Raphael Levy is a Magic Hall of Famer and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu black belt from Toulouse, France. He holds the record for most consecutive Magic Pro Tours played. 0:00 Intro 0:43 Playing 90-plus Pro Tours in a row 9:40 Happiness, finding balance 13:38 How Raph’s PT streak ended 19:05 Brazilian Jiu-jitsu (BJJ) journey 28:20 All-in…or all-out 31:18 BJJ mental game, big guy vs. small guy theory 40:26 How Raph ran his first marathon 53:42 State of today’s competitive Magic 1:03:42 COVID-19 and the Mag...
Mar 15, 2025•1 hr 13 min
Maria is a Magic competitor and streamer based in Germany. 0:00 Intro 1:20 Content creator origin story 5:52 Competitive gamer origin story 9:42 Discovering Magic The Gathering 12:31 Success in competitive Magic and the gender barrier 20:17 The Venus and Mercury League (VML) 25:14 Misconceptions about VML and inclusiveness 31:42 Maria’s stream audience and how she focuses 40:11 Creator goals and finding balance 50:20 A Magic family 59:57 The Queen of Midrange 1:07:19 Balancing content with famil...
Feb 20, 2025•1 hr 17 min
Arthur King is a Chinese-American Magic player based in Shanghai, China. Arthur's podcast is called "The BingKing Podcast." Find it at https://www.youtube.com/@LookitCrows 0:00 Intro 1:03 Arthur’s origin story 8:53 Playing Magic during college 13:35 Moving to China 17:49 Getting into Commander 22:07 A fork in the road 29:09 Dancing in public spaces 36:14 Why Arthur stopped drinking 44:30 Life in China (as an ABC) 48:56 People want connection 54:23 Happiness 1:00:11 Has data ruined everything? 1:...
Jan 31, 2025•1 hr 49 min
Sierkovitz is a Limited Magic aficionado, data analyst and host of the Magic Numbers podcast. He is a long-time collaborator with 17Lands.com and focuses on making data accessible to Magic players of all skill levels. 0:00 Intro 0:35 Biggest trap with using data and win rates 9:56 Content creation goals and norms 17:51 “Limited is just a very small field” 22:03 The audience for advanced Magic data analysis 30:21 About the Companion mechanic 35:16 Advice for novice or returning Limited players 52...
Jan 02, 2025•1 hr 39 min
Niv Shmuely is a Magic player and medical doctor from Israel. He has played in three Magic Pro Tours and the World Magic Cup as a member of the Israeli team. 0:00 Intro 3:30 How Niv got into competitive Magic 7:37 Pro Tour Valencia and the flood 11:50 Worlds Team Tournament - Israeli national team 15:52 Med school, Legacy format, COVID years 18:34 Pro Tour Philadelphia 24:23 Challenges to being an Israeli Magic pro 27:08 How family shaped Niv's Magic career 35:05 Why Niv chose med school (and ch...
Jul 29, 2024•2 hr 5 min
Magic Con Amsterdam: June 28-30, 2024. 0:00 Intro 0:38 Why I went to Amsterdam 3:59 General experience 9:06 Notable moments 14:19 Memorable conversations 27:48 Takeaways Memorable conversations: - Justine Jones - Will Hall & Matej Zatlkaj - ZBexx - Josh Lee Kwai - Spice8Rack - Andrea Mengucci - Gabriel Nassif - Kai Budde & Jon Finkel - Rhystic Studies - Reid Duke
Jul 16, 2024•33 min
Gabriel Nassif is a Magic Pro Player and Hall of Famer from Paris, France. Interview was recorded at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Centre, during Magic Con Amsterdam. 0:00 Intro 0:54 Pro Tour Amsterdam and Worlds 3:52 Tournament recap - key decisions 7:18 Fond Amsterdam (and PT) memories 12:07 Getting back on the Magic grind 15:01 Streaming competitive events 16:35 Thoughts on Magic organized play 19:17 What keeps Gab motivated? 22:13 Playing basketball 27:37 Gab’s brother, American sports, Leban...
Jul 15, 2024•38 min
Kurohitsuki is a Magic content creator and streamer from Buffalo, New York. Interview was recorded at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Centre, during Magic Con Amsterdam. 0:00 Intro 1:10 "Kurohitsuki" name and persona 7:15 Kuro's background 10:32 A very special gift 11:27 Becoming a creator 14:58 Favorite creature type 18:13 Getting into Commander and Spelltable 21:57 Deckbuilding - "I'm a Vorthos at heart" 28:04 Favorite Commander of all time 31:33 Favorite Magic card of all time 38:16 Creative con...
