MTG Goal Setting, Collaboration & Thoughts on a New Season
Though my last post technically went up on 10/3, this is actually my first post covering the October 2020 grind.
And in case you missed the last entry, I highly recommend you read it. In that post I share some of my most reliable strategies for laddering - which helped me go from 92% with three days left in September to finishing at 414. Check out the post and put these strategies to work for you.
How I Reached Top 1200 in September
I love the beginning of a new Arena season. No matter how the previous month ended, I get to wipe the slate clean and refocus on my objectives in the game. I like to use those first days to think about what I’m going to continue to do, and more importantly, what I’m going to do differently in order to achieve those objectives and any new ones.
If I achieved my goal in the previous month, I get to raise the bar and push forward with positive momentum. If I didn’t, then the beginning of the season gives me another chance to reach that goal and create that momentum. It’s a beautiful opportunity no matter how you look at it.
Some players like to jump right on the ladder once their ranking resets and grind to Mythic as fast as possible. Gotta respect that hunger.
Others like to take a few days off, especially if the previous month was exceptionally challenging. I admire that, too.
To be honest, sometimes a new season comes around and I’m just drained from the previous month. Maybe I didn’t reach my goal, or maybe the last few days felt exceptionally competitive and taxing. That’s when it’s a good idea to take 24-48 hours off from MTG.
The easiest way to ensure an unsuccessful month is by starting it on a negative note. Don’t jump back on the ladder if you’re frustrated with the meta or frustrated with your level of play. You can’t give your all on the grind if you’re still pissed or salty about missing Mythic or Top 1200 in the previous month. You follow?
Treasure the beginning of the month. Insist on making the most of it. If you’re focused on improving at MTG and competing at a high level, use days 0-3 of a new season to:
Identify new goals and refocus on existing ones. What rank do you want to reach this month? What area(s) of your game do you want to improve in? What events do you have coming up? What events do you want to qualify for?
Review your highlights from last month. Did you reach a new rank in Constructed or Limited? Any 4-1s or 5-0s in MTGO leagues? Did you develop a sweet new deck? Did you win any tournaments? Any memorable matches you won? This is why it’s also important to log all of your matches and/or use MTGA Pro Tracker. Reviewing your highlight reel on a regular basis is an important way to position yourself to add to it.
Review your growth opportunities. Any specific area of your game that you continue to struggle with? Is there a playstyle you want to become more adept at? Do your mindset and mental game need some tuning?
Review your progress on long-term goals. Are there any long-term goals you’re working at in your development? How well are you progressing towards them? Are there any adjustments you need to make to reach them? Are there any new long-term goals you’ve identified along the way?
Create a plan. Determine a rough timeline and vision for how you want the month to play out. Don’t worry about whether or not things go exactly as planned - sometimes they just won’t. But having a plan and envisioning what you want to happen is the first step in making those things happen. Want to Top 8 a tournament or earn your spot in a qualifier? When will you test and practice for it, and how? With who? Looking to reach Top 1200? What dates do you plan on reaching each rank?
The point here - go into each month with some kind of plan, and don’t wing it. The more you plan out each month, the more it becomes a habit, and the easier it becomes to get clear on objectives and timeline.
Goal setting and planning might seem like overkill for a game, but they’re critical for achieving a high level of success in any endeavor - even in competitive MTG. If you don’t already do this, take the time to go through the list I provided above and answer those questions. And of course, use that list for areas of your life outside of MTG. Doing so will absolutely shape your success in the weeks to come - both inside and outside of MTG.
For me, my MTG goals in October are to reach Top 100 of Mythic and reach Day 2 of the Zendikar Rising Qualifier Weekend. I’m also making it a point to choose the best decks in the format and embrace the challenge of learning and mastering mirror matches.
Finally, I also want to improve at deck construction, which is exactly how I started the month. As mentioned in the last post, my friend Kyle and I brewed and tested some new lists, and I spent the first few days of October laddering with the brews. One of the luxuries of starting the season at Platinum is that you have some room to test new decks on the ladder in a competitive, yet low risk environment. The deck I tested the most was Kyle’s Abzan Yorion list in Standard.
The deck is full of some individually powerful cards that also synergize well. At it’s core, this list is all about resolving Eerie Ultimatum, preferably with some quantity of Scute Swarm in the yard. If you also have Ashaya, Soul of the Wild on the battlefield or in the graveyard when you resolve a “Scute Ultimatum,” you can potentially get hundreds of Scute Swarm triggers (you may even get a warning to choose a different line of play).
Kyle and I iterated on the list for a few days, but neither of us could seem to get any good traction on it. The deck is inherently slow and doesn’t have great ways of generating card advantage. One of my biggest issues with the deck was mana. The deck is very, very mana hungry, and in the process of milling ourselves we often deprive ourselves of lands. Going to four copies of The Binding of the Titans and two Once and Future definitely helped with this issue, as Bala Ged Recovery simply wasn’t doing the job. Here are the lists:
Abzan Yorion, by Kyle Cramer
Abzan Yorion, by Jeff Sheerin
Though Abzan hasn’t hit the mark for us yet, I really, really enjoyed the iterative process with Kyle. It’s great to be able to collaborate with someone who shares my passion for this game - someone who wants to kick deck lists back and forth and discuss different card choices throughout the day. Working with Kyle has been an absolute blast and a privilege, and I’m looking forward to us breaking formats in the future.
Kyle let me know that he made a few additional changes to Abzan, which he says have made a positive difference You can check out the updated list HERE.
(Don’t forget - you can catch Kyle’s stream at https://www.twitch.tv/kcmtg1136. He streams a ton of Limited as well, so you’ll get to learn from an excellent drafter when you tune in.
Post-Abzan
After enduring a major losing streak with Abzan for a few days, I decided to refocus on practicing for the Zendikar Qualifier Weekend and reaching Top 100 Mythic in October. I went to war with 4C Adventures and finally reached Diamond on the 8th, keeping me on track to reach Mythic and grind to high rankings.
Along the way I also played a couple casual events I found on MTG melee, one of which I placed first in. Though not a major achievement by any means, it’s always cool to see your name up there towards the top of MTG Goldfish. You can see my latest list HERE.
It’s quite possible that Omnath is going to be banned from Standard before Zendikar Rising Qualifier Weekend, and I’d be ok with that. The card is far and away more powerful than anything else you could be doing in Standard right now, and it’s in your interest to play it if you want to win the most games. I think back to Amonkhet Standard and when Temur Energy was considered the most oppressive and repulsive deck. These Omnath decks - both Adventures and Ramp - make Energy look pretty tame, don’t they?
On a side note, this weekend my wife and I are celebrating our 5th Wedding Anniversary. Though Rachel and I were together for almost 8 years when we got married, our wedding day was and and always will be the best day of my life.
Thanks for reading.
