My Fearless Magical Inventory
Sam Stoddard wrote this great piece on building a Fearless Magical Inventory, and as I find myself looking to improve my own Magic game, I found myself coming back to it. What is a Fearless Magical Inventory and why do you make one?
Everyone makes mistakes but very few people own up to them. I wanted to stop lying to myself and stop lying to others. I wanted to take my ego out of the equation and focus on playing better Magic for myself not to impress others or to be thought of as good. I wanted to get start doing well again and a lot of that meant I was going to have to admit to myself that I was not the perfect player and that I had more than a little room to improve. I had already take the first step – admitting that I was not playing perfectly. The second step was to realize that I had the ability to change it. The third step was to make a conscious decision to improve my game and to stop pretending I was a better player than I really am. The fourth step was creating a fearless magical inventory. After some soul-searching I posted on both on the Internet. I knew that with the knowledge of my problems public I would no longer be able to deny them to myself or others. Remove your ego from the equation and you have room to improve your game.
It seems like such a great idea and I’ve never done it before. So here is my Fearless Magical Inventory:
Taking too long to make decisions
Forgetting key abilities on cards
taking too long to do combat math
Countering the wrong things
Overall play is too slow -- I draw too much
Confusing strategy for technical play.
Getting anxious to make plays
Not playing to the big picture sometimes
Losing track of board state.
Get too afraid of what people might be playing.
I shuffle too slowly.
I take way too long to sideboard.
Not thinking enough about "what matters" -- I am thinking about possibilities and potential more than what presently is relevant to the match.
I theorize too much and play too little.
I lose my concentration at critical moments.
What does your Fearless Magical Inventory look like?