Jul 10, 2024•52 min
ZBexx is a Magic content creator and cosplayer from Portland, Oregon. Interview was recorded at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Centre, during Magic Con Amsterdam. 0:00 Intro 0:57 Exploring Amsterdam and Dutch culture 6:11 Traveling as a Magic couple 8:35 Choosing a Magic content lane 11:19 Branching outside of Magic 16:09 Keeping up with Magic set releases 19:12 Positive self-talk, confidence, role models 24:02 Hardest time as a creator 29:22 Dedication to the cosplay craft 32:19 Fan feedback and ...
Jul 08, 2024•48 min
Vitalii "V" Ponomariov is a Ukrainian Magic player, LGS owner, and IT professional. He currently lives in Lviv, Ukraine. V and I first connected in 2022 when he shared his perspective on Ukrainian Magic on the Magic The Gathering Subreddit. He introduced me to his friends in the Ukrainian Magic community, which allowed me to make the Humans of Magic feature "This Ukrainian Life." I am fortunate to have V on again to tell his story. 0:00 Intro 1:03 Opening an LGS in Ukraine 8:03 Ukrainian Magic s...
Jun 24, 2024•1 hr 21 min
Sam, a.k.a. Rhystic Studies, creates videos about the art, history, and culture of Magic: the Gathering. 0:00 Intro 1:50 Podcast monologues, Twitter bios 7:31 Discord fan interactions 10:39 Recent interviews 14:08 On being a solo act 16:02 Collaboration opportunities 18:41 Creative choices and financial viability 21:17 The indie game developer 22:57 Hbomberguy and taking on epic projects 27:59 Confidence (and experience) trumps fear 34:29 Level-ups as a creator 38:21 "The guitar is the ultimate ...
Jun 17, 2024•1 hr 13 min
Rob Bliss is an artist and illustrator for Magic The Gathering. Rob is also a concept artist and has worked on productions such as Harry Potter, Guardians of the Galaxy, and The Dark Knight. 0:00 Intro 1:00 Speaking engagements 5:08 How Rob developed his style 12:30 Early life as artist 15:23 Imitation breeds uniqueness 20:21 Strength of initial arrogance 23:34 "Making it" as a young artist 30:38 The 2000 AD comic book experience 38:29 Moving into concept art 39:29 Illustrating Magic cards 47:04...
Jun 10, 2024•1 hr 44 min
An introduction to the Israel-Palestine conflict with Spice8Rack, Magic YouTuber and political activist. 0:00 Intro 3:00 Ground rules and expectations 6:47 Resources - journalists 9:07 Resources - coordination 10:32 Resources - education 11:15 Resources - books 22:26 How do we know if a resource is legitimate? 32:12 How do we know if an influencer is legitimate? 40:32 Social media has real value (but use it wisely) 49:52 Be well-informed - and take action 53:10 It's okay to be emotional (on the ...
May 06, 2024•2 hr 19 min
Alison Luhrs is a creative writer and worldbuilder for Magic The Gathering. She was also the creative lead for Baldur's Gate 3, and is currently the narrative director for Destiny 2. 0:00 Intro 1:00 Doing improv 6:49 Improv's learning curve, embracing failure 12:23 Connecting with the audience 15:37 "Book Club" 19:21 Getting into the games industry 21:46 Career at Wizards of the Coast 24:25 Ixalan 25:38 Magic storytelling evolution 29:27 Writing the Thunder Junction epilogues 32:29 Why Alison le...
Apr 29, 2024•1 hr 29 min
Andrea Mengucci is a Magic The Gathering content creator and player. 0:00 Intro 1:27 Interview start 3:14 Content evolution, new YouTube channel, logistics 8:32 Connecting with audience, making it fun 13:02 Magic content innovation 16:29 Why Mengu isn't making Commander content 17:56 Modern format bans 20:35 Tournament and Pro Tour mindset 23:00 COVID changed EVERYTHING 26:04 The REAL life of a top Magic content creator 35:38 Surrounding oneself with strong players 38:01 Competitive Magic is in ...
Apr 08, 2024•1 hr 7 min
Victor Adame Minguez is an artist and illustrator for Magic The Gathering. Victor's Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/victoradameart/ 0:00 Intro 1:00 Beginning of Victor's creative journey 5:53 Making art a viable career 6:38 Artistic ability vs. practice 9:30 "I don't have any other skills" 15:32 Magic art guidelines 17:06 Advice for aspiring Magic illustrators? 20:18 The Grist that sold for $35K 26:09 Early days of working with Wizards of the Coast 29:05 Moving from digital art to oil pain...
Mar 27, 2024•1 hr 18 min
Evart "Aspiringspike" Moughon is a Magic player and streamer. He is best known for his deckbuilding innovations in the Modern format. 0:00 Intro 0:50 Streaming Dark Souls 6:02 Personal off-stream projects 7:58 Value of effective practice 13:45 Viewership drop when variety streaming 15:53 Deckbuilding process 23:17 Innovating (and breaking) the Modern format 27:50 The Crokeyz tweet 31:30 Right place, right time 36:01 Talking about success 37:42 What Spike learned from Kai Budde and Reid Duke 46:5...
