Doc streams late night limited on Twitch. He began playing Magic: The Gathering at age 6, in Mirage, and has been honing his game since. He gets his fix of paper magic through a Team Draft League in Brooklyn, and he represented the Community at the 2015 Community Cup.
Click to Tweet: Doc takes us from spoiler season to actually playing with cards on MTG Pro Tutor today! Click here: http://bit.ly/mtgprotutor-ep31
Doc only looks at the spoiler after the full set has been spoiled.
Having the full picture allows you to see the magic number of the set.
Almost every set has "magic numbers". It might be 3 where there are a lor of 3 drops and a a lot of 3 power creatures, or it could be another number. You won't get a good feel until the whole set is released.
Focus on remembering / ear marking the three cards you think will be taken after your own pick. This will give you a good idea of what half the table is in.
Find people you like playing with and hammer out sessions.
For Limited, grinding is a good way to prepare. Absorb as many understandings of the format as you can.
Consume as much of other people's content as you can if you can't draft as much as you would like.
Twitch: SGDoc
Twitter: @MtgoDoc
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Let me know what you like and what I can do better so I can make the show the best it can be and continue bringing you valuable content.
I read every single one and look forward to your feedback.
Doc streams late night limited on Twitch. He began playing Magic: The Gathering at age 6, in Mirage, and has been honing his game since. He gets his fix of paper magic through a Team Draft League in Brooklyn, and he represented the Community at the 2015 Community Cup.
Mirage
Lorwyn
Birds of Paradise
Doc has fun when he really has to use his brain. Magic affords him plenty of opportunities to use his brain.
More than that, Doc loves streaming and loves the interaction with his community.
Being closed minded and narrow. Doc would form an opinion of a format or card and if anyone said something different he would dismiss it. Chris Manning broke through the blinders and helped Doc improve.
Being elected to represent the Magic community at large at the 2015 Magic Community Cup.
Draft
#1 Draft Tip: BREAD - Bombs, Removal, Evasive, Aggressive, Duds
Pick cards in this order as a general guideline to draft.
Esper Dragons
Limited: Deck building is where people make the most mistakes. Know the set and what you need to survive. In Magic Origins for example you need several relevant plays (creatures) before turn three.
Know how fast the format is and know how to keep your opponent off tempo.
Twitch: SGDoc
Twitter: @MtgoDoc
If you like the show, head on over to iTunes and leave an honest Rating & Review.
Let me know what you like and what I can do better so I can make the show the best it can be and continue bringing you valuable content.
I read every single one and look forward to your feedback.
Paul Rietzl was born in Boston, MA and currently lives in Scottsdale, AZ working as an Executive Recruiter. He has 12 Grand Prix top 8s, including 2 wins, and 4 Pro Tour top 8s including winning Pro Tour Amsterdam in 2010. Paul is a member of Team UltraPro and writes for ChannelFireball.com. He is a member of Magic: The Gathering's Hall of Fame Class of 2014.
Paul recognizes his strength is not in deck building. He leans on the deck building abilities of those he trusts and then tweaks from there, sharing his insights along the way.
Sealed: Check out your Mythics and Rares first. Note any removal. Bring with you an idea of the format, is it fast, slow or tempo based.
Missing land drops is usually bad in slower formats, make sure your mana base is solid.
Draft: Keep in mind the colors those around you are in by noting what the next most powerful cards are after you pick.
Don't commit yourself to colors too early.
The best drafters keep it simple. When there is a bomb they draft it. They stick to Limited 101
Look at deck lists online, copy them, plat test a lot and tweak.
Magic: The Gathering is an expensive hobby but it increases it's rewards exponentially the more you put into it.
Identify what level you want to perform at and then have fun and understand there is a resource commitment associated with each level. If kitchen table Magic is your thing, that's awesome. If you want to dominate the Pro Tour, go for it! The money required for those two levels is vastly different.
Keep your body healthy. Regular exercise gets oxygen to the brain and has helped Paul keep his edge.
