"Magic Brain Drain"

"Magic Brain Drain"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

     Magic is a mental game and most of the time when people look at magic players around a table putting one card at a time with slow deliberation , all they see is just that.They do not see the internal machinations that each player has , The thought processes that go into every move. On the surface it just looks like a guy who has just placed a land card on the table. Inside though there is a massive amount of brain power that comes into play. To play any serious amount of Magic requires analysis and decision making skills.Why  , there are so many questions to answer on your first hand alone. You look at the first 7 cards that you draw and you ask these questions: What do I play first? Should I Mulligan? Keep my hand? which land to play first? cast my first spell now or hold off till later? Am I holding the key cards that I want for my end game strategy? Do I have enough land? And then when you have answered all of these questions then and only then do you put a land in play.Intense isn't it? The analyzing doesn't stop there of course it carries over to your opponents turn and back to your turn. Then unto the midgame and late game where everything is crucial and all the moves are already being played out to exhaustion. 

     The game is not physically exhausting because you merely sit in front of a table (or in some cases relatively flat clean surfaces) but it is a game that takes out a lot of power from your mind. The usual standard game lasts 5 rounds. Usually the first 3 rounds go by like a breeze but by the 4th round (if you are still in contention) you start feeling a bit dizzy from the amount of concentration that you have put into the first 3 rounds. Assuming that you have swept the first 3 rounds then you have played 6 games. If it all went down the wire then you just played 9 games that surely must  have drained you. Of course the adrenaline that comes with pulling off a win in dire straits always boosts the energy level but come the 4th and 5th rounds you will feel the massive energy drain.Unless you are a pro level player you would feel a bit tired by now.

     You start getting hungry and out of focus at times and this is where it is crucial because the battles in the 4th round are among the strongest tiers in the game. I admire those who seem to go through 5 rounds of magic and still play commander afterwards. Maybe the amount of play time that they have put in has made them mentally tougher  , maybe they have some way of not frying out their brains while playing. whatever is it  , it is really something special. If 5 rounds can be tough , imagine Game day events where it can an end up in a whooping 8 rounds and in the GP events all around the world. when I attended my first GP last year in SMX , I was all but drained in the 5th round and did not remember much of the succeeding rounds.It just goes to show that there is still a lot of improvement needed to progress in this game.

     

     Ladies and Gentlemen Brain drain in Magic is real . No one has died from it just yet but it never hurts to be prepared for it when you go out to your local tournaments. Here are a few tips before you plunge head on  to the games.

- Get Plenty of rest , a full 8 hour sleep is good too.The mind is ready for battle when you stop yawning!

- Schedule your games so you don't have to do back to backs. Less tired , more focus.

- Plenty of fluids , energy drinks are risky because they last for about 4 hours and then you crash. That's about the same time as the 4th round so refrain from it. Gatorade is good though. You need those Ions.

- Have a not so heavy breakfast , lunch or dinner before playing. You need your blood to go to your brain and not to your stomach to aid in digesting a heavy meal.

- Pack in the candies , small amounts of sugar help to keep you going in a game especially in a long drawn out one where your opponent seems like a Ent from Fangoria when making decisions.

- Refrain from going to Smacker mode , if you are playing then refrain from buying until the end of the rounds. It's a distraction and creates brain energy expenditure that you would rather have used later on.

- Don't play drunk or worse...high (not that I know of people who play high). It's just plain crazy to play in this condition.

- Bathroom breaks. Use them because you dont want your mind controlling your bladder from exploding while you are in a critical juncture of the game. 

Well that is it , I hope this helps and I don't want to hear about someone dying from brain drain in a local tournament. Till then , Keep on playing.