How focus ties into Magic.

We all get to a point, no matter the time or situation where we tell ourselves to focus. Whether its deck building, the beginning, middle, or end of a tournament, and life in general.

Magic players are a little ADD by design. Things are constantly changing. The internet brings constant change to almost every format. One constant is focus. Focus on what you want in deck design. The theme, flow of the deck and mana base all must tie in and be focused on a singular goal of being a functional deck.

I have a specific scenario in mind. We have a player at our local shop. I overheard that he lost all his matches that night so I told him to bring me his deck and his extras. His deck had a theme (totem armor) and a fairly balanced mana base. But it was all over the map after that. His 1-of's were

Sphinx of Magosi
Archon of Justice
Path to Exile
Lone Missionary
Goliath Sphinx
Marshal's Anthem

This is a small sample. But he had some Umbra's, several aura's, and 4 Totem Guide Hartebeast.

I took a look at his extras and I find some ways to stabilize his mana a bit more. I take out his 1 of's and a few of the weaker aura's. Add more aggressive cards, lower the average cost of the cards in his deck, and add a little better removal, the final addition was adding the creature that makes all his aura's Totem Armors. It's not going to win a PTQ but I guarantee he'll hang in better at the local FNM.

All of this is done without any outside help. All I looked at was his spare cards. The best part was that I was able to strengthen what he wanted to do without overhauling the core of the deck.

This isn't just deckbuilding, its about gameplay as well. I've been in half a dozen bigger tournaments starting 3 - 1 or 4 - 1 even 5 - 2. Once the pressure builds I lose focus. This leads to sloppy play which leads to me starting a 9 round 5k tournament 4 - 1 and finishing 5 - 4. The sad part was that all of my losses were winnable matches. My own lack of focus (never forget about your opponent's Garruk) cost me a chance to win $2000 dollars.

How do we counteract this lack of focus. Well in the above scenario I go way too concerned with going 8 - 1 instead of focusing in round 6 on going 5 - 1. That's a big start. I can't control what happens in three round. I can control the game in front of me. Even further I can focus on the play in front of me. One play at a time. We can only focus on what we can control.

There are many ways to make yourself a better player. Focus is a big part of that stride.