How To Do Better At Your Next PTQ - Part 1

Hello and welcome to my series of How To Do Better At Your Next PTQ. Each week for 6 weeks, I'll be taking a point from the list of 10 Ways To Do Better At Your Next PTQ and expanding on it, and going into much further detail. I shall release this series biweekly, and over the next three weeks will cover the following parts:

Part 1 - Testing Your Deck

Part 2 - Analysing the Metagame

Part 3 - Bringing Two Different Decks

Part 4 - Sideboarding for the Event Metagame

Part 5 - DCI Penalties

Part 6 - Understanding Tiebreakers

Not all the points on the list are worthy of a part in the series. However, now that you know what's in store, let's move on!

Part 1 - Testing Your Deck

Practice, practice, practice is the mantra of athletes, and for you it should be no different. You should know your deck inside and out. You should know why every card is in there, and how they interact. You should know how to fight all the common decks, how to sideboard against them, whether you are aggro or control, etc. But rather than tell you the different things you need to know, I'll give you a step-by-step guide.

Step 1 - Pick Your Deck (4 weeks before the PTQ)

Note: these durations are minimum. I suggest picking a stable deck: one that's been part of the metagame for a long time, e.g Faeries, Five-Color Control, especially if a new set is coming out in the next four weeks. Check out the decks that have been solidly winning for months or a year, and choose one you feel is powerful and you can play. It doesn't matter if Five-Color Control is best in the meta if you've played Faeries for 8 months. Your advantage will surpass meta choices unless Fae is absolutely hosed (which it has been, but not so badly it's unplayable).

However, if you're like me, and your deck of choice has been cut out of the meta (Kithkin) go through the decks and pick what you think is the strongest. Test each deck you think is good on Magic Workstation for 5-10 matches, and see which one works best for you.

Step 2 - Research (3.5 weeks before the PTQ)

The next step is to research your chosen deck. How to play it, how to board, how to fight different decks. The more you read up on it, the better. Read tournament reports where the reporter played that deck to get a feel for how these theories are put into practice. Read primers, strategy guides, testing reports, etc. Assimilate the Magic community's knowledge about the deck.

I will add, if you want to play GSS Jund, you've got a great head start:)

Step 3 - Test online (3 weeks before the PTQ)

Here, you'll want to use Magic Workstation again. What decks you play doesn't matter, as long as you play the Tier 1 decks. You want quantity here: A good total to shoot for is 30 matches in the week. You're in the early stages now where every match teaches you something new about the deck. Hopefully you're winning most of them. I mean, I'm 7-1 with Jund so far and I'm not exactly a great player. Good, but not great.

Once you've gotten about 30 matches under your belt, you're ready to test the specific metagame.

Step 4 - Test against a gauntlet (2 weeks before the PTQ)

Now you'll want to build a gauntlet, generally consisting of 3-4 decks that you're most likely to face at the PTQ. Testing the fringe strategies will dilute your testing against the decks you'll face 2, 3, or even 4 times during the PTQ and if you make Top 8, are almost certain to face. For the current metagame, your gauntlet would probably consist of Faeries, Five-Color Control, Jund and Elf Combo. You want to get in 10-12 matches against each deck throughout the week. Preferably you'll have offline testing partners who are also going through the gauntlet, whom you can test with. If not, keep testing online as much as you can.

Step 5 - Re-evaluate (Less than one week, more than three days before the PTQ)

Now your metagame data will be 2-3 weeks old, so it's time to recalibrate. You're probably still 90% on the money, but the 10% is crucial too. Is a certain deck you haven't tested against rising in supremacy? Keep an eye out for the latest tech. Make sure you're not caught off-guard in the PTQ.

Step 6 - Test the changes (3-4 days before the PTQ)

This is twofold: offline, test the gauntlet which includes any new decks that have risen up, and online test with the 75 you've now locked in. This is the final testing: aim to get in 10 offline matches and 10 online in the 3 days.

Then rest for the day before the PTQ, maybe play 1 or 2 matches online to keep your skill up, and get a good night's rest. More than likely, you'll have outprepared your opponents, and it'll show where it counts: on the battlefield.

Until next time, may a hundred matches teach you a hundred lessons to gain you a hundred advantages.