33: Constant Collaboration With Others Got Justin Cohen to the Pro Tour

Justin Cohen is the 2015 Rookie of the Year and has started topping the charts by making it into one Pro Tour top 8.

Click to Tweet: I got a ton of value from Justin Cohen when he shared his story on MTG Pro Tutor today! Click here: http://bit.ly/mtgprotutor-ep34

First Set

Fourth Edition
(This set had no symbol)

Favorite Set

Modern Masters

Limited is Justin's favorite format so Modern Masters was  his favorite because it had a very deep Limited format.

Favorite Card

Gaea's Cradle

What makes Magic: The Gathering fun for you?

Drafting. Plain and simple, Justin LOVES to draft.

Early Challenge

Finding others to play with was hard as a young player. On top of that he had to find players better than himself so he could improve. Whenever Justin identified someone he could learn from he would gravitate towards them and soak in all he could.

Level Up Moment

From Theros to Khans was Justin's biggest growth spurt. He avidly consumed content and by knowing more he made better decisions.

Proudest Magic Moment

Making Top 8 at Pro Tour Fate Reforged in 2015.

Best Format

Draft.

How to Choose a Standard Deck

Take up a deck that minimizes your opponents advantage. Justin will likely play a fast deck because Standard is not his strength and limiting the time a superior Standard player has to gain control is advantageous for him.

Biggest Mistake Players Make

Getting their priorities mixed up. People say they want to improve but then default to protecting their ego. Too many people ascribe luck to their loses instead of internalizing what they did wrong.

Card Evaluation Tips

Justin needs the whole picture and waits for most of the cards to be released before he sifts through them.

He looks for trends in the size of creatures and trends in removal quality. Justin also will consider the archetypes being supported.

Sealed & Draft Tips

Sealed: Justin looks for flexibility. Try to construct multiple decks with your pool. Register your best deck but constantly reevaluate and sideboard aggressively to combat your opponents strategy.

Too make this work you should sleeve your entire pool and pay close attention to what you take out and put in.

Draft: Remember 2 things: what you expect to be taken for the 3-4 picks after you, then look at the next set of good cards so you know what's likely to come back.

Keep a mental tally of your mana curve.

Team Building

You want people who are not afraid to be wrong and who aren't afraid to throw out ideas. Surround people who complement your skill set.

Improvement Suggestions

Build a set specific cube to learn the interactions between cards and for a way to practice that's easy on the wallet.

Magic Resource

Star City Games

Channel Fireball

Connect With Justin

Twitter: @trippdup

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