I think the best way to understand your own mistakes is to write down all that it happens during a match. I made it 2 times and I discovered so many mistakes that normally I'd never have remembered/understood. Now I'm conscious that bad plays/choices during a match is the first cause of a lost match.
Bad luck is an important factor sometimes in limited matches but sometimes the way you make the deck was the key factor.

1. Bad draws and play errors
Generally in a tournament I miss a play that usally lost me the game, or just didn't get the right draw. play errors happen in tournaments your hyped up and you have been playing for awhile and if your didn't eat anything that food starts sounding pretty good.

2. Deck Match ups
sometimes you'll just play that deck thats yours has trouble dealing with. those times you'll have to hope for a bad draw for the opponent or a play mistake.

3. better players

In terms of constructed, I don't think I make too many mistakes, that's because I play one deck for tournaments and I've played it a lot much. Most of the times I do lose it feels like I missed some part of the NS engine.

Limited is different though. I'm trying to get a lot better at that. You can clearly tell when someone is better then you ie how often you beat them when you hit a consistent curve.

I try to make it a point to ask what I did wrong when I lose. Although it's often hard to actually get an answer.

I'm reminded of this quote Jon Finkel made.

"In any given situation, there is exactly one right play. The problem is that 4 other plays will win you the game too."

The only things you should worry about going into a tournament are what list you're playing and how many mistakes you make. That's it.

Whether or not you're going to draw badly and lose is something outside of your control unless it has to do with how you built your deck. So why worry about it? I had a tournament (10k Detroit) where I was playing Titans and missed either 3 and 5, or 4 and 5, in each of the first five matches. I had a normal Titans list at the time, which means 5 or 6 Dawn/Hank, 4 Roy, 4 Terra, 3 Red Star and 4 Garth. Sometimes the character gods hate you and you can't win. There is nothing you can do about a tournament like this--take your lumps and move on.

How good or bad your opponents are is out of your control. If you make all the right plays, it doesn't matter how good your opponent is--if it's possible for you to win the game, and you make all the right plays, you will win the game. Not every game is winnable.

If you chose the wrong deck or the wrong list, even making all the right plays won't matter. Don't take a knife to a gunfight. Figure out to the best of your ability what the best list of the best deck is, and play that. Don't get janky unless you are certain your jank is better than the best deck or it has all the right matchups.

I think people spend a lot of time worrying about things they can't control (the luck of the draw, basically) and complaining that they can't change things that they actually can (play errors). The short of it is that everyone, everyone, is worse at this game than they think they are. I am terrible, and I'm sure I'm overestimating myself. The first place to start when you're trying to get better is to spend some time actually thinking about every play, from your turn 3 two-character formation to the 6-characters-apiece turn 7 board.

Wow. This is a fabulous thread.

To me, as a player who knows the game but does not practice, confidence is often the deciding factor. In games that might be won, a defeatist attitude sometimes kills me. In games that might be lost, I often see my way through. I have observed quite a few true professionals play this game in my time, and all the best have a supreme confidence that cannot be shaken by anything. Mistakes can be overcome, even bad draws can be erased. Giving up before it's over loses every time.

I think it's pretty irrelevant what you lose to most often (bad draw, bad matchup, bad play). However it is vitally important to figure out why you lose a particular game during playtesting. If your opponent keeps getting god draws, then you need to realize that. If your deck keeps getting bad draws, maybe you're getting unlucky, or maybe your deck is just prone to bad draws (something you need to factor into your deck decision). If you make a play error that cost you the game then learn from it and don't make it again. One of the biggest problems in playtesting is not being able to characterize your losses.

Yeah, you can certainly beat the bad draw by building constructed decks with a lot of versatility. That is EVERY card you draw has some sort of use, no matter what turn it is or who has the initiative. The Squadron and Secret Society decks I like are built with this principle. I hardly ever frown when I draw my 2 for the turn.

Not giving up is also a good thing, even if you are losing. Your opponent may have a great round 1-4, then run out of luck for the rest of the game.

Synth
Founder, Team Random Pile of Cards

I have a question for the pros.

When you guys play a game? How do you do it?

For example, I've sometimes though it more educational if some other people watch outside the game and point out mistakes or alternate plays or simply question plays. Do you guys point out potential mistakes to each other as you play? I guess I am curious as just to how much interaction there is invested in a single game of playtesting.

When playing, I generally notice my bad plays more than my bad draws. Over the past several months, I've been reducing my straight out bad plays and noticed the bad draws more, but I still make a lot of bad plays in general (because I'm not that good a player). Hopefully with more practice, I'll be able to blame my losses on bad draws instead of bad plays ;-)

That's pretty much it. If you see a play error, say something, even if it's your own error. Rrewind games and replay situations with different strategies to see what works best. The more eyes you have on a game and the more ways you look at a play situation, the more you're going to learn.

Stu makes a great point that giving up always loses.

