The Humbling Enlightenment #DoBetter

This past weekend, I scrubbed out at the Sealed PTQ. I ended up staying around to see how local Steven Mann would do in the Top 8. I also played in a side event Win-a-Box with Mono Black. Overall, the entire day was both exhausting and humbling.

So let me take you through the lessons I've learned:

Although we can learn tons from the top pros like Tom Ross, or Owen Turtenwald, or reading material from Brad Nelson and Patrick Chapin, I personally absorb more watching my friends and acquaintances because I spend more time comparing myself to them on a peer-to-peer level. That said, watching some of them was very humbling. When I watched certain players who have had mild success from my area in big Comp REL events, I see them playing much more methodically. and thoughtfully despite the fact that they understand their decks almost perfectly already. Steven Mann, for instance, is a prodigy when it comes to cards in front of him, and adapts very well in any situation. He takes his time every step of the way even when the line of play seems very obvious. The same can be said for Logan Mize who has been on Mono Blue since day one that came to fruition. And while I don't think Mize adapts the same way to random cards as Mann does, I believe Mize can easily master any deck given the opportunity, and he is persistent with it. Despite the plethora of experience Mize has with the Mono Blue, he does not feel obligated to rush his play. You can see the gears turning inside his head and even when the line of play seems obvious, Mize still calculates all the possibilities before confirming what he's going to do. That's not to say these players slow-play. It's just to say, he's very precise when acting, and that's imperative. Doing it in an timely manner goes without saying. When clearly playing Master of Waves is the move to make, and it's the only card in hand, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to turn the lands sideways and cast it. However, as I watched some of these individuals thoughtfully playing their cards, it made me realize how much I don't think before I play. I have a very linear style of play. I see what appears to be victory, and often pursue that path rather than calculating the other possibilities. Don't get me wrong, do I know how to play around certain cards my opponent has? Absolutely. Do I know what's going to happen 2 or 3 turns ahead? Pretty much. I fault myself most the time simply for not seeing the entire board state and acknowledging what my opponent's potential truly is.

I share this self-criticism with all of you because I believe this is a problem that several players have. We get caught up in thinking we are good enough, or that we deserve to win, that we often lose sight of getting better. Winning and being the best are not the same thing. Winning is something that can occur on a whim and give us a false sense of skill. How we connect ourselves to winning is really what makes us a better player.

In the local area, when it comes to Friday Night Magic and other Casual REL events, I'm very consistent with hitting Top 8. Again, back to my earlier point: This can create a false sense of power. When it comes to the Comp REL events, my success is not quite as good. Why? Well, first off, obviously there's a higher volume of skilled players that I'm not conditioned on playing against at Comp REL events. At Casual REL events not only is the skill average much lower, but the atmosphere is completely different. So it's very inaccurate to use success at FNM events to measure our overall skill level. Another variable is lack of confidence when I play against players I know are better than me. Even when it comes to Friday Night Magic, I've mentally come to accept the fact that I'm going to lose John Bolt who plays the same deck as I do, but he simply plays it better. This mindset is incorrect though.

After lots of self-observation, I came to the conclusion that I simply needed to be honest with myself. I think a lot of players hit plateaus because they find excuses for why they are not being successful. "I'm so tired of Thoughtseize, Pack Rat, Go" -- is not valid excuse for why we are not getting better. If we use the metagame to justify why we hate a format, or why we lose, then we're not playing to get better. We would just be playing the game because it's fun and enjoyable which is fine, but we shouldn't expect to level ourselves up as competitive players if that's the case."My deck just hates me," is not a valid excuse for why we are not getting better either. When we can become honest with where our skill level currently is, then we can properly address what we need to do in order to excel.

If I'm being honest with myself, I'm a slightly above average Magic player. On a scale of 1-10, if Reid Duke is 10, then Mize and Mann are probably 8's or 9's, and Bolt is probably a 7 or 8, which probably puts me in the high 5 or low 6 range. I might argue that my immediate potential is to play at a 7 level, because I think I have glimmers of high level play that show through occasionally, but until I can tap into it on a regular basis, I can't say I'm there.

