The TFT classified season is upon us and everyone is trying. The most surprising thing is how our whole mentality changes when a climbing ladder is connected to a game. I’m here to tell you how to maintain the correct mindset and strategic perspectives so that you can climb efficiently and effectively.
A little history about me: I touched the diamond in the first week after ~ 50 games in TFT. I played many games competitively, including WOW for Fnatic many years ago. I called my doctorate to research human performance with elite athletes and athletes to understand what makes people better. I can recommend many fantastic readings if you are interested, but for this article, let’s stick to 10 things you can easily see improved.
Before that, I want you to watch this video and read the article. It is important to know that strategic games like TFT help you master many skills that will make your life richer, such as decision making, evaluation and future thinking.
Knowing this, take your time and enjoy the climb as you focus on learning. The most important thing to remember is that, unlike chess, TFT rank boost is much more like poker and Hearthstone: there is a lot of RNG in the game that you need to think about properly.
Don’t focus on your RNG in a game or even in a set of 3 games; focus on your decision making and if it was the best with the information at the moment. If you make good decisions, in 100 games you will see good results.
1. Do not tilt
This is the most important thing you can do. Tilting is the art of being so upset by recent events in your game that you make mistakes. In the meantime, TFT is a decision-making game. Nobody makes good decisions when they are inclined and you are no different.
The best way to think of a game like TFT is like poker. Both games have a high decision-making level that depends on the random events that arise. With enough events, good decision making will always prevail.
What can you do:
I’m not talking about anything new here. In fact, a quick Google on how to handle poker inclination will bring a lot of good results (I like this series) and you can learn a lot there.
Next time, you won’t be able to get Draven 2 even if no one has Draven, instead of getting angry and playing your next game, develop self-awareness and exercise self-control. Breathe deeply (4 seconds in, 4 seconds on hold, 4 seconds on the outside) and slow down.
In addition to playing TFT, do other activities to strengthen your mental strength. Meditate, do yoga and practice awareness. In decision-making games or in any other game, clear heads go a long way.
2. Understand the effectiveness of the value
Learn to think of the game in terms of long-term value, not single events of positive or negative impact. For example, you probably don’t have time to play ten hours a day every day. Otherwise, you probably wouldn’t be here looking for advice; you would play.
Streamers have plenty of time to grind and can afford to queue again and again and climb. Even if they haven’t had 10 hours, many of them will still go up faster than you because they are better.
What can you do:
Focus on the quality of your games, not the quantity. Play in sessions: 3 or 5 games in a row. Take a break and come back refreshed. In the timestamps in this video of our Coach Challenger below, he describes the benefits of playing in deliberate blocks:
The more tired your brain is, the more bad decisions you make, the more likely you are to swing. Don’t play on days when you have had a hard day at work, etc.
Also think about the value of each game: play for 4th place and up and understand when you have a game that you can be the first and when you have a game that the 5th would be a blessing. Identify these goals and plan accordingly.
3. Think ahead
You will often see Twitch scream quickly to the streamers to make a specific move, and they don’t. Why? Because they understand that making this decision NOW would cost them future play.
Contraction in conflict
The beginner only sees the possibility in front of them, and usually the most obvious, but the expert sees the full range of possibilities and results.
