Preparation Is The Key
Whats up with Brisbane?
Five Brisbane players went down to Melbourne this past weekend in an attempt to steal their PTQ, much like ours was snatched up by Sydney player Aaron Nicastri. And how did we do? I think “Not Well” would sum things up.
So what went wrong? Well firstly, lets look at our results. I went 5-2, but I was technically out of the running in round 4 when I picked up my second loss. Dave Williamson was leading the charge for most of they day with his affinity deck, and was going 4-0 I believe until he ran up against rock decks for 3 rounds and ended up 4-3. John Winter and Sunny Lie both got their second loss in the middle of the day. Dan Baulderstone had a massive run of bad luck mixed with a few questionable plays and was lingering around the bottom tables.
What caused these results? I think its quite easy to say that the majority of it comes from lack of preparation.
I managed to get about 3 nights testing all up with an assortment of decks, but the testing was a little lackluster and was not really enough, nor was it against the right decks. I lost in round 3 because I kept a really bad hand, and although this was more about fatigue, I wasn’t able to quickly tell that the hand was bad. I also lost in round 4, which was mostly due to the double mulligan in game 2, however I wonder how it would have been if I hadn’t removed some of my sideboard cards for that matchup, or even had the right ones to start with.
Dave Williamson has already commented on the forums that he didn’t have the right sideboard cards, and paid the price in the later rounds. Sunny has the utmost faith in his card choices, though I really don’t agree with them and more testing might have shown that there are better cards out there for him. John switched decks at the last minute, mostly due to our constant taunts at his deck choice, but he was still one of the most prepared and at least didn’t require any last minute deckbuilding. Dan Baulderstone switched decks from his previously favoured Dredge, to Affinity, which he didn’t have a chance to test with.
A lack of preparation on all fronts caused Queensland’s demise.
There are many types of preparation. Some of these we failed to do, others I’m including for the benefit of the readers.
1. Testing
Cameron Veigel wrote an article for this very site some time ago about testing. The key point is that it’s not really optional. If you want to give yourself the best chance of success, you need to test. Test your deck against anything you’re likely to face. If you don’t have a chance to play heaps of games, at least read as many articles as you can on the given format. Also, if there’s a matchup you find particularly difficult, play the matchup from the other side, so you know how the other side plays. Its amazing how well you’ll do when you stop imagining your opponent has the perfect hand every time.
2. Deck Building
By this I mean physically getting the cards you need for your deck. You should know what your final decklist is before your event, so you should know what cards you need to borrow for your deck. Get them early. In Melbourne, we were digging around for sideboard cards for some of us in the 20 minutes leading up to the start of the event. That enough should have been a sign of results to come.
3. Rest
You need to sleep. I flew down to Melbourne on the Friday night, and it was a late flight. Which was then delayed. Then, when I finally arrived at the friends house in which I was crashing, he wanted to build a new deck . I didn’t get to sleep until about 2am. Safe to say I was probably not bringing my A-game that day.
Now, for some people, it is probably OK not to get a great night’s sleep before a big event. I’m likely being a bit of a hypocrite, as I was up really late the night before both the PTQ’s I’ve won. But given my recent performance at extended states, I certainly wouldn’t recommend it.
4. Mental Game
You have to know you can win.
On a local level, there are a lot of people who have the capability to do well. The only thing they are missing is confidence. They read the pairings and say “Oh no, I’m playing Levi. {sad face}” Let me tell you a little secret. I am not a pro player. I am not even an extremely good player. Something I learned at states is that although I am one of the best players in Brisbane, the gap between my ability and everyone else’s ability isn’t very big. All it takes is a bad night’s sleep, a stupid decision or a slightly bad draw and suddenly I’m signing up that result slip as a loss. I can lose to anyone. Likewise, I can’t think of a Brisbane player who I haven’t beaten before. Don’t ever believe there’s a player you can’t beat. Play your best and let your cards do the talking.
If you’re seen as a weak player, you actually have an advantage if your opponent underestimates you. I know I’ve lost games at pre-releases to 12 year old kids wielding 8cc creatures. Know that you have this advantage and use it.
One of the problems I’ve had with my mental game is believing that I, or Brisbane in general, are not good enough to compete with players from other states. I was really worried when I heard the Sydney players were coming to our PTQ. And even though they did end up taking our PTQ, only One out of the Five players from Sydney made the top 8.
One. Out of Five.
Since then I’ve changed my mind about competitors from other states. They aren’t inherently better than us, not in the slightest. Maybe they do more testing than us, and maybe their smack-talk game is a bit more developed. But they aren’t genetically engineered magic playing machines. From that point on, I’ve accepted that unless your name is Tim He or James Zhang, I can beat you. And even Tim and James get mana screwed.
I’ve set some goals for myself this year. Sure, its probably a bit late in the year, so I’m a little behind, but regardless, I’m still going to try achieve them.
My goal is to do one of the following this year:
- Win a PTQ.
- Make Top 8 at Nationals.
- Make Top 8 at Grand Prix.
I know I can win a PTQ, as I won two last year. I had a lot of luck in doing so, but part of being successful is deploying enough skill so that the luck can get you there.
Cameron Veigel came 2nd at Nationals two years ago, and Sam Atkinson made top 8 at a Grand Prix the year before that. I think I’m at the same level as Cameron or Sam, so I too should be able to achieve these.
I would recommend that everyone set some goals this year, no matter how big or small. You might strive to win an FNM this month, or win a draft. Or make top 8 at a PTQ. Whatever it is, just know that you can achieve what you set out to do. The only thing standing in your way is a little preparation.
Levi Hinz