Nature versus nurture, Lodge, nature always wins.
Note: Sorry readers, if you’re not interested in sports this article could be seen as sub-par, but with that said I believe it still has a relevance to Magic: The Gathering whether you would believe it or not.
I am a competitor. If you’re not a competitor you must be lying to yourself, making excuses because you lose a lot, or are such a genuinely nice person that you are afraid to hurt anyone’s feelings outside from own. If you are a cutthroat individual don’t be alarmed, competition is in no way deviant behavior. Humans are indeed animals and as behavior shows us competition is necessary for survival. We as a species are instinctually driven to compete against one another. It can be said that our most basic need is to compete to reproduce. Competition amongst homo-sapiens is so evident there have been countless articles written about human nature as well as instinctive behavioral patterns and our need to compete. Since I don’t want to subject any individual to more science than necessary, I would like to assume that for once we live in a vacuum and no one disagrees with my belief in that all humans possess a “bear necessity” to compete.
Having that said, I love watching an assortment of sports whenever I can. This week was especially exciting. The atmosphere in Michigan has been pretty exciting these past few weeks with the deep playoff runs of both the Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Pistons. Both teams made it to their conference finals, with the Wings winning decisively against the Dallas Stars and the Pistons failing short to the soon-to-be NBA Champion Boston Celtics (David Stern wants it this way, sorry Kobe). The Red Wings now sit a top the Stanley Cup Finals poised to finish Sid the Kid off in 5 this coming Monday in Detroit.
Growing up sports weren’t always a big issue in my family; on the other hand, this is not to say that my family wasn’t competitive as we have already ascertained that competition is natural. This theme soon changed, however, while I began to mature as a child. Up until college I have always participated in many sports whether it was basketball, football, wrestling, track and field, and even a short stint out in right field in baseball. This is not to say that I was any good at any of these sports but I had a desire to compete. This lead me to act upon this desire as I began to watch teams and idolize certain players from the NHL, NFL, as well as NBA, again I’m not the biggest baseball fan. Specifically living in Michigan meant that during football season at least we had the Wolverines because the Lions have not been winners for almost a half century; however we have found success in other sports especially in hockey where the Red Wings are phenomenal. The one thing that I had always continually asked myself as a child was, how come if all teams are supposedly equal, or very close to it, how can one team be so much more dominate over another? The question I have found is a multi-faceted one.
Like in Magic: the Gathering everything has an intangible factor to it whether it be top decking a needed card, getting that shooter’s bounce, or having the football god’s give you a needed field goal miss at an opportune time in a game. Still, like Magic: the Gathering everything has an even more resounding tangible factor to it, which ultimately shapes the game itself and allows for true champions to stand above the rest. What then if any do sports champions have in common with trading card game champions? I have come up with the 3 C’s that each of these competitors share. Champions of any sport or activity possess consistency, conviction, and consciousness.
Consistency may just be the biggest related factor in Magic: The Gathering. Anyone knows that if a deck wins one game it doesn’t win a tournament and it doesn’t win a match. Therefore a competitor must be very consistent in their play, so much to the point that they are able to withstand several plus rounds of combatance and come out on top. Sports followers know this all too well. An example in the sports world is the use of the series in the sports. Aside from Football, most sports are notable for their series which pit one team against another for a chain of games in which the winners is determined by the best out of an agreed upon number of games. Teams that can win these series must be consistent enough to triumph over adversity and cut deficits, while maintaining their lead. Magic: the Gathering is based so much on succession that even a game can be made up into a series of turns. If you can make a better play than your opponent consistently on each turn you have just made it that much easier to win the game.
Conviction is something that all competitors must possess to be successful. As a player you must have a passion for what you are doing, if you go to a tournament or participate in a sport and your heart is not in it then you are not going to hustle and work as hard as you can, and therefore are less likely to achieve what you have set out for. Conviction can be seen by the countless hours of practicing, play testing, or learning of the rules and plays that can be made. This is not to say that in order to succeed an individual must not have fun while they are partaking in said event, for this passion that is exuded from the participant themselves is what allows for the fun to be had. The other night I watched Saturday Night Fights by EliteXC on CBS which was the world broadcasting premiere of MMA, mixed martial arts, which is a sport in which combatants from several different schools of martial arts compete against one another to see who is the most dominant. One of the matches on it pitted two female contestants against one another. Gina “Conviction” Carano ended up winning that fight, though it has no bearing on the part conviction takes on winning; it’s just coincidental (or is it?).
Consciousness is one that hardly needs any explaining. Many magic players falter do to their consciousness. They allow for one mistake to take them out and lose those matches and games. If a player is not aware all the time they are subject to disappointment. Focus is key in any competition no matter how big or how small. This topic is so widely discussed that there is no need to reinvent the wheel. Just know that there are many articles out there which help you sharpen up your skills to allow for you to focus and not make an “oops” play that will result you in denial of glory. Just ask Rasheed Wallace personally how important it is to keep your cool and stay focused. It was so evident in Game 6 when he shouted to the camera man, “Get that [expletive] camera out of my face, I’ve had it”. Well maybe you could find a better example of consciousness from someone else.
I’m sure there are far more qualities that athletes and participants alike share that make them stand shoulders above all the other competition. Sadly I don’t have time to interview the likes of Red Auerbach, John Wooden, Bill Belichick, Tiger Woods, Scotty Bowman or their magic counterparts of Jon Finkel, Kai Budde, Bob Maher, Darwin Kastle or Raphaël Lévy. So think about these 3 C’s when you step up next week for Regionals. Make sure that you are consistent as well as carry a sense of conviction with you, as well as conscious of the playing field.
P.S. (Find Robert Langdon); Good luck to everyone, and I would like to know anyone who reads my blogs how they do at Regionals if they go as I will not be able to attend due to not having $$$ for a deck, ha. Good luck and I’ll talk to you next week. Also if my grammar is out of place in this blog I don’t care since it was a long week full with graduation parties and weddings that I was invited to (no pun intended).
- Keith Ian McKimmy III
Tags: Competition Magic The Gathering Regionals Tips
Related to:
Magic: the Gathering
