I am a strong believer in mental practice. There are times where you will sacrifice card advantage for tempo, and that is ok, but you should be able to tell when your opponents always seem to have more cards than you… like when I play against Francis (Mr. By keeping track of your hand and board vs your opponent’s hand and board, you can figure out if plays you have been making are not optimal. Through this consistent practice, I have tried to cement good habits for my playstyle.Īnother good habit I have picked up during my preparation is counting cards. When you are sitting in front of your monitor listening to music with distractions in your home, I find it harder to pay attention to detail than when I am sitting in a game store playing the paper version of the game. This has taught me to pay closer attention to the game, since that can be a difficult part of OCTGN. I have also been playing on OCTGN almost every night, in order to play people not in my local meta, and also with Cloud City member Francis. I have tried to play against as many archetypes as I can, although I have certainly played against Mono Ice the most. If you understand how a card/s is played, it will be easier for you to anticipate it from your opponent.
I also tried decks that I am less familiar with, to try and learn how to play with a wider range of cards.
At each weekly tournament, I tried one of the decks out, to see how I felt about it in a competitive setting. At first, I had about four decks I was seriously considering, and now I have picked my deck for this weekend. There is no substitute for practice! Since I signed up for the Crystal Cup, I have been playing FFTCG an extra night a week at my local game store, Magic Stronghold, trying out a few decks, trying to narrow down my choice for the Crystal Cup. Since I have started practicing more I have seen a notable improvement in my play. Now some of the advice below may seem like common knowledge to you, but it is all information that I did not necessarily have or practice before. Since then, I have been preparing for the event, using my friend’s and Reddit’s advice along the way. About four weeks ago, I decided to pull the trigger and buy plane tickets, book a hotel, and get my passes for the weekend.
When I started playing at locals, I could not stop, and I haven’t slowed down since. Before FFTCG, I had never played a TCG competitively, only at home with friends. Now the competition is only a few days away and I couldn’t be more excited. Greetings everyone! Last month I made a post on Reddit asking questions about going to my first ever tournament, the Toronto Crystal Cup.