Playtesting Correctly

[OurSerratedDust]

Playtesting is something I usually skip out on, but I'm starting to do it more and more. Keeping track of matchup percentages, improving play are important things that can give you an edge in a tournament setting.

Do most sourcers playtest regularly? What kinds of things do you do when you test? How do you guys get the most out of your testing?

[mchainmail]

I usually just grind MODO for hours. That way you have better opponents.

[jandax]

I have a few select (local) guys with whom I grind a few hours at a time. Yet it is always more beneficial when you have another there to oversee the game and comment on. This way, there is someone who is looking at both sides, and usually they pick up something players emersed in the game would otherwise miss. Think of them as the judge. They help with missed triggers, ruling reasonings, etc. They also get to point out bad lines of play, or suggest optimal lines of play.

I'm also all about take backs, but only if it's within the moment and one can explain it.

Furthermore, when we play test, we pick up the decks with only so much assumption. We know we'll be playing X verses Y, and then we'll assume X has x sideboard and Y has y sideboard based off of popular card choices. We'll play around Daze if we know for a fact Daze isn't a list, but hte list is still blue with Force and other like minded cards. This better simulates a tournament evironment, where there are unknowns, and gives us practice playing through hate, yet it also lets us try out "tech" and cards that woudl otherwise be a blow out.

Just be objective. Don't feel like YOU are losing 10 games in a row against Matt/Dan/Jason/whoever, realize that you're playing X against Y, and that X is losing against Y, not player against player. Perhaps one of you doesn't have a grasp on the dekc they're playing, and that way, any results you'll have won't be skewed by biased opinion. You'll step back and realize "Zoo" was getting beaten hard by that "main decked Firespout" and you'll work your way backwards to find the solution to the problem.

tl;dr remain objective, have at least one bystander watching the play test match to comment/rule as judge/etc, pretend as best as possible that you don't know what you're up against/play around cards known in said archetype for practice (all the while finding out when and where they pop up in a given game)

Playtesting correctly takes practice as well, just don't get frustrated. Frustration should be seen as your body telling you that you need to step back and look things over once more.