This is spot on. In righting my ship I said “okay stop, just play strong fundamental netrunner, don’t make high-end plays, don’t be over aggressive, these players will play slow enough and not force you” Be able to rely on good fundamentals to help you in odd matchups.
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Yeah, just slow down and breathe. Round 1 at Worlds 2013, I lost game one, and was down 5-0 turn 3 game 2, took a second to steel myself, and made Top 16. Round 1 at Worlds 2014, I was down 5-0 game one v. Tennin Code Gates (don’t ask), and had to do a 30 second ‘Get your shit together, and calm the f down, man!’ mantra in my head. Top 16 again.
There is a fine line, and a lot of luck, between the top and the pretty good. I’d like to say I’ve been lucky to fall on one side of that, but there’s a razor’s edge in most games of ANR, which is one reason I love it. Winning involves falling on that side of the edge most of the time. I do like the questions pondered in this post, because it’s clear that some people, like @AceJack, @Webster, and @Cerberus are fantastic card players, and do well consistently. They’d prob. dominate in any game they play.
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This, analyse every card you see, why do they have it? What can counter it?
One thing I don’t think anyone has said, eat something healthy during the tournament and drink plenty of water. You don’t think clearly if you are hungry/thirsty.
Know your deck. If it is almost on autopilot in the later games, the easier it is on your head.
Take your stimhacks in the bathroom, people are a bit sensitive nowadays.
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This is gonna be a good thread to read. But the biggest thing that helped my play is to think about my games. Every game. I wanna know why I lost every game, or how I could have lost any games I won.
Its never luck. You can mitigate luck.
Its never 'bad draw’s. You just misplayed what you were given.
I take it so far as to say its never my opponent outplaying me. I gain nothing from just going “Oh shucks hes better than me.”
Severe and harsh analysis of my games. Thats why I only play my regionals lists in the SHL this time around. I want practice, tons of it.
Its also why I will gladly explain my decks and share the lists to anyone after the game. If we ever rematch, I have no issue with you knowing my list. I should win if you know all my tricks, or my tricks needs to be more solid.
I buckle to pressure, but really stepping up how I view my own side of the game… that was a big help.
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I’m at a point where I can pick up a deck blind, look at the opening hand/mulligan, and get a general idea of how to play the deck. I usually bring a new deck to tournaments monthly, just to try out different things in tournaments to get a feel for how different decks play and their tempo. Once you do that a lot, you kind of open up the game to where you can play any type of deck against any other type of deck. And, with all that experience with different deck types, you can better understand how to beat any other type of deck, because YOU’VE PLAYED IT and YOU KNOW it’s weaknesses and strengths.
I think there’s a difference, here, in being good for a specific tournament, and being good in general.
Tournaments have a whole sub-game of ‘reading the meta’ and choosing the right deck for the meta, getting lucky in your match-ups and with your meta call (since you can’t control what other people do), your own stamina/resistance to tilt and fatigue, and knowing your own deck really really well. All of those come together for tournament games. However, you could be extremely well-prepared for a tournament, and not be increasing your general skill with the game.
For a specific tournament, know your deck, know how your deck plays against all the other decks in the meta, and hope that you get a little lucky on your swiss rounds and in the elim bracket. If your deck is weaker to a specific deck type, you could get lucky and only face one of that deck in Swiss. In the finals, if you know an opponent is playing that deck, you can get lucky and have the choice or be able to play your other side for that match-up. Thus, tournament wins and skills are different, I think, from a ‘general’ netrunner skill-set, but they often overlap. The best thing I think you can do for a tournament to do better is practice your deck until you can play it blind, deaf, and asleep. And make the right meta call with your deck.
For general netrunner skills, I suggest bringing a new deck to each tournament. Pick-up games are fine, but nothing beats playing a deck for 5-6 or more games in a row in games where every move matters and the other guy is trying 100% to win. Sure, you’ll make mistakes and you’ll recognize where you mis-played your deck, but at the end of the day you will understand your deck against a variety of other match-ups in the current meta. And you’ll increase your ‘general’ netrunner knowledge.
People don’t understand why I bring brand-new decks I haven’t played to tournaments that I grab off the internet. It’s because I know they’re solid decks, I have fun playing new decks, and I get to flex and work on different netrunner muscles.
It’s like weight-training. If you’re always working on your biceps, you’ll be short-changing your general physique. And, trust me, as you increase your general netrunner skills and abilities, you’ll notice that your skills with your ‘main’ deck you want to play at regionals or worlds will increase as well. You’ll learn the minutia of different styles of decks that reading about them won’t give you. You’ll know their timings, recognize their openings, and be able to exploit things.
Apart from those things, the only other thing you can do is to attempt to minimize your own mistakes in games. The best way to do this IMO is to play with someone looking over your shoulder and taking notes (Or talking about it with you during the game if you have 3 people who want to help each other get better) and say things like “Why are you doing that? Walk me through your thought process. What about x? Have you thought about y?” Not only pointing out mistakes, but even correct moves, to force you to think through WHY that is the correct move. What moves give you the best chances at that particular moment, and why. Why you decided to Diesel instead of running on HQ, etc… This will also help you to pinpoint your own specific preferences when playing, how you play, your style, etc… and it will help you pick decks that help your style, instead of working against it.
