The Zen of Magic

This piece was originally posted in the Summer of ’09, one of Marin’s earlier musings about the game here at the Academy. Do enjoy.

- Travis R. Chance: Content Manager

One day a man approached Ikkuyu, a Zen Master and asked: “Master, will you please write for me some sayings of the highest wisdom?” Ikkuyu took his brush and wrote:”Attention.”

“Is that all?” asked the man.

Ikkuyu then wrote: “Attention, attention”.

“Well,” said the man, “I really don’t see much depth in what you have written.”

Ikkuyu wrote again: “Attention, attention, attention.”

Half-angered, the man demanded: “What does that word ‘Attention’ mean, anyway?”

Ikkuyu looked at him straight in the eye and said: “Attention means attention.”

- Zen Story

How often have you played a land, only to realize that it was the wrong one? How about missed triggers, wrong blocks, inefficient order of spells, wrong timing of abilities, etc, etc.? Too often, I’m sure. Many times you know that it did not change the outcome of a game or match. Sometimes you know that you lost because of it. Often you cannot say: too many things happened afterwards. Even if it happens over and over again, each time you tell yourself it will change, that you will be more careful and focused.

There are essentially only three steps you need to take to achieve excellence in any field. They are as follows:

Desire

Desire is indeed the starting point for any improvement. While it might sound pretty obvious, it is pivotal to understand that I am not talking about the “desire to be a good player,” but rather the desire to DO what it takes to become a good player – quite a difference, let me tell you.

Desire means that you are willing to spend the time and energy to improve your game. You have to feel the need for it in your life whether you want to play at an amateur or pro level. And here is the first hurdle that you might encounter: maybe you do not really have the desire to become a really good player. Maybe you are happy with the way things are going right now; sitting at your dining table and playing a Casual Multiplayer match with friends. There is nothing wrong with this. In fact it is much better than trying to convince yourself you have the desire when you just don’t.

Attention

One evening a scholar asked his master: “Master, tell me the secret to achieve perfection in everything I do.”

The master smiled and said: “When you sleep, sleep. When you eat, eat. When you study, study”.

- Zen story

Attention is a word often used but seldom really applied. What was the name of the Zen master in the story at the beginning of the article? Did you have to scroll up? The name appears five times and yet most people do not remember it. Attention is much more then mere presence; open eyes and ears. Attention means that you focus your mind on the one task that matters. There is so much power lost when dividing your mind.

Are you playing Magic Online while you are eating, surfing the web, and/or listening to music? If so, you may may not achieve what you would be capable of giving your absolute attention to the game.

Attention also means that you realize what is happening during the game. Magic is a very deep, strategic game; every detail can be important. Has your opponent played a land this turn? Which one? How did he tap his mana? What spells did he already play? Etc., etc.

Attention means to realize when errors are happening and distinguish good play from optimal play. As John Finkel said: ” When there is a good play and a better play then the good play is actually bad.”

While this sounds like a lot of work it is much less of a hassle if you learn the following truth: “It does not matter how much time you spend if you don’t know the correct things to do and way of doing those things.” Fifteen minutes of correct practice are worth more then hours of incorrect play.

The way for correct practice is paying attention to everything that happens while you play a game. Stop surfing, eating, chatting. Focus on the task. Notice things you usually don’t pay attention to, such as how your opponent is tapping his land; plan your turn in your mind before doing anything; plan it in detail. Don’t act until you have figured out the “perfect” attack/block. Always ask yourself, “what, why, and when.” You will see that “attention” will lead to a greater success.

Awareness

Only if you have paid attention over a period of time will you become aware of things that you did not notice about yourself and your play. Maybe you are too careless with your land drops. or maybe you are to cautious or to reckless with your attacks. When you begin to truly understand your shortcomings, improvement starts to show. It is awareness that often prevents good players from becoming excellent players. Awareness means to stop whining about the shuffler and how your opponent is luckier than you. Start thinking about what YOU can do to minimize negative influences. Yes, you got mana or color screwed again – but have you really built the best possible mana base? Have you picked too few mana fixers to take that amazing off-color bomb in your draft? Ask yourself the question: ” What have I done wrong?” This will greatly increase your influence. After all, the only thing you can reliably change is yourself.

Many successful people in sports, politics, business, etc. live by this rule: “What can I do to make it better?” Blaming your opponent for your mana screw is as pointless as blaming your neighbor for bad weather.

Do the best you can during the game. Focus and make a mental plan for every turn before you execute it. Playing your best game is all you can do – the rest is not under your influence, and therefore should not be your concern.

Next

After this short (somewhat philosophical) introduction I would like to show you a concrete way to really improve your game and advance as a player. If you are serious about getting better (remember the desire thing?) you should give it a shot and see what it does for you.

1. When you start your next Magic game stop doing anything you usually do that distracts from it. Don’t eat, chat, surf or do anything except playing the game.

2. Pay attention to every detail. Focus especially during your opponents turn. How long is he thinking? What mana is he tapping? Is he attacking very aggressively or cautiously? Try to understand what he is doing and why.

3. When it is your turn plan your complete turn ahead and don’t do anything until you have what you believe is the optimal play. Do you first attack and then play or the other way around? What land are you playing? How do you tap your mana? Don’t stop asking questions; question everything.

4. If you realize you made a mistake or you did not choose the optimal path, take notes on what happened.

5. Never, never blame the shuffler, the opponent, bad luck, or any other outside source for failure. The only thing that matters are the things you can influence. Be aware of what happened and why, and change it the next possible moment.

6. Are there any cards that are better than you thought? Worse? What made them good/bad? Never stop analyzing your cards AND your opponent’s cards.

7. Try to keep this focus for a complete game; you will find it very hard at the beginning but the rewards are great. Even one game played in such a state of mind is worth more than dozen of games you play superficially, distracted and wondering why you never get better.

Closing

I will leave you alone now. Hopefully this short article will give you the desire to improve your game, fuel your attention to details and create the awareness of your shortcomings.

I shall leave you with a short story about excellence:

A man once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby.

Surprised, he asked the sculptor, “Do you need two statues of the same idol?”

“No,” said the sculptor without looking up, “we need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage.”

The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage. “Where is the damage,” he asked?

“There is a scratch on the nose of the idol,” said the sculptor, still busy with his work.

“Where are you going to install the idol?”

The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high.

“If the idol is that far, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose,” the gentleman asked?

The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, “I will know it.”

Best,

Marin