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The Long & Winding Road – Tournament Checklist

Read Matt Elias every week... at StarCityGames.com!
Monday, July 6th – Olivier Ruel recently provided some good advice for self-improvement – ways to make you a better and more successful, Magic player. I thought it might be useful to focus and expand on this idea by looking at what actions you can take before, during, and after a tournament with the specific goal of realizing self-improvement.

In this article, Olivier Ruel provided some good advice for self-improvement — ways to make you a better and more successful, Magic player. I thought it might be useful to focus and expand on this idea by looking at what actions you can take before, during, and after a tournament with the specific goal of realizing self-improvement. Below that, I have included a brief recap of my Vintage tournament from 6/27.

The night before the tournament:

1. Finalize your deck choice

There are situations where a last-minute audible is actually a good idea, but they are few and far between. Generally speaking, I’ve found that I’m better off playing a deck I’m comfortable with, especially if I’ve put in the time to test and strategize against the common match-ups, as opposed to a deck that I think might be slightly better positioned but am not familiar with at all. Keep in mind that your initial “take” on the metagame from walking an event prior to its start time is usually only a partial picture and often won’t be correct. You might “feel” like the field has shifted to one deck or another, but often this is because you have “the fear” of a certain deck or metagame shift, and your mind is registering the incidences of this deck without properly balancing them against all of the other decks in the room.

One area of your deck that may change from the night before to the next day is the sideboard, so even if you’re locked into your deck choice, you want to bring additional sideboard options. Again, preparation is key here — don’t just bring additional cards to create a new sideboard ad-lib; instead, you should plan out multiple sideboards. Start with your most likely configuration, but figure out what your sideboard might look like if you know a deck is over-represented at the tournament site, so you can easily switch into a new configuration with which you’re familiar.

2. Make sure you have all the cards you need for your complete 75

If you’re borrowing cards from someone you won’t see until the day of the tournament, you might not be able to make this work, but often people have the opportunity to finalize the acquisition of their 75 cards in advance (say, at FNM the night before) but don’t do so and are scrambling before the event to get ready for the tournament. I believe you want to spend the time before a tournament relaxed and mentally preparing yourself to play, rather than frantically trying to track down the last few sideboard cards you need. Preparing your cards in advance will also help avoid deck registration errors, as these are often caused when players can’t find a card and play something else instead, but fail to note the change on their deck registration form.

3. Complete a deck registration sheet

Many TOs will either make deck registration sheets available online or allow you to provide your deck list on any sheet as long as it has their required information (such as name; date; tournament info; DCI number; main deck and number of cards; and sideboard and number of cards). Have two deck options and can’t decide which one you’ll want to run the next day? Write up registration forms for both — this way if you end up loaning out one deck or the other, you’ll already have the form filled out. Registering your deck in advance will again help you minimize your chances for a game loss due to a registration error, and will also help dissuade you from ill-advised, last-minute deck changes.

4. Re-sleeve your deck

While not necessary before every tournament (for example, I usually don’t purchase new sleeves for FNM), if you’re playing in a larger event it is wise to put new sleeves on your deck prior to the tournament. This is especially true if you’re playing somewhere that is humid, as older sleeves will have a tendency to stick together, making proper randomization during shuffling more difficult. Using new sleeves will minimize your chance of having a judge called for any inadvertent markings. Think about it this way: if you’re willing to spend considerable time, money, and effort to play in a $5K or a Grand Prix, isn’t it worth investing $10 in a new set of sleeves? Many players only have a few PTQs each season to try to qualify and get onto the tour. After all of those hours play-testing, it is definitely worth $10 to maximize your chance of success.

When you are actually going through the act of sleeving your deck, make sure that you take a look through the sleeves and discard any that have distinguishing marks. If you’re opening sleeves that come in packs of less than 75, make sure that you shuffle them together to break up any patterns that might exist in one pack but not the other. This is critically important. For example, you buy sleeves that come in packs of 60. You sort out your deck, and sleeve it, and then open another pack and sleeve your sideboard. If there is a way to determine the sleeves in your main deck from those in your sideboard, through marks or cut size, you could be looking at a game loss for inadvertent pattern of marked cards. Similarly, you should shuffle your deck prior to sleeving, so that you don’t have all your lands together and risk the same problem.

