5: Play Complex Decks
If we can say that a Level 4 mage is of an “average” level, a Level 5 mage actually has a “good” level. To get there, the best way (as for any other way to level up) is regular and serious practicing. However, it is for this threshold that players usually find improvement more difficult. You have to become better than the players you’ve been playing with for months, if not for years. For the most gifted and/or the harder workers, this obstacle may be crossed naturally, but for the majority, it is long and difficult. One of the most efficient ways to force the passage to the upper level is learn how to play more complex decks.

It is, for most people, a lot easier to play aggro than control. Indeed, it will be a lot easier to optimize a creature deck as the choices are less numerous and the mistakes cost less. But if you want to pass this threshold, you have to play different archetypes. You will then discover a whole new face of the game as you will learn how to survive before thinking about the best way to annihilate the opponent’s resources and to eventually kill him. Control needs to be able to read one turn further than aggro decks. If you manage to master a control deck, your playing skills will definitely grow, and, when you decide to play aggro again, it will be easier for you to read your opponent’s plays.

Learning how to play control gives one much pride and pleasure. This step surely isn’t an easy one to pass, but it will make you see the game from a whole different angle.

Level 6: Become Familiar with Limited
Nearly everyone makes his first steps in the world of Magic playing Constructed. In order to approach the higher levels, it is necessary to become specialized in Limited as well.

Playing Limited is very similar to playing control in Constructed, as you have to adapt constantly to your opponent’s deck and plays. It is a lot more complex, at least at first, to think about everything your opponent may have in hand, and therefore to play around it. There are so many interactions between the cards on the board and those your opponent could have in his deck that you will have to navigate by instinct.

Also, try and draft as often as you can, and don’t be scared to ask other players for advice. Discussion is, in Limited, a full part of the practice session. Show your deck and sideboard to experienced players, and ask them if they would have built it differently. In the case of draft, also ask them about your less obvious picks. You will definitely learn a lot this way.

Level 7: Give Yourself Every Chance to Win
At first, you must know that most people can’t possibly go higher than this level. A good environment can pilot most mages with natural skills to Level 6. But most of them stop there.

The talent between these two divisions is not that different, but the efforts and the investments (both as a matter of money and time) aren’t comparable. When you have reached Level 6, if you feel like you can still fight in a higher category, it means you are now going to aim for the pro level.

To catch up with guys that are above you, you must first dominate your level. Meaning you must multiply the testing sessions and attend as many qualifier events as you can. You won’t be able to attend a lot, so analyze the metagame carefully before you chose your deck, and, unless aggro seems excellent in the metagame, try and play control or combo almost all the time. You should now have the strength to win many games by outplaying your opponent, so you actually want the games to last as long as possible.

At this point, it is highly recommended you use Magic: Online.

The program, at present, is pretty bad. It lags a lot, bugs a lot, and the refunds (when they happen) take time to come through, and emails often remain unanswered, etc.

But when it works, which still happens pretty regularly, MTGO is an excellent tool with which to playtest. You can find pretty high-level draft tables at any time, and even play against the best players in the world.

An 8-4 draft table, with 8 packs for the winner and 4 for the runner up, is almost as difficult as a draft in a Grand Prix Day 2, meaning it’s one or two levels below a PT table.

And if you play Constructed, you will be forced to prepare your sideboard and make it evolve at the same time as your maindeck, which is a significant time gain.

Level 8: Consider Magic a Job
Let’s be clear, no more than 5% of players have the potential to reach this point.

If you want to make sure you do have that potential, you have to be ready to make sacrifices. You need not only to reach a very high level of playing, but also to maintain it. To do so you have to play as if you were working. Play at least 30 hours a week, and when doing so try to always give your best. In the last two weeks before the PT, it is even advised to play double this.

It won’t always be fun, of course, but having a chance to join the pro world has a cost. Be conscious that, even if you make all the Pro Tours and even if you have decent results there, it doesn’t mean you will make money; you even have a good chance of losing some. Don’t misunderstand me, traveling thanks to your passion and visiting the world is a blessing, but you have to be aware that it will cost you much to try and reach this point.

Level 9: Innovate
To get here, you need to become one of the Top 30 players in the world. Your investment need to be full, and you need to be able to do very well both in Constructed and in Limited. In order to do so, you must be drafting a minimum of five times a week, and you must be able to do well in tournaments with your own creations. The surprise effect of a new deck on your opponent makes every matchup better. For instance, you are playing versus Elves with a super new control deck in the current Extended. From turn 1, you will be able to tell 55 cards in his deck while he will be wondering for the whole match what is in yours. Also, you know the matchup if you playtested it, while your opponents don’t. This way, if your matchup versus Elves should have been 50-50, it would be more likely to be 60-40. And if you can’t find an original deck that could be dominant, it’s just fine; just try and adapt what you think is the best deck in the format until you can make it a little better. If you want to reach that level, you should be able to improve every deck you’re playing.

It’s not only the technical side, but also the physical condition, that you should consider. This includes what I talked about last week, of course, but also paying special attention to jetlag. For a tournament in a different continent than the one in which you live, you should arrive a minimum of 48 hours before the event, and never just the day before. Otherwise, though adrenaline will keep you awake for part of Day 1, you’ll be in a pretty bad shape to finish the day, and even worse if you make Day 2. The other reason is that if you leave at the last minute and your flight is cancelled or even delayed, you might waste all the time you’ve put into testing and the money invested on the trip.

Level 10: Play the Game, See the World
Once you’ve already reached Level 9, you shouldn’t, in theory, be losing any money in Magic. However, if you want to get money and pro points and you don’t feel like waiting for your next PT Top 8 to do so, you will, paradoxically, have to take a financial risk. With no PT Top 4 or better, you will have to try and grab the Pro Points somewhere, pushing you to play as many GPs as possible. The cheapest tech is usually to wait for several events to occur in the same area and in the same period (for instance, GP: Seattle right before PT: Honolulu) so you don’t have to buy a ticket at full price. Once you’ve reached the highest level of the Pro Player Club, you will know that gamble was a success. But if it’s not, you will come to regret it. In order to ensure that doesn’t happen, try and plan a little time after each event to sightsee and enjoy yourself. This way, even if you do badly and lose money, you will have at least traveled across the world for one full year.

Except for the GP gamble, reaching Level 10 means something global, as you’re aiming at being on the top of the Magic world. You have to fulfill all the conditions that we’ve mentioned previously, meaning:

– Make sacrifices
– Work hard
– Play both Constructed and Limited
– Practice building your own decks
– Pay attention to outside-the-game details
– Always stay humble, and keep questioning yourself
– Do not look down on people, and value other players’ opinion
– Have high-level skills

One last piece of advice to conclude. Even if you have to take some of your free time to play Magic, try and keep on studying or working in the meantime, or you’ll have some big regrets some day. If you’re lucky enough to join the very few who can make a living out of Magic, it’s fantastic… but knowing that most people fail at doing it, if you feel like you can’t cross the barrier for one reason or another, it’s just fine. Magic is a game before everything, and even though it’s the best game in the world, there are more important things in life!

Until next week!

Olivier Ruel