The Trials of Testing

So, I've been trying to find a group of people that I can test with reliably for things like PTQs and SCG events.  It's difficult.  It is such a challenge because everyone has a different idea of testing.  I know it sounds strange, but the problem comes when there's only one mind being put into a process and there's no central core to the testing.

My biggest problem comes with the fact that I have friends and acquaintances that are similarly minded to myself.  They make for great friends and are fun people to play Magic with but that's not so good for testing.  You see, because we're all like minded, we tend to want to play decks that are fringe competitive at best and are just bad at worst.  So when I play my hit or miss homebrew against someone else's hit or miss homebrew... The end result is never exactly useful information about either deck's viability in the metagame.  Sure, you learn some of the better lines of play in your deck, but you never learn how to make the key plays against the decks that are strongest (most popular) in the metagame.

With that in mind... There are some other thoughts to be put into testing and the methodology of the solo player.  First of all, how and where you test makes the world of difference.  For some reason, when I do solitaire runs of a deck, I learn the curve and plays of a deck better when I'm sitting at my desk with some light music on.  However, when I'm actually playing and intent on learning from the games, I play better and learn more when I'm at the local shop.  I don't know why, but playing against players in an environment that I already get competitive in makes me want to play that little bit better and helps me focus on the game at hand.  There are also fewer distractions that aren't game related at the shop than at home.  I don't find the need to watch TV, or get distracted by what a mess my house is.  I just sit down, and play some Magic.  Last, I want to address the idea of Magic: the Gathering Online...  Don't.  Don't waste your time testing on there unless it is with other players that play paper Magic.  People online play in a different environment and with a different mindset to people that play at the table.  This also doesn't bother to mention that they have a much different metagame for some reason.  The formats online just don't transfer to the formats at the shops and at the competitive events.

So, I guess I need to get up to the shop for some more testing tonight.  See you folks at 6:30.

SD13