The Mental Game

[megamanx]

Hi, Im Megamanx or as some people might know me as Noam.
Im new to tmd and this is my first real post and im going to talk about the arguably most important part of magic... the mental game. Here are five tips that have won me games i never should have.

1. Keep it cool
I know its preaty godamn obvious but its hard to remember (at least for me) Let them take the heat. For instance if they play trinishpere and your playing academy, don't scoop just keep it kewl he might think you have an answer.

2. Keep em guessing.
Try to always keep em on there toes. For instance try to have a nice thick hand when ever possible even it is just a tropical island. Another good example is force of willing a duress (Jacob this ones for you). It definetly made me stop and think before playing any thing.

3. The stare
I can't possibly show it to you online but i can thru a smilly  :shock:
Lol
If you can get them to stare into your cold heartless eyes, and change the course of te game by a little bit you deserve a cookie. I somtimes even take a nice pair of okleys so that they cant see my eyes, they just stare into there reflection. It makes them hold back from my excperience.
If you want to degrade there very soul to a scared little school girl youve got to master this

4. The smirk
The dreaded smirk, the mark of advantage in the worst spot. Always try and smirk when a recieving a hand, its that simple, it makes them do anything to sneak a peak, even duress instead of dropping a first turn drawspell or threat.

5. Here it comes, my famouse move, THE SWITCH UP
Dont be redundent, try to use various spells to catch them off gaurd, even do stupid stuff to try to confuse them. What do i do to acomplish this tip. My sideboard. U might have heard stories about how i made a sideboard to change keeper into EBA or academy to MASK, im not sayin steal my move (DONT  :lol: ) but just remember to try and use the suprise factor to your advantage, you should see the look of my opponents face when they see a 12 year old in top 8, it happens alot too, one time the guy went to a judge to ask if this was a joke.

Inconclusion U can win a game just by smashing your opponent with the second most important part of your boddy    your brain. Just dont use it when you can actually can win the game.

So thats my first real post on tmd tell me how i did, and post on your mental stratigies.[/b]

[Smmenen]

Are you BenAvi?

My opinion of mental tactics in Type One is rather low.

These things are important in other formats becuase skill is so important in deciding a draft or a game of block constructed.

In Type One the most important things are:
1) playing a secret deck
2) playing the objective best deck
3) having tested the matchups more than your opponent
4) having the most thoughout SB.
5) not making mistakes

Steve

[Necrologia]

Nice first post, just try to type out "you" instead of 'U' in the future. For some people it's a pet peeve.

On topic: Playing the mental game is pretty easy as long as you take your time. I'm not saying stall, just consider your options before you cast a spell or even just tap a land. Occasionally ask how many cards they have in hand, land untapped, etc. If you're playing control make sure you ponder whether stuff resolves or not, even when you have no counter in hand. Minor stuff like that can win you game occasionally.

[theorigamist]

I agree with Steve on this one.  The "mental game" in Type 1 is thinking ahead, not playing useless mind games.  Adequate preparation and flawless play will win games more than any smirk, because the intelligent player on the other side ignores your smirk and remembers their own testing.

[megamanx]

Why yes I am Ben-Avi,
while I see your point and im sure its true being the great TMDer you are (and famouse) but i think with a format full of force of will, hands that  you just drop and win, and the gigantic card pool that can be anything I think it is quite important.

[megamanx]

6. Take your time
Take your time, look at your hand, and then say ok. This has stopped people from playing a threat so many times but i think its just because im so godamn lucky

Please stop double posting.  Thanks.

Steve

[Smmenen]

You won't be facing just anything.  You'll generally know what you are facing after the first round.  And if you don't, you can be confident that you'll be pwning it unless it is savage tech by Jacob Orlove or somesuch.

Noam I recorded your matchup agianst Jacob with Rector Trix.  Hopefully I'll get it up soon.

Steve

[JuJu]

Steve is right here. We don't need to be Jedi to make us win. Sometimes Mind Games do work on the lesser players, the ones newer to a tourney scene or your metagame. Methu made a nice Article about this a month or so ago. It basically covers everything on the Mental part of MtG

[megamanx]

YOUR SMMENEN
The guy in the tutrle neck recording our match, i had no idea. Kewl. Now i know who you are, up to now i was guessin.

[megamanx]

bump


Noam, on the mana drain we have rules against double posting and bumping.  This is a verbal warning.

