I've noticed a pattern with my tournament performance: I start off strong, but around round 3 or 4 things start to fall apart and by the end I'm in the middle of the pack. My two store championships this year ended up (in order): WWLWLL (which is pretty typical) and WWMLL (going into round 3 of swiss ranked #1, which is a stronger start than I'm used to).

I take some caffeine in the morning (and am still wide awake past midnight, so I'm not going to take more), have snacks and get dinner, and bring water.

I realize that some of it is that I end up going up against the players that are in contention to take 1st, but just chalking it up to that seems defeatist.

Any suggestions for ways to keep a solid game towards the end of a long day? Thanks!

Whole grains and proteins for breakfast. Drink water with just enough caffeine to keep up the habit and avoid a headache. For snacks you need quick cabs and more whole grains. Also sit and rest when you can. It won't help to agonize over opening moves or card choices before rounds start.

Bring water and snacks. Sit when you can.

Get plenty of rest in the DAYS leading up to the game. Making sure you get enough sleep the night before is important but if that is just playing catch up for the previous days then it isn't helping you any more than it may be helping to correct an issue. A healthy body helps with a healthy mind.

Water and food. Good food with protein. I like trail mix and peanut butter crackers.

Ibuprofen. Especially when tables are low.

Do not reproduce during the 3 years that proceed a tournament. A youngling is a sure-fire way to be sleepy.

Eat well, plenty of rest and plan your strategies ahead against archtypes (or know how to capitalize on opponent weaknesses). You would be surprised on how "restful" a game can be if you already have a plan for turn 2-3 so you don't need to think as much. Much better then having to come up with a plan from scratch every single game.

Do not reproduce during the 3 years that proceed a tournament. A youngling is a sure-fire way to be sleepy.

Prior to Regionals in June, I has a 2-year old who had managed the sleeping thing more or less, and I was running 3-4 times a week. I was physically unstressed through 6 rounds of Swiss and 2 elimination rounds.

Add in an 8 month old who is not really very fond of sleep, a lack of time to exercise regularly, and I was dragging pretty hard by the 5th round of Swiss in my first SC of the year.

Drink water eat nuts.

And sit as much as possible

Do not reproduce during the 3 years that proceed a tournament. A youngling is a sure-fire way to be sleepy.

Prior to Regionals in June, I has a 2-year old who had managed the sleeping thing more or less, and I was running 3-4 times a week. I was physically unstressed through 6 rounds of Swiss and 2 elimination rounds.

Add in an 8 month old who is not really very fond of sleep, a lack of time to exercise regularly, and I was dragging pretty hard by the 5th round of Swiss in my first SC of the year.

I've got a 2-year-old and a 3-month-old. Hrm.

"Honey, I need to talk to you about the kids. They're impacting my X-Wing performance."

During my years playing a sport on international level which was heavily focus based and also required full days at a time I developed kind of a system for this.

The night before: Eat a large meal. Focus more on eating carbs than proteins which contain very little energy. Pasta, potatoes, rice and dark bread are a few examples of what you'd be looking for. This is where you start to build up your energy reserves. Also get a good night's sleep. I normally need around 8 hours of sleep to function normally, so I'd aim towards 9 hours just to be certain.

The morning: In my case I don't have a routine for breakfast as I can't eat in the morning. So I just get up and grab a glass of orange juice to get a kick of fructose and some vitamins. Then I bring a sandwich with white bread and cheese to eat at the venue. As for a normal human being I'd suggest you get right on that white bread and whatever you want along with it that gets you started in the morning, be it coffe, chocolate, juice. Basically quicker carbs and vitamins.

During the tournament: Lunch is a given, and what you eat for lunch is not extremely important, as long as you eat a proper meal. The importance lies in the rest of the day, There are three things I bring for this. Water, coke and a soup made of berries. The water because your body needs to stay hydrated to function properly, and it will help carrying you through the day. The coke to get sugar and caffeine (even though swedish coke contains very little caffeine). The soup is primarily for other nutrients like vitamins and minerals. You should already have a large enough reserve of slower carbs and lunch will help refilling that. The sugar should help you stay on edge while the water, vitamins and minerals will keep you fresh. I keep it all within reach all the time, both during and between rounds. I take a sip now and then from whatever i feel is necessary at the time.

On top of this I practise my list until I know it like the back of my hand. That way I can be more focused on what my opponent is doing with their ships rather than what I should be doing with mine.

I think this is honestly one of the biggest problems with X-wing tournaments just how freaking long they take. Know people who play 40k and say those can be over in a more reasonable time.

