You probably already know about me if you have paid a bit of attention to Magic scene in the last ten years. If you haven’t… well, too bad for you!
For the upcoming year, StarCityGames.com asked me to write a weekly column. I immediately accepted, as I knew it would help me improve both my writing and my English… and well, I guess I like to write about random Magic stuff as well!
I will try to share my thoughts on Magic from a pro’s perspective. This is a theme for the columns of both Tiago and myself. I’ll be including tournament reports, strategy, and theory-oriented articles… pretty much what my work here on StarCityGames.com has been about for the past year or so.
Since I took over “Ask the Pro” on magicthegathering.com in September last year, I have covered quite a lot of different topics. I wasn’t much of a writer before, and I disliked writing in my school years, but I caught myself having more to say about some topics than the space allowed. Every answer there is bounded by a word limit. So, I invite you to read my column there when you can, and if you notice a topic you would like me to expand upon, just let me know in the forums! (The latest month has some really good ones… check them out!)
I’ll do my best to share my knowledge, experience, and adventures and make your reading time as enjoyable and informative as possible!
…
A new season is starting. The excitement from the end of last season is gone, and the newly settled calm will soon dissipate as Planar Chaos comes out next week. Things will be wild for me almost immediately, as some of The Idiots (Julien Nuijten, Jelger Wiegersma, Geoffrey Siron, and I… along with other unfamiliar names) have planned a ten-day trip to Avoriaz for some intensive ski – I mean draft training, in the Alps.
For me, it will have been a month and a half away from the tournament tables. To tell you the truth, I haven’t touched a Magic card since the last round of Worlds in Paris. But it’s not a bad thing. Some of you haven’t had the time to take a break from Magic lately, as you may have been battling in Extended PTQs in order to qualify for Yokohama. Others have been waiting for the new season to start.
Who’s in the best shape, Magically? Who is most likely to win the next tournament?
Before reading further, I invite you to read “What Level Are You?” an article I wrote some time ago. I will often be referring to that article when I’m talking about “play level.” [It’s a fine read… – Craig.]
In terms of play level, it’s often said that the more you play, the better you get. I’m going to have to disagree with that partially, and explain why. The whole point of today’s article is to explain how to play at your best current level.
First of all, and as I explained in my previous article, you don’t “level up” – i.e. reach a new skill plateau in Magic – simply by playing a lot. It is true that in order to be prepared for a tournament, you will need some training. The question asked here is how much training is enough, and more importantly… how much training is too much.
A tournament isn’t like a school test. The more you learn, and study, for a school test, the more chances you have to succeed. The main difference is that Magic needs a part of the brain that can find new answers. I have always thought that school tests were probably the worst ways to make sure students study. Anyone able to allocate enough space in his brain in which to store the dry facts handed out in the lessons will pass. That has nothing to do with knowledge, or reflection about the subject. Fortunately, that sometimes changes when you reach university…
When you study for such a test, your memory is challenged.
In a Magic game, your reflexes, your wits, and your ability to always find the answer will be challenged. Memory in a Magic game will not interact so much.
(I’m not talking about remembering draft picks here… I’m talking about being mired in your current play level).
How many times in a game will you think: “Oh, I remember I played a game against Johnny last week! The board position looked pretty much like that! I played this card here, and it was the right play!”
Hardly ever.
When you learn a lesson from one of your mistakes – if it’s strong enough to be worth remembering – it isn’t stored in your “passive memory file,” the one used to pass tests in high school. It’s stored in your “active memory file,” the one used in every game, and the one that helps you make the right decision.
When you make a mistake, you don’t just say: “man, I screwed up.”
You have to fix the part of your brain that made you screw up.
So far, what do we have? We have memory as a Magical tool counting for less than we think, and we have the fact that play experience is stored in an “active” memory file. All I’ve said should advocate the old saying: “the more you play, the better you become.” After all, the more play experience we have, the better… right?
It will become clear in the next few paragraphs that it’s not quite that simple…
After a while, when practicing for a tournament and playing at a high level of intensity – and I’m positive that everyone has experienced this – you start losing focus. “A high level of intensity” could mean different things to different player – a couple of hours, or days, or weeks. The more you play, the more you loosen and make plays that are far from being optimal. It’s as if you’re playing while tired.
The reason for that is that your “passive memory” – the memory that helps you pass school tests – has taken over.
