A.E. Marling has won a Modern Star City Games invitational qualifier and has been one game away from the Pro Tour TWICE. He writes the incredibly popular and gratefully useful Foolproof Magic series for GatheringMagic. He is also a cosplayer, a Level 20 flavor judge, and a fantasy author.
Mr. Foolproof Magic Himself
A.E. shared some amazing tips all throughout the episode and I'd be remiss if I didn't try to catch them here for you.
Consume Magic event coverage. Watch what the pros are doing and learn from their successes as well as mistakes.
Play your land "in isolation" to create a visual queue that you've played a land this turn. That way you won't accidentally play two lands in a turn.
Organize your board in an easy-to-track way.
Bottom line: Develop a system that works for you and use the Foolproof Magic articles as a spring board into systematic.
The Foolproof Magic suite:
First Set
Revised
Favorite Set
Innistrad
Favorite Card
Arcbound Ravager
What makes Magic fun for you?
The imagery and imagination are so fascinating while the mental sport is captivating.
Early Challenge
Feeling like he deserved to win and then tilting when he didn't was A.E.'s biggest struggle. One mistake cost him a tournament when he was young and this drove him away for a time. A.E. eventually realized that losing because you made a mistake is one of the beauties of Magic: The Gathering.
Level Up Moment
Realizing that your decisions matter and Magic is a game that when you make a mistake you lose. That's awesome because it shows that every choice is important.
Best Format
Sealed / Draft and Modern
Biggest Mistake Players Make
Tilting and not understand why it happens or how to control/curb it. We had a great discussion about stoicism and it's application to Magic.