Pillow Talk MtG 16: One PT Isn't Enough!

 Welcome to Pillow Talk, the official competitive Magic the Gathering podcast of Team Pillow Fort! This week, Tyson joins us to talk about requalifying at his first ProTour! It's a rollercoaster of emotions, and we think you'll be able to relate to some of Tyson's journey. Thank you as always for listening!

Team Pillow Fort's Twitter: https://x.com/TPillowFortMTG 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:14

Welcome to Pillow Talk, the official podcast of Team PillowFort MTG. I'm your host, Jonathan Johnson, aka Tanuki JJ, and with me as always, Austin Walker. Austin, we've got another special episode today. We are going to be interviewing Team Pillow Fort member Tyson Roilance. You've probably heard this name. He's world famous by this point for his top eight in Milwaukee. And we're going to interview him, get some background about his journey in magic and his qualification for the PT, and also uh his now re-qualification for the second PT. Uh Tyson, welcome.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_02 0:53

Yeah, we're super excited that you took the time to chat with us. And obviously, it's always fun to see friends and uh teammates do really well. So we want to share your story with uh our listeners.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Yeah, sounds good.

SPEAKER_02 1:06

Perfect. So why don't we start off? If you just tell us about your journey in magic. How'd you get started?

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Oh, that's a good question. I don't know. I've always had a competitive edge as a kid. I've always really liked the competitive nature of things. Um and my brother, when he was when I was 14, my younger brother, he got a starter deck as a as like a as a birthday gift. And it kind of just like, I don't know, I saw the cars, I thought they were really cool, really pretty, and it kind of just sparked this huge interest for me. Um and then I split a fat pack with my cousin, and then I just like, I don't know, ever since then I just like started going to FMs. I'd forced my siblings to play with me all the time. And yeah, I kind of just started from a very young young age of having that desire to like wanting to be better. Um and so I only played kitchen table magic for probably six months before I went to my first uh actual FM. Um and I was playing against like some guys that are like in their mid-20s, and I almost won my like third FM. Um, and that feeling of just like accomplishment and almost having like that win, even at the FM level, really like began that journey for me. I don't know. And then sort of so then after that we started going to PTQs with a lot of like the older guys when I was like 15, 16. We would go to all those uh what were they called back then, like the pre-pro tour qualifiers?

SPEAKER_02 2:19

Yeah, the P PTQs.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I don't know. I did that um basically most of my like high school years, right? And after that I went on an LDS mission for two years. So I really didn't play until I got back when I was 20, 21. Played in high played in college a lot. Um, but like I don't know. It wasn't really until like the new RC uh RCQ system kind of started that I really tried to like get back into like the super competitive scene.

SPEAKER_02 2:46

So you didn't play any of the regional PTQs after winning a PPTQ or anything in the old system?

SPEAKER_00 2:51

I never won a PPTQ. There was this uh there was this guy named Justin Sloan, local, who I guess we called him the big like the final boss basically, and I could just never beat him. Um I I don't know. I was always stuck in like just just always getting second, um, always like barely missing it. So I never actually made it to any of like the PTQs or anything like that. So I didn't really get a taste for like the traveling tournaments until the RC system started.

SPEAKER_02 3:15

Do your siblings still play?

SPEAKER_00 3:16

No, no, they uh they all jump ship pretty quickly. They're way more of a casual players, so my brother will still play every once in a while, but it's it's nothing compared to competitive magic.

SPEAKER_02 3:27

It does seem to be an advantage. I know when we talked to Elijah, obviously, you know, his brothers play, and they talked a lot about sort of just competing against each other in the house. But uh was there any of that when you first started since your your brother got his stuff first? Were you guys competing to, you know, one up each other?

SPEAKER_00 3:43

Yeah, we've always like grown up wanting to one up each other. So I feel like um he he would play a lot with me at the very beginning. But then it came it became uh pretty pretty obvious uh pretty early that I just had a I was just way more interested in the game than they were. Um and so they kind of got sick of me like demanding that they played with me. And and so it's like I don't know. Like it just got to the point where I no longer felt like I was having that like competitive feeling playing with my brother. So yeah, F and M became a like basically my second home, uh my local game store. And so I just play with people there. I started making a lot of friends, and that's really how I got into it.

SPEAKER_02 4:15

So how did you shift from the you become the FM in boss and you start to see that there are these RCQs coming up in this new system? Tell us about your you know initial jump into you know the the really competitive space to try to get into the RC and uh eventually to the PT.

