You know what’s incredibly delicious? Humble pie.
See, I don’t like pumpkin pie — I was once forced to eat raw pumpkin as a small child and have since sworn off all things pumpkin* – so at Thanksgiving, my Mom will buy a special Humble pie just for me. My favorite is to heat it up in the microwave and then throw some Vanilla ice cream on there. Man, that is some good eats.
Wait, what? You can’t microwave an idiom?
Well… Maybe you’re just not using the right microwave.
Or, I could actually be referring to the real actual food item known as humble pie, made from the edible organs of a deer or hog.
Yes, I agree, that doesn’t sound appetizing, no matter how much ice cream you throw on it.
Pecan pie? Oh.
Yes, Pecan pie, that’s what I meant. That’s delicious.
Eating humble pie, not so much…
“The most important thing in life is not to capitalize on your successes — any fool can do that. The really important thing is to profit from your mistakes.”
– William Bolitho, from ‘Twelve against the Gods’
Ultimately, I’m the reason why I haven’t had success this Extended season. Not bad match-ups, not lucky top-decks by my opponents, not mana screw, not mana flood. Me. It’s my fault.
There are a lot of articles out there about winning, and why shouldn’t that be the case? When you read an article, you want to read about LSV winning 18 consecutive matches because that’s what WE want to do. We all want to win. Once you’ve done well and basked in the glory of recognition from your friends, once you’ve had a chance to enjoy beautiful and valuable prizes… once you’ve known what is best in life, and you’ve crushed your enemies, seen them driven before you and heard the lamentations of the women, and… well, you know.
The point is that reading a tournament report about going 1-3 drop usually seems like a waste of time. Why on earth would you want to replicate whatever THAT guy did? Fair enough — but what about when you’re “that guy” and you have to pick up the wreckage and figure out what to do next?
“Watch, listen, and learn. You can’t know it all yourself. Anyone who thinks they do is destined for mediocrity.”
– Donald Trump
I played Standard last Saturday after getting blown out at the Philly PTQ, and while I was at the store, one of the guys made an off-hand remark that I seemed to be struggling lately. I have to admit to myself that it is true, my results this PTQ season haven’t been anywhere close to what I was expecting coming in, and being the only one out of 4 players from my group playing for day 2 in Chicago to lose and miss the cut still hurts. Badly. Like getting a bee sting and then getting a paper cut on your eyeball, and then having someone throw salt in it while simultaneously kicking you square in the gonads.
Once I got over this (deserved) assault on my pride, I realized I needed to do some refection over what’s changed the past few months, so that I can make necessary adjustments and get myself back on the right track.
“Even though you are on the right track – you will get run over if you just sit there.”
– Will Rodgers
After the first PTQ this season, I basically stopped play-testing. Well, technically that isn’t true – I just stopped play-testing Extended; I stopped immersing myself in the format. I’d played quite a few games with Elves, Zoo, Faeries, TEPS, and Affinity and felt like I knew the key players and most of the match-ups. So, I just stopped testing for Extended and moved onto other things. First, I had a Peasant EDH tournament that I really wanted to win, and I actually prepared for that more than I’d like to admit. This was obviously a bad decision as $100 in foils should be considerably lower on my list of desired prizes than a PT invite with free airfare to an island paradise. I also tested Vintage, did plenty of Drafts, played some regular EDH, and then did some Legacy testing.
Of those, only the Legacy testing was really justified given that I was attending GP: Chicago, and even then I split my play-test time for Legacy between two decks, and I didn’t decide which one I was playing until I got to the event. I’m happy with where my Royal Painter deck is now, after the Grand Prix, but I definitely needed some more time with the deck before committing to playing it. I probably should have played Belcher instead, which I was comfortable with, and as most of my friends suggested. Some of my potential Extended and Legacy testing time was wasted on other interests as well, some of which could’ve waited for my attention until after the season: Rock Band 2, Fallout 3, Street Fighter IV, Resident Evil 5, Flight of the Conchords, the Sixers and Flyers, my girlfriend, and so on.
No, that is not in any particular order. No, I won’t tell you what the order currently is.
Yes, I know, ignoring my girlfriend for an entire PTQ season isn’t really an option.
