Subject: The Zen of Magic Date: Thu, 08 Jan 1998 15:32:06 -0600 From: M Martinez To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com I've been wanting to write this article for a very long time. I think it appropriate, with the War College exploring "higher" aspects of Magic strategy. This may strike a bit too far, or be too abstract for most casual players. Anyway... Every player, in each aspect of Magic, balances the drive to win with the need to have fun. The ego demands wins, prizes, challenge, praise. The mind demands fun, because no one, not even the most dedicated of players, can "play" a "game" that is not, at heart, enjoyable to him. Yet competitive Magic is about winning. Winning means sacrificing novelty for power, wonder for strength. There is no such thing as a "fun" tournament deck. These things are dead-serious, and quite deadly. (notice double-use of "dead" in this last sentence. Does that tell you anything?) Here is where choices are made, and very very personal ones: between playing the cheesiest of burn/critter decks and the most cerebral of UW control; between the heroics of the combo deck and the drama of the lock deck. Why do you play what you play? Depends on what best feeds your win-starved ego and your fun- starved mind. Even before the game is played, your "self" has made a stamp on the outcome. The "self" is involved in another way, also. In trying to win, you are -actively- attempting to bring about the winning conditions. You are -doing- something, or more to the point, your "self" is striving... and your "self" might be influenced by so many things. You might be tired, distracted, bored, sleepy, hungry, uncomfortable, sick, angry because your girl dumped you, doing badly at school, intimidated by the Name Player facing you... your opponent can also affect your "self": His strategy may be different from yours, his style and pace of play might suprise or confuse you, his voice, manner or personal appearence might influence your play. How you -not- be affected by so many things? Simple. You can't. Magic players are only human, after all. So why not take yourself out of the equation? Zen advocates the removal of the "self" from all endeavor. Its principles state, that if it is no longer "you" playing, you cannot be affected by any of a million factors, everything from frustration over bad draws to Jedi mind tricks. If you know the rules by heart, if you know every single card in your deck and every single play that it can produce, if you've drilled against countless other deck-types and can tell what your opponent is playing just by the second card he plays, what do you need your "self" for? Winning, by definition, is the achievement of conditions that both players have agreed upon. That implies that another person is actively resisting your attempts to win. Combine this with the "luck" of the draw, in which one shuffle generates a card sequence that gives swift victory, another yields a mana screw, and the Game becomes an intricate ritual, with a cadence that lulls you with the litany: untap, upkeep, draw.... The dance of attack and defense, effects and responses, bluffs within traps within tricks within tactics within strategies. You may find yourself drifting. You may find yourself absorbed into little things like the sneer on Gerrard's face or the guy walking across the Volcanic Island. Time may warp or stop, the Game may seem absurd or holy or boring, new insights in deckbuilding may strike, unseen combos may surface. You will be in zen, in Absorption. And suddenly, win or lose, live or die, will make no difference. Japanese warriors called this "no-mind", and believed themselves invincible when in this mental state of "not-fighting." The elimination of the ego and the cleansing of the mind were central points to Bushido. It makes sense, if you think about it. When you no longer play to "win", when the outcome no longer matters because your win-loving "self" is not a factor in your play, that is when you are at your best. This zen in Magic may degrade your game while learning it, but it's not an excuse for being a bad player; on the contrary, it's something only very few players can claim to have -seen-, and that, only in better players. It shows in their poise, their stamina and total self-control, in their inspired deck-building and error-free play, and in some other aspects as well. "Top decking", for instance. Does anyone really believe that top-decking is a skill? Something that somehow depends on intention, some hidden power or, (gasp) luck? No! A player with zen, that is, with total awareness of the Game to the exclusion of the self, will unconsciously engineer the situation so that the "top-decked" card will be the solution, because it will be THE ONLY POSSIBLE OPTION. You drew that Incinerate not through some mystic or paranormal skill, but because four or five or twenty turns ago you made a decision that would make drawing that Incinerate at that moment into THE solution instead of another dead draw. My advice is, take yourself out of the Game. Forget your ego, forget your rating, forget prizes and Pro Tour and other such ilusions. Forget your opponent. Forget everything you've ever read, every conversation you've ever had about Magic. You may then reach a state in which the deck plays itself, you can tirelessly plow through entire fields of competition, and you may win... always. Except, it won't matter anymore, because you had huge fun getting there. That is the purest, highest, Zen. Mario Martinez thunderhead@poboxes.com