Lrnin2BGud

So people go to tournaments to win.

Right?

Actually, for some, no... but thats not the point.

The point of todays post(aside from me doing something other than studying), is training.

Training, practice, playtesting sessions.

Whatever you call them, IF you're really intent on winning big tournaments, you do them. A lot.

Tournaments are not won on luck alone.

(Request post because I had a guy ask how our team trains, and when explaining I was like Ooh would make good post! so why not)

No, playing against randoms sure does NOT count.

Thats for fun. Yugioh IS a game, so dont forget to really enjoy playing then.

So what makes for a good training session?

First and foremost, a circle of friends.

A circle of friends is not 1 person. A circle of friends to test with is around 4-5 people(may or may not include yourself)

Friends make many things awesome. Eating, drinking, throwing up, and in this case, Yugioh. Its easier to do something when you're enjoying it partially/fully. Also, if theyre training for this tournament(or not, which well cover late), theyll be equally intent on playing too.

Obviously, this circle of friends will be the people playing with you. Over. And. Over.

What I reccomend is 6-7 together at once.

Second: Decks.

Decks. And several of them.

A key aspect to having a good testing session is having a wide distribution of decks, Especially the top tier decks.

I repeat: ESPECIALLY the top tier decks.

A very important thing to do when youre training for a big tournament is to learn how to play out of as many situations as possible, against top tier decks.

And by top tier, we mean Tier 1, and Tier 1.5

Anything under this is also valid game, so learn to play against these too, to a lesser extent.

How we do it is that to testing sessions, we all bring our Main tournament deck, AND our sub/second deck.(I'm poor and only have 1 main and 1 Team deck. No sub deck XD)

Some of our team members have several sub decks, so that helps. If you have awesome people with every top tier deck, thats win too.

Ideally, you will have(in total of everyones pooled decks), at least Two of each tier 1, and at least one of each tier 1.5.

Since your aims are to learn how to play against each and every top deck, you dont necessarily need to do so from only 1 point of view.

The reason why we pool decks is that the best way to learn a deck's weakness is to be it.

IE: Play the deck. (And lose. And know why.)

Obviously during the session, you need to focus on what deck you will be using during the tournament, but playing the deck lends itself to learning the comboes faster. Much faster.

Its a good tradeoff, but a choice you have to make.

So, once again, play against a variety of tier one decks.

Third, is the point of the training session.

Its to learn to be good.

Dont forget it.

Dont pull off stupid plays, however spectacular they are.

Dont gamble your chances.

You're learning to play against everything a deck can throw against you,

and to make the most of what cards you happen to have at that time.

Ok, so learning to play against the deck you can handle, right?

But what about the opponent? You cant learn to combat all a deck can throw out... if they dont throw it out right?

And if you didn't see a play that could have helped,

Heres another concept our team uses: Players who are NOT there to train for the tournament.

The reason why you're there and the main focus of training can be various:

You cant join the tournament, You DIDNT join the tourney, you dont NEED to train, Or you're not on the team's A-List(or B-List. Or C-List. Yes. We've been to tournaments big enough together that we had to C-List some people!(me T.T I was lyk rly nub 3 months into playing then... Still 4-2'd though!))

This will be the person playing the other deck. They will have to see the myriad plays available to them as well, but they're the ones that are supposed to throw them out... for you to get out of.

Of course, that not available all the time, so its fine to do without. Point in check, you need to learn as many various moves the deck can cook up.

And those plays that you should have seen and didnt?

Unless someone mentions it, you probally never will see it.

Thats why when we trained, we used a few 3rd person views.

Remember how I mentioned 6-7 people training?

Its not 3 games going on at once. Its two.

First off, in Japan, table space, with any space, isnt exactly something places like to give out for free.

But the solution was to have the people not playing be Watching, learning, and most importantly, commenting.

If you see an OTK, Say it.

If you see a good play, SAY IT!

While your team may be different, ours had varying levels of experience.

No, not your "ooh draw cyclone throw it out" and "I know your entire deck from before you drew just by the way you shuffled" varying levels of experience, k. We had standards. haha.

Varying levels of experience meaning some people have played for 10 years, and others(me) had only played for 2 months or less(*cough*SotB*cough*), so obviously the people with more experience know more plays and can see things better.

(Our training techniques were from memories of about 2 years ago. I've been playing over 2 years, not some random nub that just started haha)

Share that knowledge.

Learn.

Fourth, and should be established earlier but I'm on a roll here: Somewhere to play.

Yep.

Important.

Only little kids play on the streets with duel disks.

If you're in for the fish, you play. On tables.

Some people use home, Starbucks, School, a Cafe, a Karaoke Box(coincidentally a good place to hold a small scale friends tournament, but I digress), etc.

(Its come to my attention that MacDonalds and KFC in some countries DONT kick you out after you eat? Maybe you could try there)

The point is: You need somewhere you can bunker down and play.

For. A. Long. Time.

Training sessions are like any other. They should be long.

How long, of course, is up to you.

A good productive one could be 4 to 5 hours. At least. (Some people will be :O at this. Hey I dont see you topping Black Feather CS, or any other championship for that matter... regularly.)

We used to go from 4.30-5PM on Friday to About 8-9AM on Saturday. Obviously for these long sessions we'd have changed out of our school uniforms, and took individual breaks to study, read, smoke, talk with people, eat.

Fifth: Maximizing the amount of situations you will be facing.

This is back at the playing point of view.

When training, be sure to opt to go second, and expose your plays to something you're not used to doing.

In the tournament, you will be going second 50% of the time. Your deck should be designed to work this, but so should your experience and psyche.

Going first is easy. Going second isnt. Thus, learning how to analyze the field on the second turn is a skill thats better picked up obviously when you go second.

Six: Motive to win.

In the tournament, theres a motive to win: Cash prize.

But in testing... less so.

So, your brain will see this activity as "pointless" and either lop it into "fun"(which is still fine)...

OR the brain will shut down, because it doesnt see any benefit in devoting time and effort and neurons to the activity.

Completely. Actually. Wasting. Your. Time.

Solution? Make a incentive to win.

To make the most of your time, you need to compell yourself to win. Having something physical and short and expendable/consumable helps. Its psychology.

Remember the "oh If I can read this entire chapter by tonight I can eat food" thing you used to motivate yourself?

Use it here.

Candy, Cookies, drink tokens for the club, money, cards, money, food, cigarettes...

These are the better examples I can think off the top of my head.

Yeah. I'm telling you to bet your cards when you are training.

It works wonders.

So, Once more:

Circle of friends, hopefully at least 6-7.

Decks that represent the meta, and the decks you will be bringing to the tournament, and a few commonly seen rouges.

Somewhere to play... for several hours on end.

Everyone working together to get better and especially train the less experienced.

Maximize the variety of situations and plays.

Motivate yourself. With material gain.

Lrn2BGud, and one day you'll be winning CSs all around the world.

Or, you know, just ignore this entire post and read every other post on the blog. Theyre mostly about enjoying the game.