You’re playing more and more on “auto-pilot.” You’re playing with automatisms (automatic mechanical actions), simply repeating games and plays you’ve drummed into yourself, over and over, for the last hours, days, or weeks.
The contrast between “automatisms” and “reflexes,” while probably being synonyms in the dictionary, has a big importance in my definition.
I’ll give an example to show you what I’m talking about:
1) Your opponent plays a Nantuko Husk and has no other creature in play. You have a Shock in hand, and Red mana available at the end of turn. There’s an urge inside you, telling you, coaxing you… “Shock it!” You tap your Red mana, and Shock it.
What happened in that situation is that you’ve played so many games where you had to kill the Husk at then end of turn. The mere idea of letting it live didn’t even occur.
That’s an automatism. An automatic mechanical response.
2) Your opponent plays a Nantuko Husk and has no other creature in play. You have a Shock in hand, and Red mana available at the end of turn. Before Shocking it, you look through your hand to see if you can take a little more advantage of your Shock. For example, you could play a creature and see if you can get a two-for-one trade with some nice blocking later in the game. In the end, you realise there’s no better play. You shock it.
It sometimes takes a split second to figure out your options, but that’s what you should do every time.
That’s a reflex.
The better your reflexes are, the shorter the time to figure your options will be.
You end up shocking the Husk in both scenarios. However, the first one offers you no other options. The second one will leave some options open, and it could spare you from making mistakes. I’m not just saying that you should be thinking before playing your cards… everyone knows that. I’m talking about one of the most commonly made mistakes on Magic tables over the world, even on Pro Tour tables. You don’t always go through every single play you make during a game thoroughly, because it would simply take too much time. After all, is it really necessary?
Is it necessary? To think about what you’re doing?
Exactly.
Most players don’t realise the mistakes they make because they simply didn’t think they could mess up at a certain point in a game. I believe this has a lot to do with preparation, and how much you prepare.
In order to get ready for a tournament, you will obviously need to study the format, try out possibilities, as much in Limited as in Constructed. If you don’t know anything about the format… as good as you may be, you’re still going to lose. That’s the theoretical aspect of the preparation. That includes drafting, discussing picks, trying out new builds of a Constructed deck. That’s where your passive memory comes into play.
When it comes to actually playing games… that’s another story.
Let’s put aside the theoretical aspect. When you start playing after a break, you will miss obvious stuff, and you’ll make mistakes you haven’t made in years. Stuff so stupid you won’t believe that you’re still playing Magic at a high level – you suck too much. That’s a concern in the very first games you play. Soon enough, you will focus more on the games again, and once you’ve stopped making stupid mistakes your play level will skyrocket. You’re playing with a fresh new vision of the game, and you will be more likely to find answers to problems than regurgitate stock responses by rote. In a new format, you will make mistakes due to your lack of knowledge. Those will be fixed with more games. When you know the format enough to stop making basic mistakes, you have reached the peak of your play level.
At that point, the risk you run is playing too many games. While you’re playing at your highest level, it’s easy to start peppering your play with automatisms – after all, you’ve played so many games already that you know what to do. Or you think you know what to do… And in most cases, you will be right. The rest of the time, however, you’ll miss a better play. The correct play. Missing the correct play is a mistake.
You have to determine yourself at which point your reflexes become automatisms, and simply stop playing at that point. Put down the cards., Take a break. Sure, you can still go on with the theoretical preparation for the tournament, or simply watch others and argue about their plays. If you’ve been playing very intensively prior to a tournament, take a break. Don’t play for a couple of days. Let your automatisms turn into reflexes again. Play a couple of games (or a draft) to open yourself to Magic once more, prior to round 1.
The tricky part is that to work more deeply on the theoretical part, you have to play more games… even though you should have stopped playing already. When you want to try a new draft archetype, for example, you have to find out if it works by playing out the games. Some pros and hardcore gamers play every day, the whole time, without ever taking a break. Some even do well: a couple of Japanese names spring to mind. I would say that the theoretical work they do, that extra mile they tread in order to find excellence, can plaster over the cracks in their reflex play. They could have stronger Magic reflexes if they chose to format their practice differently. Don’t get me wrong, they are exceptional players… but if and when they make mistakes, I believe it comes from bad habits and automatisms.
The theories I’ve presented above are tricky ones. Even so, I believe they bear examination. Everyone is searching for their perfect play level, hoping to play their best Magic. While it may seem strange, sometimes the best course of action is to simply walk away from the table.
Until next time,