How to get better at Vanguard without touching a single card
A look at the influences our mental state has on our play
Last year I finished 4th at BSF London even though I only playtested for 1 game. No other Bastion player made top cut that day. Despite how little I practiced, all of my losses during the event were due to variance. One the other hand, there have been so many events where I tested a lot and worked very hard, but still ended up with a poor performance. How can this be true though?
What has been overlooked by many competitive players, despite its importance for achieving consistent good results, is keeping a strong mental state throughout the event. It is very well known that positive emotions and good mental health allow people to perform much better in their exams or sports, but few have extended this concept to TCGs. From my time staying in the same hotels and AirBNBs as many of Europe’s top players, I have seen lots of widespread habits that harm your performance at tournaments - I even have had to train myself out of them!
If we now realise the link between good mental health and good event performances, then obviously the next question is how can we build and maintain healthy mental routines to cultivate success. A positive mindset cannot fully replace good playtesting, but the best athletes become the best through a combination of their practice routine and mindset, and any athlete (yes we can describe competitive TCG players like this) should follow their example. With all that said, here are 7 tips to follow to achieve a good mental framework during your tournament runs.
1 - Good planning is key
Stress is one of the emotions most strongly correlated with worse performance for pretty intuitive reasons; when we are stressed it is hard to clear our thoughts and be able to focus on finding the correct play in a specific gamestate. If we are unable to focus properly for an entire tournament, it is very easy for potential champion runs to die at 4-3.
To reduce stress during the weekend, I like planning out all non-tournament aspects of my trip beforehand. I know how to reach my hotel from the airport, how to go to and from the tournament venue every day, and where I will eat on Saturday and Sunday. While this has a small effect, I find that having my weekend planned out allows me to fully focus on my gameplay; the only remaining factor under my control.
2 - Keep your body in good condition
One attitude I hear a lot is that the hunger from not eating before a tournament will make your mind take on a “survivorship mentality” and fight tooth and nail to win every game. This is just stupid. For anyone who does this, think about how well you concentrate when hungry and then try to tell me that not eating will make you play better. During tournaments it is important to balance how much food you eat. Eating too much can cause a food coma and harm your concentration just like not eating enough. You should also make sure to keep drinking water or sports drinks (the electrolytes are particularly useful on hot days) to prevent dehydration. Not only does this make you a healthier person but it scientifically allows for more focus and consistently better plays.
I think that it is a good idea to find convenience stores near the tournament venue so you can buy snacks at short notice, and know where the nearest source of drinkable water is. Please also pack foods with different energy releases; bring some sugary foods for when you need a quick burst of energy but pack nuts and protein bars as a longer-lasting energy source as well. After experiencing crashing out of a sugar high in the middle of a difficult game once I can definitely say that I would never like to go through it again.
3 - Get a good night’s sleep
Tournaments are one of the most energy-intensive activities in the modern world. They require you to concentrate and think analytically for up to 12 hours per day while also managing your emotions. You need as much energy as possible just to be able to get through the day and still play well in the later rounds. Many people start to get tired and misplay during their games later in the day, where one mistake can eliminate you from the whole tournament. If you are not making those mistakes from tiredness you will be much more likely to win the most important games as the day goes on.
I cannot recommend enough having 8 or more hours of good sleep the night before a tournament. If you can afford it, definitely also consider staying in a nicer hotel: the difference between a bad night’s sleep and a good one will have a significant impact on your game.
4 - Be confident in yourself
In order to win the event, you first have to believe that you can win the event. Here productive testing greatly helps your mental state since someone who understands the format can feel confident in that knowledge. Even at BSF London, I was confident in playing Bastion because I had theorised that the deck had a good Shiranui matchup (it did) and no massively negative matchups. This belief in my deck kept me going throughout the tournament even when I encountered bad variance. Similarly, over the last BCS season, the events where I was more confident in my deck choice tended to be where I had my best finishes.
In the last paragraph, I talked about how productive testing can build confidence. However, the “night before” testing that most players do harms your run more often than it helps. I am sure we all remember times where someone gets unlucky while testing the night before and makes their decklist worse (or even switches to a deck they know less well) accordingly. I actually stopped testing the night before my events for this reason. I want to be in a position where I know everything a week before the event. If I find out about a new meta development when I arrive on location, I prefer to think of counters that do not rely on changing any cards in my decklist, as drastic changes would make me lose more games on average. I also love my friends and enjoy just relaxing with them on Friday night instead of us frantically trying to glean any new meta insights.
5 - Be relaxed while you play
Tournaments bring lots of stress with them, especially if it is your first time attending regionals. This stress makes it really hard to play optimally, and it gets harder the closer you get to the finals. Learning how to manage tournament stress is a critical part of becoming a better player. My main strategy is that I treat every game, whether it is testing, locals, regionals, or a BCS final, the same: they are all just games of Vanguard to me. This strategy has helped reduce my anxiety but the best way to be less stressed in these situations is to attend more tournaments and get used to the experience.
Keep in mind though that becoming too relaxed also causes problems. When I first reached finals at a BCS, I was relieved as I had guaranteed my invite to worlds no matter what happened in the finals. I then almost gave myself a gameloss because I forgot that Greed Shade could gain +5k power. Finding the right balance to keep your mind focused is key.
6 - Have a “one game at a time” mentality
To win a BCS, you need to win 6 out of 7 rounds in swiss, and then 5 out of 5 games in top cut. This is an incredibly difficult and daunting task. When playing in an event, focusing on such a big goal is harmful. This is why I recommend breaking up your goals as you play. First aim to win round 1, then aim to win round 2, and then round 3, and so on. This allows you to have a goal that is not so big that it psyches you out during your run.
7 - Accept losses and move on
At some point in your tournament run or Vanguard career as a whole, you will lose games. However, always remember that you can win a tournament even with 1-2 losses. Most players get very frustrated after losing a game, which causes them to misplay and lose more in the tournament. In a BCS a few years ago, one of my friends was playing well and started the tournament 4-0. In round 5 he got very unlucky and lost. This broke his mental and he lost the rest of the rounds to go 4-3. In effect, he lost 3 games to getting unlucky once and would have been able to top if he was much resilient to his losses.
It is completely natural to be frustrated when you lose, especially if you are trying to be competitive and win as many games as possible. However, there is nothing that you can do to change the result of a game after you lose; you can only play as well as you can in your remaining games. During the tournament, reflect on your losses to see if there are lessons you can learn for the future, but save the frustration for afterwards. You will also enjoy your time at tournaments a lot more if you are not spending most of the time frustrated at every OT checked against you.
I am writing this article just before I have my first BSF of the season in Lille, where I plan to implement all of these tips. While changing your overall mindset requires much time and focus, the other ideas I outlined are easy to implement and have greatly elevated my enjoyment and performance whenever I go to events. Everyone should try to follow this advice as it makes no sense to be a competitive player who hates the time they spend competing. Additionally, if you are trying your hardest to understand the format and gain the knowledge required to win the event, you also should work to become a person who can win events. Otherwise, what is the point of trying to compete so hard?
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