SCGLive

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Age: 23
Location: Roanoke, VA
Occupation: Coverage Content Manager for StarCityGames.com
When did you start playing Magic? I started playing in 1998.
Favorite format: I love Cube Draft above all others.
Accomplishments: Day 2 at GP Daytona Beach, Tampa, Atlanta, and DC. Q'd for PT Kyoto, Honolulu, and Amsterdam. Punted a lot of important matches along the way.
Twitter handle: @SecludedGlenn
Favorite color of mana: I like to taste the rainbow.
Favorite deck: Whatever is winning. I do often avoid linear aggressive strategies.
Most memorable game of Magic you've won: Casting Splinter Twin on a Haze Frog in ROE draft remains one of my favorites.

Age: 28
Location: Roanoke, VA
Occupation: Video Director/Producer for StarCityGames.com
When did you start playing Magic? Summer 2002
Favorite format: Limited
Accomplishments: 3 Michigan Association of Broadcaster awards, 1 National Broadcasting Society award. Magic-wise? Nothing of note.
Twitter handle: @jeremynoell
Favorite color of mana: I’m partial to Black/Red, but I will play with any deck that looks fun.
Favorite deck: Odyssey-era Mono Black, Doran Rock, Mythic Conscription, or Mono Red whenever it’s viable.

Age: 27
Location: Roanoke, VA
Occupation: Video Director/Producer for StarCityGames.com
When did you start playing Magic? Summer 2002
Favorite format: Kitchen Table
Accomplishments: Survived working in Local News.
Twitter handle: N/A
Favorite color of mana:Three way tie for Red, Black, and White.
Favorite deck:I've always been partial to Tribal decks, Onslaught being the new block back in my day. Otherwise, I love anything Timmy, especially Domain decks circa the Invasion block.
Most memorable game of Magic you've won: I only ever played casually, but I do recall being particularly pleased by winning a game of Emperor when I dropped a kicked Dralnu's Pet with Draco as the discarded creature.

Age: 30
Location: Baltimore, MD
Occupation: Television Production / Management
When did you start playing Magic? January 1995
Favorite format: My traditional answer to this has always been Standard, due to it constantly being refreshed with new sets. However, the allure of Legacy has been drawing me in recently. Ask this question again in 6 months, and my answer may very well be Legacy.
Accomplishments: Being one win away from Day 2 of GP DC. My major accomplishment outside of the game itself is certainly the creation and promotion of the Yo! MTG Taps! podcast along with my co-host, Bigheadjoe.
Twitter handle: @AffinityForBlue
Favorite color of mana: Blue!
Favorite decks: Mystical Teachings (TSP/LOR Standard), Faeries (LOR Block), MUC (Mirrodin/Kamigawa Standard), U/W Control (post-WWK PT San Diego 2010)

Age: 34
Location: Madison, WI
Occupation: PhD Student in Media and Cultural Studies / freelance writer
When did you start playing Magic? Late 1993, with Beta. So at this point, it's been over seventeen years!
Favorite format: Legacy. You can basically play anything, so long as it is rational. If you're good with your deck and your deck is reasonable, you can succeed.
Accomplishments: 2 State Championships, 19 PTs, and Worlds. For GPs, I have 9 Top 64s with Top 32s in Kansas City, Columbus, and Madison, and a Top 8 in GP Memphis. I finished Top 64 of PT Rome and Hollywood, Top 16 at US Nationals, and tied for Top 8 at PT NY '99.
I've qualified people and made them money at Pro Tours with my decks going all the way back to a Pox deck for ALICE (Ice Age/Alliance) Constructed. My most noticed decks include: Counter-Oath (US Nationals 1998), U/G Control ("The Baron"), Necro-Naught, Corrupter Black, and Eminent Domain (Annex-Wildfire), among many others.
Community-wise, I've been writing about Magic since the early, early days, somewhere around 1997. I've worked for Wizards of the Coast, the Dojo, and many more publications.
Twitter handle: @AdrianLSullivan
Favorite colors of mana: 1. Blue/Green, 2. Mono-red 3. Anything not white... white is the worst (boringest) color.
Favorite decks: I like decks that demoralize my opponents or that they don't understand. If they get out of the game mentally, there are so many ways that the game ends.
Most memorable game of Magic you've won: In game 3, playing for Top 8 of PTNY, my opponent overextended his green creatures, knowing that there was no reasonable way I could punish him for it. I didn't block with my lone Viashino Heretic and went down to 3 life. I dropped a Phyrexian Tower, sacrificed my Viashino Heretic, and cast Wildfire out the board with my fifth land, leaving my opponent, Pro Tour Villain Trey Van Cleave, with nothing. I won the match, Mike Flores started shrieking with joy up and down, and I just smiled and waited to see if I made Top 8. Sadly, I missed out on breakers...

