Articles

I thought I better get a move on with this column, as I have been back from worlds for quite some time, and Kamigawa has been out for ages now - all work and no play makes Gracey something something…

So anyway, I thought I'd do a little introduction, talk a bit about myself (we all want do it, come on, don't lie). So the names Richard Grace, or Gracey, or Ox, or Oxey. I'm the defending NZ Champ, and hopefully I'll be the first to make it 3 years in a row next year. Just for your information, if they don't ban anything, I'll be playing Affinity at Nationals next year, so look out.

This column I'm going to be writing is going to be a little different than most columns you read, as I'm not going to tell you what card is good and you should play this because that's not up to me to decide for you. Instead, I hope to go into some card theory and magic psychology, so you can make those decisions for yourselves.

The magic community as a whole has gotten incredibly lazy over the last year, and a lot of blame has been put on Wizards for their 'unimaginative' card design and their spoon feeding of the Magic community - "Oh man, this is like a paint by number deck".

Well here's the thing.

Did you stop and look at what has happened in the past two years?

Every single tournament level Magic player has a gigantic database of incredible articles, from websites like Brainburst, StarCity and MtG.com. The era of the good player has passed - only one caliber of player will now suffice…

The excellent player.

I've recently started playing Poker to supplement my income, and I have found out a lot of things about Magic from that alone, such as calculating odds, understanding what different betting means, and that it's all about a world of imperfect information.

But the most important thing I have learned is this.

Your edges at the top get smaller and smaller every level you increase. It takes longer and longer for a good player to gain an advantage, and it can take weeks, even months for good players to show significant gains over the other players.

So what does this have to do with Magic?

Well most importantly it means that it is even harder at the top now. There is so much literature available to everyone now that even the worst players can play good decks and win, and there's nothing you can do about it. I'm sorry, but that's just the way it is, and it will probably continue to do so forever from this point in time forward. No matter how slow they make the format, no matter how many traps for lesser players there are, it will forever be.

So what does this mean for the aspiring Magic player?

Well, for one you better get good fast, or you're going to get chewed up real good. Get reading, and make sure you digest what you're reading, otherwise you might as well not read it. Know why you play with Æther Vial, and whether playing with Relic Barrier main deck is a good idea in your metagame. Understand why you should over-commit the board when you feel your opponent doesn't have a Wrath of God, and when you should try to make your opponent think you don't have a Wrath. Think about how to convince someone you don't have a Wrath, and how to convince someone to tell you they do. Think, think, think! And for God's sake keep thinking, and eventually you won't just put your four Myr Enforcers into your deck because it's good, but because you know why you want them.

And what about the good players?

If you want to keep your edge, you're just gonna have to get better. Whilst it seems more and more difficult to keep that edge, and while people keep 'topdecking' against you, figure out why it happened, and stop getting annoyed that Timmy from the shop drew that second Shrapnel Blast to kill you when you had the game locked up. Rewind the game. Where did you take damage? What decisions did you make? What would have happened if you had done things differently? Don't just assume you're making the right play because it was a good one - what if there was a better one? Make the unconventional plays during testing, don't just make the clockwork one, because you'll never learn a thing.

I'm notorious for making unconventional plays and winning games with them. I've been called a terrible player so many times it's not even worth mentioning anymore, but then I won a couple of National titles and people started to ask questions. I mean here's the guy who plays two Clockwork Beetles in his Black-Red DRAFT decks, piloted a Green-Red deck with two NOURISHES maindeck to a 2-1 record at Worlds, and is forever committing far too many creatures to the board in the face of mass removal simply because he 'had a feeling'.

So many times have I been told: "I can't believe you made that play, you got so lucky!" Gene Brumby, my teammate, says that I should play decks like Tooth and Nail because I can draw good cards. People think that some people are lucky, but you know what? The cards fall even over time; the play doesn't. So do your best to make the play better than theirs and the cards will break even.

So look for the unconventional, work with what you have and make the most of every draw step, every mulligan, every decision you make and you WILL come out on top a lot more than the others will. It might take a while, but you will get there in the end.

Next time, I'll talk about the current draft format, and give you my opinion on why Waking Nightmare is better than Distress, and why you should be taking Battle-Mad Ronin higher than your opponents.

Ciao!

- Gracey

[ Email the Author | Discuss this Article ]