We hear about being in “the zone” when it comes to just about every competitive sport. Magic the Gathering is no different. The questions I’m going to ask and try to answer in this article are these. What IS the zone? How do you know if you’re in it? And if you’re not, how do you GET in it? Hopefully, by the time you’re done reading this, you’ll have all the answers that you need.
Let’s start with what the zone is. The zone is this happy place where nothing else in the world exists at that moment. It’s a place where you see nothing but the cards in front of you, on the battlefield, in the graveyards and know EXACTLY what you’re going to do next without even having to think about it. It just happens.
Okay, why is it even important to be in the zone? Well, unless you’re made out of steel, it’s natural to become nervous or anxious during a match. After all, we’re not robots. And sometimes that nervousness can cause us to make mistakes that we wouldn’t have normally made if we weren’t nervous. By being in the zone, you greatly reduce the chance of such nervousness and thus reduce the chance of making a play mistake. If you’re playing for prizes, this can greatly increase your chances of winning those prizes. That’s why it’s important to be in the zone.
Great, but how do you get into this happy little place where nothing else exists and you can do no wrong? Well, if you practiced any form of meditation, that would probably have helped you a lot. Barring that, what you want to do is talk to yourself as much as you can BEFORE you go to play.
Tell yourself over and over that you’re going to make all the right plays, that you know your deck inside and out (you better) and that you’ve got a set play for every contingency. You can do no wrong. And even if you make a mistake, you will look past it. It’s done. You won’t make another mistake. You will only concentrate on the turn at hand. You will NOT think about the game’s outcome or what will happen if you lose. You will not think about the next game. Only the turn you’re playing.
Does this require a lot of discipline? Sure does, especially when things aren’t going so well and you’re looking at a possible elimination from an event with just ONE more loss. It’s hard not to have those things in the back of your mind. But in order to get into the zone, you MUST get those things out of your mind. Your focus should be on one thing ONLY … the turn you’re playing.
In fact, if you’re really in the zone, your mind should only be on each phase of each turn.
When you untap your permanents, make sure you untap all of them or at least the ones that CAN be untapped. That means knowing at all times what permanents can’t untap. You don’t want to think about this. It should just happen.
When you get to your upkeep, you should automatically know what triggers there are during your upkeep, which ones you have to do manually and in what order you plan to do them. This should all be done without having to think.
When you draw your card, even before you do so, you should know each play for each card in your library that you’re drawing so you can make the RIGHT play without hesitation. You shouldn’t draw a card and have to say to yourself, “Oh my, what do I do with THIS?”
When you get to your main phase, you should automatically know spells you’re going to cast, if any, and if and with what creatures you will attack. You should already know what all the possible outcomes are given the deck your opponent is playing.
When you end your turn, you should know EXACTLY how you’re going to end it without having to give it any thought.
And you will KNOW you are in this zone when you realize, after playing, that you weren’t thinking about your dog that you forgot to take for a walk, or your girlfriend who’s ticked off at you because you forgot her birthday, or your homework that you were supposed to have done for tomorrow but forgot about because you’ve been in the zone for your Magic event.
Okay, yeah. Sometimes being in the zone isn’t a GOOD thing as far as the rest of the world is concerned. But if that rest of the world doesn’t exist, at least for a few hours, then you are that much closer to being in the zone.
Just make sure you buy your girlfriend flowers the next day.
To YOUR Magic the Gathering Enjoyment,
Steven “Land Boy” Wagenheim
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