The Psychology of Magic: Visualization and Simulation

Chris Senhouse

In my previous article, I discussed some of the more subtle things that could cause unconscious or conscious anxiety in a competitor. I'd like to thank everyone who wrote in supportive emails, and I'd like to note that one reader in particular pointed out a small error in my terms. The term "subconscious" is actually not used in psychological literature, and I will be using the proper term "unconscious" from now on.

My plan for this discussion is to explore "multidimensional anxiety theory," which posits that there are three types of anxiety that can affect a competitor. Each of these factors can be analyzed and treated separately. This will lead into the investigation of two important methods that are used in sport psychology to address some of these factors: imagery/visualization, and simulation.

Multidimensional Anxiety Theory

Sport psychologists can break down performance-related anxiety into three categories, all of which are relevant to playing Magic. First we have "cognitive anxiety," which is how a competitor perceives and interprets the competition and creates mental stress about it. Some of these causes can be traced to unconscious conflicts as discussed in my last article. A second category is self-confidence, which is closely related to the first factor but is presumably considered longer term and more difficult to adapt. The third and final category is "somatic anxiety" which is both the physical factors that tie into performance. I plan on addressing somatic anxiety in a future article in this series. Miguel Humara, M.A., writes:

"In this model, cognitive anxiety (the central tenet of which is concerned with the consequences of failure) has been found to have a negative linear relationship with performance. Self-confidence (a separate cognitive component) has been found to have a positive linear relationship with performance. Finally, somatic anxiety (physiological symptoms) has been found to have an inverted-U shaped relationship with performance."

If we could reduce our own created anxieties, improve our self-confidence, and reduce physical stressors that might take us off our game, we should eventually see that our abilities and performance levels would increase. Sounds easy, right? Humara also states:

"Gould, Petrchlikoff, and Weinberg (1984) have reported that the strongest predictor of cognitive anxiety was years of experience such that the more experience an individual had the lower the level of cognitive anxiety... This suggests that the most powerful quality that elite performers possess is a high level of self-confidence which may act as a protective factor from cognitive anxiety."

This is a very interesting point - is this why you see the Finkels, Kastles, and Buddes of the world being impressively consistent at a game where luck is a large factor? As in any endeavor, clearly "practice makes perfect," but what we're saying here is that practice and experience helps in more ways that just learning the techniques and skills. It's also creating the correct mindset that will reduce anxiety and improve performance!

Imagery and Visualization

"Much of the process of learning and improving sporting reflexes and skills is the laying down, modification, and strengthening of nerve pathways in our body and brains."

It's been speculated that almost all "elite" athletes use imagery and visualization techniques. Tennis players imagine their swing and location of their serve before each point. Football receivers visualize their routes and beating the defenders. I know from my experience in ice hockey coaching that this is a very useful technique that I teach the kids on my team. I myself would use it to help perfect certain skating techniques such as reversing from forward skating to backwards skating and vice versa. Here's a positive endorsement from a golf legend:

"Before every shot I go to the movies inside my head. Here's what I see. First I see the ball where I want it to finish in a specific small area of fairway or green. Next I see the ball going there - its path, trajectory, and behavior on landing. Finally, I see myself making the kind of swing that will turn the first two images into reality. These "home movies" are a key to my concentration and to my positive approach to every shot."
Jack Nicklaus, 1976

I was recently reading the latest issue of Sideboard Magazine and I found that Darwin Kastle used these techniques and as a result won the Grand Prix in Manchester! Check this out:

"I spent the whole week visualizing myself winning because I don't think about that often enough. I've been proud of myself for doing well, and I've thought that I'd eventually win something, but enough of this eventually ----!"

I spoke to Darwin about this and he informed me that he had no formal training in this sort of thing but would be interested in learning more. He said that his visualizations are usually pretty generic and vague, but he could see merit in doing more specific types of imagery. His thoughts before Manchester were a little more specific than his usual, as he imagined himself holding up the victory trophy in England and also how he would be concentrating during the finals. Darwin feels that it really helps his game to get himself "pumped up" and helps him from getting too mentally lazy or bored with any specific game or situation, and makes him both more focused and more patient.

How can using visualization techniques help you improve as a Magic player? Imagery will help reinforce proper technique and improve one's ability to focus and concentrate by giving you "practice" at being in the competitive situation mentally. It will allow you to "experience" goals before you actually achieve them, making them feel more within your reach and improving confidence - Darwin's Manchester win is a good example of this working in practice. By building up your ideal of play, you will naturally start to improve your self-analysis abilities. In your imagery routines, you will always be tapping the correct mana, always making the right blocks, always planning out your plays - and soon you will be able to observe the times in real play that you make these errors and better be able to learn from them. It can take a few months for the results of imagery training to develop, so if you are going to try it, be patient.

