Eugene Hwang lives a double life of a mild-mannered data analyst during the week but from Friday to Sunday, he is a Grand Prix grinder and Silver level pro from Los Angeles. He has 2 Grand Prix top 8s, including a win in GP Orlando 2014.
Click to Tweet: I got a ton of value from Eugene Hwang when he shared his story on #MTGProTutor today! Click here: http://bit.ly/mtgprotutor-ep104
Revised
Khans of Tarkir (Limited)
Survival of the Fitest
Terese Nielsen
Rebecca Guay
Drafting Magic is the most fun game Eugene has played. The community keeps him coming back for more.
Started drafting and learned the BREAD shortcut but then took this too far. Eugene drafted pretty bad decks until he read an article about mana curve that changed how he drafted. Results quickly followed.
Day 2 of Grand Prix Providence. Eugene and his team went 10-0 in day one but then got steamed rolled in day 2 by Ari Lax's team. It was here that they realized there was a huge gap between their level and the next level.
They came home, hit it hard, and all three team members (Andrew Brown, Jiachen Tao, Eugene Hwang) have gone on to win Grand Prix's and Pro Tours.
Watching
Sealed
Players are afraid to step out of their comfort zone.
While only playing one deck is a good way to start, if ALL you do is play aggro then when the meta shifts you will be out of luck.
Play lots of decks so you can easily pick up different styles based on the meta.
Build two decks that attack on opposing axis so
Compare cards to older versions.
By playing Limited consistently you build mental shortcuts.
Look at rares first. Grab cards that pull you into their colors, cards that you would definitely play in those cards, and cards you will likely play in those colors.
Find the highest quality creatures and removal and make a two color deck around those cards.
Play sessions are key. Either online or in person. Talk to each other player.
Early on you want to identify powerful card interactions. After that you want to play the gauntlet of most likely decks.
Make friends with players you respect.
Use Cockatrice and proxies.
Playing Magic is the best way to get better at Magic. But playing other strategy games is good as well.
Stay positive.
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