Now the question becomes, how do I get better? How do I get past this plateau where I can't take my game to the next level? I've reached the point where being one of the favorites at Friday Night Magic is no question, but winning Comp REL events like IQ's, Opens, GPTs, etc. is still just out of reach. What do I do to put myself in the same class as the guys I've been making references? Obviously, #DoBetter

When I first began asking myself this question months ago, I thought maybe it was trying different decks out. I went from Mono Blue to Boss Sligh to R/W Burn then back to Mono Blue and most recently, I've become pretty content with Mono Black. Needless to say switching decks regularly was not the solution. Rather, sticking with a deck for more than a month until I felt like I had mastered was a much better solution.

For me personally, it comes down to a lot of things. Despite having played years off and on since Exodus, I never had a super competitive environment to condition me to a higher level of play until very recently. So I asked myself a series of questions and again, it really came down to being honest with myself.

How many different competitive decks do I understand?

Right now, before rotation I effectively understand 8-9 popular decks. Understanding decks helps you see what line of play to watch for from your opponents and after rotation, I would say it's in my best interest to play a gauntlet of decks. It also helps you understand how to sideboard. Now, understanding and mastering a deck are two different things. I don't think I have "mastered" any deck, or else we wouldn't have this article today. But I can comfortably sit down with R/W Burn, Mono Black, Mono Blue, and Rabble Red and comfortably play at an above average level, but by no means would I expect to hit Top 16 with any of them except possibly Mono Black, depending on what the metagame looks like.

How many different formats to I understand?

I can comfortably play Standard and Limited, and I adapt okay to Modern. However, with Limited, I've caught myself a number of times having to call a judge for rulings entirely too much. Really, to go anywhere as a Magic player, you need to have Standard, Modern and Legacy under your belt.

How many matches per week do I play?

It seems to fluctuate right now having just moved and started a new job. I would say I play at least around 18-24 matches a week, possibly more if you want to count practice matches.

How many do I win?

If I play 20 matches, I'll probably go 15-5 or 16-4. It wasn't until very recently, I started performing exceptionally at Comp REL events. Again, it's hard to speculate on how relevant this is since rotation is around the corner.

How many of them are Casual REL and how many are Comp REL?

All of them are Casual REL with the exception of Saturdays if I can make it to a PTQ or IQ.

How well do I understand the rules?

Fairly well. When it comes to playing Standard, most questionable scenarios have already been asked so it's never become an issue for me. This might change after rotation, who knows. I know that during the Sealed PTQ this past weekend, I made two rule errors though just due to lack of knowledge.

So where are my gaps?

I need to be more conscious of my triggered abilities as well as watching for what kind of activated abilities my opponent has available to them.  I need to practice more, and play against all the tier 1 decks I have an opportunity for. I need to play more against good players. My local group of Magic players actually has a small crew of players that I would consider above average. But I don't spend enough time committing myself to play with them unless it's during a tournament. I don't have enough confidence in myself when I sit across the table from someone with a reputation for success.

Now obviously, we can recognize these gaps to create a formula on getting better. If I begin to consciously think more methodically, and mentally commentate my way through games, I can be more aware of what's going on with each game. If I grind myself through a gauntlet of tier 1 decks for each format against quality players, I'll naturally condition myself for a higher level of playing on a regular basis which will ultimately give me a higher average of confidence sitting at the table during Comp REL events regardless of who's in front of me.

Becoming a better Magic player isn't an easy feat. Lots of players end up giving up once they reach a certain point because they are discouraged at the lack of success once they hit a certain point. It's a lot like working out - when you first start lifting, you have your immediate gains, and it's exciting to see how quickly you've progressed. But eventually, you hit a plateau where you stop making gains and all you can do is maintain. When this happens, we re-evaluate our routine until we figured out a calculated and sensible way for us to overcome our obstacles. With rotation around the corner, it will be interesting to see how I personally adapt. I took a break from Magic when Return to Ravnica came out due to work and moving and then came back to the game during Born of the Gods. By then the metagame had already started taking shape and I didn't have to study nearly as much to break myself into the format. Regardless, I hope my personal testimony and experience is something others can utilize to get better as well.