5. Finalize travel plans

While making an exact itinerary might not be necessary for a local PTQ, it does make sense to know how you’re getting to the tournament and what time you need to leave in the morning to get there on time. If you’re going to be using a GPS, get the address programmed in the night before, and use Google Maps or Mapquest so that you have alternate directions in case your GPS craps out on you. If you’re driving friends, make sure they know what time you’re leaving — give them a specific time and let them know that if they’re not there in time, you’re leaving without them. Try to make sure you get to the event site early enough to have time to relax, but not so early that you’re regretting losing an extra hour of sleep.

6. Pack everything you need for the tournament

At minimum, you should have these items ready:

• Two pens and paper, for taking notes and keeping track of life totals (both players)
• Your deck, and any other cards you might be bringing (to loan, trade, or play in side events)
• Gas, in your gas tank (if you have gas in your personal tank, there are medications that may help)

I also recommend bringing a snack (or meal) and a beverage (non-alcoholic), in case there isn’t food available on-site. When its cold enough outside, I’ll often pick up a sandwich and water on the way to the tournament and leave it in the car so that I know I’ll have something to eat unless my car gets stolen, in which case I have bigger problems than hunger.

7. Go to bed at a reasonable hour, and set an alarm

These are both self-explanatory, and yet so few of us actually do this. Have people won tournaments on no sleep, or very little sleep? Absolutely. However, you maximize your chances of playing well if you get enough sleep the night before a tournament. This becomes especially important during the second day of an event such as a Grand Prix, when you’ll be more fatigued, physically and mentally, and the level of competition will be higher.

The morning of the tournament and during the tournament:

1. Eat breakfast

As it turns out, your mother was right about this — you definitely want to eat breakfast before a tournament. Doing so will keep your brain functioning and will keep your focus off the McMuffin your opponent brought to the table and on the game where it belongs. Try to eat something moderately healthy, and eat in moderation. You should probably avoid annihilating the breakfast buffet, because you don’t want to spend the entire morning rushing to the bathroom. Similarly, if you were out drinking the night before, it might be wise to hold off on eating a Subway sandwich early in the morning. That stuff is close enough to poison on a normal stomach. If you’re a coffee drinker, drink a coffee. Some studies have shown that coffee can help you score higher on cognitive ability tests, spatial awareness exams, IQ tests, and short term memory studies. More importantly, if you normally drink coffee and don’t have one before a tournament, you’ll probably feel more tired and cranky than usual. If you’re not a coffee drinker, however, I’d advise against having one even if you’re a little bit fatigued — you don’t want to be too jittery, either.

2. Stay hydrated

One of the best things you can do for your mental state is to make sure you’re staying hydrated, preferably with water as opposed to sodas or other sugary beverages. This becomes even more important if the tournament site is hot, or if you’ve had a lot of caffeine. Provided that you ate breakfast and got a decent amount of sleep, you don’t want to overload on caffeine or sugar, as these can make you overly wired, and worse, can leave you exhausted when you crash. Not getting enough water can lead to fatigue and headaches, especially if you’re playing in a hot/humid area.

3. Take notes

I’ve become a big proponent of taking notes during tournaments. There are many reasons why doing so is beneficial. Here are some of the things I like to track:

• My opponent’s name
• Who is on the play in each game
• How many mulligans each player takes
• What deck my opponent is playing and what key cards I need to play around
• How many cards my opponent is sideboarding, if they have made changes in a way that makes this information obvious
• Which cards I’ve side-boarded in each round
• Any revealed information for any reason related to the cards my opponent has in hand, preferably specific when needed (such as noting foreign cards)
• Any notable misplays I make during a game, including those my opponent fails to notice

Some of these notes are meant to give you a better chance of winning during the tournament, while others are meant to help you reflect and improve after the event and write an informed tournament report, should you choose to do so.

4. Verify all match results

This specifically includes double-checking results slips before they’re handed in, as well as that your listed points are correct on any seating or standings that get posted.

5. Know the prize structure

Part of maximizing your EV at an event is knowing the exact prize-payout structure. This is often what will determine when you should drop from a tournament, and may also guide you when deciding whether to accept or request an intentional draw with your opponent. Further, there are sometimes incentives to continue to play in an event, such as highest placing for a non-Proxy deck in Vintage, or points in a local TO’s rating structure.