[megamanx]

lemme clear up just one thing,
the mental game im talking about isn't going to win a game alone, you need to prepare and have skill, im talking about being able to just even crease your opponent and all that mental skills have been put to good use. Because in magic any edge tiny or small matters. Its kind of like attacking with an academy rector or weilder

[Dante]

We had a similar thread earlier about mental aspects http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15164 if anyone is interested.  

My basic thought on it was that very few people here actually playtest enough to have playtesting matchups and sideboarding strategies down pat to worry about mental aspects of magic.

Bill

[megamanx]

sorry aboout the bump and double post. the double post was a complete accident and i didnt know about the bumbing rule

[RoadTrippin]

JJ Stors, whom I've played with in real life, wrote at least one article (possibly a series) that heavily touched upon the "poker" aspect of tournament level Magic play for Brainburst and I'd totally urge everyone to check it out. I was writing an article about this at the time his was published as it is, in my opinion, easily the most fascinating articulation the game has to offer- but his was published and it just covered more material. I'll try to edit in a link when I find it.

[Dante]

sorry aboout the bump and double post. the double post was a complete accident and i didnt know about the bumbing rule

normally it's fine if you do it for something like an upcoming tournament report, or asking if anyone had more thoughts after a couple of days....but the previous post was only like 11 minutes old....

[The Atog Lord]

RoadTrippin', the first thing I thought of when I read this was JJ's Jedi Mind Tricks article. JJ's a friend of mine, and he even plays Atogs (Auratogs).

Here's the original:
http://www.brainburst.com/strategy/020702.asp

Here's the followup:
http://www.brainburst.com/strategy/020710.asp

[megamanx]

wow those are really good articles

[Moxlotus]

More on the mental game. Wear a ridiculous get up.  I personally wear my big straw hat and my "bling" which includes

3 feet of chain purchased at a hardware store
padlock keeping the chain together
money sign
mini personalized licence plate spray painted chrome
fake gold ring with a money sign on it.
Random other cheap 25 cent chains

This will further the mental game of.......HAVING FUN.  Even if you do crappy, seeing your next opponent in something ridiculous could at least brighten your day.  Also it looks p1mpz0r.  Of course, I'm more of a p1mp m1n0rz0r on TMD. Everyone knows the true pimps.


But more on a serious note, most mental games in T1 are dumb and playskill will just make them moot.  Basically doing what Smmenen said is better.

[DEA]

apparently, there IS psychological stress put on the opponent when you have a sly grin on your face
i supposedly give control players a big headache when i do that because they can't tell if i'm baiting counters or not :lol:

besides the psychological effect, don't you guys think it's just fun to interact with your opponent like this? i personally feel much of the fun in magic is watching your opponent's responses

[FreddieNDB]

You guys are all talking about how a little smirk or laugh or something like that will put mental pressure on someone because (s)he is now afraid of what you have

However, many forget what doing nothing can do. I think many of you follow enough texas hold 'em to know who Phil Ivey is. When he plays he says and does nothing past what he has to ( I can actually only recall him saying check a few times). The thing is a monotonous face will give nothing away, and backed with good preperation and playtesting will lead to solid play.

A monotonous face gives you the advantage of a player not beign able to read you, versus a likely possibilty that your opponent will see through your smirk.

Of course I agree that solid play with minimal mistakes has to be there. But when you get into a field where everyone plays good, you need that extra edge to get the win.

[Apollyon]

The other way to keep them unable to read you is to be very enthusiatic. Talk a lot about random stuff and allow the other extreme to be cover.

[theorigamist]

The only thing I do that can remotely be considered psychologically intimidating is that I use origami creature tokens.  It's hard facing down a creature token that, instead of a little glass bead, is a three-headed dragon.  Even if it is just a 1/1 Soldier.

[Phantom Tape Worm]

Regarding mental aspects of magic:

I've seen too many players seize up during games and forget everything they know about probability, knowledge of optimal plays, strategy, hell, even combat math, you name it. Their brains lock up and they begin to make mistakes. And this isn’t just n00bs I’m talking about, this is a phenomena that happens to everyone, even the “good” players.

This is what's beyond knowledge and playtesting: the ability to withstand the intensity of the match without succumbing to brainlock at any point.  Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, there is a strong in-game mental component to vintage magic and I'm certain that if you've played in any large tournaments you've experienced it yourself and can validate what I'm saying.  If you've ever seen/been someone whose hands are shaking when you reach across the table to read your opponent's card, you know what I'm talking about.

