By Jeremy Dezani

Welcome to “Player Focus”!

“Player Focus” is a short interview with one of the greatest MTG players in the world. The goal is to present the player and his MTG profile to Japanese and international communities. “Player Focus” will feature a different player each time.

This Time we have Patrick Dickmann (@0fe1ia). He is a German professional player. Known as a Modern specialist, he has two Modern Pro Tour top eight finishes as well as a Modern Grand Prix win. Dickmann has been considered a major contributor to the development of the Splinter Twin archetype.

Interview

First Name: Patrick
Last Name: Dickmann
Age: 27
Nationality: Germany
Sponsor: MTG Mintcard
Current / lifetime ProPoints: 171
Pro Level 2017/2018: Gold

Occupation / Hobbies outside MTG:

Student

When did you start MTG? Which set? How did you discover the game?

The first booster pack that I bought was Exodus when I was about 9 years old. A new kid had just moved into town and his older brother was playing Magic. I thought that the cards looked pretty cool and also wanted to learn how to play the game.

What famous player influenced you the most to become a professional player?

None in particular. I was always into playing Magic myself instead of watching coverage.

Previous Achievements:

PT TOP 8: 2; 3rd at Born of the Gods in Valencia (Modern), 4th at Oath of the Gatewatch in Atlanta(Modern)

GP TOP 8: 1 (1 win) GP Antwerp in 2013 (Modern)

Others: 2 times national champion in Germany (2013/14 Season and 2016/17 Season)

If you have one, who is your favourite Japanese Player and why:

I don’t want to pick a favourite but I get along well with Tomoharu Saito, Kenji Tsumura and Katsuhiro Mori.

I am quite convinced that the other Japanese players are just as a friendly but I have been chatting with those three regularly at the Pro Tours and always had a good time.

Favourite MTG Format and why:

Modern, especially back in 2013-2016 since I loved to play 《Splinter Twin》 and worked a lot on the deck. The format rewards practice and knowing your deck well and there’s a lot of tiny interactions that one has to learn.

Favourite limited archetype in the current draft format and why:

I only played at the Pre-Release so far, but given that I like attacking, R/W Dinosaur Aggro and blue based tempo decks were my favourite archetypes so far. I think this set has a decent amount of viable archetypes so I may change my opinion once I got to play the format a little more.

Favourite MTG Deck:

Standard: Mono Red (I don’t enjoy standard very much and it changes fast so usually you have to change your deck a lot anyway…)

Modern: Affinity

Legacy: Grixis Delver, Show and Tell (I am pretty bad at legacy though)

Do you prefer to play aggressive, control, midrange or combo deck? Why?

I like being proactive when playing Magic. My favourite playstyle is any kind of tempo deck.

1) What is your favourite deck to play at the moment? Any format;

I am playing much less Magic than I used to at the moment. That is due to university and being a little less excited about the game in general. I enjoyed Mono Red in the previous standard format but due to the rotation I don’t know how the format will shape up in the future.

Image Copyright: Wizards of the Coast

For modern, Storm is my deck of choice right now. With 《Baral, Chief of Compliance》 being the newest addition to the deck it has become a lot better and more consistent and it is certainly among the Tier 1 decks. Turn 3-4 kills are quite common even through disruption as resolving just 1 《Gifts Ungiven》 is oftentimes game over.

2) What is your First Pick, First Pack in this booster and why?

This pack is pretty weak and since I don’t have much experience with the draft format yet, I had a tough time making a decision. The uncommons all need a lot of work to be playable, be it having lots of merfolks, vampires or many of the same creature type in general. The rare is certainly interesting and I think that it can be quite good in the right deck as haste is a very powerful keyword.

However, it is pushing you in a very limited direction very early in the draft and you will open yourself up to huge blowouts in the matches if your opponent has a removal spell for the creature that you are trying to copy. From the commons, the two green explore cards and 《Jade Guardian》 are decent in my opinion. 《Tishana's Wayfinder》 is probably the best among those three since explore is a pretty good ability and having a 3/3 for 3 is fine as well as having a 2/2 that drew you a land. However, I would probably take 《Unfriendly Fire》 which is a solid spell in almost any strategy and does not require a setup like many of the other cards in the pack do.

You are the most famous Spinter Twin player in the world. What do you think about the ban of the card in modern? Which argument can you give to keep ban or unban the card?

I do not think that banning 《Splinter Twin》 was necessary at all. In my opinion, it was mostly banned to ensure that the meta would shift for Pro Tour Atlanta since the deck was never as dominant as for example 《Birthing Pod》 was. Therefore, I am hoping that the card will be unbanned one day. The Matchup against for example Grixis Shadow would probably be pretty bad because of a fast clock and disruptive cards like 《Stubborn Denial》 and cheap removal. I do not really know why to keep 《Splinter Twin》 banned but maybe people just did not enjoy having the deck around.

During your young carer, you reach 2 Pro Tour Top8, both in modern. Tell us what did you feel during this 2-special moments for you. Do you have any regrets during the game in the top 8?

Especially in Valencia when I was still pretty inexperienced I was overwhelmed by feelings when I won my “win-and-in” match against Sam Pardee and making Top 8 there meant a lot to me since I was pretty unhappy about my private life back then and being successful at something made me feel better about myself. I remember being devastated after losing in the semifinals although I don’t think that I misplayed badly. It was just me being very unhappy about the loss.

Image Copyright: Wizards of the Coast

Two years later in Atlanta I thought that I was playing my last Pro Tour since I missed Gold by a point in the previous season but after a 9-0-1 result in the Modern portion of the tournament I once again made it to the semifinals. Despite losing I was grateful that I made it this far and didn’t feel any regrets.

You played against a lot of Professional Players. Which one is the most difficult to face and why?

I don’t have a “rival” but I have never managed to defeat Shaun McLaren so my lifetime record against him is probably 0-5 or something like that.

Shaun McLaren and Patrick Dickmann
Image Copyright: Wizards of the Coast

I don’t know why I can’t win against him though!

You were Germany Captain for WMC during the last 3 years. This time it will be the new Hareruya Pros, Marc Tobiasch. You played with last WMC with him last year. What can you tell us about him?

Obviously, I would have loved to represent Germany at the WMC again but Marc is a deserving captain , as well.

Marc Tobiasch
Image Copyright: JK Entertainment

He plays a lot more than I do (after all I only played in 3 Grand Prix in the last season) and finally managed to have his breakout performance at Pro Tour Nashville. Therefore, he is a deserving champion as well as a talented player. I am curious to see how he will lead the team.

Some people don’t know but you have a (Splinter) twin brother, Fabian, who also play MTG in Grand Prix and Pro Tour. Are you talking MTG and prepare tournaments together? What are the differences between you and him as a player?

I usually discuss the decks that I am bringing to tournaments with my brother but he is not playing a lot at the moment. My brother and I have a very similar play-style and we do enjoy the same kind of decks.

Fabian and Patrick
Image Copyright: Wizards of the Coast

He is probably a better limited player than I am while I have more experience when it comes to constructed. I am quite convinced that he could be a Pro Tour regular if he made it on the train.