While it’s certainly possible to be struck by an idea, put a deck together, head straight to the event, and do well, decks that have gone through the refining process of playtesting tend to perform better. If you don’t test your decks beforehand, you are essentially reduced to guesswork as to how the deck is going to pan out. You can use deck calculators, ask other players, or maybe do a dry run or two, but nothing completely replaces actually sitting down against a group of other players and running your deck through the gauntlet. What can playtesting do for you?

Playtesting helps take you from an initial idea to a finished deck.

If you’re at all interested in building new decks, then you probably have a lot of ideas to try out. Complicated decks can be difficult to perfect on your own, so learn from the approach taken by top teams. They begin with that first spark of inspiration, then work together to create the finished product. Take, for example, Team Scoop’s Bazoo Return deck, or Rampage’s OTK Chimeratech—team effort combined with the players’ individual skill helped these decks make a breakout showing at different events. The idea behind each deck was just the beginning—by bringing other people in to add their own perspective and experience, a winning deck type was launched.

Playtesting sessions teach you how to get the most out of a deck.

Dedicated testing will give you a practical idea of what your deck will do when faced with different matchups. It helps you deal confidently with specific decks, since you now have experience playing against them. Playtesting lets you make your misplays and less-than-stellar responses when advancement in the tournament isn’t on the line, so you’ll be better prepared to avoid them when you’re sitting on the bubble! You will have time to double-check specific rulings, so you don’t show up with a deck that doesn’t work or make rulings-based errors that cost you games. Besides, as you work your way through specific matchups, you are likely to think of new ways to tweak your deck—an inventive piece of tech, a potentially devastating addition to your side deck, or a card combination that hadn’t occurred to you before.

You’ll also fine-tune your side-decking process, learning to make the between-game choices that can keep you from losing games. Incorrect side deck decisions can absolutely cost you a match, so experimenting with side deck choices should be as important a part of your testing as the main deck.

Playtesting doesn’t only improve the deck—it improves the player.

While you can rely on games at your local shop to test out your deck, sitting down with a group that is focused solely on improving its members’ decks is a more efficient use of your time and effort. It’s kind of like going for a casual jog around town versus heading to the gym with a personal trainer—both activities give you a workout, but the second option will give you better results much faster. More games are played overall, and the process of sharing information and pooling knowledge benefits everyone in the group.

Playtesting helps keep your deck a secret.

If you head to a Regional or local tournament to try out your newest creation, then people outside your group are going to see it and talk about it. Testing within a closed group will help keep a potentially groundbreaking deck a secret—preventing other players from developing ways to beat it before you have the chance to launch it on the unsuspecting public!

All right, you know why you should playtest. How should you go about it? Some planning on your testing group’s part will pay off, so approach this in an organized manner.

Put together your group.

If you’re on a team, you’ve likely got your group already. If you aren’t, then you need to select some people to test with. Choose players whose skill in both playing and deckbuilding you respect, but make sure you can all get along with each other too. There’s a lot of trust involved in the process—you don’t want to include someone who just wants to steal all your ideas, borrow all your cards, and tell everyone else what you’re working on.

Include as many people as you can work with comfortably. The more regular participants you have, the more ideas and input everyone will have to share between them. And not all playtesting groups meet face-to-face—feel free to include participants that you communicate with online. I do nearly all my testing via chat programs. It’s not as enjoyable as playing in person, but it gets the job done.

Plan the sessions.

Don’t rely on everyone casually and spontaneously getting together and testing—find a time that works with participants’ schedules, and then mark it out. Treat it as a priority. Participants shouldn’t look at playtesting sessions as something to do when there’s nothing else going on. Schedule it in advance, and convince the other members of your group that this is important. Everyone should show up on time, with all the cards, decks, and other supplies they might need.

Find a good place to conduct your sessions.

Your group needs a place to meet that can accommodate everyone, and provide a comfortable place to play with a minimum of outside interference or distraction. The local card shop might not be the best place, especially if there are a lot of people there who aren’t in your testing group or if there are a lot of other activities going on. If you want to keep the decks you’re working on under wraps, keep them away from the public view.

Plan out what you’re trying to accomplish.

Make some concrete goals for each session. Figure out what you are trying to do. Are you developing a new deck idea? Perhaps you’re looking for a way to break the latest threat. Maybe you want to find out how your current deck will fare against a specific different deck. Possibly there’s a new deck in your area, and you want to try it out to see how it works (you shouldn’t focus only on testing decks you plan to use competitively). Think about what you want to accomplish in each session, and focus your activities on that goal. Make sure everyone in the group has a say in what needs to be accomplished.

Focus on playtesting!

If all your group ever does is get together, mess around with cards for about twenty minutes, and then switch over to eating, talking, or playing videogames instead, you’re missing the point of a playtesting session. You’re supposed to be playtesting, so play test. Treat it like an exercise: decide with your group how you want to do the run-throughs. A good way to start is to agree to play ten games per matchup, before deciding something is working or not. Look at what happens in those ten games, and start making changes. Even if a deck looks like a complete bomb after the first three or four matches, you never know what it might evolve into. Involve the other members of your team, and try out different suggestions.

Test for specific events.

If you’ve got a big event coming up—perhaps a Regional or a Shonen Jump Championship—then tailor your playtesting accordingly. Remember that the metagame trends particular to that area are going to affect the decks that are played there. If you have friends who live near that area, talk with them to see what people are playing. Or if it’s feasible, try out another event in the area. Learn about the event. Who else is going? What do players in that area seem to favor? Has there been a recent shift in the game (a new expansion, a particularly good promo, a new format list, etc.)? Perhaps a new groundbreaking deck has recently been introduced, or a new piece of tech has popped up. Take all of this into consideration when you’re running your testing sessions.

Conduct your sessions with the correct attitude.

Playtesting sessions are not about beating everyone in your group. You’re playtesting because you want to work on a deck—making sure it’s built properly, running correctly, and able to handle various matchups against different decks. Remember all those times I’ve said that losing can be good for you? It’s especially good when you are playtesting. If you spend a lot of time being angry at your fellow testers over your losses (or gloating excessively over your wins), you are missing the point of the exercise. Don’t try and stack the results by only testing against decks you are sure you’ll beat, or against lesser skilled opponents. Your “unbeatable” deck with a 50-0 record won’t seem nearly as impressive when you bring it to the Shonen Jump and take four straight losses before dropping.