Arena Laddering: When More is Less

75 matches. 6 days. That’s what it took for me to go from Platinum to Diamond in the first week of the November season. Sometimes that’s just how it goes. But as I’ll explain in a bit, it doesn’t have to go that way.

75 matches is a ton of Magic to play. A lot of hours to spend. And to be honest, I probably played even more than that in that time span, since there were likely about 10+ matches I didn’t track.

I’m not saying all of this to gloat - and I’m not saying this to convey the opposite or otherwise complain. I’m saying this to recognize the truth of just how much Magic I actually played over those six days. If anything, it’s not something I’m very proud of.

Quality AND Quantity on the Ladder

When you play that many matches in that timeframe, quality and quantity matter even more. Playing 75 matches is no good if you played lousy Magic for most of them. And by the same token, while 2-3 matches of quality Magic is better than playing zero, it’s important that you’re playing more to get in sufficient practice. A high quantity of high quality gameplay leads to ladder success.

In reflection, I’d say that I tried to play my very best in about 75% of those matches last week, which just isn’t good enough. That number needs to be closer to 100%.

I don’t know about you, but I have a pretty good idea of some of the reasons why I may not be playing my best at a given point. Sometimes it’s because I approach the game too focused on reaching a certain rank. Other times it’s due to frustration, or being tired - both of which are actually interrelated.

All of these factors came into play for me at different points last week - and it’s fair to argue that they served as reasons why I had to play 75 matches to reach Diamond in the first place. The next time you’re struggling, think of what else may be causing your struggles outside of deck selection and card choices. Is something more personal causing poor gameplay?

If you’re tired, don’t play. If there’s something else going on in your life that might keep you from approaching the game in a neutral or positive mindset, then consider not playing. External conditions always play a role in our in-game decisions. They also often determine how we’ll respond when we’re behind or coming off of a loss. The last thing you want to do is end up struggling for hours on the ladder and making zero progress.

It’s difficult to play your very best Magic all the time but it’s something I encourage everyone to at least strive for. After enough consecutive days of approaching the game solely focused on playing your best and having fun, this approach becomes habitual. From there, it’s important to understand and avoid the situations and conditions that can cause you to deviate from this great habit (e.g., playing while you’re tired or frustrated about other things in life, playing loosely because you’re on a winning streak).

Week 1, November 2020

Clearly I came into this season hungry to compete. After a rough Qualifier Weekend in October, I ended up missing Top 1200 in October as well, but I was ok with it. Or at least I thought I was. I know all too well that sometimes you just won’t achieve your goals, no matter how hard you try. I also know that the more you can stay focused on your goals and not let one failure take you off course, the faster you can bounce back and continue working towards long-term progress.

Another simple, yet comforting thought that really helped me bounce back in November was knowing that there will always be more opportunities to qualify for a Mythic Championship. And what do you know - mid-week SCG announced that they would be hosting a new tournament series, with a chance to qualify for Kaldheim Qualifier Weekend and the Kaldheim Championship. Perfect.

And so on 11/1 I bounced back alright, jamming match after match after match on the Standard ladder. I actually started the week with Gruul, but after not having much success with it or actually enjoying the deck, I went back to work with my Jeskai Yorion list and played that throughout the majority of the week.

Three wins, followed by three losses. One win, one loss. One win, one loss. Four wins, followed by four losses, and so on - all week long. I tried Gruul a couple more times, but I couldn’t put together a win streak with it. At least with Jeskai I was hitting some decent stretches of Magic, and I was getting good experience tuning and iterating a deck of my own creation.

• Quick side note: deck building and iteration isn’t something you should ignore. Even if you don’t think that you’re a good deck builder, it’s a skill you should always aim to develop. Doing so will strengthen your understanding of various card interactions, improve your sequencing skills and help you learn how to adjust to metagame shifts.

I finally started knocking on the door of Diamond on Thursday and Friday. Twice I came a game away from getting over the hump, only to go back down to Platinum 2 both times. But again, sometimes that’s how it goes, even when you are playing the best possible Magic that you can.

Persistence is undoubtedly one of my most prevalent character traits though, and combined with some really strong gameplay on Thursday and Friday, I was able to reach Diamond on Friday, 11/6.

Notably, outside of the ladder grind I played in The Plague League’s Monday Night Standard event on 11/2 and finished in 2nd place out of 13 players. My Jeskai list did some work against Rogues and Mono Red, and I won a super grindy match against Esper Doom Foretold in three games. I lost to Gruul in the 4th round, 2 games to 1.

Overall, the deck’s performance was encouraging, and you can see the list I ran HERE. I’ve made some fundamental changes to the list since then, and I’ll have a full deck tech in next week’s article.

With more than three weeks left to go in the season, Mythic is well within reach. I look forward to continue pushing towards it in the week to come, though perhaps slightly less doggedly. But more than anything, I look forward to getting back into good gameplay habits: approaching the game solely focused on playing my best and enjoying the challenge of navigating difficult games of Magic. I hope you do the same.