When and how did you start playing Magic? What are, for you, the differences between Magic then and now? It seems you have always been a very good player. What was the process you followed to become such a player?
I used to be really into comic books and fantasy novels, since those types of escape from reality really appealed to me. One day, I saw Magic boosters in a store, so I picked up some Portal. Since I didn't have anyone to play with, it didn't last long.
Later, when I started working, a fellow employee mentioned he played Magic, and I jumped at the chance to actually play some games. He ripped me off in some trades, but built me a couple decks, and we're still very good friends today.
I don't like losing, and I don't like participating in things that I'm bad at. Whenever I started playing a new game, sport, or whatever, I always had that drive to fix my mistakes. That just sort of transferred to Magic as well.
When I discovered that there were a few Magic websites out there, I devoured all the information that I could. When I played in a tournament, I was very self-aware, and could see the mistakes I was making. Typically, I would never make those mistakes again.
All of that is still true today. I used tournaments and articles alike as learning tools, and there hasn't ever been a tournament where I didn't learn something.
You are one of the most successful pro players, being the second player with most pro points between those who have never won a PT. Reading your reports, however, you seem to have strong deckbuilding abilities, always going to the "next level" of any deck. What's the secret?
Just a minor correction, but I'm only second in pro points among those without a PT top eight.
Much like how I strive to learn from my mistakes, I also strive to always have the best deck that I can going into a tournament. I know that the difference between a few cards choices can mean life or death in a tournament, so it's important for me to always look for that edge.
I try to learn what's important in each matchup, or what truly matters. I see players sideboarding things like Naturalize against decks like Faeries, and it makes me a little sad because they don't understand that those are wasted sideboard slots.
You need to have a lot of practice with various archetypes before you can realistically build tournament winning decks, and I've spent years doing it. Eventually, I just found the right system for me and stuck with it.
How important is working with a team? I am very interested in your way of testing. Who do you test with? Do you test with them using MODO, email, etc? How much of your success is due to your teammates?
Being with a team can be very beneficial, but it can also blow up in your face if you don't have the right mix of people. Having too many people that come up with new ideas can lead to a longer brewing period without actually accomplishing much for example.Right now, I'm very familiar with Standard and Legacy due to the SCG Open series and the fact that I play them nearly every week at a high level. Right after PT Paris, I played a lot of MTGO to get familiar with Caw-Blade. After that I didn't need to “test” anymore because I understood how the deck and matchups worked.
At the moment, I don't really test with anything. I just do a lot of theorizing and writing down decklist sketches in a notebook that I carry with me everywhere.
When I go to a tournament, I'll typically share my lists with my friends. Sometimes they have input for me, and sometimes they don't, but I don't mind. Most of the time I'd say that I'm helping others more than they help me.
Do you work exclusively as a professional player? If so, does Magic provide you with the income necessary to live comfortably? Do you feel any pressure if results start to go bad? How long do you plan to play at this level? Is there any goal you want to achieve in Magic? Maybe working at R&D? Maybe stop playing Magic and taking up Poker?
Magic is my only job, but I make most of my money from writing. Anything I win in tournaments is just an added bonus. The Magic lifestyle doesn't pay particularly well unless you have a lot of success on the Pro Tour level, but it's definitely acceptable to have Magic as your only profession.
For a time, I was dealing poker, and using poker to supplement my income, but that's mostly behind me.
I'm not sure what the future holds. Working in R&D would be pretty awesome, but then I'd have to stop playing in tournaments, so I wouldn't pursue that option for a while. I'm enjoying where I am at the moment, so that's all I'm concerned with.
For many players, you made a name due to ThopterDepths, the deck that took over the professional scene in Winter 2010. Could you please explain to them what were you doing before? What's the reason of you having no success at tournaments, and then suddenly start winning?
I've been playing in tournaments since Invasion block, and had seven GP top eights and had played in multiple Pro Tours before tuning Thopter Depths.
I feel like I had success, but the SCG circuit has really pushed me into the spotlight, whereas before I was kind of under the radar. I'm also attending far more tournaments these days and building a lot of decks, so it's pretty hard to look anywhere without seeing my name.
How do you deal with losing? It seems strange to me that the pro players don't make a big thing out of it, while other players who play at a very lower level do. Can you explain this a little bit?
I'm far more concerned with avoiding mistakes and playing my best than I am with the results. Just because you lost doesn't mean that you played poorly or that your opponent played well.
Lower level players tend to think that they are better than they are in order to avoid feelings of inadequacy. Most “pro” players are fine with the skill level they are at, and know that they can't win all the tournaments. However, if they are playing well, then eventually success will find them.
How is an ordinary day in the life of a professional player? Do you read magic sites? If so, which are they? How many hours do you spend on Magic as a whole, on average?
I'm sure that most players lives are more interesting than mine. I'm not a fan of the outdoors and would rather stay inside with a good tv show, movie, book, or jRPG.
I try to stay up to date on all the Magic buzz, so at the very least I skim a lot of articles. I don't spend a lot of time actually playing games, but I usually have my notebook open while I'm doing other things.
Magic is almost always on my mind.
We all know that traveling and playing Magic you make friends. But playing at this level, things can be tough and pressure appears. Is there any player/judge with which you have grown up to be enemies?
I don't have many actual enemies. Burning bridges and creating tension is typically not useful, so I try to stay friendly with everyone. Still, there are friendly rivalries amongst most pros based on their previous records vs. each other and that's always interesting and fun. Having someone that you are competing directly against can be a good motivator.
What are the best and worst things of being a pro player? Maybe you get fed up with cards at some point? Most of us enjoy playing magic, but maybe doing it as a job is not the same.