Mar 18, 2024•1 hr 34 min
Javier Dominguez is a Magic pro player from Spain. He won the 2018 Magic World Championship. 0:00 Intro 1:24 The language of Magic 3:43 Repeatable decision-making 5:23 Leveraging poker skills, studying the game 10:20 Frustrations 12:49 Being competitive vs. having fun 16:46 Choosing Magic over poker (and Hearthstone) 24:57 Was the old Magic Pro Tour ACTUALLY good? 34:42 The love of the game 37:42 Nature of competitive games 42:43 How Javier wants to be remembered 43:15 Becoming World Champion - ...
Feb 22, 2024•1 hr 19 min
Foil Bug is committed to serving the MTG community by sharing shiny content, creating premium merch, and guiding players to amazing stores around the world. 0:00 Intro 1:16 What is FOIL BUG? 3:55 Spicerack.gg integration 5:22 Split player bases across two stores 10:31 How the FOIL BUG Store Locator helps new players 12:47 FOIL BUG content for foreign language cards 17:32 James loves German language cards 18:54 Helping players track down hard-to-find cards 24:03 Features - today vs. future 28:22 ...
Feb 12, 2024•56 min
Kyle and Terren Huck are the owners of Apex Gaming, a Magic The Gathering card shop and tournament organizer in Caldwell, Ohio. The Apex Gaming documentary is now on the Humans of Magic YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@humansofmagic 00:00 Intro 01:49 Kickoff 02:35 Kyle and Terren self-intros 03:48 Apex origin story 07:39 Apex business principles 11:07 Starting a Magic business - managing risk 13:18 Attracting a player base - local & otherwise 17:03 Working with WOTC for WPN Premium...
Feb 05, 2024•1 hr 11 min
Mason Clark is a Magic pro player and coach. Show notes: humansofmagic.com/ Patreon: patreon.com/humansofmagic
Jan 22, 2024•2 hr 17 min
Vincent "Deathsie" Chu is a Magic The Gathering Twitch streamer specializing in the Limited format. Sorry gang, the audio quality wasn't great in this one! We recorded it on a whim with ONE microphone on my table :( Have tried to fix and clean it up, but that's the best I could do. Hope you'll still give it a go, because the conversation was GREAT. Thanks for understanding! Show notes: humansofmagic.com/ Patreon: patreon.com/humansofmagic
Jan 15, 2024•1 hr 30 min
Piotr "kanister" Glogowski is a Magic pro and streamer from Poland. Show notes: humansofmagic.com/ Patreon: patreon.com/humansofmagic
Jan 01, 2024•1 hr 42 min
Livestreamed on YouTube on Dec 21, 2023. 03:22 Hits 21:13 Misses 32:37 Favorite episodes 52:56 Learnings 1:03:28 Plans for 2024 For future livestreams, sub to the YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@humansofmagic
Dec 29, 2023•1 hr 10 min
Livestreamed on YouTube on Dec 19, 2023. I answered community-submitted questions. For future livestreams, sub to the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@humansofmagic
Dec 27, 2023•1 hr
Melissa DeTora is a Senior Game Designer at Wizards of the Coast. She is a former professional Magic player and the first woman to Top 8 a Magic Pro Tour. Show notes: humansofmagic.com/ Patreon: patreon.com/humansofmagic
Dec 25, 2023•2 hr 8 min
Zvi Mowshowitz is a Magic player, writer, and Hall of Famer. He currently writes about AI, policy and rationality on his Substack, "Don't Worry About the Vase." Show notes: humansofmagic.com/ Patreon: patreon.com/humansofmagic
Dec 18, 2023•2 hr 58 min
Todd Anderson is a Magic player, streamer, personality, and caster. Show notes: humansofmagic.com/ Patreon: patreon.com/humansofmagic
Dec 11, 2023•2 hr 34 min
Maria Bartholdi is a host, caster, producer, writer, improviser, podcaster and painter. She is a 10-time Upper Midwest Regional Emmy Award winner and a mainstay of Magic Pro Tour coverage. Show notes: humansofmagic.com/ Patreon: patreon.com/humansofmagic
Dec 04, 2023•1 hr 31 min
Chris Pikula is a former professional Magic player with two Pro Tour Top 8s and a Worlds Top 8. In 2000, Chris won the Magic Invitational and created the Meddling Mage card. Show notes: humansofmagic.com/ Patreon: patreon.com/humansofmagic
Nov 20, 2023•2 hr 36 min
