A place where the top players of Magic gather, Hareruya Pros. They fight for success worldwide and achieve lots of great results.

The hottest player now joins the Hareruya Pros!

His name is Dmitriy Butakov!

Yes, the champion of 2017 Magic Online Championship has achieved to become a Platinum Level Pro, and is now the strongest player on Magic Online!

His magnificent win of the 2017 Magic Online Championship proves his high talents in this game, but he had also won the 2012 Magic Online Championship.

Not only playing on online, but he has attended Pro Tour Theros and Pro Tour Hour of Devastation, making him have lots of experience at the Pro Tour.

As he decided to join the Hareruya Pros, we had an interview with him. Let’s check it out!

Interview: Dimitriy Butakov

When did you start MTG?

Image Copyright : Wizards of the Coast

It was very long ago, I think Apocalypse just got released, my uncle has shown it to me and taught how to play, becoming a scapegoat in our family for all my failures.

You are a specialist of Magic Online. How long do you play in a week?

Image Copyright : Wizards of the Coast

Well, this really depends on lots of things-am I preparing for something or am I just grinding, do I have offline business for today or not, in general it’s like 2-14 hours a day with a couple of day-offs.

Congratulations on winning the MOCS! How was the tournament?

The tournament was awesome, as usual Wizards of the Coast have done a great job organizing such event and making sure we all enjoy it. Just wait a bit for my report on the touranment to be released on Hareruya!

What is your favorite deck and card?

A have a lot of decks I really like, but first place goes to old standard Eldrazi Green, the deck seemed very simple, but offered a great variety of strategies and was incredible persistent.

My favorite card is 《Gifts Ungiven》, because after you’ve made your choice it requires your opponent to make a successful saving throw not to make situation even worse.

What is your favorite format?

Momir Basic is my choice. All other formats in structured can be “solved” by titanic work, while Momir offers the raw knowledge of strategy and decision-making.

Please tell me about the Russian Magic community.

World Magic Cup 2014
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As you know Russia is pretty big, so we have more like local communities, speaking of Siberia, all our communities are trying to make some regular open events in their city to give people from the other cities a chance to meet their friends and play their favorite game.

Who is the Magic player that you respect?

I think you can learn from almost any experienced player if you just try to listen to what he is saying, especially if his vision of a certain game aspect runs counter with your own. I’ve learned a lot from Brazilian and Portugese guys on PT we were staying in one hotel. I’ve learned a very interesting draft theory, that can be well used outside of Magic, from Jose Cabezas on this MOCS.

Willy Edel
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But most of all I want to mention Willy Edel, there was a PT with HOF announcement, I knew he was one of the candidates and was rooting for him, so I’ve seen him on this PT and asked did he make it, he said no then I said some cheering up nonsense people usually say in such situations, but he was like “No problems. Next year”. No boasting. No self-pity. Next year he made it. I think there is a lot to be learned from this attitude and it helped me to persist during my not-so-successful years on MO and make it back to the final event.

What got you interested in joining the Hareruya Pros?

Well, I’ve asked a bunch of players where should I look for probable sponsorship, and the answers were somewhere between “dunno, maybe Hareruya” and “just try Hareruya”.

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Apart from that you have a great team of top-level players I could learn a lot from, you have a reputation of a team that tries to communicate with players, not a group of arrogant Pros who have “no time for you”, and that’s something I really respect, and, of course, it’s great to have an international team-a good way to know what’s happening outside your world.

Please tell me your next goal as Magic player.

Now it’s time to turn to some professional paper Magic.

Please write a message to the reader.

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Please feel free to ask your questions and comment the articles, feedback is always welcome!

We have already received his 2017 Magic Online Championship report, which we are editing at this moment. This report by the king of Magic Online will be delivered to you soon, so don’t miss it!

Hareruya Pros has gained another strong member.

Please give your support and look forward to seeing Dmitriy Butakov and the Hareruya Pros with their future success!