The simple fact is you can log in 1,000,000,000 hrs of "playtesting" on apprentice or casually with your friends, but when the pressure is on and money/a title is on the line everything changes.  Your blood pressure rises, your heart is pounding, your palms are sweating, you start to exhibit certain nervous habits that you weren't even aware of, your body is under stress and you have to fight through it so that you can still think logically and play optimally.

I simply cannot understand how so many people who have so much experience in this format can scoff at this element of the game.

[Smmenen]

Regarding mental aspects of magic:

I've seen too many players seize up during games and forget everything they know about probability, knowledge of optimal plays, strategy, hell, even combat math, you name it. Their brains lock up and they begin to make mistakes. And this isn?t just n00bs I?m talking about, this is a phenomena that happens to everyone, even the ?good? players.

This is what's beyond knowledge and playtesting: the ability to withstand the intensity of the match without succumbing to brainlock at any point.  Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, there is a strong in-game mental component to vintage magic and I'm certain that if you've played in any large tournaments you've experienced it yourself and can validate what I'm saying.  If you've ever seen/been someone whose hands are shaking when you reach across the table to read your opponent's card, you know what I'm talking about.

The simple fact is you can log in 1,000,000,000 hrs of "playtesting" on apprentice or casually with your friends, but when the pressure is on and money/a title is on the line everything changes.  Your blood pressure rises, your heart is pounding, your palms are sweating, you start to exhibit certain nervous habits that you weren't even aware of, your body is under stress and you have to fight through it so that you can still think logically and play optimally.

I simply cannot understand how so many people who have so much experience in this format can scoff at this element of the game.

It's a matter of what we are talking about.

Casual testing on apprentice or with friends is not documenting dozens of  play by play test results of Oshawa Stompy v. Workshop Slavery, or Dragon v. Long, or Tog v. Long, or Dragon v. Stax, etc ad infinitum.  

When I play a matchup I am familiar with I ignore my opponents expressions.  When I play a matchup I am unfamiliar, untested with, I can often get scared and make play errors.  This is why I test so extensively, and why I beleive that playing a "new" deck in any given tournamnet is such a huge advantage - unless it is a shitty metagame deck.

Steve

[Phantom Tape Worm]

It's a matter of what we are talking about.

Casual testing on apprentice or with friends is not documenting dozens of  play by play test results of Oshawa Stompy v. Workshop Slavery, or Dragon v. Long, or Tog v. Long, or Dragon v. Stax, etc ad infinitum.  

When I play a matchup I am familiar with I ignore my opponents expressions.  When I play a matchup I am unfamiliar, untested with, I can often get scared and make play errors.  This is why I test so extensively, and why I beleive that playing a "new" deck in any given tournamnet is such a huge advantage - unless it is a shitty metagame deck.

Steve

The thing is, it's just as much the situation that is causing the stress as it is your opponent's expression.  It's easy to succomb to the pressure of a close game in top 2 with 20+ people watching your every move.  Hell, your opponent could be wearing a paper bag over his head (so as to make his facial expressions 100% irrelevant) and the situation is still plenty intense enough for brainlock to become a very important part of the game; even if it's a matchup that has been extensively tested.

I think you're denying the existence of a VERY crucial aspect of vintage.  And maybe it is because it is so much harder to study the mental aspect of magic that we don't talk much about it, but to deny that it even exists or to say that it is irrelevant is ludicrous.

[darkmindtone]

Kinda weird that an article just came out on this subject.  A pretty interesting read: http://www.brainburst.com/db/article.asp?ID=3932

[kl0wn]

I'm with PTW 100% on this one. Magic, especially Type 1, is very mental. If you choke or make a misplay in the psychological game, all those hours of playtesting go down the toilet. Playtesting is irrelevent if your brain freezes and you lose the ability to use all the information at your disposal.

Personally, I don't playtest all that much because it causes me to lose my edge. Just sitting down and throwing the cards around is too relaxed and does not prepare you for the pressure of a large tournament; it's like a totally different game once you sit down across from a complete stranger who is looking for any opportunity to sieze the W. For me, playtesting consists of studying decklists, building the deck on apprentice and goldfishing with it or something so I get an overall idea of how the deck functions. Just about all my Type 1 is played in tournaments so I'm mostly immune to the stresses of playing for the prize.

I'd get into some of my most successful trademark mind games here, but that would just prepare you people and/or give you new weapons and I don't reveal tech.