PTQ: Theros Tournament Report

By: Nic Chrysochou

The competitor stands at the starting line. Eyes focused, adrenaline pumping through his body increasing his heart rate; shaking his hands as if they contained dice as a gambler would do at a craps table; flicking his feet forwards as if kicking an imaginary football; licking his lips in anticipation...

My preparation for the double header weekend began shortly after the Gatecrash release. I had decided to attempt to relax and enjoy playing Magic the Gathering (MtG) as a hobby again after a series of very unexpected and disappointing results.

I had competed in all the following available qualifier events over the past year after the World Magic Cup 2012 (WMC):

·         South African Invitational in Johannesburg

·         PTQ Gatecrash (Montreal) in Cape Town

·         PTQ Dragon’s Maze (San Diego) in Johannesburg

The lead up to all these events were done in a similar manner and I was confident that the process and procedures I followed would bring success.

Blowfish Invitational Report

By Nic Chrysochou:

Shuffle deck
Dice roll
Play/draw first
Phases
Steps
Early game
Mid game
Late game
End game

If you remove the finer details this is basically what the card game Magic the Gathering™ is all about.
Looks simple and should be but the process to get to the "end game" is much more complicated.
It is inevitable that if you lose (or win) at any anything your thoughts become intoxicated with the reasons for failure/success and the purpose of you competing in the first place.

Most people don’t take failure very easily and it takes real courage to reflect on what transpired and attempt to determine what to improve on.

When we are competing in some event it is human nature that the result should be reflective of the effort put in (what you put in is what you get out), this enables us to justify the reason for making the effort in the first place.

If one goes to the gym say at least four times a week for the next three months they would be expecting some amount of muscle growth or fat loss because they have put the time in and made an effort. After all we need visual confirmation that our efforts have not been in vain in order to motivate us to continue trying because we are yielding results.

This is a flaw that we all are susceptible to.

If we put our headphones on and zone-out while running on the treadmill we cannot really expect to see the same results as everyone else. When we do something, we should be motivated and preparing our minds for the influx of new information. In other words the quality of preparation/effort is much more important than the quantity.

Magic the Gathering™ is not a physical game (luckily for most players) but involves the same quality of concentration as any other activity. In order to improve and learn we actually need to reflect thoroughly on our experiences. Unfortunately/fortunately there is an unquantifiable force known as variance or luck that can interfere with our ambitions. If it was possible to learn how to minimise the negative effects of variance then we could all become better players.

I read an interview with Adam Katz earlier this year where he talked about how after matches he would always think about the plays he made and how the games went.