Stuck.

I'm in a bit of a funk. My Magic skills seem to be going nowhere. I have so much desire to improve, and I'm reading and listening to every single piece of advice I can find. I am working hard to learn everything there is to learn, and I know I'm getting better, but I don't *feel* like I'm getting better.

Battle for Zendikar draft did something to me. At the end of Origins, I started to feel like I was beginning to feel my way around - that I could achieve something with my game. I felt like I was beginning to understand how to best play the game, and I was starting to win once in a while.

Now, not so much.

This is me right now. But with less cute. 

I know I'm winning more than I used to, say six months ago. But my record at the end of the FNM draft is still pretty much 1-2 or 0-3. I know that the devoid decks were powerful, but they felt alien to me. I was just starting to get the feel of drafting strong cards and playing with devoid decks in BFZ and now we are into Oath of the Gatewatch. I feel like I'm back at the beginning.

So should I blame Wizards of the Coast for ruining magic? Or am I just bad at the game? I'm pretty willing to put my hand up for not being perfect at it... and yet I seem to not be improving.

However something struck me today. Something that I should have recognised before now, and in some small way I already did. While I consume copious quantities of Magic content in a search to make my game better, I don't play the game nearly as much as I would like. This is in large part due to not having a computer at home - so in order to play outside of FNM, I either forgo an evening with my partner (which I'm not willing to do at the moment due to clashing work schedules) or I draft online. I haven't drafted online even once before - I don't have a computer at home that works.

Its not good enough for me to continue to do what I'm doing and complain that I am not very good. I need to improve. The thing that my game lacks at the moment isn't skilled opposition (I have both a skilled group at FNM and a casual draft crew with some of the most experienced Magic players I know), its repetition. Its giving myself a chance to really understand the cards, pre-empt combat tricks and lines of play. Its picking cards confidently, reading signals and making good judgements.

While I might be stuck at the moment, I know there's a way through. I'm buying a PC and jumping onto MTGO.

My best FNM Ever! (Still pretty bad though...)

I did the best I've ever done at FNM last night, but more than the outcome (which I'll get into later) I took away some useful lessons for me (and any other newbies trying to get better at the game).

The draft: 

I opened P1P1 Lantern Scout. I had been hoping to draft an Ally deck, but I was open to whatever came my way. However when I saw next pack a Rolling Thunder, my mind was set - I forced that Ally deck as hard as I could - although if I hadn't seen the right signals, I'm not sure I would have jumped ship - it was one of the least thoughtful draft processes that I have ever done.

Perhaps I need to do some work on studying other archetypes and synergies, to get my mind around those. There's a pretty good article by Joel Larsson I was meaning to read.. I really should get into that.

Lesson Number One - Pay attention to your enemies board as well as your own.

With the Ally deck there are so many triggers to keep an eye on that I forgot to look at basic things on my opponent's board - for example the fact he had a Dampening Pulse out. Incidentally, Dampening Pulse really nixes a aggressive Ally strategy by turning everything off - if you're running a Ramp deck its less devastating but it was just a really poor matchup for me. Afterwards I took the opportunity to figure out what enchantment hate there is in the set - there's just Felidar Cub and Reclaiming Vines. Now I didn't pass a Felidar Cub, in fact I only saw one in play from my pod, but its something for me to consider next time I'm drafting a low curve strategy. Its not bad value and it's a body on the board as well (even if it's not an Ally).

Also,  a couple of times I made foolish attacks into larger creatures because I was more focussed on the triggers than on the actual Power/Toughness ratio. I think I need to work more on making strong attacks into stalled board states, and if I can't shake up the board state, don't. I think that's just a matter of practice.

Lesson Number Two - Learn your combat tricks!

Something I think I'll need to start learning is all the different combat tricks and their relative costs. I was really impressed by two of my opponents who were able to reliably thing through which combat tricks I had in hand and which mana I had open. My homework for this week: study through the list of combat tricks in the set, and try to commit at least some of them to memory.

Bonus lesson - what it feels like to play your other half at a sanctioned event.

My partner and I have never played each other at a sanctioned event before - we'd discussed the idea before and said that it would be a bit disappointing. While I believe my partner is a better player than me I can generally beat him at home because I understand how he thinks and can play into his weaknesses.

So last night was the first time that my partner and I ever played each other at FNM. My deck performed really well but his Black/White Ally Lifegain didn't really get off the ground in game one - I curved out beautifully and he was trying to be the beatdown when he should have been playing defensively. Then he got mana screwed in game 2. Not so fun.

Fortunately the best way to cheer him up is with beer - there was 20 minutes left in the round and a bar downstairs (did I mention I totally heart my game store?).

I count my 1-1-1 record a major victory - it’s the best I've ever done at FNM, and I've taken away lots of homework for the coming week.

Want to hear what the Worst Oracle sounds like?

I was lucky enough to be invited to be interviewed on The Planeswalker Guide this week - check out as me and Amie talk BFZ Prerelease, EDH, venomous mammals and Buddhism.