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 Raphael Levy(@hahamoud). He is a great player who has been active since long ago. He was inducted to the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour Hall of Fame in November 2006.

Interview

First Name: Raphael

Last Name: Levy

Age: 36

Nationality: France

Sponsor: TCGplayer.com

Current / lifetime ProPoints: 711

Pro Level 2017/2018: Gold

Occupation / Hobbies outside MTG:

Publisher at Jits Magazine France // Purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

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

I started Magic at the age of 12 in 1994, when a friend told me about the game. As we didn’t quite understand all the cards nor the rules, we played with our own for a bit until I decided to ask others to teach me exactly how the game worked. I never stopped since then.

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

Image Copyright: Wizards of the Coast

No one influenced me to become a pro player. I had a few mentors when I started to be good at the game, Manuel Bevand, Marc Hernandez, Michael Sochon, but playing on the Pro Tour came naturally as it didn’t take long for me to qualify. I played my first PT in ’97 (I was 15) and jumped onto the gravy train in ’98.

Previous Achievements:

PT TOP 8: 3

GP TOP 8: 22 (6 wins)

Others: MTG Pro Tour Hall of Fame (class of 2006)

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

I’ve been friends with Shuhei Nakamura, Kenji Tsumura and Tomoharu Saito for a long time. I always enjoy exchanging laughs with these guys as our paths have crossed very often in the last 12 years.

Favorite limited archetype in the current draft format (Ixalan) and why:

U/G Merfolk. It’s the only deck I’ve been able to win with consistenly, to a point where I would not consider drafting anything else than U/G.

I would have no problem aggressively picking a 《Jungle Delver》 over a good red rare. I just don’t think I want to pass a 《One With the Wind》 if I’m passed one as it’s to me, the most powerful card in the format at common.

Favorite MTG Deck:

Modern: Dredge and Zombie Loam. Anything related with graveyard strategies.

Standard: I’m not a big fan of the current Standard format. Waiting patiently for the new set to come out!

Legacy: I haven’t played Legacy in a very long time, but I was advocating Miracles before it was cool! (and long before 《Sensei's Divining Top》 was banned).

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

Historically, I’ve been more into Aggressive decks. I feel like I always want to be on the side of the player causing problems. I prefer to find solutions to deal with potential defenses, rather than trying to figure out how to deal with all the threat of a format.

Favorite MTG Deck:

I think my favorite deck to play at the moment is Dredge. I played it the last time at Grand Prix Birmingham 2017 a couple of months ago . Here’s the list from the GP:

The deck hasn’t changed much since it started being good in Modern. With or without 《Golgari Grave-Troll》, the deck is hard to stop and it just feels like there’s never enough hate in sideboards. Players usually don’t have that many sideboard slots to allocate specifically against Dredge, so they only have 2 or 3. There are a bunch of cards in Modern that you can play in the deck to spice it up a little.

Amonkhet block brought us aftermath cards like 《Driven // Despair》 or 《Failure // Comply》 that were nice addition to the deck.

Some like to draw cards, I like to dump my library in my graveyard!

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

The obvious picks would probably be 《Glorifier of Dusk》 or 《Vanquish the Weak》. As I mentioned before, I would try to force Merfolk every time. The only card that could fit a Merfolk deck is 《Watertrap Weaver》 and I would have no shame in first picking it, even if it’s not the best card in the pack.

You didn’t show up at PT Ixalan. Why? How many Pro Tour in row did you play before this?

I had planned to go to Pro Tour Ixalan knowing there would be a risk my wife Monica would give birth while I was away. I would only be away for a couple of days and she was due more than two and a half weeks after my return (the risk was quite low). A couple of hours before boarding to Albuquerque, she started labour.

My son Lavan was born at 10:07 on the day I was supposed to leave. That was a close call as I wouldn’t have wanted to miss that. Before PT Ixalan, I had played 91 Pro Tours in a row, an uninterrupted streak since August 1998.

So, you just become a father. How this will impact your MTG life? Will you become a player who appear only during pro tour? Will you bring your son and wife with you around the world?

I don’t think it will affect my Magic career too much. I still produce content and need to play tournaments in order to do so. I will be doing a little more coverage this year as I’m not aiming a specific Pro level this year (having missed a Pro Tour makes it that much more complicated).

When do you want your son to start MTG? Do you already have MTG plan for him?

Image Copyright: Wizards of the Coast

As soon as Little One is able to travel around, of course I’ll take him with me. If I can, I want to prepare him to travel around, do his own stuff. But it’s early to tell. As for him starting Magic, it will be up to him. Maybe he’ll be an artist like his mom and won’t want to play. But I believe he’ll be hooked at some point!

Many old Hall of famer doesn’t join Pro Tour anymore. You are known as the one who do not lose any motivation or passion for the game. How can you explain this longevity?

As I explained in an article I wrote a couple of weeks ago(The PT and Me), the Pro Tour is something that kept my life together for all these years. It was always something to look forward to and I planned my whole life around it. It has become a routine that I still enjoy doing and that I don’t see ending anytime soon.

You are a witness of the Pro Tour evolution. I would like you to tell us more about the differences with the old time. Players level, format, professional community, lifestyle and your thoughts about it.

The main difference between now and then is the access to information. It’s hard to keep anything secret for more than a couple of days now. If a deck is successful in a local tournament in Japan, it won’t take long until everyone knows about it. That wasn’t the case back in the days.

Image Copyright: Wizards of the Coast

You were dependent on the people you were playing with. While the level of players isn’t necessarily better now than before, the worse players have access to much better decks.