Age: 25
Occupation: Homemaker
When did you start playing Magic? 1995
Favorite format: Limited / I enjoy the actual draft more than playing any format. :)
Accomplishments: Pro Tour San Diego 2007 Champion, Author of Building on a Budget. I've designed a lot of decks...
Favorite color of mana: Blue
Favorite decks: Cloudstone Curio Elves, Pyromancer Ascension, and UW Nolark.
Most memorable game of Magic you've won: I was in the finals of a PTQ playing Cloudstone Curio Elves. It was game three. I knew my opponent had Path to Exile in his hand because he had revealed it with his Dark Confidant. He had one white mana open. I would die if I passed the turn. I had Heritage Druid, Llanowar Elves, and Cloudstone Curio in play with plenty of Forests and a Stomping Grounds. After my drawstep, I had Essence Warden and Heritage Druid in my hand. I cast my Heritage Druid, put the Cloudstone Curio trigger on the stack, tapped all three Elves for mana, and returned the Llanowar Elves to my hand with the Curio. I recast the Llanowar Elves and returned a Heritage Druid to my hand; I recast that and returned the other Heritage Druid to my hand; I recast that Heritage Druid and put the Curio trigger on the stack. I tapped the three for mana.
I stopped, "I've demonstrated that I can create infinite storm. May I create infinite storm? Do you have any effects?"
My opponent, knowing I had a copy of Grapeshot in my deck, shrugged, "Path to Exile targeting a Heritage Druid."
I searched for my land, cast my Essence Warden, and proceeded to gain a few trillion life. Very memorable.

Age: 24
Occupation: Pro Magic Player
Location: Fargo, ND
When did you start playing Magic? 2003
Favorite format: Block
Accomplishments: 2 PT Top 8s, 4 GP Top 8s, 2 Nationals Top 8s, 2011 Pro Player of the Year
Twitter handle: @fffreakmtg
Favorite color of mana: Green
Favorite decks: Doran/proactive strategies
Most memorable game of Magic you've won: Player of the Year playoff

Age: 30
Location: Milwaukee, WI
Occupation: Professional Magic Player
When did you start playing Magic? 1994 (17 years playing)
Favorite format: New formats that aren't yet on Magic Online; I like dynamic formats; change is more relevant to me than which sets are legal.
Accomplishments: Top 8 Pro Tour Paris 2011, Finals World Championships 2007, Top 8 Pro Tour LA 1999, Top 8 Pro Tour NY 1997, lots of random stuff like Type 1 Champ 2002, 3rd in Junior Pro Tour Dallas 1996, State Champ 1999, Finals Grand Prix Milwaukee 2002. Known for countless decks, including most recently Cruel Control, Next Level Blue, Mono-R Dragonstorm, U/W Control, Grixis Tezzeret, Next Level Bant. Only player to Top 8 Pro Tours in three decades.
Twitter handle: @thepchapin
Favorite color of mana: Blue
Favorite archetype: Control
Most memorable game of Magic you've won: Probably hitting blind with Counterbalance four times in a row to lock up Top 8 of Worlds in 2007, but my most memorable game is certainly the game four that I lost to Nassif in the same event (though I did win the match).

Age: 35
Occupation: Marketing Director
When did you start playing Magic? 1994
Favorite format: Ravnica Block Constructed... Lots of reasons. It was during Ravnica Block that I got my best-ever practice in. We brought Jonny Magic back to Magic (he exercised his Hall of Fame invite for the Pro Tour) and created a great testing community around NY and NJ for that Pro Tour, and ultimately helped to invent FinkelDraft. Also the Ravnica Block PT was my best ever individual performance (would have been good enough for a Top 8 in an individual Pro Tour). Also this might have been my height as a deck designer. I wasn't as inspired as Tsuyoshi, but I was very good at reading the metagame and wasted essentially no space. Ravnica Block was just a perfect storm of friendship, personal accomplishment, and ability that is hard to match for me.
Accomplishments: New York State Champion, 11,000 Twitter followers
Twitter handle: @FiveWithFlores, @FloresRewards
Favorite colors of mana: Blue
Favorite archetype: anything tapout control
Most memorable game of Magic you've won: When I beat Jonathan Rubin (AngelFire mirror) to win my semifinal match in the NY State Championship I won, that was about the best match of Magic I have ever played. I realized I was going to deck him around turn three when he played Whispers of the Muse, Think Twice, and Remand (three cards that drew cards that I didn't play); so I played like I was struggling and behind the entire game. I was in fact behind on "card advantage," but I knew he actually had less "stuff" in his deck because of all the card drawing, and all I had to do was make sure I wasn't dead, and I could actually out-card him if we both saw sixty. Asher Hecht (who would go on to be a GP and SCG Open Series Top 8 competitor and who was gunning to be Apprentice #1 at the time) was bedazzled by how well I played that match and was, for a short time only of course, enamored of my actual game play capabilities. This was coming off my PT Charleston performance, and I was playing pretty well at the time. Then my second child was born, and I haven't won a tournament since... until just last month :)