The most effective ways to do visualization training are well documented. It's best to begin trying it by doing it in a quiet, relaxed setting. Start by just relaxing and trying to clear your mind, for perhaps a minute or two and follow that with 5 minutes of visualization. As you improve in your ability to do this, it can be beneficial to increase both the duration of the exercise and the amount of distraction in the environment.

When actually visualizing yourself playing Magic, keep in mind the following things. Make sure you are picturing yourself from a first-person perspective and not an external camera. This will increase your sense of involvement and improve how impactful the training will be. Try to imagine as real a setting as possible. Picture the table, your hands holding your cards, the smell of the room. If possible, try to be in a chair that would simulate the type of position you would be in during a tournament. This is called kinesthesia, where your body position and feedback are providing clues to your cognitive functioning. Imagine a game of Magic and break it down. Imagine yourself doing every phase of the game perfectly. Shuffle your deck carefully and effectively. Draw seven cards to start, thinking carefully about whether to mulligan or not. Think through every land drop, every creature cast. Take your time, focus on your opponent. Feel the cards shifting in your hands. Remember your upkeep, think through every attack possibility and every blocking decision. Imagine the types of problems that you have experienced in a tournament - did your opponent make a move that you didn't expect? Are you mana hosed but perhaps if you still play perfectly you will have a chance to win the game? Imagine yourself being able to confidently respond to these and any other challenges you can come up with.

One good way to create a very positive "imagery routine" is to watch the best players in your area. I know when I watch Dave Humpherys and Darwin Kastle play, I can always learn from the careful, thoughtful way that they approach a game. Learn from their play style and technique and apply that to your visualization. If it helps, you can even script out what your routine will be like. You could have an entire PTQ story in your head, where you play certain opponents from your city.

Simulation

Another technique that is used by sport psychologists is known as simulation. It's best described as combining real practice with visualization. The idea is to try to recreate the competitive activity as closely as possible. Here's one good description of it:

"Simulation, seeks to train all parts of your brain and body by helping you to physically perform the skills being trained under a physical environment that recreates all the stresses and distractions of competition. This helps you to develop the mental skills that stop you 'choking under pressure' - stress management, distraction management, goal focus and imagery. It enables you to actually feel that you have been in a novel situation before."

There are a few ways you could use simulation methods to improve your Magic abilities. The ideal, which is pretty difficult to implement, is to get a bunch of your friends and find a location that resembled a tournament venue and run yourselves through a grueling, serious, seven round tournament. You could tape the noise at a Qualifier tournament and play it while you were playing. However, most of us don't really have the time or means to do this kind of elaborate training.

Two more useful suggestions have been offered up in the past by strategy writers - the "over the shoulder critique" and "serious play." While during deckbuilding, it can be important to play with takebacks and on the fly game play changes, a different kind of practice can andshould be used to improve tournament play skills. By playing strictly with no takebacks and serious enforcement of the play rules, you will be simulating tournament play and reinforcing good habits. However, discussion of where the game's flow was critically impacted by game decisions should be encouraged after the game is over. The "over the shoulder critique" can be used in conjunction with serious play, and it is to simply have a third player watch over the shoulder of one of the players, making mental or even written notes of plays he or she disagreed with or technical errors they noticed. This could be very detailed, noting even the most subtle of things such as incorrect land drops. This critique method, while providing useful feedback about one's game decision-making skills, is also an important simulation method that will let you get used to having people watch your games, as they no doubt will during a Qualifier or Pro Tour.

These two methods of training are a good start towards decreasing one's conscious or unconscious cognitive anxiety about Magic tournaments. If you're feeling experimental and want to improve your game, give some of these techniques a try and I'd love to hear the results. (senhouse@aol.com) Here's a cute acronym I found during my research that's related to these topics:

• Prepare - Athletes must psychologically prepare for what they will face during the competition.
• Relax - Diaphragmatic breathing exercises, may be necessary prior to competition in order to prevent over stimulation which would result in a deterioration in performance.
• Externalize - This involves the belief that problems are not within yourself. This can be of assistance when athletes feel that there are too many demands that are being put upon them.
• Stay Positive - Acknowledgement of the importance that individuals should have confidence in their abilities.
• Single Minded - Stay focused on the task at hand. This can be used both in training and competition.
• Unite - Particularly useful within the framework of teams sports, this component encourages athletes to consider what roles others will fulfill and the importance of working together as a team throughout the competition.
• Re-evaluate - How important is this event in the real world?
• Extend yourself - Give your best performance every time no matter how important, or unimportant, the competition is.

In my next article, I plan on exploring a few other ways to improve our self-confidence and decrease anxiety through goal setting and concentration methods. Until then, have fun playing some Magic...