This is the start of a recent tournament report on this site:
I didn't know which deck was playing my opponent so I decided to keep an hand consisting of a FoW, a Brainstorm, a Wish and a single Island but with a lot of artifact-mana. This hand troubled me a bit, because of the lack of a second land and the high number of artifacts. I could have lost the entire game if he was playing an Artifact.dec because of the possibility of him holding a double threat in his initial hand. Without more than one real land, a possible start with Trinisphere AND CotV for zero would have been deadly for me. On the other hand, if he wouldn't have drawn a godly-hand but if he was playing an artifact.dec, I could have countered his Trinisphere OR CotVs, and then I would have had a lot of mana available for the rest of the game. From a different perspective, if he would have played any other deck, I could have searched for other lands or answers with the rest of the cards in my hand. I thought a lot about the possibility of him playing a Combo-deck. I would have started second without an active Brainstorm and with ONLY a FoW in my hand to protect myself. An highly probable Duress plus Huge Threat on turn two, would have probably found me with my pants down, ready to be sodomized by anything he could have had.
OMG!
So much Thinking and Mumbling BEFORE Turn 1 of the Game 1 of the Round 1.
Of the entire tourney.
Of the entire LONG tourney.
I played too much mental magic.
Too much.
The reality have nothing in common with mental magic.
I had a FoW in hand.
AND TWO!!! Blue Cards.
I should have felt really strong.
I FEEL really strong!
I WAS really strong!
I kept this hand with a fiery face.
I would have smashed him whatever he would have played.
This thought process is something I've gone through many times at the start of tournaments, or before big elimination rounds. I've found that my frame of mind going into a match is an extremely important factor in my success. I've noticed this applies to magic, as well as professional, academic, athletic, and interpersonal endeavors, to a certain extent.
In addition to developing abilities specific to the task at hand, honing mental or psychological prowess is of at least equal importance in my experience. I'm not talking about psyching out your opponent, or mind games, I'm talking about the battle with one's self.
For me, I find I perform best, or am in "the zone" when I feel focused, and deliberate, but a little bit cautious. As opposed to MaxxMatt's "smashed him whatever he would play", I find that I do better when I am careful not to underestimate my opponent, but keep confident in a successful outcome. Sort of what driving instructors call a "safe fear".
Since we're a relatively cerebral community, I figured I'd see what other people's take is on this aspect of gaming/life. Do people actively seek a frame of mind before big events? Do people work on and practice at finding this mental posture? How do people get around obstacles to this: "interactive" opponents, bad judging, lack of sleep, general anxiety?
