Important Things for Tournament Success
Part 2: Having Fun
Tomoharu Saito · ChannelFireball · 2013Part 2 of Saito's 6-part series on tournament success. On why "having fun" is not the opposite of taking Magic seriously — it's the engine that makes taking it seriously sustainable.
If your first FNM is stressful, Saito's answer is counterintuitive: the pros who last are the ones who kept having fun. This piece will save you from burning out before you even get good.
Important Things for Tournament Success
Part 1: Concentration
Tomoharu Saito · ChannelFireball · 2013Opening article of Saito's 6-part series. Concentration as a trainable skill — not a mood, not willpower, but a discipline with specific exercises.
Saito writes about the mental state of competitive play with a rigor nobody in the English scene matches. If you've never considered that concentration is a skill you can train like any other, start here. Then read parts 3-7 below.
Important Things for Tournament Success
Part 3: Improving Your Magic Environment
Tomoharu Saito · ChannelFireball · 2013Part 3: how your physical environment, playgroup, and daily routine silently shape your competitive ceiling. Saito on the inputs nobody talks about.
Important Things for Tournament Success
Part 4: Familiarizing Yourself With the Metagame
Tomoharu Saito · ChannelFireball · 2013Part 4: how to build real metagame knowledge instead of surface-level netdeck awareness. The Saito method for mapping a format.
Important Things for Tournament Success
Part 5: Building Connections
Tomoharu Saito · ChannelFireball · 2013Part 5: competitive Magic as a social graph. How Saito built the relationships that kept him sharp over a 20-year career.
Important Things for Tournament Success
Part 7: Other Lessons Learned
Tomoharu Saito · ChannelFireball · 2013Part 7 (there is no Part 6 — Saito's publishing order): the closing chapter of the series with the lessons that did not fit anywhere else.
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