There are a lot of things that can make you have a bad experience. Some of the things are in our control, some are not. What we have to do is figure out what we can control and control it. In Star Wars: Destiny, we are at the mercy of fate when it comes to our card draws and our dice rolls. There is few things as frustrating as having 3 rerolls and only needing 1 of the three dice being rolled to come up with damage for the win, yet missing on the chance.
Keeping your cool
Tilt is a real thing. For those that don’t know what I mean, being on tilt is when you allow yourself to make suboptimal plays because of circumstances that have transpired. These circumstances could be a handful of removal from your opponent; a poor draw where you have no removal of your own, or your inability to roll that 1 damage side for a kill. When we, as players, hit that wall of being tilted, it can be hard to come back from. You can learn from those experiences, as painful as they can be.
Tilting Mill
As some of you may know, I write a column called Content Creators Corner. In that article I ask the question “What deck do you least want to sit down across from when at a tournament?” The reason I ask is because, as a player, I need to know that others have the same feeling as I do.
For me, it is Mill. I have faced Mill in multiple tournaments and in many of them I have lost. The reason for my loss is that I beat myself even before I started playing. Sitting across from Mill makes me rethink everything that I have done building the deck.
Here is the best example. Regionals 2018 at Eternal Games in Warren, Michigan is where this happened. I surprised a few people by playing a speed deck: Han (AG134)/Biggs (AG72). I had beaten a lot of the Meta decks of that time with the sheer speed and damage the deck could do.
Coming out of Swiss, I was sitting in fifth place. Something that I am proud of because of the great field that we had in that Regional. We cut to the top 8 and I was ready to do more work. Then I got paired up. I cannot remember his name but I know that he ended up winning the entire tournament. He was from the Hyperloops and was one of the masterminds behind the Millionaire deck.
When I sat down I had a lump growing in my throat. Mill was my Achilles; it had taken me out of quite a few tournaments but I had never faced it with this deck. Here is where I defeated myself though. Instead of thinking that I had speed on my side and could make the punches, I sat down and started worrying about what I was doing.
Relax and have fun
Easier said than done, I know. I ended up being so on tilt that I was breaking all the rules playing Mill. I was discarding when I didn’t hit what I wanted which, as players of mill know, is exactly what you aren’t supposed to do. The reason is once you roll what you want, that is when the mitigation comes out.
The first of the best-of-three was over fast. A smart player would have asked for a few seconds to collect himself. Not I, it was like being on tilt caused me to lose all focus. Instead of concentrating on the game and the accomplishment, I simply wanted it to be over. That is why I may never be among the best to play this game. If you tilt yourself, it is difficult to untilt.
I ended up losing 0-2. As I look back I am proud, sure, but I would love to have just taken a moment and collected myself. Come at it a different way. Losing is always going to happen. As we have seen in the Worlds, even the champion lost the first match. He could have focused on that; instead he saw the errors and played better, more in control, and won.
It Will Happen
Going on tilt will happen. It is always going to be at the worst times, too. The Chance Cube Universe, our jobs as players is to take that breath. We would not be in the place we are at the tournament if we folded under pressure. We must remember that playing well is something you practice to do.
Becoming a strong player is all about preparation. The reason the top people are the top people is because they put in hours upon hours fine tuning, not only their decks but their mindsets.
Yogi Berra, New York Yankee, said it best when he said “Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical.” This is the same truth in our game. When you are preparing for a tournament, are you preparing both mentally and physically? Sure, we don’t have to hit a 90+ mph fastball but putting in the time helps.
Destiny in our hands
At the end of it all, the Destiny is in our hands. We make the decisions and from those decisions games are won or lost. Don’t look at a deck as unbeatable or as your Achilles; look at it as the next obstacle you will conquer. “Be Strong and Courageous” is a verse in the Bible that I love. Because it is so true in all walks of life. So that is what we must do. Finish the match strong, and don’t defeat ourselves before a single die is rolled. Until next time, May you always need what you roll and roll what you need!!
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