The first major change I made between last summer and the start of this Extended season, was to drastically reduce my play-testing, specifically as far as sticking to one format with the goal of mastering it (as I had done with Lorwyn / Shadowmoor Block). Here is one sad example: I don’t think I’ve played a single game against an updated Naya Zoo list outside of getting creamed by it at the last PTQ; here’s another: the only five games I’ve played against Bant involved losing to it twice at two different PTQs. Similarly, I ran my Painter deck in the Grand Prix without testing a single game against a proper Threshold deck. Ignoring key players in a meta-game is definitely not a recipe for success.
One of my problems with play-testing in Block, Standard, and Extended is that I try to build or proxy every viable deck in a format, especially at the beginning of the season, and because of this I end up play-testing quite a bit — but not much with any one specific deck, and certainly not enough post-sideboard games. I’m usually the one that’s willing to help my friends play-test one deck against a gauntlet… but I’m usually the gauntlet**. There is some upside to this in that I get a feel for match-up percentages, and start to understand what underpins a format and holds it together. However, it also leaves gaping holes in my specific knowledge about how to play and sideboard with certain decks.
These holes in my play-testing are preventing me from having success. Back in January I was comfortable running Desire at the first PTQ because the power level of the deck relative to the hate from the field was such that extensive play-testing wasn’t really necessary. As I discussed a few weeks back, that is most definitely no longer the case. The field has matured as the season has progressed and play-testing extensively with your deck of choice is unquestionably one of the keys to success. The match-ups I tested back in January are no longer relevant — the testing I did with Dredge and U/B Tron in January aren’t going to help me win any games in March and April. I’ve now identified that I need to immerse myself into whichever format I’m focusing on, and that I need to apply considerably more focus to my play-testing.
“We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.”
– Peter Drucker
Digging a little deeper into play-testing, as Magic players we’ve been fortunate over the past six months to have several great articles written on the topic of play-testing, a topic that deserves many more articles devoted to it simply because so many of us do it so poorly. Play-testing represents your attempt to learn about your deck: what it’s capable of, where its weaknesses lie, and its strength against a theoretical field. From these play-test games you’ll decide whether or not to play a specific deck, and hopefully create a sideboard (and formulate a plan for sideboarding) based on winning the match-ups you’re most likely to face. As you play games over and over again, your brain actually remaps itself (as it does any time you repeat a task a sufficient number of times) so that common lines of play and interactions become easier and familiar. Your deck becomes easier to play, decisions feel more natural, you’re more likely to recall specific events to guide your decision-making, and your results improve. In some ways, familiarity with a deck is the most important piece of the puzzle in an open format like Extended or Legacy.
Play-testing isn’t the only place where you learn, of course. A lot of what we learn occurs during actual tournaments. A few tournaments back, I knocked myself out of contention at a Vintage event playing Progenitus Oath. I had a bad migraine that was kicking in during round 4, and made a bone-headed misplay involving Impulse that resulted in a game loss. I immediately went on-tilt and punted a game 2 that I should’ve had completely locked up from the first turn of the game. Although I recovered and played well enough to end up in 9th, I cost myself a top 8 that would’ve been full of favorable match-ups for my deck. The previous event, the first time I played the deck, I potentially cost myself top 8 by not taking a Mulligan against U/B Stax. My opening hand was fine, but it was full of Negates and Thoughtseizes. In that match-up I am definitely the beatdown, so that hand just wasn’t going to get me there. I should’ve realized that and taken a Mulligan.
Relatively speaking I’m ok with these mistakes because I’m still learning Vintage as a format and still making changes to my Vintage deck (although I’m pretty happy with the current configuration). One thing to remember is that there’s going to be some ebb and flow in the level of success most of us will have at this game, especially if you move between formats. Your own personal progress line is probably like the stock market. The Dow has never had any 15-year period that didn’t show growth, despite the numerous crashes and depressions that occur. View your Magic results the same way — don’t get hung up on the small set-backs, just try to make each season more successful than the previous season, and remember that success can be measured in many ways. Even if you don’t win a PTQ, or misplay your way out of a top 8 at local tournament, you might come out on the other side with a better Total rating, or a better understanding of certain game mechanics or sideboarding techniques, or new knowledge about what drives a format, and therefore be in a better position, long-term, than you were before the tournament started.
