"Magic:Battle Aura"

"Yup...it sometimes feel like this"

"Magic: Battle Aura"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

There are times that you meet a player that totally overwhelms you. The kind of player that seems nice enough but they just floor you with their presence. To remind you of that feeling , thats the look of Battousai the slasher as he looks at you. The immense battle aura that you feel creates an intense pressure that makes you question every land drop or spell that you are about to cast. You find yourself holding your breath , you feel like you are ahead but you are not even sure. And when you do beat the guy you let out a sigh of relief.Has this ever happened to you?I am sure that it had.

As I continue to play magic I meet more and more of these "killers" , top tier players who seem very confident but not arrogant about themselves. Actually I have found that arrogant magic players seem to have a profound character weakness in contrast with those who just overwhelm you with their battle aura.

"You know you are screwed..."

The battle aura comes naturally by the way , its not acting , its unconsciously there , its not something that can be turned on and off. Well in game play it is usually on and does so the moment these players sit down in front of you or motion for you to sit in front of them. One of the hardest players I fought was my own Uncle , Dick "Gabay" Forlales who exudes so much of the battle trait that he just sits there and intimidates you.He knows he intimidates you and if you are not intimidated yet you will be. He might shift gears to trash talking or kidding around but that killer aura is just there. So when I was playing my Modern Relentless Rats deck and actually killing him he was just there looking at the wave of rats and taking damage. I found that he was just looking at the rats and he had the look of someone in control , someone who has a trick up his sleeve. So when the last round of damage points were calculated and he shook my hand I found that the pressure was off but it was amazing how he could just really be stonefaced in the face of utter trampling rats! 

It was much the same when my brother faced him. Control vs. Control took a lot of time but it was my uncle who angled for the win. Mainly the pressure got to my usually collected brother who would make one calculated mistake after the other.As an Aggressive player I found the slow progress boring but it was indeed a Magic Chess Match.It ended with a win for my uncle but my brother and I did get a lot out of these games.

In the upper levels of the game prepare to meet Killers.Mental toughness will count for a lot because you might have the most amazing deck but when the pressure comes on and you are not ready then you would still lose. 

"Kahit pusa namin Uchiha!"

It's a great thing though that these same killers always have a thing or two to teach , maybe we would have the same killer eyes some time soon.

Fear not the killers though , fear the unhungry heart and the burnt out heart that no longer craves for victory.Keep on playing.Keep on burning.