DG's Bringing your A Game! Mental Magic?

Hello everyone and welcome to another one of my articles. Today I will be talking about a more advanced portion of the game. As we all know, this game does not require much to play physically. The requirements in this field are low enough that just about anyone should be able to play. If we take it one more step further we begin to look at the non-physical potions of this game. What I mean by this are the two key elements for success and progression. These two elements are the mental part of magic known as technical game and mental game. Starting with the first we have the technical game.

What exactly do I mean the technical game? The technical game is the portion of the game that deals with the board state and current known information. The knowledge of what is in play on either side and what is in your hand create and form your technical game. Each card in play is another piece of knowledge that can be used to determine the events that unfold from your existing board state. For example if the opponent has a Thragtusk in play and you are holding a Dreadbore then your technical play is simple to see. Your current options are to let the Thragtusk live because you know another token is just going to come along, or kill the Thragtusk to relieve some pressure. Your information is absolute, either there is a dead Thragtusk or there is a live Thragtusk and a Dreadbore in your hand. Based on these observations we make technical plays. Another example of technical play could be this scenario: should you attack the planeswalker and give your opponent time? Or should you attack your opponent and ignore the planeswalker? These are the kinds of questions we ask ourselves whenever we make a decision based on known information. Perfecting your technical play will increase your overall strength tenfold. The deck that won Pro Tour Return to Ravnica is greedy for skilled technical play. When should I stack triggers of Elsewhere Flask? Should I Ghost Quarter to find a Plains or an Island? Should I crack all of my eggs this turn or wait until next turn when I have a slightly more stable position and am one card deeper? Perfecting these answers will help any player become stronger. This knowledge can be applied to almost any deck. When should aggro attack planewalkers or players? When should combo try and go off? When should control counter a spell or remove a creature? Work on these decisions while playing and it will not only make you a stronger player, but also allow you to think about plays at a much faster and more accurate rate. The primary goal of this exercise is to allow you to obtain as much efficiency as possible from all of your moves on all of your turns. With tight technical play, we are able to be efficient and smooth. These are the disciplines that create winning results. You want each move to have its own weight and pull results from your information at hand. This is where the value of playtesting comes in. See, the common misconception with playtesting is people only want to test certain pieces of their deck. If you want to increase your technical play strength, then you must be willing to test every little piece of the deck. This means test sideboard games as well as game ones.  Many people do not test the sideboard which is a huge mistake. Purposely keep bad hands in playtesting to see how fast you are able to win whenever luck is not on your side. This practice will help you in tournament play when you draw your opening seven and it is not looking good. You are able to mull and even if you draw into a bad hand that’s somewhat playable, you now have the knowledge to know what you need to do to win because of your prior playtesting with such a bad hand. You are able to have an idea of how the flow of the game will work from your side of the table and then create an appropriate pacing to match the flow. You already have a rough idea of how long it will take you to win when you are not playing your normal game because you prepared for it. Your tight technical play will allow you to possibly pull a win even though you are behind. These deals a lot with the idea that you are more prepared than your average opponent who failed to test these circumstances. This will give you an advantage over those who neglect or are satisfied with their current abilities in the technical play field.