Huey Jensen articles
Reid Duke articles
Chris Fennel articles
Patrick Chapin articles
Magic: The Gathering main website
Twitter: @paulrietzl
If you like the show, head on over to iTunes and leave an honest Rating & Review.
Let me know what you like and what I can do better so I can make the show the best it can be and continue bringing you valuable content.
I read every single one and look forward to your feedback.
Paul Rietzl was born in Boston, MA and currently lives in Scottsdale, AZ working as an Executive Recruiter. He has 12 Grand Prix top 8s, including 2 wins, and 4 Pro Tour top 8s including winning Pro Tour Amsterdam in 2010. Paul is a member of Team UltraPro and writes for ChannelFireball.com. He is a member of Magic: The Gathering's Hall of Fame Class of 2014.
The Dark
Rise of the Eldrazi
Steppe Lynx
Depending on where he is in life different aspects of Magic appeal to him. Early on it was the travel, sometimes is the thrill of challenge, but overall it's the life long friends and the connections with people that keep Paul coming back.
Not doing well at tournaments made Paul do some soul searching and decide that he will start to prepare the heck out of tournament so he can show up prepared.
Winning the Team Grand Prix in San Jose (2012) with Matt Sperling and David Williams
Team Rochester Draft
Sealed Deck
Everyone has experienced being blown out. While blow out losses are not fun, many people shut down when there are lot of little things you could be doing to gain incremental edges.
Know the sequence you and your opponent need to go through for you to come back and play to that. Assume your opponent will make mistakes.
Consider what factors outside of the game are affecting your loss. Is your mana base built right? Did you sideboard correctly?
Don't shut down. There is a lot to be learned from a blow out loss.
Twitter: @paulrietzl
If you like the show, head on over to iTunes and leave an honest Rating & Review.
Let me know what you like and what I can do better so I can make the show the best it can be and continue bringing you valuable content.
I read every single one and look forward to your feedback.
Jamie Parke has 3 major top 8s, including Worlds 1999, Worlds 2008 and PT ATL 2014. He also has 4 GP Top 8s and as you can tell by the dates is one of a very small group of players with a top 8 in 3 different decades. He currently lives in Philadelphia and trades equity options.
Look at cards and compare them with the other cards being spoiled. Look for synergies like Subterranean Scout + Nantuko Husk.
Reading the draft: Don't focus on this skill too early. First focus on learning the cards and becoming familiar with what's good and isn't. Identify the really good commons. When one of these picks come late than you can start reading the draft.
Find others who are strong where you are weak but more importantly you need people who you are friends with. It's imperative that you get along with each other.
A week play-testing with the Pantheon looks like people playing what ever deck they want against other decks and having an organized draft a few times a day.
Look up rules. Ask rules questions. A deeper understanding of the rules will lead to more victories.
Twitter: @JamieParke
If you like the show, head on over to iTunes and leave an honest Rating & Review.
Let me know what you like and what I can do better so I can make the show the best it can be and continue bringing you valuable content.
I read every single one and look forward to your feedback.
Jamie Parke has 3 major top 8s, including Worlds 1999, Worlds 2008 and PT ATL 2014. He also has 4 GP Top 8s and as you can tell by the dates is one of a very small group of players with a top 8 in 3 different decades. He currently lives in Philadelphia and trades equity options.
Revised
Tempest block (for its Limited game play)
Ancestral Recall
The challenge of competing at the highest levels.
Finding people who wanted to play as much as Jamie did was an early challenge for him.
Magic is a game of probabilities. Identifying that there is a correct play based on probability and realizing that you could make the correct play and still lose helped Jamie improve early on. It helped him let go of unnecessary pressure.
Limited
It's so easy to throw together a draft where all people have to do is invest 3 hours of their time.
Hangarback Abzan
1) Don't go to a big tournament too early.
Play during the week. Play at FNM. Participate in online trainings like LSVs "What's the play?"
2) Don't give away too much imformation.
