by Kevin Afrooz
Showing up to World’s this week? Think you’ve got what it takes to be #1 in the world? Have you tested relentlessly, memorized dials like it was homework, and thought of countless strategies to beat every team variation imaginable so you can be the best? Well I’m here to tell you it takes a different kind of skill to make it to the top…
Motivational Hunger
For some of you this may be your first time participating in a high caliber event. One of the things you have to understand is if you are aiming to be #1 then you must prepare for losses. I’m not talking about game losses, I’m talking about all of those other economic opportunity cost choices you’re going to make before and during the event. If you rationalize the way I do you will start to understand why many champs are consistent in keeping their title. It comes down to an emotional and physical hunger that motivates people to win in order to quench that hypothetical thirst.
By just showing up to World’s you have wasted $50 on an entrance ticket to Origins Game Fair (Sorry, but if you want to be #1 then you’re not seeing the convention), and another $100-$200 if you enter all of the World grinders. Prepare to live in the Heroclix tournament hall for 3 days straight unless you’re lucky and place Day 1, and understand that the majority of you aren’t going anywhere else from 10am to 10pm during those days. Why do you need to try so hard? It’s because you’ve already spent more than you ever should on a hobby, and want some form of recognition for your efforts. There needs to be some form of compensation. You need to even out, and although memories are nice, you don’t want to go back home and tell your friends and family you wasted time, money, and your life. You want to show them your countless hours of practicing and planning awarded you something.
You practiced right?
To compete at World’s and place in the Top 8 you need to have the dials of countless figures memorized, statistics and tactics drafted against certain builds, a clear understanding of what your pieces do so that you can concentrate on how your opponent plays and positions during their turn and not where you place on your turn 1 for the 10th time in a row. All of this planning and playing is time that was wasted without compensation. If we were to put a dollar amount to it of $10/hr then you would have at minimum lost $500 just in preparing to compete at this caliber. That’s 50 hours of your life you’re never going to have back, and it wasn’t spent having fun you trained to not have your ass handed to you when you sit across from your opponent. Should you have only wanted compensation for the effort spent you would play in the battle royales at World’s for 3 days straight. You can easily make over $400 in profit by just playing Battle Royales and selling the Con LE’s on eBay, but competing for the World title is different – You want the glory more so then you want compensation for your time.
It’s this emotional hunger that creates champions. You are going to meet a lot of people during these 3 days. Know that they are all better than you at something and are emotionally hungry as well. Learn from them. Treat them with respect and ask for the same in return. If you want to have a step above your competition then follow my advice and get in a champion like mentality.
Don’t second guess your actions. Test until you feel comfortable enough that certain choices outweigh over others to the point that it’s nearly reflexive, but challenge everything. Challenge the thought that you should place 5 squares out because your opponent can’t reach you and critically think it through. Challenge that your opponent will not make a mistake and will always take the best course of action against you. Challenge that even if you get paired with a counter build against your team you can still beat it. Challenge everything and you won’t be caught off guard when your opponent mistakenly mishears you for the amount of damage he should take and accidentally clicks his figure one less damage because he forgot about your Enhancement, or that last action is called because you prepared by wearing a watch.
Understand that you must prepare for everything including losses. Most losses admittedly happen before you even sit against your opponent in round 1. The types of losses I am talking about are things that you would never think affect your gameplay but do. I’ve already mentioned the financial burden competing at this level brings, but things like the fact that the World tournament is an all-day thing escapes people’s in understanding what that entails and how it may eventually harm your chances at winning. If you compete in both the Single and Team event it becomes a 12 hour grind with no breaks, each day, for all 3 days if you qualify in both events. Are you prepared mentality for this? If you have a strong mind and an even stronger emotional hunger to be the best then you’re only half way there.
You need to be prepared for the facts that you are losing the ability to go to the bathroom, eat food, check out the local sites, check out the convention, eat food, relax, or do anything other than play Heroclix for 3 days straight? This is the physical hunger that is necessary in order to become a champion.
