System 2 and You: Learning to Play Fast

Imagine, you’re at a blitz armory event. You’re piloting your deck perfectly against your Oldhim opponent, carefully deliberating each turn as it comes as if you’re playing a game of chess. You have the Elemental Guardian right where you want him; within killing range. Just as he ends his turn, time is called. Even worse still, he managed to block out everything you managed to throw at him on your final turn, securing a tie because he has no way to empty your life during his turn. Time had got the best of you. If only you were able to play a bit faster…

System 2, and its sister System 1, comes from a psychological principal in the way we think as Humans. System 1 is when an individual is able to make a lightning quick decision at near machine-like speed. Take for instance a mental math equation like solving 0+1. Did you answer 1 before I even got to the end of this sentence? Congratulations! You have demonstrated system 1 thinking.

Conversely, System 2 thinking is more slow and methodical, and is typically more common among TCG players. After all, you need time to analyze your hand, analyze the field, and attempt to anticipate what your opponent is going to do before they do it; which can take time to do. In the case of the opening scenario, this can cause you to potentially draw despite being ahead. Is there anything we can possibly do to gain that little bit of edge to turn those draws to wins?

One word: mnemonics.

Mnemonics can help speed up some of the decisions you make over the course of the game; perhaps even helping you to get to system 1 thinking speeds for basic things. Over the course of this article, I’ll introduce some of the mnemonics that either someone in The Collective or myself use to help us remember certain aspects of Flesh and Blood as we are playing it. Maybe these examples will help you with your games or help to inspire you to come up with some of your own!

Example 1: Come up with a way to recall your own cards at a glance.

Okay, okay. This one is less of an actual mnemonic than it is a way to be more familiar with your deck. Take a few moments to sit down with your deck, and meditate with it; read the text over and observe the gorgeous art. If you’re playing FaB, do side by side comparisons of the cards in each cycle. What patterns do you notice within those cycles? What distinguishing characteristics of the art stick out to you to help you identify that card better? The answers to these questions can help assist with the expedition of the decision process. Some examples I personally use are:

Attack actions always increase or decrease power in multiples of one. If a red has 7 power, the blue ones in my deck will have 5 instead.
Snatch (Red) has a man in a predominantly yellowish background. I know to associate a 4 power attack with a draw on-hit effect if I see it.
Phoenix Flame has an emblazoned phoenix on it. I need to play this after another Draconic attack for maximum effectiveness.

Example 2: “Never leave home without your Tunic!”

Ah yes, Fyendal’s Spring Tunic. Simultaneously one of the most iconic equipment cards in Flesh and Blood, yet the one that often trips us up during play. If only there’s an easy way to remember to put the blasted counter on it each turn!

This mnemonic is an absolutely genius way to remember how Tunic counters work. ‘Never leave home’ alludes to the fact that it should be the very first thing you do in the turn; after all, don’t you need to get dressed before you go outside?! While the second part reminds you to look at the Tunic to see if it has less than three counters on it. Did you spend an entire turn cycle without using its activated ability to gain a resource? Well, now it can serve as a handy reminder that you can use it whenever you want.

Example 3: My hero/commander does this…

Games like Flesh and Blood or formats like Magic’s Commander have key characters or focal points to which the concept of the deck is built around. Similar to the engine of a car, these focal points can often get the deck running in its own special way. Coming up with a quick easy way to remind yourself how to use these can also help to succinctly describe the effects to the opponent if they need help parsing the info as well or remind you of the ‘bread and butter’ plays of your deck.

Red matters for Dromai. Pitch them for Ash, play them for go again (on Dragons.)
Yellow matters for Prism. Pitching one for her ability will turn on go again and net you a Spectral Shield to attack with.
Ira, Crimson Haze loves 0-cost blues. It allows her to Kodachi for 1, Kodachi for 2, and play something else to threaten Mask of Momentum’s trigger.

Mnemonics help the brain recall information faster and in turn help with some of the decision points. With these we can ease up on the mental load and fatigue which makes for faster games. Why not try and make some of your own!

Thanks for reading! For more content like this check out our other articles or YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@TheCitrusCollective