6. Know the reason why you chose to play in the tournament

This might seem strange, but it is highly relevant. For example, if you’re playing in a PTQ specifically to try and qualify, you’re generally eliminated once you receive your second match loss. If you’re trying to protect your rating (provided that it’s actually worth protecting — far too many people worry about their rating when they haven’t actually ever used it for anything), it may be wise to drop rather than try to pick up prize packs. However, if there aren’t side events you want to join, you should always consider continuing to play even if you’re eliminated from the Top 8 or from the possibility of winning a prize. After all, you paid to play the full amount of Swiss rounds, and there is little substitute for actual tournament experience, regardless of whether or not you’re still “in it”. You can gain valuable information about your deck, and the field in general, as well as increasing your play-skills, by remaining in the event.

This is the perfect time to try and work on other facets of your game, as you no longer have to focus on winning the qualification. Try to pay extra attention to your mulligan decisions, or your side-board strategy, or the smaller intangibles like reading your opponent. If you’re on-tilt, this is sometimes a good way to work through it. You don’t want your next tournament to be colored by a bad beat, or a play mistake, that cost you in your last tournament. Playing a few more rounds might clear your palette, so to speak, so you’re in a better position for your next tournament.

After the tournament:

1. Assess the performance of the deck

Before I assess my performance as a player, I’ll first analyze the performance of my deck. It’s important to make this distinction and to look at these things separately. First you must determine why you chose a specific deck. Some typical reasons a person may choose a certain deck include:

• Most powerful deck in a vacuum
• Best performance level against the expected field
• Comfort level
• Card availability
• Desire to test a new deck against a tournament field
• Most fun to play
• Most likely to result in a winning record
• Most likely to win early matches

The first two of these have the most to do with trying to win a tournament. The rest aren’t invalid reasons, they’re just not the ones that are related to maximizing our expected performance for the entire event. For example, you might choose a deck based on your need to go 4-2 in a specific part of a tournament, and therefore pick the most reliable deck instead of the most powerful. Or, you might be looking to pick up some ratings points, and therefore choose the deck that is most likely to allow you to start 3-0, and then drop.

Choosing a deck based on its performance against the field you expect (for example, bringing TurboFog to Regionals in 2009 to defeat B/W Tokens, or Faeries to GP: Seattle in response to Cascade Swans the previous week) is one of the more common methods of deck choice for tournament players. When you’ve completed a tournament in which you based your deck decision on this factor, review your performance against the decks you expected. Doing so will allow you to assess whether or not your deck performed as you thought it would against the match-ups in which you were favored, or thought you were favored. You may need to reassess the source of your match-up percentages if they didn’t pan out the way you expected, or look for a different reason to explain the variance in expectation versus reality. This is also a chance to review the meta-game — was it what you expected? If not, what you can you do in the future to try and get a better gauge?

The other common choice is based on deck strength in a vacuum, such as Dredge in early 2008 Extended, or Tezzeret in current Vintage. If you made your choice based on this criteria, review your losses and your sideboard to see if the meta has adapted to your deck choice. Based on this review, you can determine whether you should continue to play your deck in future events in the same format. In Eternal formats, where you may continue to play the same deck for a long period of time, honest and careful evaluations of your card choices can help keep your deck current and competitive.

2. Assess your performance as a player

The simple fact here is that most of us are, by definition, average players. One of the ways you become a better-than-average player is to be honest in defining your own skill level, and then seeking out those you know to be better than you. Another way is through honest self-evaluation of your performance so that you can identify the weak areas of your game. Taking notes during your games is extremely helpful during this process. You can track your mulligans to help you determine if you took enough, or too many, and why. You can also better ascribe the correct cause for your losses.

For example, at the Boston $5K, I could have easily said that I lost game 3 against Jund Ramp because my opponent was lucky and hit his eighth land to play Karrthus, and I failed to draw my sixth land to win using Profane Command. Or I could complain that my 5C Blood opponent drew one of his sideboarded Wrath of Gods to win game 3. Or perhaps I might complain about my B/W Tokens opponent being lucky to hit a double Path to Exile, double Wrath of God hand. However, none of these types of thoughts help you become a better player, and in fact this line of thinking makes you actively worse. After all, I also won a game by floating mana into a blind Cloudthresher off the top, and another game by drawing my second Garruk (of two in the deck).

