If you ask any player about the key to improved tournament results, the answer is usually “practice, practice, practice”. I was always told this when I first started playing the game, but I always thought there was more to it. When I observed my local store’s players at the time, I found that the ones who sat there practicing all day didn’t do as well as the ones who actually won tournaments. I found it sort of peculiar because I had the impression that the act of practicing should improve your performance, right?

Well . . . it does, but only to a point.

I soon learned that there is such thing as proper practice. The idea of practice that I first learned was that you simply played the game more, and therefore improved. I’ll be honest with you: I tried this for a while and I learned quickly that it doesn’t work. It didn’t fit with the time constraints of homework, soccer practice, socializing, and other everyday activities. I had to come up with a better (and faster) way: a method of practice that was stress-free, but still effective. Up until my first year of college, I tried a multitude of approaches to proper practice, which brought me decent results, but my good results declined with each new time constraint that was put on me (college really is time-consuming).

What I Learned in The Process

Going back in time a little bit, I had to figure out how to extract great deck results from a limited amount of time. Obviously, I couldn’t spend hours and hours on end at the local store trying to improve my game. Otherwise I’d have no balance in my life. So I opted for an alternative approach: maximizing my time. I’ve already written about this in a previous article, so I won’t rehash the points I’ve already made.  

When I say “maximizing time,” most people think in terms of a corporate suit type of guy being in a hurry with no time for fun. It shouldn’t be that way. I’m more in favor of a relaxed approach to practice, but a systematic approach that produces good results for you and your testing partners is still the way to go. I’ve already written about proper practice, but it all seems so stressful doesn’t it?

How to Relax and Get Great Results

First, you have to remember that this game is supposed to be fun. Yes, you are competing with another player to win a number of duels, but does that necessarily mean you have to be overly stressed about it?

I admit, I used to take this game too seriously. Players often stress out and worry over how their decks will perform if they come up against some impossible-to-predict situation that may happen once in a blue moon. Still, many players do it. That’s your first tip: remember to have fun.

Second, the way you breathe has a major impact on your gaming performance. It’s much like sports: breathing is important. I won’t get into details about breathing exercises or anything like that. Just remember to take three deep breaths before playing a game. It relaxes your body and it puts more oxygen into your brain.

What’s so great about these “benefits” though? Why are they important?

Science has found that it is literally impossible to become upset or frustrated with anything when your muscles are relaxed. It’s true. The condition of your body has an effect on your mood. The more tension in your muscles, the easier it is to let frustration get to you. Increased oxygen to your brain helps you think smarter and faster. You’re less apt to make mistakes, and it will be easier to devise new tactics on the fly to deal with your opponent’s plans.

That’s your second tip: take three deep breaths before each game.

How to Avoid Losing Your Cool

It’s easy to lose your cool when you’re heatedly involved in a tight duel. Maybe your opponent drew the only card he or she needed to turn the duel around, or things didn’t go as planned and you drew poorly. This kind of stuff happens all the time. Even the most well-built decks draw poorly once in a while. The best thing you can do in that kind of situation is to remain calm. The calmer you are, the easier it will be to take that beating that you might receive for the first three turns . . . and turn the game around later.

I’m sure you’re probably thinking, “How could I not lose my cool? I spent hours testing and refining this deck, and now look what happened!”

A great way to dodge that small burst of anger or frustration is to delay your response to the situation. As cliched as it might be, the old trick of silently counting to ten works well here. You can do this every time you find yourself annoyed by your opponent’s streak of unbelievably lucky draws. Just stop, look at your cards, and count to ten. You probably have about a minute and a half before each of your turns, while your opponent is busy deciding his or her own moves. Why not use ten of those seconds to calm yourself down and keep your head in the game?

That’s your third tip: if you find yourself getting angry, count to ten.

Last Tip

The last tip I have is this: remember that you are not your mistakes.

Whenever a player realizes that he or she has made a misplay, a quick series of events usually takes place in that player’s head:

1. The player becomes aware of the mistake.
2. The player begins to “beat him- or herself up” over it.
3. Feelings of frustration set in.
4. The player begins to reveal his or her frustration in little ways.
5. The player makes wasted moves in an attempt to regain control of the game.
6. The wasted moves fail, and the frustration grows.
7. Images of losing the game and all other games for the rest of day begin to run through the player’s head.
8. Images of past failures start setting in.

After this, the player is pretty much done for and defeat becomes inevitable. To keep this from occurring, you have to remember that you are not your mistakes. You messed up. So what? Don’t make that same mistake again and keep your cool.

Apply these tips in practice and in tournaments, and you’ll see improved results. It’s worked for me in the past and it still does today, so I know it will work for you.

 “Once we realize that imperfect understanding is the human condition there is no shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes.”

—George Soros