At this last PCQ in VA my opponent had a field almost as full as mine, but I was ahead in END so after careful consideration, my opponent opted to scoop, when I saw at least 2 ways he couold have made it to the next round, but he simply didn't want to try. He knew what he was holding and I didn't and vice versa. He was afraid that I had more tricks to use, and while I did, he could have team attacked to overcome them.

As for the issue of better players or bad draws, it is important to identify what your source of trouble is in order to know what you need to work on.

A better plsyer as I see it is a player that simply knows more than you do, be it about card interactions or the rules and timing.

A better player doesn't mean that they are playing the best deck out there, either. That is entirely a perspective issue, which I feel makes it unworthy of debate. Dalton or Mark may choose the same deck for an event, or they may have totally original ideas. Is either one the right or wrong choice? Not so easy a question to answer, right?

The point is that if you find yourself racking up a series of losses, what are you losing to? Is it something that you have any control over at all? Or is it something that you just have to learn to play around?

A better player, you need to learn to play better and how to maximize your strengths, which in turn makes YOU a better player.

A bad draw, maybe you need to consider how your deck is constructed.

Sure, neither is really something that you can do a lot about in game, but if you take what you are learning in those games with you home and use that knowledge you may be able to prevent or at least reduce the chances of those same issues returning.

At gen-con so-cal for the marvel vs dc 10k, my gk deck that almost never missed drops was my deck of choice for the event. I lost my first 4-5 games due to god awful draws. ( no characters until turn 5 and even then it was a 4 drop in one game. ouch. how about the one game where i finally got a 1 drop, and it was one of the 2 alfreds in my deck...on turn 2, but i had a batsignal this time, so i'd be ok, since my opponent missed his 1 drop also. ..until my opponent recruited his 2 drop: vykin. once again, no other character until turn 5. the only other character in hand was an 8 drop superman, the only one of those in my deck.). A judge suggested a different shuffle method to break up my apparently rotten clumping. I followed his advice and went my next 4-5 games without missing a single drop and without using a single bat signal.

After I got home, the first thing I did to that gk deck was reduce the number of loyalty characters running amok in it.

I learned a deck construction lesson that day, as well as the importance of a solid shuffle before a game.

And 'the right play' is an interesting perspective as well. The concept of there being only one correct thing to do at any given moment is just far-fetched to me personally, but hey, I'm still learning too.

Maybe there is only one right play, I just hope that isn't true.

I rather enjoy making my decisions based on a set of circumstances factoring in my concerns and the field, and not being 'forced' to go with 'conventional wisdom'. ;)

I find that many games I lose simply play themselves out especially in limited, but that being said I feel I've reached a point in my play where; I beat the peaple who make mistakes, but must rely more upon draw to defeat better players. Often I'll find myself at the end of the day with my only losses sitting across the T8 table from me.

So while bad draws, play errors, and quality players is the breakdown, I think its hard to nail down.

If you have bad draws only a really bad opponent, or his equally bad draw will win you the game.

If you make play errors only a really bad opponent, or his equally bad draw will win you the game.

If you play against great players, only playing at your highest level, or his having bad draws will win you the game.

And to other mediocre players, is there anything more frustrasting than watching helpless as a really bad opponent blunders his way through bludgeoning you senseless with his painfully perfect draw while you try to figure out if there is any way to take advantage of only having your 1 drop to play on 5.

Conventional Wisdom falls on the minds of the uninspired. ahem* netdeck builder *ahem cough excuse me. Personally being at this learning stage in the game i have learned from a good teacher and i definitely take more from my losses than from my wins. A win is a Win, yeah you played better, but even in that win you made mistakes, in a loss you have to examine and reflect those mistakes when you win you are so busy pressing on you forget to examine. In the current metagaming and netdecking world of VS you can only hope to reflect on what went different for me than my opponent when everyone is running the same deck in the first place for the most part.

Right now my major flaw is my shuffle and i know my shuffle is the biggest issue, i can play and probably win in a game where i dont get the worst of shuffles and while even though i may lose i know it was the shuffle.

lol

I'll vouch for that shuffle thing.

Someone pointed out quite sometime ago that there is an interesting factor in shuffling that people rarely consider: shuffling is tactile.

The value of this is that by using your hands to shuffle, you are almost forced to gather data by touch, whether you use that data or not.

Your fingers have a series of grooves, called fingerprints, common knowledge, right?

Well those fingerprints are an inconstant variable when it comes to shuffling.

Also, the sleeves we use to protect our cards are never the exact same sizes as the rest of the sleeves. oh, sure, they have to insanely close, but it is a scientific impossibility for them to all be identical.

This means that your fingerprints can and most likely do affect the way you shuffle, without you even knowing it.

Since it isn't like you know what cards are where, it isn't the same as cheating, since you don't even know about it, but if you have a card you seem to get very frequetly, there is probable a reason for it.

This hasn't been conclusively tested and proven, mind you, but it makes so much sense it is hard for it not to be true, I think.

im with that cuz i can always get that damn 7 or 8 drop...just getting those others is the proven difficulty. hey and i have tested the shuffle out.