Kitchen Table Magic

This is episode 18, and I’m talking to popular Twitch streamer and tournament grinder, Jennifer Long, also known as Mrs. Mulligan. Jennifer tells us how she got started streaming Minesweeper to slowly building up thousands of followers on Twitch. She now regularly competes in the SCG Tour and writes a weekly column for SCG.com. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Jennifer Long!

In this episode, I’m talking to Josh Monks, a local Seattle player with a passion for commentary and a wide range of knowledge about different decks of the Legacy format. Josh shares with us about he got into commentary and how that contributes to his learning of the game. Josh really cares about the game and the community and commentates on Card Kingdom’s weekly Legacy stream. We also go over some great tips on how to improve. I hope you enjoy this episode with Josh Monks!

In this episode, I’m talking to the beard master, Chris VanMeter. Chris is an analytical thinker of the game and has a math and computer science background. He’s also affectionately known for his bright red beard as it’s rumored to give Chris special powers! Chris is not only a strong competitor in Magic, he’s also an avid teacher, writer and commentator. I really enjoyed sitting down with Chris to record this a few months back. Please enjoy my conversation with Chris VanMeter.

I’m talking with Brian Braun-Duin, the winner of the 2016 Magic World Championships. Brian shares with us his story, starting from the beginning. How he went from broke, sleeping on the couch, to grinding tournaments, writing for SCG, playing in his first Pro Tours, joining teams, leaving teams, getting fired, getting hired, all the way to locking up Grand Prix Master to earn his fabled World Championship invite. If you’ve been in the MTG community for basically the last week, you know that Brian goes on to win the World Championships, and the cool $70,000 dollar prize. We also talk about what’s coming up next for him, as you heard in the preview, Brian’s hopeful and excited for the road ahead. He’s no stranger to hard work and he credits some influential Magic players in Roanoke Virginia that have contributed to his success. I hope you enjoy my one of a kind interview with Brian Braun-Duin. - Sam

Coming up in the next episode of Kitchen Table Magic… I’m talking with Brian Braun-Duin, the winner of the 2016 Magic World Championships. Brian shares with us his story, starting from the beginning. How he went from broke, sleeping on the couch, to grinding tournaments, writing for SCG, playing in his first Pro Tours, joining teams, leaving teams, getting fired, getting hired, all the way to locking up Grand Prix Master to earn his fabled World Championship invite. If you’ve been in the MTG community for basically the last week, you know that Brian goes on to win the World Championships, and the cool $70,000 dollar prize. We also talk about what’s coming up next for him, as you heard in the preview, Brian’s hopeful and excited for the road ahead. He’s no stranger to hard work and he credits some influential Magic players in Roanoke Virginia that have contributed to his success. You don’t want to miss my interview with Brian Braun-Duin, all on the next episode of Kitchen Table Magic.

In this episode, I’m talking to Jordan Aisaka, local Seattle player that’s known for his high level Legacy skills. Jordan also provides commentary on Card Kingdom’s Monday night Legacy events and also in their Legacy Preservation 1K tournament series. Jordan’s claim to fame was his Legacy UWR Standstill deck that he played in a SCG Legacy Open. He credits his Magic influences to his local buddies and his brother. We had a great time in this episode of Kitchen Table Magic. I hope you enjoy!

In this episode I’m talking to Tifa Robles, the founder of Lady Planeswalker Society. Lady Planeswalker Society is run by volunteers and has a mission to create a warm and welcoming play space for all players. It’s amazing that there are now over 80 chapters all over the world and it’s still growing! LPS is also the official Learn to Play organization for Wizards of the Coast and has taught thousands of new players at premier events such as Gen Con and PAX. I’m so happy to have Tifa as a guest, please enjoy my conversation with Tifa Robles.

In this episode, I’m talking to the legendary, Chris Pikula. You might have seen him featured in the Magic documentary, Enter the Battlefield. Chris is also famously known as Meddling Mage. Chris became Meddling Mage by defeating Jon Finkel in the finals of the Magic Invitational in Kuala Lampur in the year 2000. Chris shares some incredible stories from the past and also gives some serious words of wisdom from playing with Jon Finkel. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Chris Pikula.