The second element is mental play. Mental play is much harder to grasp than technical play. Its applications are mostly used for control and combo players but aggro players can still benefit from learning to better their mental play. Mental play breaks down into two basic theories. The first of which, is characterized by making plays using information you don’t have. This runs parallel to technical play. With mental play, you make decisions based on not only what you have, but also what is not present as well. For example, debating to whether or not to play a creature when your opponent has two blue and one white mana open is using mental play. You are factoring in a possibility of a counterspell or other sort of answer. You are essentially dealing with factors that may or may not be present. Now the insightful advantages that can be gained from working on and strengthening your mental play is just as advantageous as your benefits from technical play. If you mainly play control decks, than you should have a good understanding of what I am talking about. The second side to mental play comes down to the mental game. What is this you are asking? The mental game also breaks down into two sides. The first side is the game currently in progress. All of the creatures in play and both players’ perspectives on the board is an example of what this category entails. The second side deals with an even more advanced concept. That is the game your opponent thinks is currently in progress. What this theory is based on is one key idea. If there is a game going on, this contributes to the mental game. Now, if there is a game going on and one player thinks it is a different type of game based on the way you lead them, then you are using a far greater mental strategy than most. A perfect example of this can be seen in this scenario. Two players are playing a game. One player is using a midrange deck that plays Vampire Nighthawk. The other player is playing a control deck with Snapcaster Mage. It is around turn 6 or 7 after these following events take place. Around turn 5, the Snapcaster player flashes in his creature and flashes back a removal spell to kill the midrange players’ only creature (at this point our midrange player has tapped out for this creature). On the control player’s turn, he attacks with his Snapcaster, dealing two damage to his opponent. Now here is where this advanced level of thinking comes into action. The control player has now given the illusion that is has turned into the offensive deck while the midrange player is now playing the defensive and controlling deck. It is the midrange player’s turn and he lays down two Nighthawks and passes. At this point, he has almost nothing else in his hand. This move is what will be the pivotal point in this example. Now on the Snapcaster player’s turn, he casts a Supreme Verdict to deal with the Nighthawks and effectively eke out whatever small chance the midrange player had of making a comeback. Let’s analyze this. The control player assumed an aggressive role to make his opponent think that the roles had reversed (there is always one control deck and one aggro deck, regardless of what decks or type of decks both players are using). One player will always be in an active offensive state while the other maintains a defensive position. Now, the opponent who had fallen victim to this mental play lays two Nighthawks to not only play defensively, but to regain the aggressive position. Now this is exactly where the control player wanted the midrange player. He answers with the wrath, showing that he was playing control all along. He merely misleads his opponent into thinking the roles had reversed (making the opponent think and play a game that was different from the current one in progress). An example of this from the aggro player’s perspective is baiting out counterspells, but using this example, we really are not able to see just how affective this concept is when successfully applied.

No matter which style of deck you play, mastering both technical and mental play will give you an edge and help take your play to the next level. It is imperative that you master these skills for high level events. These skills in particular will take a long time to improve at due to their advanced nature. But once improved, you will be able to view and play magic from an entirely different level. This level will allow you to stand out in the crowd and achieve success to a degree that may shock you. Practice these once a week and routinely challenge yourself to step your game up to the next level. Only then, can you improve on your basic foundation. Thank you all for reading and I hoped you enjoyed. I will conclude this article as always,

Until next time, keep it real and have fun!

Justin

DG you are my favorite writer ever!
another great article. *applause*
You should contact StarCityGames and see if you can write for them because you have some great stuff here!

Hmm, this article is not generating the amount of discussion I was expecting. Perhaps it as not as good as my previous works. . .

Hmm, this article is not generating the amount of discussion I was expecting. Perhaps it as not as good as my previous works. . .

It was good, but I feel like it just provided a broad overview of something we are all aware of. I think you should have given us more examples like the nighthawk/verdict one and delved into how people can improve their mental game. For instance, what questions should they be asking themselves, what are the things they need to consider before making a decision, the different levels of thinking, and how you always need to be thinking one level higher than your opponent. Basically, just provide us with a fresh take on the subject instead of giving an overview of it.

Perhaps an interesting way of approaching it would have been to compare the tactical aspect to chess and the mental aspect to poker, and then discuss concepts from both of those games that can be applied to magic. It's possible it could provide us with a different way of looking at familiar situations.

I read this the day you posted but thought I commented. It was a very good read. I'll have to reread it though. I'll try to remember to in the morning.

Also I would like to hear some situations about dealing with planeswalkers versus the player.

Hmm, this article is not generating the amount of discussion I was expecting. Perhaps it as not as good as my previous works. . .

