Jon Finkel

Vigilance - there was no tapping or untapping

Hi people, I'm Jon Finkel. I went out uneventfully with a girl a couple weeks ago and we never spoke again. Then she posts about how she cant believe I didn't warn her I was an ex magic world champion, and the internet had issues with that. Somehow, I'm the top IAMA request on reddit, so here I am. Ask me Anything.

I think the biggest thing is the deep seeded emotional understanding that the right play is the right play regardless of outcomes. The ability to make a decision 5 straight times, lose 5 times because of it, and still make it the 6th time if it's the right play. Magic players have been developing that since their teens, and its just so applicable to poker, gambling, and life in general.

I read a cracked article about online poker where they talked about it making you "immune to bad luck". You just take the bad beats in every area of your life in stride and move on.

Nope

Nope

It's nice to know the internet has my back, so in total it looks like it was a net positive, though I still feel oddly creeped out by it.

I felt a little, I dunno, violated. Even though the post itself didnt make me look bad at all(at least I didnt think). Still, its sort of like someone publishing emails you wrote to your girlfriend, or posting part of your diary - it just feels wrong

My favorite deck of all time(obviously it'd have to be one I played) was my PT Chicago 97 deck, which was 4 color Prison. I lost in the semis to a deck I'd beat twice in the swiss but that deck was so good and so well tuned. My only blue cards were 4 counter spell(no arcane denial here) and I had one of the first effective transformative sideboards(ehrnams and wildfires). Sadly right after that they printed Wasteland which basically made the deck unplayable. A close second was my Worlds 00 tinker deck.

I actually dont really have a 'favorite deck designer' - so many of my good friends were so good at building decks

I think it's kind of funny. I mean really the article coulda been a lot worse. I think I'm unpale (for me at least) after a summer of riding my bike and playing basketball, and I dont know if I've ever worn a 'hedge fund uniform' but there are worse things than "He was tall and thin and I cant believe he didnt tell me about this game he used to be really good at"

I was excited because I knew it gave me a potential path to victory. I think historically one of my greatest strengths was playing optimally when I have very little chance of winning rather than giving up/just doing the autopilot plays. When your opponent does something that moves your win % from 0% to 20%, it's definitely a big deal.