29: How Paul Rietzl Learns From Losing

Paul Rietzl was born in Boston, MA and currently lives in Scottsdale, AZ working as an Executive Recruiter. He has 12 Grand Prix top 8s, including 2 wins, and 4 Pro Tour top 8s including winning Pro Tour Amsterdam in 2010. Paul is a member of Team UltraPro and writes for ChannelFireball.com. He is a member of Magic: The Gathering's Hall of Fame Class of 2014.

Card and Set Evaluation Tips

Paul recognizes his strength is not in deck building. He leans on the deck building abilities of those he trusts and then tweaks from there, sharing his insights along the way.

Limited Tips

Sealed: Check out your Mythics and Rares first. Note any removal. Bring with you an idea of the format, is it fast, slow or tempo based.
Missing land drops is usually bad in slower formats, make sure your mana base is solid.

Draft: Keep in mind the colors those around you are in by noting what the next most powerful cards are after you pick.
Don't commit yourself to colors too early.
The best drafters keep it simple. When there is a bomb they draft it. They stick to Limited 101

How to Prepare

Look at deck lists online, copy them, plat test a lot and tweak.

Improvement

Magic: The Gathering is an expensive hobby but it increases it's rewards exponentially the more you put into it.

Identify what level you want to perform at and then have fun and understand there is a resource commitment associated with each level. If  kitchen table Magic is your thing, that's awesome. If you want to dominate the Pro Tour, go for it! The money required for those two levels is vastly different.

Keep your body healthy. Regular exercise gets oxygen to the brain and has helped Paul keep his edge.

Magic Resources

Huey Jensen articles

Reid Duke articles

Chris Fennel articles

Patrick Chapin articles

Interview Links

Magic: The Gathering main website

Star City Games

Channel Fireball

MTG Top 8

Connect With Paul

Twitter: @paulrietzl

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