Curse you MTGO!!!

MTGO is a love / hate relationship. Yesterday I was loving it, today I'm a hater.

Last night I had the WORST draft I've ever done on MTGO despite my deck being decent (at least, I thought so!). How I managed to 1-2 with this, I don’t know...

1x Goblin Arsonist

2x Llanowar Elves

2x Incinerate

2x Rampant Growth

1x Skinshifter

1x Titanic Growth

1x Sacred Wolf

1x Blood Ogre

1x Greatsword

1x Act of Treason

1x Chandra’s Outrage

3x Giant Spider

1x Rusted Sentinel

2x Bonebreaker Giant

1x Volcanic Dragon

1x Garruk's Horde

1x Carnage Wurm

8x Mountain

9x Forest

Actually, I DO know how I went 1-2. Misplays.

This about sums it up...

When you're being attacked by a 5/5 Gorehorn Minotaur as well as a pumped Fiery Hellhound and you have a Titanic Growth and Incinerate in hand, OBVIOULSY the best play is to block Gorehorn with Spider, TGrowth his Gorehorn and take the damage from the Hellhound, right? Cause that's what I did!

How about getting yourself hit a couple times by a Lord of Illusion, letting them drop a Phantasmal Dragon, then trying to target the Dragon because you don't even bother to read / remember that Lord of Illusion gives them Hexproof? I'm clearly amazing at this game!

And in the luck department, your opponent just mulled to 6 on the play. You drop a T3 Blood Ogre... it gets Pacified. You drop a T5 bloodthirsty Carnage Wurm, it ALSO gets Pacified! Then opponent plays Griffin Sentry and Griffin Rider and you draw only lands. I = the greatest!

//Sarcasm

Yea, I went on tilt last night after those matches. Had I played better, I would / could have won those games I lost. I'm no pro, but I normally 2-1 or 3-0, and to actually go 1-2 was demoralizing. I really should spend more time familiarizing myself with the MTGO interface before spending more $$$ to draft. Pre-con battles, here I come!

What lessons can we learn from this mess, boys and girls?

• Get familiar with the game / system mechanics (aka: know how to play MTGO).
• Think about your plays before you make them.
• Don't make assumptions, clarify and know your enemy.
• READ THE CARDS.
• Don't go on tilt, it affects your play.
• You can't rely on luck.
• Slow down your play to avoid errors.

As long as we don't keep repeating our mistakes and we learn from humiliating defeats like the one that I just had, you'll continue to improve. No one is infallable (not even me!), and our mistakes will always be there to haunt and remind us to focus. Keep practicing!

************************

EXCITING NEWS!

Stay tuned to this blog tomorrow when I will be announcing a contest to get all you faithful readers participating a little more! Yes, there will be prizes! :)

Let that anticipation build!

Cheers,

Carl Szalich