Okay, I’m back again this week to finish talking about losing! It’s a part of the game we all have to live with, so let’s not compound an already sad circumstance by gaining absolutely nothing in return. Last week we covered misplays, playing with the wrong goals, being unprepared to duel, bad matchups, and wrong side deck choices. I hope that you looked carefully at any losses you experienced last week, to see if they fit any of the above categories. If not, don’t worry! I’ve got even more to go over with you today! Ready to wallow in defeat? It’s all for a good cause, I assure you.

Playing Against an Unfamiliar Deck

If you’re used to playing the same kinds of players with the same kinds of decks, and then you sit across from someone who pulls out something really bizarre, you might have a tough time of it. Here come a bunch of cards you haven’t really seen, being played in a way you don’t understand immediately, and your usual reactions aren’t helping you much. It doesn’t help that so many players also assume anything that isn’t “cookie cutter” is an inferior deck that’s doomed to failure—they see an opponent play a card they don’t think is any good, and immediately decide they’re up against a crummy deck played by a novice. A few turns later, they have no idea what happened to all their life points. The reality is that they can’t handle an opponent or a deck that doesn’t conform to “standard” modes of play—they have no idea what decisions to make because they can’t understand what their opponent is doing.

Playtesting can help you here, as long as you playtest against a variety of decks—some established and some completely new! I also suggest going outside your usual area and playing in events some distance away. If you only ever play the same people, and they’re all playing the same kinds of decks, you are not going to be as prepared as you could be. Read about other deck ideas—don’t believe that there are only a few playable cards or competitive deck types out there. People are coming up with ideas all the time which evolve into newer ideas that go on to drastically impact a tournament. Look at the recent Shonen Jump Championships—plenty of very good players showed up with new kinds of decks, and the people who weren’t prepared to face them tended to lose.

Underestimating the Competition

To follow up on one of the points I made above, players often lose because they think they can’t lose. Do you have any idea how many people I’ve beaten simply because they automatically assumed that I couldn’t? Maybe you are really good. Maybe you just think you’re really good. Whatever it may be, if you take the approach of “I’m (whoever you are)!” and that’s the extent of your preparation . . . well, I don’t know as that’s really sufficient. It doesn’t really matter if you’re a “known” player, or you’ve been playing for years, or if you had “advantage.” The only thing that matters is whose life points are above zero at the end of the match.

Take your duels seriously. Your opponent’s age, appearance, gender, lack of card sleeves, or whatever other external barometer you employ to pigeonhole their skill are rarely an indication of what to expect. An 11 year old won U.S. Nationals last year, and it wasn’t because he was luckier than the rest of the competitors.

A Poor Opening

Sometimes you just don’t draw the cards in your opening hand that you need to. This is occasionally compounded when your opponent does. There’s absolutely an element of luck in the game—we’ve all had duels where nothing goes our way. Sometimes it’s not our fault (I once went 12 turns into a game without drawing a single monster, and there were 18 in the deck—and I shuffled really well!), but if it happens often, you shouldn’t just blame bad luck. If your deck opens badly on a consistent basis, there is something wrong with it. Go back, look over your list, and start making alterations. Try out some alternatives and see what improves it. Sitting around going, “I just drew crap in my opening hand!” each and every time you do is an excellent way to assure that the trend will continue.

Distraction

Tournaments aren’t always held in the most concentration-enhancing environments. Shonen Jumps and Regionals are usually lively, dynamic events full of new people. There are all kinds of announcements coming from the judge station, and players and judges are constantly walking up and down the aisles. You might be sitting near someone whose breath reeks of day-old burritos, or behind someone who talks like Kaiba during the entire match. Even your leagues and locals might be held in crowded stores with a lot of other things going on. If you have a hard time focusing when all around you is hustle and noise, you will find your concentration slipping, causing you to make mistakes.

You need to be able to isolate yourself to a certain degree, and keep your attention on your game. Do yourself a favor, and don’t contribute to your own distraction with MP3 players, handheld games, or your cell phone. Put these items away during the duel—there’s enough going on without adding to it yourself.

I’ve said it before and I’m about to say it again—you can usually learn more from losing a duel than you can by winning. This is why playtesting is so important—you need to do your learning before you take your precious creation out into the wide, wide world. When you do lose—and you will lose—don’t go straight into whine mode. If the first words out of your mouth are, “I’d have totally won if it wasn’t for that lucksacking (term of non-endearment referring to your opponent)” every single time you lose, you’re not only being a bad loser, you’re also likely to stay a bad player.

Luck isn’t going to be the single factor deciding who wins and who loses in each and every duel, and I don’t think I know anyone who’s been playing the game seriously for any length of time who believes that it is. Basically, how you react to a loss is up to you—you can complain about it, trash on your opponent and rant about how much you hate the format, etc. Or you can look at what went wrong, learn what can keep it from going wrong again, and practice what you’ve learned to start boosting your win ratio. It’s your call, but personally, I’d suggest the latter.