Playing the mind games

Hey Buddyfighters!

Today we are bringing you an article about using the mind of the opponent to your advantage. As we all know, being confident is part of the winning formula in a game and a slight doubt in yourself can shift the tide. So how do you use the mind of the opponent to your advantage? a few things we will be discussing in this post are probably things that you have done before without realising you did and if you are able to control that, you can use it to your advantage.

1. Keeping a monotonous facial expression and actions.

Facial expressions are one way you can hint to the opponent about your cards. It is common for some players to display specific expressions when in a dire situation. The opponent can figure out based on that whether you drew the card they were thinking you were going to draw or not. sometimes when the opponent's face changes and they start to play their cards in a faster manner, you can be sure they drew into something that will cause you trouble.  Keep your actions the same all the time. Some players when they are in a losing situation like to do the "Destiny Draw" where they put the top card facedown onto their flags and slowly open it for a dramatic attempt. This immediately tells the opponent that you are in a top deck mode and they can straight away decide what they want to disrupt. so keep a poker face as much as possible throughout the game to minimize this chance.

2. Declaring change of phase

This is one thing that almost nobody practices. only when they have the card that requires them to use it at certain phases will they declare them. Like for example, lets say you dont have an impact, you should still be declaring that you are entering final phase, because if you dont do that and suddenly declare it during one turn, the opponent will immediately figure out that you have drawn the impact and might be able to counter act to it. Example of cards will be impacts that require your opponent to not have a center can easily be stopped by this. If you declared it every turn, your opponent will not be sure if he should react or not as he might potentially waste his resource.

3. Decide before proceeding with your actions as much as possible

Cards such as spell nulls are a key indicator of the player's skill level. There have been many occasions where players just proceed to the attack phase without considering what they are going to use the spell nulls on. If you are not reacting fast enough and you tell the opponent to wait a few seconds, that can indicate that you are holding a spell null in your hand. At the same time, the opposite can also be true. You can be not holding any spell nulls and still ask the opponent to wait to trick them into thinking you are holding one. But in general, Think ahead and predict what are the potential cards the opponent can play to disrupt you and decide what you want to negate before proceeding so that you will keep the opponent guessing.

4. Never give up until the last life point is taken

This is something which we cant emphasize enough. Never scoop until the game is over even when you know you are losing. The only exception is when both players know there is nothing you can do or when you are under time constraints. We have seen many situations where players have done last minute misplays due to being too cautious and have led to their demise. Never do the "show me x card and i will scoop" action as that can actually make the opponent change their initial wrong play to a correct one. Even if you know you are losing, you can make the opponent think you have an outs and make them do a misplay to buy you one extra turn. Just holding one or two cards can make the opponent think twice.

Thats all we have for you today~

Signing out
Avengingknight