Instead, I’d rather be honest and admit my mistakes:

• I side-boarded incorrectly for game 2 against Jund Ramp. One Thoughtseize may have won me the game, but I had boarded them all out for additional cards against 5C Blood. In game 3, I banked on drawing my sixth land for two turns in a row, and when I didn’t draw it, I lost. There may have been alternative, aggressive options that were less reliant on drawing anything specific.
• I misplayed game 1 badly against 5C Blood, as his double-Vivid opener had me concerned about Swans. In game 3 of the same match, I walked right into a Wrath of God.
• It may have been right to take a mulligan in game two against B/W Tokens, as my opener didn’t have much offense or any sweepers. This was a typical case of keeping a hand simply because it had a balance of lands and spells, regardless of whether those lands and spells were going to do anything for me.
• Generally speaking, I was unprepared for both the Jund Ramp and 5C Blood matches. Despite reading about the decks, I hadn’t play-tested against either, which definitely put me at a disadvantage as I had no side-board plan.

The more you note the same types of errors, the more easily you can realize your mistakes and actively work on correcting them. For instance, I have addressed some of my mana problems through better shuffling, and by focusing specifically on mulligan decisions during play-testing I have dramatically improved that part of my game. Don’t fall into the trap of focusing only on your bad beats or assigning blame to luck.

When you evaluate yourself, you must pay attention to items you can control, and avoid concerning yourself with things outside your sphere of influence.

Double Dragon Oath in Vintage

I played in a 48-person Vintage tournament for a Black Lotus last Saturday, and ended up in 11th place after the Swiss rounds, at 4-2. My day played out like this:

Round 1: Lose 1-2 versus Standstill
Round 2: Win 2-1 versus Ichorid
Round 3: Win 2-0 versus Oath
Round 4: Lose 1-2 versus Mono-red Shop Aggro
Round 5: Win 2-1 versus Tezzeret
Round 6: Win 2-1 versus 5C Stax

I had to take an inordinate amount of mulligans on the day, shipping back 50% of my openers, and I didn’t play a single turn 1 Oath during the entire tournament. I also had some bad beats involving Hellkites showing up at inopportune times (including a game I lost where the only way I could possibly lose was to top-deck my second consecutive Hellkite). Make no mistake, this level of variance is the biggest knock against Oath decks, and I accept that — but it is still pretty frustrating when it happens. However, I figure there is some value in discussing the deck, which I think is by far the best version of Oath I’ve played to date. Over the last four tournaments, Oath with Progenitus and Tinker/Inkwell has been very hit or miss. Part of this was due to the randomness the Inkwell adds to the Oath triggers, and part of it was due to the declining value of Chalice of the Void and Progenitus in the deck. Outside of Ancestral Recall, Oath plays its cards one-for-one (or one-for-two in the case of Force of Will), so it needs to strike quickly and decisively against decks like Tezzeret and 5C Stax.

To that end, I removed the Progenitus and Inkwell Leviathan and ran two Hellkite Overlords as the only creatures. Creature choice in Oath is often debated, with many people running one Akroma and one Hellkite, or one Magister Sphinx and one Progenitus. I don’t have enough space to discuss here, but would be happy to do so in the forums, as I am very pleased with the results of running the Double Dragon. I also cut the Chalice of the Voids and Tinker. In their place, I added Time Vault and Voltaic Key as an alternate combo / win condition, as the deck runs Lim-Dul’s Vault, Demonic Tutor, and Vampiric Tutor along with Brainstorm, Ponder, and a play-set of Impulses. I also added Scroll Rack back into the deck, along with two Negates, the Misdirection, and Merchant Scroll. In other words, this list takes the deck back in the direction where it started, but replaces two Negates and the Chalices with Key/Vault, extra tutors, and Regrowth, with the goal of increasing consistency and overall power. My final list looked like this:


I won more games with Key/Vault in this one tournament than I won with Tinker into Inkwell over the previous four tournaments. I also won a game against 5C Stax specifically because the only creatures in my deck were the Hellkites. The sideboard I ran probably needs some tweaking, as I can no longer run Needle against Key/Vault. If you’re a fan of Oath decks, give this list a spin.

Until next week…

Matt Elias
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