Preparing For A Tournament

Preparing for a Tournament

Hello family, Douglas “DiRTy” Haas back again with more of that competitive MetaZoo knowledge you crave. Today we are going to be talking about preparing for a tournament. Tournaments can be a test of not just skill, but your endurance and patience as well, so today we are going over things I do to make sure that I am ready to play in an event, large or small, and if you follow these steps you will be able to be as prepared as me when you decide to attend your next event. Now remember, I am a hyper competitive player and thus some of my steps will involve the steps I take to try and win, but even if your goal is to just have fun, this article will have information in it beneficial to you.

The Weeks Before the Event

In the weeks before an event you want to make sure that you do your research, find out what has been winning tournaments or, in the case of a new set, what people think is going to be winning tournaments. Doing this will help you discern what deck you should build and play with leading up to the tournament. You want to make sure to get as much play time in with the deck before you actually get to a tournament, putting yourself in as many scenarios as possible with your deck.

The more familiar you are with a deck the better decisions you will make with it when it comes to the day of the event. You also want to make sure to build a sidedeck, or in MetaZoo, an archive. Your archive should always consist of the maximum number of cards allowed to give you the most options to alter your deck mid-match in an attempt to gain an advantage over your opponent.

This is also where research on what other people are playing will come in handy as you can use this knowledge to build a side deck that
counters a powerful deck type or a specific match up that may be bad for you. Get as much testing with your deck and side deck in as possible leading up to the day before the tournament, locking any changes in that you may need to make long before that point.

The Day Before the Event

Once you have done your homework and have reached that day of anticipation, the day before, you really want to take it easy. You might want to play a game or two so you can stay sharp, but don’t spend
rigorous hours this day testing, and especially don’t do it the night before the event. You really want to make sure that you get a solid 8-10 hours of sleep, especially for some of the longer events, as fatigue
can really start to set in in the later rounds of the tournament.

This day I find it very important to destress and relax as tomorrow will no doubt be very stressful and carrying any stress with you into that
day will affect your performance in a negative way. Make sure to pack everything that you are going to take with you to the event, do not be scrambling the morning of the event looking for your dice or that
one trade binder, make sure it is all ready to go and somewhere you are going to remember it when its time to leave.

Now, the most important thing I’m going to tell you in this entire article is coming up, so put your ears on and listen up, PACK SNACKS AND WATER!!! Yes, it is extremely important to bring the fuel your body needs to function, who would have thought? Often times tournaments will run behind schedule or your matches will last longer than you expected. Don’t plan on being able to leave to get a snack or water, have it with you and stay hydrated, this will help stave off fatigue as the day winds on.

The Day of the Event

After you have gotten a good night’s sleep make sure to wake up with enough time to get to the venue early. This is important for two reasons, first you want to make sure that you don’t run into traffic or
some other issue that would cause you to arrive late and effectively waste all that time you spent preparing, but also gives you an opportunity to scout what your competitors may be playing. Don’t
waste an opportunity to gain an advantage over your opponent.

Throughout the day make sure to keep yourself hydrated. Take every chance you can get to take a breath between matches and clear your head. And that’s it y’all, that’s the secrets, practice and take care of yourself. Not much of a secret, but you would be surprised how many people don’t do this.

That’s it for this article y’all, but come back next time for more competitive MetaZoo knowledge and more of your favorite Caster. Love you all and I hope that next big event I get to meet each and every one of you!!! Much Love – DiRTy

Catch me on instagram @ Lord__Dirty