In this episode, I’m talking to Brian Rowe, host of the YouTube Channel Mythic MTG Tech. Brian is a wealth of knowledge and knows so much about the the game, the cards, the finances, strategy, the list goes on and on. But what’s most important is Brian’s passion for building community within Magic: The Gathering. Brian is a warm and generous person and enjoys meeting everyone. His day job is in law, so we get to touch on some law stuff. Brian also loves chess and table top games. He’s working on a new project called Meeples Included where he writes strategy. Before talking with Brian, I wasn’t sure what a Meeple was. If you’re not sure either, Brian explains it to us. I had a great time talking with Brian, please enjoy this episode of Kitchen Table Magic!

I’m talking to pro player Gerry Thompson. Gerry and I met while he was in Seattle working for Wizards R&D. He’s been on the pro scene since 2003 with a Pro Tour top 8 and two Grand Prix wins to his name. Gerry is also consistently at the top of the SCG Tour leaderboards. Gerry is an active writer for Star City Games.com as he shares weekly knowledge with video deck techs and articles. In this interview, Gerry shares how he got started and imparts some words of wisdom about how to improve. I hope you enjoy this episode of Kitchen Table Magic with Gerry Thompson.

In this episode I’m talking to Chris Morris-Lent, better known in Seattle as CML. CML is a writer, journalist, Magic player, SCG Open Champion, Pro Tour competitor and author of the new book, A Brief History of Magic Cards. CML has a refreshingly subversive perspective and style of writing. He’s written articles for Gawker, The Daily Dot, Kotaku and Seattle Weekly. CML’s new book, A Brief History of Magic Cards was fully funded through Kickstarter and chronicles the journey of Magic: The Gathering, Wizards of the Coast and his own experiences playing the game. CML’s writing is interesting in that he takes a different perspective. He’s not afraid to get past the peachy rosy side of Magic coverage and dig through all the skeletons in the closet to find something different. We dive into the possible future of Magic and where Hasbro is taking premier play. Without further ado, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Chris Morris-Lent.

I’m talking to Kenji Egashira, also known as Numot the Nummy. Kenji’s popular stream on Twitch and has earned him a lot of fans and in the process, Kenji has become one of the best limited players in the MTG community. Kenji has also done coverage for the Magic Online Championship Series and played in Community Super League and Streamer Showdown events hosted by Wizards. Kenji shares how he got started streaming and a little of what he does in his downtime. I really enjoyed talking with Kenji, I hope you enjoy this episode of Kitchen Table Magic.

I’m talking to Nathan Holt, co-creator of Walking the Planes and the new Magic documentary Enter the Battlefield: Life on the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. Nathan studied theater with a concentration in acting and went on to do plays, movies and even some stand up comedy. Early on Nathan and Shawn Kornhauser filmed a few videos that went viral in the community and quickly got picked up by Wizards of the Coast to create the series Walking the Planes. After following the Pro Tour for years, Nathan and Shaun produced, Enter the Battlefield: Life on the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. This feature length documentary explores into the lives of Reid Duke, Owen Turtenwald, William Huey Jenson, Chris Pikula, Patrick Chapin, Melissa DeTora, and Shehar Shenhar. Nathan shares with us how he got started with acting, what he thinks are the fundamentals of comedy and how he likes to play Magic.

Damon Morris is the co-founder of Card Kingdom, Café Mox and Mox Boarding House. Damon cares deeply about creating a space where people can come together and play the games they enjoy. Card Kingdom is the retail and online store located in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle Washington. Attached to it is Café Mox, the French café inspired space where gamers can cozy up in a booth for hours. Mox Boarding House is the newest addition on the eastside in Bellevue Washington where the expansive tournament room and art deco themed café feature huge tables for board games and beers.

Kris Ferderer is a local Seattle Judge. He exemplifies the warm and welcoming nature of a Magic Judge. He’s knowledgeable about Legacy and does some commentating on Card Kingdom’s Twitch stream. Kris also streams all sorts of video games on Twitch, Superfluous Rhetoric. We talk about a wide range of things including funny judge calls, busted EDH combos and rolling up trash to create stars and planets.