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Practice, Practice, Practice
The title for this week
tells you exactly where I am headed. Here we are now
less than two months away from Regionals. If you
don't go, plan to. If you haven't been, you need to
go. If you don't like hearing about it...well,
honestly, just don't read anything on the internet
about Magic for the next two month or so.
Some of you that don't
know are really wondering why this is a big deal. All
I can say is make it a point to attend this year. If
I'm not mistaken, the date for Regionals is May 1st
2004. In the United States, this just might be the
single busiest day, from a Magic perspective for
playing Magic.
You're going to be reading
about all kinds of theories (unless of course you
choose to not read for two months) on metagaming, best
decks, hot cards and the like. People are going to be
reviewing decklists. You're going to get every
columnists opinion on something involving the standard
metagame as it pertains to regionals. I want to do
something just a tad bit different. I want to attack
this whole regionals thing from a different angle.
Try watching how you
practice. I don't mean just the game. I mean
everything involved. Let's start from the top and go
down the list. There really is a lot to cover when
trying to find ways to gain an edge and raise your
game for a major tournament.
Many times when I hear a
Magic player talk about why he plays a certain deck,
one of the things they always mention is consistency.
Players will go out of their way to find a deck that
works consistently well for them. This is funny to
me, because they won't take the time to build
consistency within themselves to make their play
better a whole. OK, maybe that last statement was a
bit too "Zen-like." What I'm basically saying that
practice makes perfect (or at the very least fewer
errors) but that needs to be applied to more than just
playing the cards.
Regionals is going to be a
long day. Most regionals are running nine or ten
rounds these days. This means that if your start time
is at noon, it is very possible that you won't be
leaving until close to midnight if you finish out the
entire tournament ordeal. You're going to need to
have a good breakfast in you. I'm not talking about a
doughnut. I mean like breakfast tacos, cereal,
sausage, biscuits, and/or juice. I've known players
that have even taken some vitamins or ginseng pills
hoping to gain some advantage over the long course of
the day. What's worse, is that I've seen players get
sick from both methods. There's a simple reason for
this. Our bodies, for the most part are filtration
systems. If you are going to be introducing a new
element (pills/vitamins) or a new process (having
breakfast in the morning), we need to give ourselves
time to adjust. So start adding that into your diet
now if you want to have an edge.
Another thing that many
players have to work on is toning down your
attitudes. If you have one, you know who you are. If
you aren't sure, ask, I'm sur someone will tell you.
You can't get better about it if you don't acknowledge
it. The first step to curing your problem is
admitting the problem. Regionals is a very large
tournament. This also means that there are a lot of
humans to deal with. There may be long lines at
registration. You may have people bump into when
passing by a table. You may encounter someone whose
attitude completely clashes with yours. You might get
a bad ruling. There are a ton of things that might
set you off during the course of your ten to twelve
hour adventure. If you are frustrated, you're only
going to make more mistakes. You need to stay cool,
calm, and relaxed if you want to be on top of your
game.
While we are speaking of
crowds, we need to address something else. Practice
with a crowd. Go to your favorite local game store
and get some practice games in with strangers. Invite
players to watch your game and point out mistakes.
Maybe turn some music on when you are playtesting at
home. Again, there are a ton of players running
around the room at regionals. The noise level is
generally high. It's no one's fault. If you have
300+ players in any given area all trying to explain
plays to their opponents at the same time, noise gets
created. You're going to have players watching and
scouting. You're going to have random sounds
happening. First of all, this helps you get used to
crowds so you don't get unnerved. If you are at the
higher tables, you draw even more attention, so be
prepared. Also, dealing with noise now can also keep
you from getting distracted. When the big day comes,
you'll be less likely to let your eyes wonder or lose
focus on your game.
Have traditional deck
testing practice. Run your deck through a gauntlet of
other decks. Play with the best players you can
find. Record your results. Take notes about each
matchup. Be prepared for sideboarding strategies.
Know what cards you are weak and strong against. The
more you know, the less you have to thing about on
game day. Truth be told, mental fatigue is a lot
worse than physical fatigue at these events. Save the
brain power for making the tough plays. Work smarter,
not harder. Do lots of playing and practicing now.
Also, I want to say, don't
practice poorly. If your opponent makes a mistake,
let him take it back. Only practice the toughest
situations and the best decks. If you play against an
opponent that makes mistakes all the time, all you're
going to find out is that you can beat a player that
makes mistake with Deck A. Well, I think we all knew
that. If you don't practice seriously, you'll get
skewed results. Skewed results don't help you prepare
at all. As a matter of fact, it will probably just
frustrate you when you have difficulty in a matchup
that you "usually won 80% of the time or better."
Have a plan as well. Set
up a way for someone to make food runs. This way you
can get something to eat and drink throughout the
day. Obviously breakfast isn't going to be enough.
There's no way it is even going to come close to
lasting all day for you. Having a plan and a network
can be good for other things too though. If you
network properly, you can actually get a feel for what
decks are leading the pack that day. Any creative
deck surprises of the day will be less likely to sneak
up on you. Also, you can find out what the good
players are playing by recounting matches that your
buddies in your network have played against or say
being played.
A week or so before
regionals, I would recommend making a checklist. This
is a list of things to bring or things you need to
do. Bring extra cards for last minute sideboard
changes. Bring sleeves to make sure your sleeves are
unmarked. Bring stuff to keep your life with.
There's no worse feeling to me than getting to my
destination and then realizing that I left one of the
simplest pieces of my trip at home. A checklist may
seem childish, but it's better to err on the side of
caution. Many a player has shown up to regionals only
to realize they left their deck at home.
Oh yeah, another good
point of advice; make sure you're well rested. Sleep
is a good thing before a long day of slinging spells.
I know most of you stay up late anyway by nature, but
don't do that too yourself. About a week or so before
start going to be a little earlier. Sleep is another
thing that the average person has to train themselves
for.
Outside of this stuff, all
I can say is read, play, and build. Hopefully all
these steps can help you prepare well enough for a
decent showing at regionals.
Unfortunately, I don't
have a bad play of the week this week. This is the
first week so far that I did not receive a GOOD PLAY
***OR*** BAD PLAY for the week. I want to see a bunch
this week so I can get some up for next time.
My card of the week this
week is Howling Mine. I'm not even sure why. This
card just always seems appealing to casual players. I
think part of the attraction is that all players get
to draw off of it. In most games that a bad thing.
But in a group game, you become a bit of an asset to
certain players. Some of them won't want you to die,
just so they get to keep drawing extra cards from it.
It's almost like giving more value to your place int
he game to secure longevity. It does have some
constructed uses, but casual players seem to take
advantage of this card the best.
My alternate game of the
week is Warmachine. It's a great miniature game
that's cost efficient, high quality, and has a huge
player base that isn't going anywhere. Check them out
at
www.ikwarmachine.com . I personally am just now
getting some minis finished up to make my second run
at the game. It's a good way to burn off some steam.
The games are fast paced and it's good fun.
I guess that's it for me
for this week.
REMEMBER TO SEND ME YOUR
GOOD AND PLAY PLAYS OF THE WEEK. There's a prize to
the winner each week. No purchase needed. Just
e-mail me about the best plays or worst plays that
you've had or witnessed.
As always, I do respond to
just about all reader e-mail.
Until next time,
DeQuan Watson
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