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There are some areas that have been mentioned where I think I’m already okay, but it’s still great advice.
I always seem to be nervous before round 1, but I generally settle down during round 1 and I’m pretty much always fine by game 2. I haven’t been able to figure out why I get pre-round 1 jitters. It seems to happen every time regardless of how confident I am, how close to zero fucks I’m giving, etc, etc. But since it fades quickly, I’ve stopped worrying about it.
I make a point of hydrating and keeping snacks on hand. That’s definitely key to surviving a long tournament day.
I also try to just move on to the next game, regardless of what happened in the game that just ended – whether it went well or poorly, the next game is a clean slate. But outside of SCs and other big tournaments, I do try to post-mortem in my head a bit. And one area where I think I’m reasonably strong is not just chalking the outcome up to variance unless it’s actually justified. Because sometimes, it is justified, and it’s important not to beat yourself up over e.g. giving up a single low-value R&D access out of Bootcamp Glacier with the win in your scoring remote and having that be the PriReq that costs you the game, assuming that allowing the access was the best play. If it was the best play, and you lose anyway, then that’s fine! And in those cases, I try to make sure that it doesn’t affect my decision making down the line – I don’t want to be gun-shy about giving up R&D accesses today just because I lost a game on a low-value access yesterday.
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I love this post. I’ll respond in more detail later, but I’m going to reread it several times first.
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I like this. Tournaments are different than OCTGN/testing. I played in 3 SCs, and played 6 different IDs and decks. Doing the same in Regionals.
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I’m not going to comment on other points made during this discussion, as I don’t see myself as a good player (therefore, I’ve found this discussion to be VERY helpful) but I can help with this. I’m experiencing the same thing too. I’m a very reactive, fast-thinking guy and my nerves are oftentimes the bane of my existence. I get nervous before everything. No matter how important it is, no matter how calm I am or was the day before. However, (usually) when the event actually starts, I get my shit together and don’t worry at all because I’m too BUSY to worry. That’s why I’ve found that what helps me the most is keeping my mind and hands busy. Try this, it might help you too - talk to people you know, play games on your mobile phone, even shuffle and try to relax. Chat a bit with your opponent before the round, it goes a long way towards making the situation less tense.
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I think this is a fine way to build skill / have fun, but only if you have the right mindset during the tourney (that you’re there to learn and have fun) :). Otherwise you’ll just be miserable.
I made sure I played each faction at least once and no repeat pairings during SC season myself because I knew I didn’t have time to practice!
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I get huge jitters, I think it’s normal. I usually don’t breathe normally until I’ve won a game with each side.
On general points, I’m not an especially great tournament player (or otherwise), but one thing I find very useful is having a decent grasp of how probabilities work. Sort of another “advanced fundamental”. I would strongly reccomend getting the hang of estimating the likelihood of them having drawn certain cards by a certain point. i.e. 2 punitives in 15 cards.
There’s a lot more to be said on e.v.s, but I suspect there are better people to say it.
On the other hand, some of us like to play one deck for 500 hours straight. RIP Andromeda. shout out to @dashakan
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The story of my life…
Throw a coin :
- head : Play core NR deck.
- tail : Play ultra janky stuff.
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You only need to pilot one deck (on each side) to win 
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I agree, I only played Andy too. Onto Kate now, though.
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What I find to be most effective has already been echoed here. It’s been quoted a couple of times, but @bblum said it best when he advised playing against better players in a setting where you can think out loud is invaluable. I am unable to play more than a few games of Netrunner every couple of weeks, so I find that those videos of netrunner with commentary are essential. I cannot overstate the value of those videos produced by @kiv through his YouTube channel. I find that just talking about the game is important as I frequently receive great insights from @AceJack, @hasuprotoss, and @pacer. I try to speak with them several times during the week because they are able to play multiple times each week, try new ideas, see what is effective or ineffective, and they’re great friends of course. Finding active players with whom you can converse about the game is valuable.
During a game, composure is very important. It is innumerable how many things can go wrong. What’s important is that you become neither panicked nor hopeless. Remaining calm under pressure allows for you to think clearly because if you lose this clarity you will often lose the game. Try to relax and examine the board for what it is instead of your reaction to it.
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I get round 1 jitters too. Always gone by round 2 but often makes me play on autopilot in round 1.
In general, that’s not something you can really do much about. You can’t fight it. Just accept it and try to find the best way round them (or at least minimize them). Leading a lifestyle where there’s a lot you can’t do, you just start understanding what you are good at so you end up not wasting your brainpower worrying about stuff you can’t do.
I would like to trade in the pressure i feel in the cut for round 1 jitters. Please.
I would love to giggle nervously or some shit while install the 4th upgrade into that 1 ice remote.
Swiss never gets me, its the cut, after the break. I cant wait till the next tournament to see if my ideas to fix the issue actual work.
I don’t really know a lot of men who giggle while nervous.
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