Mr Nic Chrysochou:
Tell
the readers a bit about yourself.
Born
and raised on the east rand and moved to Pretoria when I started working. My
parents are of Greek heritage and have being living in South Africa for many
years now.
Went
to school in Springs where I was involved in many activities. I was on the
first team for tennis, cricket, hockey and chess. Was one of the top 2 students
from Grade 1 till Matric and received full colours for academics. I was elected
house prefect and one of two SRC representatives of my school.
 |
| Team South Africa at the 2012 Magic World Cup. |
I have
a Bachelor of Engineering degree (Computer) from the University of Pretoria. I
played for the first team Basketball at Tuks during my second year of studies.
I have
also played tennis, cricket and soccer at club level, and have been involved in
martial arts.
I am
currently employed at a software engineering company in Pretoria.
For
how long have you been playing Magic the Gathering?
I was
introduced to Magic the Gathering by some work colleagues in 2003. We played a
lot of “table-top” magic and had a lot of debates over rules interactions.
After
stopping for a few years I decided to take up the game again in 2010 where I
played my first ever competitive event at ICON. It was an extended tournament
and I ended up coming last but really enjoyed the experience.
What
is your favourite Magic the Gathering card of all time?
I
can't really choose a specific favourite card but Dark Ritual into Hypnotic Specter was pretty devastating for casual players.
What
is your favourite Magic the Gathering deck of all time?
I am
not particularly attached to any colours or specific decks, but when I played
casual magic I built a home-brew deck called Pirates, which became infamous
with my work colleagues. It was basically a mono blue control deck that made my
opponents sacrifice permanents when they tapped out. My work colleagues had to
go out of their way to combat the deck and despised playing against it.
What
is your proudest achievement in your Magic the Gathering career?
My
most memorable achievement is being on the national team at the Magic World Cup
2012, but a very close second is Top 4 at PTQ Philadelphia in 2011.
What
was your initial reaction when you heard of the Blowfish Invitational?
This
is a great tournament and it allows competitive players to get motivated to
prepare for a big event because we get so few competitive events in South
Africa (e.g. PTQ’s and other qualifying events)
The
meta-game in Standard - at the moment - is very much still in flux, what types
of decks are you preparing to play against at the Invitational.
The
meta-game in South Africa basically mimics the rest of the worlds, especially
the United States.Any
deck that is doing well at Star City Games Opens or other such events will have
to be prepared for.
Unfortunately there is little innovation here and players
are not supported when they attempt to come up with new ideas or strategies.
At the
moment my feeling is that midrange will form the largest part of the
invitational decks but a few aggro and control decks might sneak into Top 8.
The very confident/ambitious players will play the combo decks (of which there
are only two that I know of namely Epic Experiment and Angel of Glory’s
Rise + Fiend Hunter + Falkenrath Aristocrat).
Jund,
Junk, U/W/R, Bant, Reanimator are the midrange decks to be aware of.
Bant,
U/W/R, Grixis and Esper are the control decks to be aware of.
Bant,
Mono-red, Rakdos, Azorius and Selesnya are the aggro decks to be aware of.
How
have you gone about preparing yourself for the Invitational?
Unfortunately
it has been very difficult to assemble people to play-test against. There are a
lot of excuses and work/study commitments that have prevented adequate
preparation.
So the
preparation has mostly being individual but I have a good understanding of all
the known decks that are being played by the pros.
I have
only been able to test a few decks that I feel could stand a chance but have
not being able to innovate and will probably play a known deck.
I have
had a bit of practise with Return to Ravnica and M13 drafting but feel that at
least another 10 drafts of especially Return to Ravnica would assist me to be
more confident.
Which
four players do you reckon have the best chance of winning the inaugural
Invitational?
No
idea, with the amount of players and the game growing so much in South Africa,
the majority of players are on the same level and a small amount of skill and
some luck will push players into the Top 8.
When
your opponent sits down across from you, what do you think their initial
impression is of you?
To be
honest I am not concerned about what my opponent thinks, if it is a competitive
event I am there to win and am only concerned about socialising in between
rounds or after/before the tournament.
It is
different at casual events though.
Which
deck are you seriously thinking about playing at the Invitational?
Either
Junk Midrange/Reanimator or U/W/R Midrange.
Tell the readers a bit about yourself.
I am from Taiwan (Country that won Worlds this year if you
don't know) but raised here in South Africa, was introduced to Magic by a high
school friend.
I am Asian and not really a gaming person like what everyone
thinks of every Asian.
I enjoy Magic and the friends i met from it.
I live in Pretoria, because of work was in JHB for 1 year,
met the Kwagga team and they are a bunch of lekker people! I hope our Kwagga
team can all make it into the Top 8.
For how long have you been playing Magic the
Gathering?
What is your favourite Magic the Gathering deck
of all time?
What is your proudest achievement in your Magic
the Gathering career?
I don't know, I just started, I did came 12th at CPT PTQ last year and I
just missed the Top 8 due to a hangover [ This site does condone the recreational mixing of Magic the Gathering and alcohol, Ed].
What was your initial reaction when you heard of
the Blowfish Invitational?
Good, we get to play a free tourney
The meta-game in Standard - at the moment - is
very much still in flux, what types of decks are you preparing to play against
at the Invitational.
How have you gone about preparing yourself for
the Invitational?
Which four players do you reckon have the best
chance of winning the inaugural Invitational?
When your opponent sits down across from you,
what do you think their initial impression is of you?
Which deck are you seriously thinking
about playing at the Invitational?
I love Bant alot and especially any deck with Entreat the Angels! so i will be playing a deck that will have Entreats no matter what!
Nice read. Gonna tech a deck to beat Wayne and Nic now. ;)
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