Name: #008 - Rodrigo Togores on Storm dedication, crossover card games, and winning the Legacy GP! by Humans of Magic in mtg
Duration: 1 h 23 min 9 s
Description: Rodrigo Togores is one of the best Storm combo players on the planet. He's also super humble and fun to talk to. I talk to the Grand Prix Prague champion about his competitive gaming past in multiple card games. Rodrigo also takes me through the play-by-play of the biggest tournament of his life.

Ian and Tom get to catch up with James during a long awaited return to the Dead Format! 100% check out his Humans of Magic episode here: https://humansofmagic.com/2022/05/10/this-ukrainian-life/

www.patreon.com/TheDeadFormat

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Twitter Contact:
Official Podcast Contact @DeadFormatCast
Ian @Ian18125 Tom @TsmileyMtg

deadformatcast@gmail.com

Episode 143 with James Hsu!

Rodrigo Togores is one of the best Storm combo players on the planet. He's also super humble and fun to talk to. I talk to the Grand Prix Prague champion about his competitive gaming past in multiple card games. Rodrigo also takes me through the play-by-play of the biggest tournament of his life.

#008 - Rodrigo Togores on Storm dedication, crossover card games, and winning the Legacy GP!

Bryant Cook is the innovator and creator of The Epic Storm deck, which is approaching its ten-year anniversary. He joins me to discuss the origins of the 1.5 format, the strong Syracuse, NY scene, and his earliest tournament successes. We also talk about fun stuff like reading opponents, table banter, and beating a turn 1 Griselbrand. This is one conversation you won't want to miss.

Time stamps:

[01:02] Introduction
[03:28] Family background and origins
[04:52] Earliest gaming experiences
[06:18] Playing sports
[06:52] Playing Magic for the first time
[08:31] His first tournament 
[10:34] On never splitting prizes in a tournament
[12:15] Improving as a player and first major tournament success
[15:00] The Syracuse crew
[16:29] The 1.5 scene in New York and origins of The Source
[17:22] Playing combo for the first time
[18:47] The beginnings of The Epic Storm
[22:17] The beginnings of The Epic Syndicate
[23:54] How Magic friends have helped him in life
[25:15] Applying Magic learnings to life
[25:49] First major success with The Epic Storm
[27:22] Playing in Jupiter Games events and SCG Opens
[30:10] Getting nervous at high-level events
[32:48] Reading opponents 
[36:25] The origins of The Epic Storm website 
[38:30] Why he writes content
[39:23] Dealing with online trolls and haters
[40:59] Why Magic?
[42:36] Why he is competitive
[43:31] Tournament mindset and habits
[46:35] Table banter with opponents
[48:02] Codes of conduct and ethical gaming
[49:13] Most challenging Magic-related situation
[51:05] Best Magic moments
[55:19] Future evolution of The Epic Storm
[56:38] Magic-related goals
[59:43] Life-related goals
[01:01:19] What would Bryant tell himself if he could go back 5 years?

#010 - Bryant Cook IS The Epic Storm! On the history of 1.5, the NY scene, and reading souls

Jonathan Alexander is a Legacy-format specialist, and a good friend. What started as an innocent discussion about Magic turned into an epic podcast of sorts. Probably the most fun I’ve had so far recording for this show. At one point we asked each other, 2 hours in, if we wanted to stop or keep going. The answer was an encouraging KEEP GOING. And so we did.

There are 3 parts to this talk, that’s how crazy it was. Unfortunately (fortunately?), our hour-long discussion on hip-hop didn’t make the final cut. Jonathan and I probably need to create our own podcast show at some point.

Jonathan’s web site: https://theweeklywars.wordpress.com/

Time stamps — Part 2:

[02:32] Grinding Station origins
[04:35] The perfect storm (of a metagame)
[09:23] Putting it to the test with 200+ players
[12:36] The natural Tendrils revelation
[14:38] Card evaluation tendencies
[16:31] “That was only because it was the card I wanted.”
[20:04] The complexity in the game // learning through observation
[21:42] Thoughts on Team America
[24:39] Having a point of view
[26:06] Why Jonathan didn’t play Storm in Prague
[28:59] Shout out to Rodrigo Togores, GP Prague winner
[30:08] Best high-level tournament finishes
[32:02] Prague preparations and changing decks
[34:15] “With Canadian, you’re not playing the matchup lottery that hard.”
[36:35] Minimizing variance / Why Miracles is so good
[38:48] Deck selection and having the right goals
[40:37] “The hard part about Magic is getting X, Y, AND Z right.”
[42:31] The joy of blind Cabal Therapy
[45:41] Pascal Wagner, the fastest Storm pilot ever
[47:38] “Can you tell me about your relationship with Kai Sawatari?”
[52:46] The bromance triangle in Seattle / a debt of gratitude
[54:35] No regrets
[55:35] Going back to Storm
[56:59] Playing Magic Online for the first time / dabbling in the Standard format
[1:00:11] Goals