Age: 20
Location: Detroit
Occupation: Student
When did you start playing Magic? I began sometime between Ice Age and Mirage.
Favorite format: Kami/Rav Standard (pre-Coldsnap and Counter-Top). So many awesome decks that were all viable.
Accomplishments: 3 GP Top 8s (Seattle '09, Nashville '10, Atlanta '11), PT Top 16 (Kyoto '09), and been on the train since then (PT Honolulu, Austin, Rome Worlds, San Diego, San Juan, Amsterdam), SCG Open DC Top 4, responsible for the post-Mystical Tutor U/B Storm decks in Legacy and the popularization of Dinosaurs as a draft archetype in Scars.
Twitter handle: @armlx
Favorite color of mana: U/B
Favorite deck archetypes: Aggro-control and combo, notably Faeries and Storm
Most memorable game of Magic you've won: Ripped the second Island against Adam Yurchick to Cancel my way on to the Pro Tour (hit his Battlegrace Angel).

Age: 27
Location: Belleville, NJ
Occupation: Student/Proooooooooo/CEO at 3thingstoknow.com
When did you start playing Magic? 1997
Favorite format: 2HG, I really like team formats, and this one is the most fun.
Accomplishments: Top 4 PT Boston 2002, Won GP Philly 2008, Top 8 USA Nationals 2010, 4 other GP Top 8s
Favorite colors of mana: Black
Favorite decks: Rock decks, Hymn to Tourach, Cabal Therapy, Duress, Thoughtseize, Gerrard's Verdict
Most memorable game of Magic you've won: Honestly, the best ones you don't remember, but they both happened at PT Charleston 2006 (Team PT).

Age: 30
Location: Columbus, OH
Occupation: Higher Education Policy
When did you start playing Magic? September 1994
Favorite format: Limited
Accomplishments: 9th GP St. Louis 2007. 16th GP Indinapolis 2008. Played in seven Pro Tours($0 won)
Twitter handle: Samstod
Favorite color of mana: Red
Favorite deck: Saga-era Mono-red Wildfire.
Most memorable game of Magic you've won: My match against Alexander Passet in my first PT playing for day two. I was playing UW and managed to beat a turn 5 Kiki-Jiki two games in a row.

Age: 24
Location: Springfield, MA
Occupation: Sales Manager
When did you start playing Magic? 1999 - right when Urza's Saga was released
Favorite format: Before the change from seven to four years, it was Extended. Now that it's just double Standard though, Legacy has taken the title for me. I like the variety of decks and all the wacky cards and interactions you get to witness.
Accomplishments: I have cashed 8 out 10 Pro Tours I've played in, and I have one GP Top 8. I also have the honor of being Gerard Fabiano's 3rd biggest fan (behind his mother and Ben Lundquist of course). I suppose this is where I'm obligated to mention I lose bets and do stupid things too.
Twitter handle:@zchall
Favorite color of mana: Blue, with the power of the Mountains being a distant second.
Favorite decks: Jushi Blue, Pattern Husk combo, Burning Bridges, which I played at my first tournament, Aluren, and U/G Urzatron.
Most memorable game of Magic you've won: Playing with Faeries against Olivier Ruel with Quick 'n' Toast on Day 1 of PT Hollywood; our epic game three saw him go through 3 Wispmares, 2 Cloudthreshers, and about 2/3 of his library. I had all 3 Bitterblossoms in my graveyard along with all 3 Cryptic Commands and had used almost all of my relevant cards. I then resolved my Ancestral Vision while facing down his third Thresher and what was most likely another Cryptic in his hand. I drew my 4th Bitterblossom, a removal spell for his Thresher, my fourth Cryptic Command, and a Mutavault to win a memorable game against the Hall of Famer.

Age: 26
Location: Saint Paul, MN
Occupation: Math teacher
When did you start playing Magic? I tried to learn with Revised? I didn't really understand the rules until Champions of Kamigawa.
Favorite format:Sealed Deck
Accomplishments: Designed a handful of decks. The current (last?) Rookie of the Year.
Twitter handle:@MtGMatthias
Favorite color of mana: Blue/Green - best when used together.
Favorite decks: Elves! Or better put, the day I realized that tribe I always used when I was 12 could actually make a tournament-level deck.
Most memorable game of Magic you've won: Game three of the (virtual) RoY championship against Fabian Thiele in the feature match area during day two of Worlds.

SCGLive – The Future of Magic Coverage

The world of Magic coverage has stayed largely the same for years now, and we aim to change that. SCGLive is a new initiative into the world of professional live broadcasting, up-to-the-minute Twitter updates, and text coverage of every important match. Using the power of StarCtiyGames.com combined with the efforts of our commentators and Glenn Jones, this year's Open Series Coverage is going to reach all-new heights.