FUCK Magic - Introduction to Infect

I've often had people express curiosity at my ability maintain a dominating presence in draft and sealed formats, dispite my disinterest in (all) constructed formats. Grossing approximately 1200 cash earning after expenses last year, I've been able to sustain my hobby while contributing to a little pocket money.

My hope, through the FUCK Magic portions of this blog, is to illustrate what I consider to be the most important and least addressed issues involved with (but not limited to!) Magic: The Gathering.

The key to understanding limited comes with the understanding of how much your environment matters to your match. We can all memorize which pick in a given pack has the most value, but to "read" signals and gain advantage beyond the limit of your cards is a much more complex process altogether.  To gain this it involves a complex understanding of human psychology and physiology in terms of a specific setting at a given time. But to simplify the concept, remember the acronym INFECT.

Indentify

Identify your competitors personality. This involves observation of their habits, and if the information is available, their play style. Keep in mind to consider their non-MTG related traits and see if you can gauge playstyle information from this. The "Identify" portions of FUCK Magic will explore how to gain this information as well as typical personas involved in the Magic: The Gathering scene.

 

Navigate
 

Navigate the venue in order to familiarize yourself with local customs or quirks. Know how strictly rules are enforced, any variations of play or tournament style, and player heirarchy. (Believe it or not, I recently played at a venue in which they offered 'free' [7 card mulligan] if you revealed a hand with no lands in it.)

Factor

 

Factor in the different personality types present, tournament cost, and  in order to optimize the effect of your actions on them. This is a more critical type of information gathering than Identifying. Using your best estimates gauge which personalities will dominate the field and how to cope. The Factor portions of this blog will detail the cost-benefit analysis in terms of the many economic factors used in order to profit.

Evolve

 

Evolve into a persona or presentation of self which provides the largest advantage. The way you present yourself to your competitors will have subtle but relevant effect on your games. Evolve portions will largely explore effect personality adjustments, as well as tips on how to manipulate your opponent's play.

 

Create
 

Create an environment which either further suits your needs or restrict your opponents, to the extent the rules allow. Create will explore the many possibilities that few players can utilize in terms of creating or manipulating the environment in ways that will effect your opponent. WARNING: Leave your ethics at the door.

Transfer
 

Transfer knowledge gained to future INFECTs. The process of understanding of how a person reacts to any situation in major is a comprehensive one. The Transfer section will analyze and "INFECT" a real-life player example.

These aspects will be a large focus in upcoming posts! So stay tuned for further information that will help you FUCK your opponent into submission.