#014 - Jonathan Alexander on Grinding Station, tournament success, and bromance (Part 2)

I am pleased to have Wilson Hunter on “Humans of Magic.” Wilson is a co-host of the amazing “The Brainstorm Show” podcast, a father, and an intense competitor. Or to use his words — ultra-competitive! We talk about parenthood, the origins of his competitive drive, and growing up with Magic friends that inspire each other to perform better everyday. Wilson also self-reflects on taking losses hard, working with the community to improve his game, and the guilt that he feels in having a hobby like Magic. It gets deeply personal in places, and that’s where the learning happens. I’m grateful to know a great competitor and human being like Wilson, and hope that you’ll enjoy the listen.

#024 - Wilson Hunter on parenthood, the competitive drive, and "The Brainstorm Show"

We are back with the first 2017 episode of “Humans of Magic”! Our first guest of the year is Kai Sawatari.

Kai is half-German, half-Japanese, all amazing. He’s a serious Legacy player with 4th and 17th place finishes at Grand Prix events.

This podcast was hilarious. We talk about:
- How Kai’s father would let him win at games!
- Getting destroyed by a Goblin Charbelcher deck when he was 12 years old!
- Irrational confidence!
- Bromance!
- Japanese culture and the crazy smiley guy!
- The biggest mistake Kai ever made as a competitive player! (spoiler: it involves sleeving up Terminus)

Too many exclamation marks, for sure. Hope you enjoy the listen!

#025 - Kai Sawatari on growing up multicultural, irrational confidence, and Japanese Magic!

“Humans of Magic” presents: Jon Finkel. Jon is one of the greatest Magic players ever and a member of the Magic Hall of Fame. To use a basketball analogy, he is undeniably the Michael Jordan of Magic. Jon is a Managing Partner at Landscape Capital Management, LLC, a hedge fund that prides itself on investing in non-traditional ways.

Here is our full conversation, in which we discuss:

- Jon’s first encounters with Magic 
- Pro Tour memories
- Being part of the Ultimate Guard Pro Team
- Impressions on the state of the game today
- Kobe Bryant vs. Tim Duncan
- Jon’s scholarship fund for Magic players: gamershelpinggamers.org
...and much, much more!

Enjoy!

--

Jon Finkel -- @Jonnymagic00

#037 - Jon Finkel on his Magic origins, the state of the game today, and Gamers Helping Gamers

Ian and Tom join our first guest, host of the Humans of Magic podcast Mr. James Hsu. We discuss Eternal Weekend Asia, James's GP Richmond experience, listener questions, and content creation and Magic obsession!

Magic: The Addiction
https://www.amazon.com/James-Hsu/e/B01F57OQVQ

https://soundcloud.com/humansofmagic

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Twitter Contact:
Official Podcast Contact @DeadFormatCast
Ian @Ian18125 Tom @TsmileyMtg

deadformatcast@gmail.com

The Dead Format

Episode 11 Eternal Weekend Asia and GP Richmond with James Hsu

Happy Holidays everyone! Tom sits down with Julian and James to discuss the Beijing Orlov Legacy tournament. Julian details his results and James plugs Cardboard Live.

Top 8 results:
https://t.co/T2ff7HtDJD

Julian's YouTube channel- with the tournament coverage soon to come! 
https://www.youtube.com/user/CeterumCenseo85

itsjulian.com
www.patreon.com/itsJulian23
www.patreon.com/jameshsu
www.patreon.com/TheDeadFormat

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Discount Code:
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Twitter Contact:
Official Podcast Contact @DeadFormatCast
Ian @Ian18125 Tom @TsmileyMtg

deadformatcast@gmail.com

Episode 26 Mr Worldwide with James Hsu and Julian Knab

Tom and Ian have world traveler James Hsu from the Humans of Magic podcast and Channelfireball.com to actually talk about Magic! This was great (but feel free to dump on us if you are from Russia- I'll apologize next week)

www.patreon.com/TheDeadFormat

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Discount Code:
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Twitter Contact:
Official Podcast Contact @DeadFormatCast
Ian @Ian18125 Tom @TsmileyMtg

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Episode 90 James is Back!

Lots of discussion about Eternal Weekend (although we talked about it last week!) with James Hsu!!! Also NBA rants and a ton of Ian trying to start shit :D 

www.patreon.com/TheDeadFormat

Mana Traders Referral Link:
www.manatraders.com/?medium=tsmiley
Discount Code:
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Twitter Contact:
Official Podcast Contact @DeadFormatCast
Ian @Ian18125 Tom @TsmileyMtg

deadformatcast@gmail.com

Episode 117 Actually a Good Episode Carried by James Hsu

Conversations with the Magic The Gathering community. https://humansofmagic.com/

#008 - Rodrigo Togores on Storm dedication, crossover card games, and winning the Legacy GP!

Humans of Magic

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