by George Massu
Hello Apex Readers!
Once again Wizkids, U.S. Nationals is right around the corner, about 3 weeks away and its time for some last minute training tips!
Leading up to this point if you’ve read my previous articles you’ve been training already and outside of Black Panther and the Illuminati you should be pretty much ready. While in the 30 days prior to your event you should have your starting area/square placement memorized and know all of the legal maps terrain layout. Now a lot of ROC maps are legal for this event and if you’re like me you probably only own 1-3 of these maps. Go visit here and at least become visually familiar with what is legal for Nationals. Try not to let your opponent surprise you. In the digital age of clix 
more tools are becoming available to us as a community. The ROC win-a-map is the virtual play hosted on RollD20 and they run typically every week. If you can’t afford to enter or don’t have the free time, try to tune in and watch some of these matches and get an idea of what’s being fielded by players. If you don’t have a friend who cant properly train you at least get a visual idea how some these teams are fielded. PJ and Nate are regulars on D20 and feature some mainstream and crafty builds. Compare them, objectively to your team and ask yourself if your team can compete or will it fall short? This is the time for small tweaks, no major overhauls at this point, its too late to start from scratch. Practice again, keep warm and stay frosty. Work out your brain and keep the muscle active and prepared, don’t let ring rust accumulate. This is probably one of the most important factors in performing well the better and more practiced you are with your team the less likely you are to make the simple mistakes. Stop second guessing yourself. By now you may be over analyzing small details and even stressing out about them. I can tell you if you know the opposing field, your weaknesses and strengths, then there is no reason to stress, simply to be stressed. You know your team, just play it. You may even consider writing in your team ahead of time to give yourself mental assurance and ease of stress by knowing and having written down what you will play. Instead try focusing on building your self-confidence, recite your strengths, calm your mind and relax your body. I find that being unprepared or stressed out often leads to nervousness during competition. You know what you’re playing there’s no need to stress. The morning of the event pack snacks because it’ll be a long day and your brain will need fuel to burn. We’re entering the final lap of this race, there’s not much else I have to offer you. Wish your opponent for a good fight and put into practice what you’ve been training to do for some months now. Take care ladies and Gents! I hope to see you on the battlefield next month.
-George Massu