One advantage that I have with Vintage is that I’ve identified my deck of choice and continue to get better with it the more I play. In Extended, I’ve more or less denied myself the chance to accomplish this by switching from deck to deck during play-testing. Even worse, in the last two PTQs, I played the same deck (Desire) despite having spent the better part of four weeks testing entirely different decks. Given that I was far more comfortable with both Elves and Faeries, regardless of how I thought the field looked the morning of the tournament in Philly, it was an ill-advised audible that all but guaranteed failure.
“A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline.”
– Harvey Mackay
Before setting a goal, it is important to look back at the ground you’ve already covered, and if you’ve taken a step back, to figure out why. My last eight tournaments (not including drafts or Peasant EDH) have been 3 Extended PTQs, 1 Grand Prix Trial, 1 Grand Prix, and 3 Vintage tournaments. I have played exclusively combo at all 8 tournaments, something I hadn’t thought about at all until last weekend.
Admittedly, there is a world of difference between Extended Desire, Legacy Painter’s Servant, and Vintage Oath of Druids, but the reality is that it’s been a long time since I played a deck that takes control of the game, OR since I played a deck that just wants to beat face (which, traditionally, has been “my thing”). There’s a good chance that when it comes to Standard and Extended, I just need a change. Playing 5 Color Control in Standard felt great and I will probably continue to run that deck in Standard, and I promise on my life that I will not play combo at the next Extended PTQ I attend. I got to play-test a bit this week with Naya Zoo, and it felt terrific. There is something seriously beautiful about playing beaters and burn as efficient as this deck can field.
I don’t want to go this entire season without a single Top 8. I would consider that a serious step backwards in my growth as a Magic player, although I am at least able to recognize why that may happen, and hopefully will be able to correct it next season. I’ve narrowed my deck choice for 4/4 and 4/11 to two decks and intend to test them to death over the next two weeks, with no room for calling an audible no matter how the match-ups look once I get on-site.
“Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be, For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud: Under the bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody but unbowed… It matters not how strait the gait, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”
– WE Henley, from ‘Invictus’
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I have to pay more attention to the things I can control and influence, and not fear or worry about things outside that sphere of control. Mana screw is going to happen; Mana flood is going to happen. I need to control my level of tilt because of these occurrences, and most importantly I need to make sure that I treat each and every Mulligan decision as independent of anything else that has happened during that day. The sad truth is that sometimes in Vintage my opponent is going to top-deck runner-runner Force of Wills to make me lose. Sometimes I’m going to have to resolve 3 Ponders and 3 Peer Through Depths to find a single Mind’s Desire. These things happen. They aren’t my fault. Choosing to play Desire when I know that the deck has a tendency to malfunction, which is no longer mitigated by a distinct lack of hate, is my fault and I need to own up to it.
To summarize the goals I set for myself:
• When approaching a PTQ season, I will immerse myself in that format for the length of the season, and I will isolate my testing to that format only. There is plenty of time during the year to play casual formats and battle at FNM. At this point we only get two shots each season to qualify in Constructed PTQs. I will make the most of them.
• I will identify a couple of decks that I’m comfortable with and enjoy playing, and test them to death, and then test some more. I’ll play the majority of games post-sideboard, but make sure I’m actually going through the motions of sideboarding so I can do so in my sleep.
• I’ll take as many notes as possible during play-testing to help identify the key events that determine victory or defeat in each match-up. I will make sure my play-test lists are up-to-date after the PTQ results post each week instead of relying on stock lists from the preceding Pro Tour or an early Grand Prix. Constructed PTQs see constant week-to-week evolution. These changes need to be part of my testing.
• Finally, I will take the time to understand why I’ve bombed out at a particular event. Sometimes it might really be due to circumstances outside my control, but I will do my best to review the things I can control (deck choice, Mulligan decisions, actual in-game plays, sideboard decisions) and consider how those affected my results.
Until next time… this is Matt Elias, eating the humble pie, so you don’t have to.
Seriously, deer organs taste terrible. You don’t want none of this.
Matt Elias
[email protected]
Voltron00x on Xbox Live and SCG forums
* Obviously the one exception to this rule is that I have no problem watching “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”
** Speaking of Gauntlet, sometimes when I’m playing at a tournament and I’m starving, I can’t help think of that idiotic narrator from Gauntlet shouting, “Warrior needs food — badly!” That’s usually a sign that I need to take my medication.