by Allen Campbell
A new author to Mana Deprived, Allen explores the six roadblocks that aspiring competitive Magic players must overcome as they make their way down the path to success. A great introduction and a must read for the ambitious PTQer!
Magic: The Gathering is a tough game. I know, hard to believe right? Besides stating the obvious here, let me also qualify that statement a little more: Magic is hard to break into competitively and consistently.
You see, I’ve been playing this game since Beta. Well, the end of Beta and start of Unlimited, but still. Back in the early days, there was very little organized play. Sure there was the burgeoning Pro Tour and the DCI was starting to figure out what it wanted to do, but organized and officially recognized tournament play was hard to come by. At least it was up here in central Maine (which I suppose would be “down here” if you’re reading this on Mana Deprived, it being the #1 Magic site in Canada and all).
Back then, I was pretty damn good. I generally won or would “Top 8” (or the equivalent back then) every event I played in. The problem was that almost none of the tournaments were DCI sanctioned. The support just wasn’t there for our small-time markets to get the assistance needed to set up these types of events.
Nowadays, after taking a several year break from Magic for that whole “life” thing, I’m struggling to get back to where I was before. Maybe many of you are similarly having a difficult time. In fact, I’m hoping so because then we can take this journey together and find the answers we need and foster the type of camaraderie necessary to make it in the competitive Magic circuit. It takes a strong group of like-minded and same-goal focused people to make it amongst the plethora of talented Magic players and community members these days. I aim to make the most of the latest opportunities afforded to me by reaching out further into the fringe professional Magic player community and force that push into the next level. Are you with me?!
Alright! Glad you’re still here. Let’s take a look at some of the roadblocks that hinders semi-pro Magic players shall we?
1. Time
2. Money
3. Access to Cards
4. Location, location, location
5. Lack of Play Groups
6. Ourselves
Just for fun, I’m going to address these in reverse order…crazy!
6. Ourselves – I’m just going to get this off my chest now; I’m a horrible Magic player. Phew! It felt good to get that out! I can lament all I want about how good I used to be. The fact is that even then, I wasn’t very good. I’m told that admitting these things is the first required step to being better. Let’s see how it works!
We all can (or need to) understand that there are a lot of times that we get in our own way. If you want to be a professional in this game, you have the skill to do so. Luck, a bevy of top tier Mythics and mediocre play, may be good enough to stay atop your local FNM, but it ain’t gonna cut the mustard on the Pro Tour. Most likely it won’t even get you far in your area's nearest PTQ.
It’s easy to say that we need to be better at Magic, but how do we do that? It takes dedication, first of all. Mostly, though, it takes a willingness to look deep down into ourselves and be willing and able to grow. Too many times I’ve talked to players or read articles from players who seem to be stuck in a one-dimensional way of thinking when it comes to analyzing themselves in relation to their play. To be a pro, you need to be affluent in all aspects of the game: play, strategy, deck-building, card analysis, and how they apply to all of the formats. You may excel in one or two formats, but you also need to be at least marginal in the others if you hope to find success getting into and then staying on the Tour.
Purposefully going out of your comfort zone is one of the hardest things any person can do, whether in relation to a specific topic (like Magic), or life in general. It’s a veritable necessity though if you plan to succeed. Everyone I have talked to in regards to this topic has mentioned this in one way or another. Next time you draft, purposefully draft an archetype or color combo that you are completely unfamiliar with; bonus points if you can build the foil to your usual deck archetype. Next time you meet with your play group, offer to play that aggro deck you hate so much – being the control player that you are. Doing so will not only give you insight into how these decks play and how you should plan against them, it will also allow you to leverage playing the best cards you can.
Mike Flores is notorious for talking about the “best cards in Magic”. Who are we to disregard such nuggets of truth? Why would you purposefully position yourself to play inferior cards when there is obviously better cards to play? Just because you’re an “aggro player”? Or you hate green? This is where you are getting in your own way of being successful. Now stop it!
5. Lack of Play Groups – How vital is it to have a strong team to do well at major events? Just go and read many of Brian David-Marshall’s articles where, as the official Magic Historian, he frequently speaks about the famous teams of Magic’s rich history. Look at a team like Channel-Fireball right now. Sick, right? So many top professionals all able and willing to playtest with each other, critique, break down, rebuild, and support each other through every major event Wizards can throw at them (and more!).
This is something that I myself have had a hard time with. Establishing a solid playgroup, I feel, is so important to our success, that to be without one is Magic suicide. I will make one thing clear though; they don’t need to be your friends. Just because Joe Bombdropper is your FNM nemesis doesn’t mean you should ignore him as a potential team member. In fact, his being your nemesis should be your first clue that he can contribute meaningfully.
