I'm trying to improve my game and am curious to know how much total time people spend on MTG in a typical week. I'll break up time spent into the following categories:
1. competitive play (anything official involving prizes: FNM, tournaments, prereleases)
2. playtesting (playing for the specific purpose of testing out a deck or idea for competitive play)
3. casual play (playing for fun only)
4. online play (MTGO or other simulators)
5. reading/researching/podcasts/etc.
6. other/something I missed?
Approximately how much time does one need to invest to become competitive at different levels of competition? I started playing FNM draft a couple months ago after last playing casually in the mid 90's and am wondering how much time I need to invest to really improve. To answer my own question, I draft once per week (~4 hours) and spend about an hour or so over the course of a week reading strategy articles. I know that's probably not a lot, but my current goal is only to consistently be able to place at my FNMs. Most times I still go 0-3 or 1-2, with the occasional 2-1. Obviously some LGSs are more competitive than others, which could skew answers somewhat.
People will spend on MtG whatever time they can as compared to a hobby.
If you're in school, you can definitely spend more time on it than if you have a job or a family to take care of. However, with more experience, you don't need as much time to get better.
Me 4 years ago:
1. 5-8 hours a week
2. 2-4 hours a week
3. max 1h a week
4. only limited for fun, not so much for anything else 1-4h a week
5. 3-5 hours a week
6. Youtube/scglive maybe 4 hours a week
Me now:
1. 4-7 hours a week if I can
2. 0-1 hour a week
3. 0
4. 0
5. 1-2 hours a week
6. 0-1 hour a week
Once you got a style and a deck tech figured out, you don't need to invest as much time trying to master it; you just need to polish and maintain it.
The best advice I can give you to get better fast is to play as many different archetypes as possible to understand what their strengths and weaknesses are so that when you do play a deck against one, you will know your own strengths and weaknesses and your opponent's also.
If you want to study how decks are played by others, play disruptive decks/cards (discard for instance) that mess up what people are doing.
1. competitive play (anything official involving prizes: FNM, tournaments, prereleases)
2. playtesting (playing for the specific purpose of testing out a deck or idea for competitive play)
3. casual play (playing for fun only)
4. online play (MTGO or other simulators)
5. reading/researching/podcasts/etc.
6. other/something I missed?
Approximately how much time does one need to invest to become competitive at different levels of competition? I started playing FNM draft a couple months ago after last playing casually in the mid 90's and am wondering how much time I need to invest to really improve. To answer my own question, I draft once per week (~4 hours) and spend about an hour or so over the course of a week reading strategy articles. I know that's probably not a lot, but my current goal is only to consistently be able to place at my FNMs. Most times I still go 0-3 or 1-2, with the occasional 2-1. Obviously some LGSs are more competitive than others, which could skew answers somewhat.
If you're in school, you can definitely spend more time on it than if you have a job or a family to take care of. However, with more experience, you don't need as much time to get better.
Me 4 years ago:
1. 5-8 hours a week
2. 2-4 hours a week
3. max 1h a week
4. only limited for fun, not so much for anything else 1-4h a week
5. 3-5 hours a week
6. Youtube/scglive maybe 4 hours a week
Me now:
1. 4-7 hours a week if I can
2. 0-1 hour a week
3. 0
4. 0
5. 1-2 hours a week
6. 0-1 hour a week
Once you got a style and a deck tech figured out, you don't need to invest as much time trying to master it; you just need to polish and maintain it.
The best advice I can give you to get better fast is to play as many different archetypes as possible to understand what their strengths and weaknesses are so that when you do play a deck against one, you will know your own strengths and weaknesses and your opponent's also.
If you want to study how decks are played by others, play disruptive decks/cards (discard for instance) that mess up what people are doing.
RETIRED - GAME SUCKS
Modern:
UUUMerfolksUUU
RGoblinsR
Ad Nauseam
BR 8 Racks RB
WUB Mill BUW
Legacy:
XOps! All splels! X
What I think of MaRo