The only break you are going to have is those few minutes in between rounds. This means there is no time for food, or long bathroom breaks. You need to prepare yourself in advance for the fact that by 3pm the Men’s bathroom will be completely destroyed and only the urinals will be functioning correctly. Fat kids in Cosplay outfits ruin bathrooms, it’s a fact that you need to prepare for. If you are a person who loves coffee I would urge you to try and give that up on game day because coffee is a diuretic and will mess with your stomach at the worst time. You’re in a competitive environment, diet like an athlete. Don’t eat a big breakfast. In fact don’t eat breakfast. The hunger will keep you focused for the first couple of rounds. The last thing you need is to fall into a food coma during one of your games and make a mistake.
Remember there is no time for food, bathroom breaks, food, ability to check out the rest of the con, food, sightsee the amazing architecture in Columbus, Ohio, or food?
Is the lack of food catching on yet? This is going to be a 12 hour tournament. I cannot emphasize how much it matters that you maintain a proper blood sugar level and nourish your brain during this event. If your skipping breakfast make sure that you still eat at some point. You wouldn’t think it, but this game rips through your energy in the worst kind of way. I have come out of all-day tournaments saying the dumbest things because my brain was fried after having to do Geometry, Statistics, Psychology, and fast Cognition for 8 hours straight. That’s the length of a normal ROC tournament. This is 12 hours! Treat World’s like a marathon. You don’t want your brain crapping out on you during a match. Pack food, and water.
You may think, but Kevin, there is a food court at the Convention Center I’ll just get food there. Yeah well you and a thousand other people had that thought, and at least 20 of them are going to be wanting to get food at the exact same time as you, so you’ll never get your food in time in order to get back and play more Heroclix. Sure there are two hot dog vendors and a taco truck right outside of the Heroclix tournament hall but you never know what’s actually in that stuff, and if it upsets your stomach especially after the fat kid got to the bathroom, prepare for disappointment. Again bring food. Specifically bring energy bars, nuts, fruit, anything that can give you a quick jolt of energy when you realize that your brain is beginning to wane. Hell, it can even be a cookie or brownie. Just anything to get that brain to last. Of course if you have food you’re going to need to have water. Our body is made up of more than two thirds water. What do you think starts happening to the brain when you get dehydrated? That’s right it fatigues. Bring water, not soda or juice. And don’t try buying water at the Convention Center during the con unless you are prepared to pay $5 for it because it can now be more expensive at Conventions then Soda.
Understand that there are thousands of people at this convention. The bathrooms cannot handle that magnitude. You’re body also cannot handle the gut wrenching situations that you will be placing it in with a spiral of emotions making you happy one minute for rolling the 8 needed to hit an opposing figure and extremely desperate the next when your opponent accomplishes the same feat. The last thing you need is to be disqualified because you are in the bathroom when the round starts either because you are waiting in line or got unlucky and had to go #2. You can survive a day without food, although I don’t recommend it, but you will inevitably have to go to the bathroom. For the majority of us we have our routines. If you are one of those people that poops in the afternoon, wake up 2 hours early and go for a jog. It will start your metabolism and may kick you into the bathroom prior to the start of the tournament, which is better than during the interim between Rounds 3 and 4.
What you need to understand is that the brain needs to be able to do cognitive processes and critical think effectively for 3 days straight while maintaining a balance in which you are nourished yet not overly so to where you are creating excess waste. To accomplish this you need to merely satisfy the physical hunger and not quench it. If you eat too much your body will begin to send energy that’s necessary for the brain to function effectively to your stomach to digest the food, eat too little and the brain fizzles. And at some point on Day 3 I promise it becomes a complete game of mind over body in which you find yourself physically exhausted but you’re finding that emotional hunger to win is drowning out your body’s desperate need to rest. A great technique that I use when playing is I set goals telling myself countless times before a competition that there is a mountain of food and beer waiting for me once this is all over but only if I accomplish so-and-so task. I did this myself when playing in the 3v3’s in 2014 and said that I wouldn’t drink any alcohol if I didn’t tie or beat my partners for highest win ratio by the end. My partner Pat had a similar mantra going through his mind and it allowed us to win the 3v3 competition, and create Sebastian Faust as our figure.
See you all at Origins and good luck to all at Origins!
