3 ms·

Competitive card games like MTG or Hearthstone teach you to "play to your outs". What this means is to identify the ways in which you can maximize your chances

Competitive card games like MTG or Hearthstone teach you to "play to your outs". What this means is to identify the ways in which you can maximize your chances of winning when you are in a losing position. This was helpful for me overcoming a tendency in life to just quit when it looked like I was at a disadvantage.

behnamoh 5y ago
Ha, that's interesting! In the Catan game which I mentioned, they reduce your ELO (sth like your overall score) if you just quit a multiplayer game. You end up gaining half as much "experience" if you lose, but you'd earn negative if you quit. I'm also the kind that tends to just quit and start again. But games like these have helped me at least "play to my outs". Still, I think a skill which I learnt is how to quit "smartly". Some games (situations) just don't belong to me, so it's important to not conflate perseverance with stupidly continuing a game which I should've quit minutes ago.
bick_nyers 5y ago
Or trick your opponent into thinking you have the out when you don't, so they fear over committing their resources. In tournament settings, stress and emotions run high and it's important to be able to play confidently even when you are most likely to lose. Even in Hearthstone with how limited interactions there are, you can still find a way to communicate false information to your opponent. As world champion Firebat recently said in a video: "if you play enough you aquire the ability to know what your opponent has in their hand based on small hesitations...how long it takes their eyes to register things". Edit: I guess since we are looking for parallels in life the takeaway is this, maintain confidence and self-awareness especially when losing, and always consider how you present information to others. You can reframe most things to appear better without being deceptive.

behnamoh 5y ago

Ha, that's interesting! In the Catan game which I mentioned, they reduce your ELO (sth like your overall score) if you just quit a multiplayer game. You end up gaining half as much "experience" if you lose, but you'd earn negative if you quit. I'm also the kind that tends to just quit and start again. But games like these have helped me at least "play to my outs". Still, I think a skill which I learnt is how to quit "smartly". Some games (situations) just don't belong to me, so it's important to not conflate perseverance with stupidly continuing a game which I should've quit minutes ago.

bick_nyers 5y ago

Or trick your opponent into thinking you have the out when you don't, so they fear over committing their resources. In tournament settings, stress and emotions run high and it's important to be able to play confidently even when you are most likely to lose. Even in Hearthstone with how limited interactions there are, you can still find a way to communicate false information to your opponent. As world champion Firebat recently said in a video: "if you play enough you aquire the ability to know what your opponent has in their hand based on small hesitations...how long it takes their eyes to register things". Edit: I guess since we are looking for parallels in life the takeaway is this, maintain confidence and self-awareness especially when losing, and always consider how you present information to others. You can reframe most things to appear better without being deceptive.