I've noticed a pattern with my tournament performance: I start off strong, but around round 3 or 4 things start to fall apart and by the end I'm in the middle of the pack. My two store championships this year ended up (in order): WWLWLL (which is pretty typical) and WWMLL (going into round 3 of swiss ranked #1, which is a stronger start than I'm used to).

I take some caffeine in the morning (and am still wide awake past midnight, so I'm not going to take more), have snacks and get dinner, and bring water.

I realize that some of it is that I end up going up against the players that are in contention to take 1st, but just chalking it up to that seems defeatist.

Any suggestions for ways to keep a solid game towards the end of a long day? Thanks!

Here's a question from your OP...you don't want to chalk it up to going against top bracket players due to wins, but is it possible that you are making mistakes throughout the day and only the top players are catching you on them?

At the Regional tourney I went to, I made sure to pack plenty of beef jerky, Clif bars, and water. I did pretty well up until the finals.

Best advice that I can give is practice playing tired. It sounds dumb, but if you play tired regularly, you will find that you adapt to it.

When I was younger I used to play card games all the time. On the weekends, my friends and I regularly played all night, and went to bed at like 5-7 in the morning. We'd wake up around 1-2pm and do it all over again. So when we went to a tournament we would joke about people who complained that they had to play for 12-14 hours straight We were like "just another weekend"

To this day, I have to be completely exhausted to make play mistakes as a result of being tired. Honestly, I think I play better when I have only a small amount of sleep. I feel more focused.

Other than that I'd just echo what others are saying. Hydrate (this is huge), try to rest when you can, make sure you bring a healthy snack or two.

Know people who play 40k and say those can be over in a more reasonable time.

I don't think so. A 40k tournament is typically going to be an all day thing as well. You just play fewer games, because a 40k game takes a lot longer then X-Wing does.

On top of this I practise my list until I know it like the back of my hand. That way I can be more focused on what my opponent is doing with their ships rather than what I should be doing with mine.

I'll echo this. The more practice you get, the less energy you spend trying to get everything right. That counts for so much during a tournament.

Yeah all the official 40k events I did at Warhammer World were still about 9/10-5 like most X-Wing ones. Just yeah, less games (2 or 3 in a day instead of 5 or 6)

Know people who play 40k and say those can be over in a more reasonable time.

I don't think so. A 40k tournament is typically going to be an all day thing as well. You just play fewer games, because a 40k game takes a lot longer then X-Wing does.

If it is an all day thing, that is still shorter than some X-wing events that finish at 2 in the morning or have to be concluded a separate day because it is already midnight and people want to go home.

Do not reproduce during the 3 years that proceed a tournament. A youngling is a sure-fire way to be sleepy.

I've got a mentally taxing job I do in spite of this, so thinking while tired is something I'm used to. During the breaks at my first tournament, I actually spent the breaks playing x-wing and sushi go with my oldest. This thread explains why people looked at me like I was insane.

Caffeine and sugar are generally a bad plan because of the associated crash, but if you already have the habit, it's a bad time to stop!

What threw me off my game during the last match was the text message that said my youngest split his scalp and was in the ER waiting for stitches (my wife was of the view that adding the 3rd son in the ER would not be helpful, so that I should finish and then join them). It was a close loss, and my boy is fine.

Here's to hoping for a boring Saturday...

I drink a pint of water between each round of a big event. It means I run to the bathroom after I'm done with each round, but it seems to be working.

That and pre-shelled pistachios.

Eat and drink in between every round. I end up approaching it like a hike - eat little at a time when you need it and make sure what you're putting in you is good. Protein bars, dried fruit and a sandwich for lunch alongside 2-3 bottles of water seem to do me fine. That and play nothing but the list you're taking (or at least something close to it) for a couple of weeks before the event.

Know people who play 40k and say those can be over in a more reasonable time.

I don't think so. A 40k tournament is typically going to be an all day thing as well. You just play fewer games, because a 40k game takes a lot longer then X-Wing does.

If it is an all day thing, that is still shorter than some X-wing events that finish at 2 in the morning or have to be concluded a separate day because it is already midnight and people want to go home.

That's up to the event organisers though. I've never been to one that ended past 8pm (and that was because it started later than most at about 5pm)

It only seems to be some US ones that end really really late for some reason.

I drink a pint of water between each round of a big event. It means I run to the bathroom after I'm done with each round, but it seems to be working.

That and pre-shelled pistachios.

/thread?