Magic Update

Have you guys seen these dividers? They come in packs of 16: three of each of the five main colors and then one randomly inserted artifact divider. I think the Source is selling them for $7.50'ish.

The DCI has finally updated the scores and I'm slowly climbing back up the ranks. I'm at 1715... *sigh*... man does that feel good… *whew*…

Here are some of my thoughts spurred from Patrick Chapin's Next Level Magic:

"…you will get the best results if you strive for perfection. It is possible to obtain perfection, and the way to do it is to have the courage to strive for perfect understanding (5)."

Let's say you win a hand of poker with very little effort because you had the best hand. I bet if we reexamine that hand and the way you betted, you could of won more money. If you played that hand perfectly, you could have eliminated someone. But instead you decided to play just "good enough." The goal should be to play perfectly, that way, even if you lose, you still challenged yourself to play the best that you can.

Playing more Magic could actually make you worse at it, if you are not consciously seeking to improve your game (7).

One of the most important things you can do to improve at Magic is to play and play more… but all this playing is for naught if you are not thinking about the games (7).

That's why I take notes during games and write up battle reports. They let me reexamine my decisions.

Most players just want to feel better about themselves, so they tell themselves a version of the truth that involves them losing because of “mana screw,” or “a bad matchup (17).”

They only person you can blame for losing is yourself. I always find it funny when someone says, "I hate Jund!" when I beat them. If they want to blame me or a deck and not themselves then by all means, please continue to lie to yourself.

Masters realize the key truth to life is that you make your own luck (31).

“I find that the harder I work, the luckier I get” (31).

Cascading or top-decking a Lightning Bolt isn't luck or a broken ability or spell. It's usually hard work.

Remember! In school and in our culture, we are typically rewarded for having answers. In real life, however, questions must come before answers. Answers flow very easily once you ask the right question. Therefore, truly brilliant and successful people spend most of their focus on the process of asking better questions. This is in contrast to spending most of your focus trying to prove how smart you already are (35)!

That's why we can talk about Magic for hours and why we email each other 20 times a day and why we continue to need to talk with each other. We must keep on asking and developing the habit of asking good questions.

Still, 80% is 20% short of perfect. Good is the enemy of great. Therefore, you better make sure you don’t stop at big picture thinking (42).

Trying your best is not a goal, but a process that flows naturally from the goal of perfection (72).

The only way to play perfectly is to strive for perfection.

It is not necessary to own all of the cards for every deck that you want to test with and against. A vital component of most playtesting is the intelligent use of proxies (50).

I personally prefer to use a black Sharpie and write on the backs of the cards… By writing on the backs, it removes the distraction of whatever the original card was and is typically easier to read (50).

For lands, I just write the name in the center and draw a few diagonal lines above and below it so as to make lands clearly distinct from the non-land cards. Make sure to let the cards dry for a couple seconds before shuffling them together or putting them in sleeves (50).

And it's cheaper!