What's up SE,
We’ve all heard the phase “preaching to the choir.” It’s an idiom that basically describes trying to convince someone of an idea he already believes in. Most of the time, there is a division between competitive players and the remainder of the playerbase, not because there is a lack of resources to help players improve, but because only the “choir” is paying attention to these resources. There’s nothing wrong with playing a game casually, but there is certainly something wrong with trying to be competitive while limiting your potential with self-defined constructs. These constructs take various shapes, such as refusing to play certain decks, testing incorrectly, not admitting to one’s own faults and weaknesses, and an overemphasis of luck over skill. As a player who has grown so much in the past year, I hope to serve as a reminder that improvement is something you can choose. The vast majority of players don’t improve because they don’t want to improve. They would rather believe their losses were due to luck and not due to lack of preparation. It’s the classic red-pill/blue-pill decision every player is faced with: blissful for ignorance, or improvement via dying to old ways.
A quote to inspire...
"He wins his battles by making no mistakes. Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated." – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
To Finish, One thing that really grinds my gears in this game is when players chronically try to excuse their failures. Allow me to translate some of these excuses.
“I couldn’t draw anything.” – My deck has bad card choices.
“He sacked me.” – I am not interested in reflecting on my losses.
“He Top-decked the answer.” – I failed to play around his outs.
“I had horrible match ups – I did not practice thoroughly.
“At least I’m not cheap/don’t run meta/don’t netdeck.” – I am unwilling to adapt my strategy to the evolving game due to a personal code of morals that is acknowledged in neither the rulebook nor the tournament structure.
“I prefer to be original.” – I am afraid of what losing with a good deck implies about my level of skill, so I will cling to an unoccupied niche and claim this niche as my defense against any and all accusations against my ability.
“I play for fun.” – I am willing to redefine a word in order to seize a nonexistent moral high ground in the face of failure.
Well, there you have it. Stop being scrubs!
"Peace out Foolies" -Savage
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by cycle
Bookmarks