Hold cards in hand you don't need to play so your opponent knows as little as possible.
Twitter: @JamieParke
If you like the show, head on over to iTunes and leave an honest Rating & Review.
Let me know what you like and what I can do better so I can make the show the best it can be and continue bringing you valuable content.
I read every single one and look forward to your feedback.
Check to see if new cards fill holes in existing decks.
Check if powerful cards that weren't played before now have synergy and are playable with the new cards.
Sealed: Sealed is bomb-centric, so removal is very important. Stand alone cards that are good on their are will perform better than synergy decks.
Draft: Draft cards that work well on their own and if the synergy comes it's a bonus. Draft a lot to hone your evaluation eye. Group discussion is also crucial to improving.
Build a team with people you trust. You need to trust each others opinions and track record.
Consume as much content as you can. There's so much free content out there.
Channel Fireball - Josh's weekly video
jmcclain2007@hotmail.com
If you like the show, head on over to iTunes and leave an honest Rating & Review.
Let me know what you like and what I can do better so I can make the show the best it can be and continue bringing you valuable content.
I read every single one and look forward to your feedback.
Josh McClain has 4 Grand Prix top 8s including winning Grand Prix Detroit in 2013 (Modern format). He also has one Pro Tour top 16 and a TCG Invitational win.
Odyssey
Rise of the Eldrazi
Gavony Township
Orzhov Pontiff
The tournament scene and the competitive aspect. Putting in a lot of work and seeing results.
Grinding Pro Tour Qualifiers for several years was a struggle. Josh felt he had plateaued. By playing a lot (on MTGO and in person) he became familiar with his deck and the matchups.
Realizing that all the big players are just people and he could achieve the same results through practice.
Winning Grand Prix Detroit.
Modern (Amulet Bloom Deck)
Blue/Red Thopters for Pro Tour Vancouver 2015
Not thinking of what your opponent could have. Overlooking the counter trick when you have one in hand.
If you like the show, head on over to iTunes and leave an honest Rating & Review.
Let me know what you like and what I can do better so I can make the show the best it can be and continue bringing you valuable content.
I read every single one and look forward to your feedback.
Valentin Mackl top 8’d his first Grand Prix in the summer of 2014 in Miami. Since then he has top 8’d four more Grand Prix and top 16’d at least 11 others! He’s been the Austrian World Magic Cup Captain for two consecutive years (2014, 2015) and is currently a Gold Level Pro.
Evaluation Tips
Try playing in a pre release without looking at the spoiler first. You'll have a fun and challenging experience.
Sealed: Don't always look at your rares. Look at the number of playables you have outside the rares.
Draft: Make a mental note of the good cards in the pack and try and peg the players on your left in certain colors.
A team for the Pro Tour is extremely important to assimilate all the knowledge that is out there.
Structure your play testing time. At certain times you play certain formats then build in time to analyze and share the information afterwards.
Proxy decks to play test before you invest in the one you're taking to a big tournament.
Make friends with someone who has a large collection so you can borrow cards instead of buying.
If you like the show, head on over to iTunes and leave an honest Rating & Review.
Let me know what you like and what I can do better so I can make the show the best it can be and continue bringing you valuable content.
I read every single one and look forward to your feedback.
Saviors of Kamigawa
Innistrad
Momentary Blink
The competition of big tournaments and traveling are fun. Winning feels nice. :)
Playing crappy decks early on lead to many losses. Mackl improved his analytical skills with age and started playing top tier decks.
Going to big competitions consistently helped Mackl improve because the caliber of players he was playing against was really good.
First Grand Prix top 8 in Miami.
Standard
Legacy
Whenever you make a decision you should think, "why am I doing this right now?"
Jeskai
Take your time when you play. Fast decisions when you're not experienced are most of the time wrong. Try to play absolutely correctly.
If you like the show, head on over to iTunes and leave an honest Rating & Review.
Let me know what you like and what I can do better so I can make the show the best it can be and continue bringing you valuable content.
I read every single one and look forward to your feedback.