I didn't have power until today. So i was not able to read this. I think i mentioned this in your last article, but watch "2012 Players Championship Semifinals: Shouta Yasooka vs. Jon Finkel". If you notice the patience of both players, you see that they don't just curve into everything, even take damage when they have answers.

Magic is a battle of resources, but it has so many subsystems. Putting opponents on a clock, racing, threats, board states, mental games. They're all important to know and master. Each color has a way to play and win. I think most people hate blue because they don't have an idea how to beat it.

I love how your articles seem.. I don't know, professional, maybe?  Like you legitimately want o get your point across and help other people "step up their game" and nit just type up an article and get a bunch of praise for it.  Keep up the good work!  I've read most, if not all of your articles and I have really enjoyed all of them!

Quote from: Death Gaara on October 29, 2012, 07:26:11 PM

Hmm, this article is not generating the amount of discussion I was expecting. Perhaps it as not as good as my previous works. . .

I didn't have power until today. So i was not able to read this. I think i mentioned this in your last article, but watch "2012 Players Championship Semifinals: Shouta Yasooka vs. Jon Finkel". If you notice the patience of both players, you see that they don't just curve into everything, even take damage when they have answers.

Magic is a battle of resources, but it has so many subsystems. Putting opponents on a clock, racing, threats, board states, mental games. They're all important to know and master. Each color has a way to play and win. I think most people hate blue because they don't have an idea how to beat it.

I am not sure what this has to do with the article, but yes, you are correct on all of those points. It is the basic theory I have reiterated since day one.

I love how your articles seem.. I don't know, professional, maybe?  Like you legitimately want o get your point across and help other people "step up their game" and nit just type up an article and get a bunch of praise for it.  Keep up the good work!  I've read most, if not all of your articles and I have really enjoyed all of them!

Yes, I appreciate your compliments. I do my best to convey points and help improve others. If you want to know the truth, I was in a state of melancholy whenever I wrote the "not as good as my previous works" post. In any case, I genuinely care to help teach people. I am actually working on becoming a teacher at this very moment. I do not look for praise, but instead results. When there is discussion, it shows me visually that results are made. Whether people like the article or not. Whether they agree or not. A new point of view was brought to the table. My favorite part of what I do for this forum is not writing articles (although I do find it enjoyable). I write papers every week for college. My favorite part is watching the growth of others in the community. I enjoy watching people understand or discuss with one another different ideas. If I am able to assist them take their game up a notch, then I am happy myself. My goal is to spread my knowledge of the game. With discussion, I know my knowledge is received and then broken down by the mind. People begin forming opinions, which evolve into new ideas or fantastic points of views on topics, whether they be old or new. They don't have to agree with me. If I was looking for validation then I would not write for the general public. They just have to form and idea, whether it be big or small. That way, even if they hated the information and don't want to use it, they at least now know what they don't want to do. So in a sense, they still grew and progressed, even if they did not like the read in the first place. Anyways, I am glad you enjoy my works. I will continue to write for the future so keep it real,


Justin

Oh, I wasn't insinuating that that post was you trying to get attention or anything   Sorry if it came across that way! 

But it is a rare trait for someone to genuinely want to help others, especially with things like this.  I look forward to the next article!

Oh, I wasn't insinuating that that post was you trying to get attention or anything   Sorry if it came across that way! 

But it is a rare trait for someone to genuinely want to help others, especially with things like this.  I look forward to the next article!

Don't worry, it did not come across that way. I was just making an extensive comment on what you said. I didnt think you were insinuating anything. Thanks for your continued support,


Justin

Another interesting article and some good thoughts. Even the comments are helpful so I think the article is a positive.
More please!

So you tell us to practice, but how could i? I cant play with people every day, i cant even post my decks to the desired forums, and dk how to build a competitive deck.. Your articles are beautiful though and i plan on reading all that i can, but im in a serious bind where idk how to progress