Another option is this phenomenon known as “the Internet.” Gaining friends online is a huge boon to what could be a useful and manageable playgroup. With so many ways to communicate these days, there’s less reason to not get together with other like-minded individuals. Of course, MTGO is another great resource to get you involved with a playgroup that can assist you in your growth and your skills. That leads me to my next reason:
4. Location, location, location! – It can be highly difficult to compete and stay involved in the tournament scene when you’re so far removed from all of the hotspots. Trust me, I know. I’m at least an hour away from any type of PTQ type event, and usually 3 hours plus from any major event like a 5k or GP/PT. This is where the dedication comes in. You simply have to be willing to devote the time and money to travel if you want to stay on the cutting edge of competition. The grind of doing well at these events is called “a grind” for a reason. It means late nights, lots of driving, airports, hotels, strange sleeping arrangements, sleep deprivation and more. You’ve got to do it though. Anything less is selling all your hard work short.
Being involved online is one of the best ways to subvert this problem. At the very least getting on MTGO can allow you to test, and play in online PTQ’s and other Premiere Events. It’s helped me, even if not as much as I would like. Luckily, the importance of these types of online events has only made its presence known over the past couple of years and is in its infancy compared to its real world sibling. This makes jumping into the MTGO tournament scene a real and viable way to not only increase your skills, but to take advantage of online events such as PTQs that feed into the next real world Pro Tour event, or playing in special live MTGO events at Worlds!
3. Access to cards – Whether it’s your own collection, a store sponsor, or just some buddies, you need to have access to quality cards in order to be successful. The Standard metagame is so diverse that you need to be able to adapt almost on the fly. There’s simply no way to do this without access to a vast amount of cards from staples to obscure.
Not everyone is a Mr. Suitcase with their own collections. This lack of cards ties into your Playgroup. Lots of times it’s easier to borrow the cards you need from a Playgroup member or for the whole team to pool resources in order to have several quality decks built and ready to storm the next big event. Gerry T. talked about this a few months ago stating that being more friendly allows you to borrow the cards you need. This is an important point because it’s so difficult to be isolated at an event and have a need that you can’t meet with the few dollars you have in your pocket.
2. Money – Another tie-in from the previous problem of having access to cards is the almighty dollar. Let’s face it, we all need more of it and not everyone is able to just go out and buy what they need. There’s also a chance that you might not have the savvy to be a Jon Medina and trade for anything and everything, or you are simply not a trader.
There is a line to be drawn though when it comes to money and your willingness to part with it. Obviously, when new sets hit, you want to have a decently-sized collection of the new cards to build from; a savvy person can get a lot of what he needs in that first week or two after a release. Otherwise, you need to be willing to drop some dollars on the cards you lack in order to be successful. You don’t want to be the guy who’s running a lesser version of a popular deck because you don’t have the cards to beef up its potency. There’s a reason why the deck designer put 4 copies of Jace, the Mind Sculptor in the deck, and it wasn’t for you to replace 3 of them with regular Jace Beleren. Be willing to move other cards to get what you need either by selling to your local retailer or by scouring Buy Lists at the various online retailers that could net you a decent margin of return.
You also need to be willing to spend a little money on the tertiary costs of the Magic tourney grind. Gas, food, hotels, and even flights can really eat into your ability to do the things you need to do to get better (such as buying packs to Draft, or picking up that Mythic Rare). There’s no need to arbitrarily dump a lot of money into it though. Be smart about it. Plan your trips in such a way as to minimize expenses. Obviously, carpooling and hotel sharing has been covered over and over, but still worth pointing out again. A hard look at a calendar of Magic events (such as on www.mtgmom.com) can assist you in planning to hit multiple events within a similar geographical range as well as time frames. I like to arrange these to coincide with mini-vacations or visiting friends and family. Another way having multiple contacts online can help, as mentioned in problem number four, is in this area. Making social connections and friends online can help you to have a place to crash or meet up with for travel and collaboration in all of your arrangements.
1. Time – The big one. Surprisingly, probably the one I’ll spend the least on, because there’s not much to say about it that isn’t glaringly obvious…I mean, we are all intelligent people here…we’re Magic players!
Again it comes down to devotion. Life gets in the way, and as some Magic players move on to different stages of life such as marriage and kids, new jobs, and new responsibilities, things become more and more difficult. That doesn’t make it impossible though, and there are many pro players who have taken breaks from the game at various stages of their lives and come back to it and been successful.
Still, you need to find the balance that works for you and your loved ones who are affected, and believe me, they are. It takes a lot of time to playtest, discuss, read articles, research, brew, plan trips and much, much more. This is an area that is easy to overlook, but it’s sitting at number one for a reason. For certain though, you need lots of it if you want to make the jump from FNM hero to Pro stage player!
Share with me your experiences and insight! How have you overcome some of these obstacles? What has worked for you and what hasn’t? What other roadblocks have you encountered that weren’t mentioned here?
Let me know! Contact info below:
Email: feedback@storminliongames.com
Twitter: @AllenSLG
Kar Yung Tom (KYT) is the Digital Content Manager for Face to Face Games. He oversees the F2FTour.com and Magic F2F websites. He is also the lead host of the First Strike podcast.