If Magic is your job, or even just something you take very seriously, it can become incredibly taxing. From my experience, you need to consider Magic your vacation more than anything. Most people don't like being at work, so when you're at a tournament, it won't be enjoyable no matter what you do.
Instead, I like to treat Magic like my escape from the real world. The counterpoint to that is you also need something you use to escape Magic.
I used to enjoy the traveling a lot, seeing new places, etc, but now it's just a chore. I love the SCG circuit for this, as the flights are relatively short, I get to stay in the US, but I still get to travel.
The best thing is clearly the people you meet. I don't know where I'd be without my friends, and every single one of them is connected with Magic somehow.
Which are, in your opinion, the steps we must follow to improve as players? I know you have written articles about it, but most of us have already got to the point where we are competent players but want to pass to the next level. Any advice you could specifically give to us? Spain is a strange country, because we have a lot of players but results at premier events are somewhat disappointing. What are, in your opinion, the reasons for this?
As I said earlier, attitude is really important. Every tournament is the same no matter what you might think. They are each one round at a time and you should treat them as such.
If you just qualified for a Pro Tour and start getting nervous, but never buckle under the pressure in the top eight of a PTQ, you are going to treat the PT differently. That has been one of my biggest mistakes my entire career.
You may not notice the difference, but you'll make a different, safer or more risky deck choice just because you feel a certain way, like you have to get lucky to win or something. You may think that LSV has the counterspell he's bluffing, because he "always has it," whereas you'd be able to tell against a nameless player with similar skills.
If you've been successful in other arenas, chances are you can translate that into success on the higher levels. Just because you're playing FNM doesn't mean that you can afford to play loose because it's "easy," or that you're going to play in a PT that you need to "tighten up."
At the end of the day, you're just at a Magic tournament.
What's, in your opinion, the state of Magic at this moment? Do you think the current economical crisis is permanently damaging the game?
It seems like most people will cut out the large extraneous expenses like vacations rather than stop doing the things they do every day to make themselves feel better.
If you were spending money for entertainment, would you rather save and spend it all in a week, or in small increments spread out across the year? For me, it's not even close, and it's not surprising why Magic is still doing well despite our economical "crisis."
I feel like Magic is doing very well, and while there are some things I'd change, I don't think Magic is going to slow down anytime soon. Their staff definitely seems like they know what they're doing, from R&D to marketing and beyond.
What do you think about the latest sets? Where do you think standard is heading to? Do you think any banning is necessary at the moment, given the strong performance of Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic?
Standard kind of sucks right now because of the Titans. If those didn't exist, then decks like Vengevine would probably be very good, and Caw-Blade would have something to contend with.
As is, Mystic and Jace own the format, but there are still other options. Part of the reason that Caw-Blade is so successful is that most of the good players are working on it, while decks like Valakut or Fauna Shaman never get innovated.
I wouldn't mind seeing something banned, just to shake things up. Standard tournaments still have a relatively good turnout though, so I'm not sure how many people are actually unhappy. Maybe you just hear the angry people because they voice their opinions more than the happy ones.
What can you say about the fact that a minimum of 50% of Standard top8 slots are held by Cawblade players? Do you like it, or do you hate it?
I kind of like it because when there are fewer "best" decks in a format, it's very easy to tune my deck to beat everything. I don't mind it being a one deck format because then you only have one problem to solve.
How do you see Magic in ten years from now?
Still alive and successful. I'd imagine that the way power creep has made Magic a different game than ten years ago, that something else will change it in the future, otherwise it just becomes stale.
I wouldn't be surprised to see more tournament series like the SCG Opens popping up in other places, especially Europe.
What formats do you play more often? I understand that you are a competitive player and you play whatever is in season, but what format do you like best?
I love Legacy the most, as it's the most similar to old Extended with dual lands. You get to play with all the old, awesome cards, which is very nostalgic for an "old" man like me.
Let's talk a little bit about Legacy; do you think it's sustainable in the long term? What's your opinion regarding the price increase of staples? Do you think that a movement by WotC is needed? If so, what should it be?
Legacy will survive, but it seems like the recent price hikes may kill it unless something is done about it. Printing snow duals or other functional reprints would probably solve a lot of problems for the format, but might also hurt a few collectors.
Overall, it's probably in the best interest for the format to reprint some things.
What's the importance of SCG Opens in the current popularity of Legacy, in your opinion?
I think that Legacy has a seemingly high barrier to entry due to cost, card availability, and card pool. However, when you start forcing players to play it every week, then they realize it's not quite as bad as they thought it was.
What was the deck that you most enjoyed playing? Why?
Psychatog, Nether-Go, Mystical Teachings, Gifts Ungiven, Counterbalance, and Dark Depths all hold a spot in my heart. I'd say that overall, Dark Depths was my favorite, both because I felt unbeatable and it's what propelled me to where I am now.
Tell us what you explain to people who ask you what's your job. Here in Spain people don't show much respect for our hobby... is the same in France? Do you tell people that you work as a gamer, for instance?
I'm more than happy to explain what I do to anyone I've just met. They might not respect what I do initially, but it's all about how you explain it to them. If you appear to view it as childish, or you are ashamed of it, then they are going to feel the same way.
However, if you spin it as, "It's a cross between Magic and poker. I get to fly around the world getting paid to play cards in a competitive atmosphere that really challenges me," and sound like you genuinely enjoy it, they will probably think of it in a more positive light.
Thank you very much, Gerry. Good luck on your next tourneys!
Thanks for the interview! I really enjoyed it, as your questions were more original that what I normally get.
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