At the end of last year, I read an article by Gerry Thompson titled “Luck doesn’t exist” . Obviously Gerry doesn’t think luck literally doesn’t exist; he is a rational human and knows that it does, in fact, play a role in everything we do, including games of Magic. He argues, however, that the role it plays in the long run is so small that we might as well ignore it in our quest for self-improvement, because, regardless of how unlucky you were, there’s always something you could have done to put yourself in a different position to begin with, and that’s where you should focus.
A Magic game has two players, and typically one loses and the other wins. Not an insignificant point, even though we take it for granted. Thanks for the article, PV.
I played Turbo Stasis in old extended, 26 lands, at one tournament I opening hand had no lands, so I mulliganed, to no land and mulliganed again to no land then didnt draw land for 6 turns to a drastic loss. Next match, opening hand no land, mulligan no land, but this time I keep only to draw 13 lands in a row for another amazing loss. Next matchup game one locked my opponant the next two games no land draws both games mulliganed to 4 cards and drew no lands over 8 and 7 turns respectively. To say no luck was involved and that the deck needed even more lands would have been wrong. But Lucks biggest impact is in discreet events and washes out over the long term.
A Magic game has two players, and typically one loses and the other wins. Not an insignificant point, even though we take it for granted. Thanks for the article, PV.
I played Turbo Stasis in old extended, 26 lands, at one tournament I opening hand had no lands, so I mulliganed, to no land and mulliganed again to no land then didnt draw land for 6 turns to a drastic loss. Next match, opening hand no land, mulligan no land, but this time I keep only to draw 13 lands in a row for another amazing loss. Next matchup game one locked my opponant the next two games no land draws both games mulliganed to 4 cards and drew no lands over 8 and 7 turns respectively. To say no luck was involved and that the deck needed even more lands would have been wrong. But Lucks biggest impact is in discreet events and washes out over the long term.
Great article. Going 0-3 on Arena draft might feel a bit less horrible after reading this.