Jade
09-19-2009, 08:37 PM
Jade's Guide: How To Win
You play to win. You do everything the game allows to get an advantage over your opponents. You know how to leave a tourney as the last man standing, right? Right? Here are my thoughts of a proper preparation to win a tourney. I will sell all of my thoughts as facts and commandments.
Choose the best deck
To get a good shot at winning, you should pick a deck that is as consistent and powerful as possible. Consistency alone won’t win, nor will pure power in the long run. Didn't expect that, huh? That’s basically the difference between the DTBs and its follow-ups, the latter are just missing either of the two most of the time (sometimes they’re just underplayed). Next to that play a deck you’re comfortable with. Know every card of your deck, know all common situations you’ll face, know exactly what your deck’s trying to do and in which situation your strategy is strong/weak. Know your bad Match-ups and what has to happen for you to win anyway. Know your good Match-ups and what cards your opponents has to prey for to beat you. Know how to sideboard correctly, know how your opponents will sideboard against you. Always expect choke in Green/Non-blue sideboards ;)
Minimize luck
If you want to win, you have to be good and if you’re good, you prefer to reduce luck to minimum. This is probably the main reason why CounterTop is that popular – with 4 Brainstorm, 4 Ponder and 4 sensei’s divining top you’ll basically never have to switch to pure top deck mode. With Force, Daze and Counterbalance you got good chances to prevent your opponent to win off a lucky draw. To minimize luck, know the format. What’s commonly played and what’s a good strategy to encounter the meta? Sometimes that means that you have to pick a deck that is by itself more luck-based, but if you got a positive match-up against a high number of the field you actually need less luck (worst example I can come up with is Belcher against a field of Zoo and Goyfsligh).
Stay focused
Don’t give up games if you’re behind, instead remember what plays could turn the tables. For example, I’ve seen a Zoo player chump-blocking opposing Goyfs too early to not go down to 1-2 life, not realizing that the only possibility to win is to counterattack next turn and hoping to rip some burn off the top. I know this is a very obvious one, but there are a lot of situations like this with much more subtle correct plays. Sometimes there are only a few cards that could turn a loss into win, if that’s the case focus on the correct play to win if you draw such a card. If you are winning, do not feel overconfident, but do exactly what your opponent should be doing: focus on the cards that would help him to win and make sure you got a solution if he does draw any of them. Do not give him more turns than you need to and by that give him fewer possibilities to get to that card. Reevaluate the game state with every spell being played. Use every free second to examine your opponent. You don’t need to study psychology to get a read of your opponent. Even if you have no idea what you have to look for while studying him, you’ll instinctively will get some information out of it. If his eyes start shining with joy when you play a Fetchland turn 1, expect stifle. Even after the Round you have to stay focused. You lost? Why? Your opponent was a lucksack? Sorry, I won’t let that one count. You misplayed? Why? Try to find out what went wrong and do it with focusing on the problem, not your feelings. After that feel free to give your self a break. Clear your mind before the next round, because if you won or lost the last round shouldn’t have any influence for the next one.
Practice,
practice, practice, you know the drill. The more you play the better you get. If you know your 60 well enough, play with some of the expected decks, learn on what they rely to beat you. After that, play with your deck again. And again. And again. After that, go back to bold text above.
Be ready for a long day
You’re going to make Top8. You’re going to make the finals. Make sure you got enough sleep and whatever you need for hours and hours of competitive play.
Read some theory
Well done.
I know most of this is obvious (or should be) but constant repetition may help you to not forget it while nervously holding your starting seven in the finals. Also, there are still many points that need to go into this list; feel free to post the missing points and I'll shamelessly steal/add them.
Thoughts?
You play to win. You do everything the game allows to get an advantage over your opponents. You know how to leave a tourney as the last man standing, right? Right? Here are my thoughts of a proper preparation to win a tourney. I will sell all of my thoughts as facts and commandments.
Choose the best deck
To get a good shot at winning, you should pick a deck that is as consistent and powerful as possible. Consistency alone won’t win, nor will pure power in the long run. Didn't expect that, huh? That’s basically the difference between the DTBs and its follow-ups, the latter are just missing either of the two most of the time (sometimes they’re just underplayed). Next to that play a deck you’re comfortable with. Know every card of your deck, know all common situations you’ll face, know exactly what your deck’s trying to do and in which situation your strategy is strong/weak. Know your bad Match-ups and what has to happen for you to win anyway. Know your good Match-ups and what cards your opponents has to prey for to beat you. Know how to sideboard correctly, know how your opponents will sideboard against you. Always expect choke in Green/Non-blue sideboards ;)
Minimize luck
If you want to win, you have to be good and if you’re good, you prefer to reduce luck to minimum. This is probably the main reason why CounterTop is that popular – with 4 Brainstorm, 4 Ponder and 4 sensei’s divining top you’ll basically never have to switch to pure top deck mode. With Force, Daze and Counterbalance you got good chances to prevent your opponent to win off a lucky draw. To minimize luck, know the format. What’s commonly played and what’s a good strategy to encounter the meta? Sometimes that means that you have to pick a deck that is by itself more luck-based, but if you got a positive match-up against a high number of the field you actually need less luck (worst example I can come up with is Belcher against a field of Zoo and Goyfsligh).
Stay focused
Don’t give up games if you’re behind, instead remember what plays could turn the tables. For example, I’ve seen a Zoo player chump-blocking opposing Goyfs too early to not go down to 1-2 life, not realizing that the only possibility to win is to counterattack next turn and hoping to rip some burn off the top. I know this is a very obvious one, but there are a lot of situations like this with much more subtle correct plays. Sometimes there are only a few cards that could turn a loss into win, if that’s the case focus on the correct play to win if you draw such a card. If you are winning, do not feel overconfident, but do exactly what your opponent should be doing: focus on the cards that would help him to win and make sure you got a solution if he does draw any of them. Do not give him more turns than you need to and by that give him fewer possibilities to get to that card. Reevaluate the game state with every spell being played. Use every free second to examine your opponent. You don’t need to study psychology to get a read of your opponent. Even if you have no idea what you have to look for while studying him, you’ll instinctively will get some information out of it. If his eyes start shining with joy when you play a Fetchland turn 1, expect stifle. Even after the Round you have to stay focused. You lost? Why? Your opponent was a lucksack? Sorry, I won’t let that one count. You misplayed? Why? Try to find out what went wrong and do it with focusing on the problem, not your feelings. After that feel free to give your self a break. Clear your mind before the next round, because if you won or lost the last round shouldn’t have any influence for the next one.
Practice,
practice, practice, you know the drill. The more you play the better you get. If you know your 60 well enough, play with some of the expected decks, learn on what they rely to beat you. After that, play with your deck again. And again. And again. After that, go back to bold text above.
Be ready for a long day
You’re going to make Top8. You’re going to make the finals. Make sure you got enough sleep and whatever you need for hours and hours of competitive play.
Read some theory
Well done.
I know most of this is obvious (or should be) but constant repetition may help you to not forget it while nervously holding your starting seven in the finals. Also, there are still many points that need to go into this list; feel free to post the missing points and I'll shamelessly steal/add them.
Thoughts?