Hi there and welcome again. Today I’d like to share with you the features of an aspiring card flopper that our team always keeps in mind, while going abroad to play WoW TCG. If you are set on winning and want to see how we prepare, play and analyze the events, it’s all here. I hope you’ll enjoy it!

To have some consistency I’d like to list 3 major steps that should be considered for any TCG event you join.

1. Preparation

2. Participation

3. Post mortem

Those 3 points are the key for everyone who likes to win, so let’s get into some details.

1. Preparation

How do you prepare for an event? The answer is not that simple for most of us. We all have our own ways and own schedules. Sometimes we are just not in a mood to play a lot. This is not the answer though. If you want to increase your performance on the event you have to take the effort.

1. Defining the gauntlet (also referred to as a metagame)

Before you even start playing it’s important to brainstorm with your team and list the most popular decks. Those are the decks that the general population of players will pick. They are solid and prove to be competitive on the high level events. You surely need to watch for them.

2. Defining the shadow gauntlet

This is a lot harder as it requires a lot of information and thought. The shadow gauntlet is the real gauntlet; this is what people will play on the event. There are many variables that need to be taken into account while working on this:

• Community (different decks are favored in NA, EU and Asia)

• Innovation (are new cards legal? Has a new deck appeared?)

• General information stream

The last point requires a lot of data mining and attention. You need to follow different message boards and scan fansites to guess what the deck choices are. It’s also a very good idea to scan the trade topics, or online shops to see which cards are hot at the moment.

All of those actions will get you closer to the full picture of what will actually be popular at the event.

3. Practice

When you have selected a bunch of decks that you want to pilot it’s time to start testing. Just playing the deck is obvious, but it’s also very beneficial to nail down the statistics. Create a table with all the decks that you’ve defined in the gauntlet and start beating them up one by one. What you want to find is not if you like the deck, but what are its strengths and weaknesses. You need to understand the concept behind what you play to unleash its full potential and learn card interactions. Some decks are easy to beat if you know which cards to keep as answers and which are useless. Let’s call it conscious testing. You are not auto piloting the deck, but are constantly questioning and analyzing your decisions.

When you’re done you should have a deck that due to your research is the best choice for the event and the only weak match ups are the ones are those that you’ve deemed unpopular. You are comfortable with your choice and nothing can undermine it now.

Do not change your choice at a last minute notice even if you suddenly start losing while traveling to the event’s site.

Hint 1: Try to balance your online and offline testing. Online testing provides an advantage of gaming hours without restriction, but you also need to play offline to not forget how the cards feel. Online programs like MWS are a solution for a regular player that does not have access to all the cards for a full scale testing.

Hint 2: Playtest against random decks on MWS. It’s refreshing and also puts you in a situation when you often need to get creative and use your cards in a unique board environment. The gauntlet may be set, but there are always Tier 2-3 decks roaming around and some crazy inventions that might slap you in the face.

2. Participation

1. Physical condition

This is a part of the process, which is vital and yet often ignored by many players. While participating in a high level event you absolutely must be in your top physical and mental form. For the brain to function properly and the body not to hold you back you have to keep a couple of things in mind:

• Do everything you can to have a good night’s sleep before the event.

• Eat properly before the event and have a breakfast in the morning.

• Try to bring some water – this will keep you going

I’ve noticed many players disregard those basic truths and put themselves at a disadvantage. When you’re tired you won’t see some plays that are obvious and you will make minor mistakes that might leverage the state of the game. The longer the tournament is the harder it will be for you to keep up and not get depressed or utterly exhausted.

A good practice to prepare you for a DMF, or another big event is to lead a healthy style of life and to do “endurance training”. By endurance training I mean long sessions of gaming that will test your vitality and condition. Local battlegrounds are mostly 4 rounds of play, but a DMF or Continentals will put you through 11 rounds of a very straining experience. If you can’t cope with that you will notice a significant drop in your performance somewhere in the middle of the event.

2. Mindset

Tournaments are a fantastic experience where you can face many different people across the world. Some of them are only starting to play and some of them are long time established pro players that have a couple of good finishes on their back. You want to be like them and even more, you want to surpass them. If you want to win, that should be your goal.

• Don’t get discouraged by your opponent

• Don’t ever allow yourself to think that you might lose

• Don’t get ahead of yourself, keep your focus

• Don’t let your losses kill you

Four simple facts that will keep you focused on the game. The funny thing is that many players have lost the game even before it has started. They are full of destructive thoughts like “I can’t win with him”, “It’s not my lucky day”, “I can’t win this matchup”. Those are all illusions that will fog your mind and push you into a bad decision. Every player is a human like you. They make mistakes; they might have a bad draw, day, matchup, whatever. Just play your game as you’ve practiced and convince yourself that you’ll win, or that you’ve already won and you just need to play this game to confirm the fact. This will boost your morale and will take away the fear and doubt. It’s not easy though and requires practice.

On the other hand, when you’re on the winning streak, top decking like a boss and thinking about Top 8 you need to calm yourself. Every game counts. Even your opponents’ games count. When you are not in Top 8 yet, you are NOT in Top 8. Don’t let your wins go to waste by losing those last few matches, which you should’ve won.

The last and most painful part that can lead to your defeat is... wait for it…defeat!

It’s really challenging to get over a loss, when you are only set on winning. The first lost game is the hardest, you need to quickly reconfigure yourself and regain composure, or else you’re gone. It requires a lot of willpower and is your biggest enemy.

3. Post mortem

The tournament has ended and you are either a winner, or you didn’t get there. It’s time to look back at your play and analyze your games. If you want to improve and learn about yourself you need to reevaluate the event and seek what can be enhanced in the future. This will not only help you to hop on a higher level of skill, but will also increase your self-awareness. Take this opportunity to find key points of your performance and better understand your style. It’s also beneficial to study others. Check out who was in Top 8. Who are they? What have they played?

The games that you’ve won are as important as the ones that you’ve lost. You can still learn a lot from both. Try to avoid excuses and always search for reasons. You lost because your draw was bad? Maybe your shuffling method is not correct, or your deck does not provide you with enough good hands to keep?

Post mortem analysis will enable you to fully benefit from the event and either avoid making similar mistakes in the future, or just following the same success patterns.

Will you accept this challenge? Challenge accepted!!

Yours trolly,

Gnimsh