Q: When did you first discover Magic and how did it make you feel?
A: I was at, um, a gaming thing at, um, a library and these two, um, Dungeon Masters were playing it and I was like"what's that?"

Then I saw some kids at a party who had it. I vividly remember casting Raise Dead on an animal that had been bashed by Swords to Plowshares.

Then I went to the comic store and was like"Do you have Spellfire?" Luckily, we mized Magic.

Q: How about a little background information? Age, marital status, gaming interests growing up...
A: Age: 24. Martial Status: Unmarried. Gaming Interests Growing Up: Video games, Dungeons and Dragons; I went through a phase where I played Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and other strangeness, a game based on Thundercats, and some Robotech.

Q: What's your take on Invasion?
A: It's the most fun Limited of all time.

Q: Who is the second-strongest player in the world today?
A: That's a hard one. I think in 1999 Dave Humpherys was actually the best player in the game. Right now (and probably of all time), Jon is the best player... Second is up for grabs. There is a strong second tier, any of whom could claim the title: Kai Budde, Bob Maher, Mike Long, Zvi Mowshowitz, and others are all very good. I'm going to say Bob, just because he is the reigning Player of the Year and he also has the most nicknames. This guy's nicknames have nicknames!

Q: Which deck is the strongest in standard right now? (Fires? Rebels?)
A: Counter-Rebel.

Q: Have you played the Beatdown set recently released? (Beatdown kind of reminds me of Fires!)
A: Nope. But I probably should have.

Q: How many cards do you own?
A: I have no idea. About two closets' worth.

Q: Do you trade online?
A: I don't trade at all.

Q: How do all the"pro" players always seem to have all the cards they need for decks? (It sometimes takes me weeks to trade for what I need.)
A: Most pros don't have any cards. I don't have any Invasion cards except from post-draft booty or scraps. If I know I will need a particular rare for a tournament or series of tournaments, I will just buy it (I got four Mageta, the Lion for my MBC decks from Neutral Ground). (Boo! - The Ferrett, reminding all StarCity readers that StarCity is the best and friendliest card place on the internet.) Or if the card is an uncommon or common, I have been known to horribly waste draft packs looking for it. I needed one Salt Marsh for a deck and blew through three draft sets before Scott McCord just gave me the damn Salt Marsh.

Q: Stranded on a lonely island, with no hope of rescue, would you rather be stuck with Darwin Kastle or Michelle Bush?
A: What kind of question is that? Of course it's Dr. Bush. If you are stranded on an island with no hope of rescue, doctor or no?

Q: What do you think about Jamie Wakefield?
A: Jamie and I were pretty good friends for some time and Cabal Rogue teammates. He lives in Vermont with the Lovely Mare, loves the JLA and superhero comics, wants to be a writer but refuses to read anything worthwhile: only sci-fi/fantasy books. When I last spoke to him, he was pondering a career change (from computers to entrepreneur), but I don't know if he carried through. I have his phone number somewhere.

Q: Any Mike Long stories to share? (And do you have his email address to share with me?) :-)
A: Har har. This is a good one and a long one spanning a GP and a Nationals.
I was testing my Consult/beatdown deck with Jon Becker at GP: Philadelphia and Mike shows up (Mike and Jon are old friends of the Tongo Nation variety). Mike watches me play and he falls in love with my deck. He later told me he never saw such raw confidence in a deck before and he thought it would be good v. Trix. He goes off and tries to get all the cards for the deck and somehow scams me Saturday morning into buying him a Vampiric Tutor. Anyway, I tell him the post-board matchup v. Sligh is good even if game 1 isn't, but the mirror is bad.

All day Mike plays just Sligh and black beatdown. He complains high and low, saying he can never beat Sligh and the only thing he can beat is black blah blah blah. End of the day I think we both went 5-2 but didn't make Day 2 (you'll have to check this... it was a HUGE GP for BDM). Anyway, he's like"God, Flores is the worst, I'm never playing his deck again."

Fast forward to the Feature Match table at Nationals this year. Mike is with his no-land Accelerated Blue deck, and I think his opponent was Bob Maher, playing my Maher Oath/Hatred/Napster deck. Once Mike finds out Bob is playing my deck, he is like"You're playing MIKE's deck? I'll never make that mistake again! The thing about Mike is he's so charismatic, he puts that smile on, he has all the confidence in the world... He'll sweet-talk you into anything. You have to watch that Mike."

Me and several other pros double take. Which Mike?

Anyway, was Mike right? I'm not sure. He won the match to beat Bobby and made Top 8. Then again, Bob had no prep with the deck and no sideboard... And Finkel won the whole Nats with the same deck (but with an actual sideboard), so you be the judge.

Q: Do you have a favorite out-of-print card that you would like to see back into print? (It's Serra Angel for me.)
Q: Dark Ritual. I consider Dark Ritual out of print. Best card ever.

Q: Please list your better accomplishments in Magic tournaments.
A: I won a bunch of PTQs, 2 Regionals Top 8s, showed up for some PTs, didn't show up for some. I went undefeated in games Day One at GP DC2 (one bye) and missed Top 8, losing to Zvi Mowshowitz and Jon Finkel (sigh). I made 9th at US Nationals 1999 on tiebreakers after winning my last round match and spending two rounds in first place in the Swiss (sigh).

Q: Do you play with foils and what do you think of them?
A: I don't play with Foils any more. I try to play with foreign in-print cards that I borrow from Josh Ravitz and Paul Jordan.

Q: Silly question. Would you rather play with beta lands, APAC lands, Euro lands or foil lands?
A: Even though I just said I don't generally play with Foils, I would rather play with Foils than those other choices. Usually I play with foreign in-set lands (especially in block) because I like all my expansion symbols to be the same.

Q: TopDeck is dead. Good or bad for Magic?
A: Um... Good, I guess. I didn't really like the editorial tone they took.

Q: Is there anything in particular"wrong" with Magic? Something that you'd change if you were in charge?
A: I would give Mike Flores a permanent invitation to the PT so he could have his damn weekends back.

Mike, thanks very much!

Sean Erik Ponce
Deranged Dad