SPEAKER_00 4:34

Yeah, so I don't know. I feel like competitive magic kind of took like a standstill, right, around like 2020, um, with like COVID and everything happening. And then they had the whole shift from like the pro series where it kind of really was just like the big names constantly and arena was getting really big soon. I don't know. I feel like after COVID happened, they made that huge change um where they kind of re-amped the uh the whole system, right? And so they did they announced the RCs that can lead right to the Pro Tour. They started having all these RCQs at local stores. And I actually had just gotten out of a relationship um with this girl, and I was kind of on pause with magic while I was dating her. But afterwards, I was like, you know, I most guys, you know, go to the gym and they're like, man, like you know, I need to hit the gym so I can get over this woman. Uh for me it was magic. That's amazing. I uh I had sold my collection, right? And I'm I'm back at the game store, and I'm like, you know, I really want to like get back into it. I think Modern Horizons 1 or 2 had just come out, and so I went to my local game store and I'm playing, and that's where I met our teammate actually uh Jacob Wedding. And so having him there and finding this uh friend, you know, really helped me like get back into the game, and then we started going to RCQs together. Um, and then I I ended up qualifying for RC San Diego, playing. I think I was playing Creativity at the RCQ for that for that qualification. I don't know. Did either of you guys go to RC San Diego? Were you able to experience that one?

SPEAKER_02 5:54

Yes, I loved San Diego. The most comfortable chairs uh of any events.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Oh, it was it was beautiful. It's probably like it was a great venue. It was a wonderful venue, right? It was during like with DreamHack. Um, DreamHack had most of their space like down in the convention center. It was darker, right? That's where they have all the electronic games and everything. Um and then the magic scene was up top, covered by this canopy. Just we had the skylight. Skylights, it was gorgeous, honestly, like the most comfortable convention center ever. So it just it gave me kind of that like what's that feeling called? I don't know. It just gave me this huge, like, natural high almost of being there and competing that really just like made me want to keep doing it over and over again.

SPEAKER_02 6:34

Ironically, that's where I met the mutual friend of Austin and I, who how we got introduced. So yes, I was still living in the Pacific Northwest at the time and was planning on moving to Nashville shortly after that. So I had talked to another player in Tennessee and long story, but Austin and I ended up meeting through this person and kind of a kind of a small world. And before I let it go, shout out Tyson's wife. You are now in a relationship, married, and your wife travels with you and is super supportive of your magic habits. So uh she doesn't care about the gym. She she she loves you playing a gym.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

Well, she does care about the gym. We actually go most mornings at like 4 30 a.m. before work, but she is also very supportive of my magic career, which I'm very appreciative of.

SPEAKER_02 7:18

But she loved you and was impressed because you were such a good magic player, not because you punch press or anything else.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

Um so so you you play in a few RCs and um you know, haven't day two'd any RCs, you're feeling a little down, we get to Milwaukee and and we have a conversation kind of you know leading up to the the RC the night before, two nights before we compete in Milwaukee. Um so talk us talk to us a little bit about like you know what you're feeling going into Milwaukee and and all of that, you know, before you you end up getting your top eight.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

I don't know. I yeah, when I when I came to, I just like you know, I had been on the team for a couple months at that point, and I just felt like I had this huge desire to be a better player and to show that I can really like I don't know compete with the best. I feel like a lot of the teammates are very analytical and they're very smart, very, very smart teammates. And I just felt like I I don't know how to say it really, but like I just don't feel like I like I fit in as much. You know, I feel like I'm I kind of feel the game a little bit more than I like look at analytics as much. And so I I just have this like kind of imposter syndrome was like, do I even deserve to be on like a team where everyone's like trying to compete at the top level? Um and you kind of just like smack me in the face a little bit and said, like, shut up, like you know, like you're here, like you help, you like really like you're really important to the team, and like I don't know, it kind of just like you gave me that confident booster, and I I was getting texts from uh Jacob Wedding that that same that same weekend just saying, like, hey, like good luck, like you got this. And I feel like our other teammates like Drew and Elijah really like helped me feel like I can do this. I mean you guys knew this, right? Like I had a hard time deciding last second what deck I wanted to play.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

I I was actually shocked because the coverage in Milwaukee showed that you were playing Doomsday, which was I don't know if you just didn't change the name when you switched it last minute. I was so confused because you and I had talked about Doomsday, we talked about which deck to play, you know, we had some conversations, and I was like, Yeah, dude, I think this deck is great. And then I show you're like 6-0, it says Doomsday. I'm like, I'm so glad he played that deck. They're like, no man, he pivoted last second. Like literally last second, you didn't even change the name of the deck in melee.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

But it's so yeah, how the system works, right? Like when you update your deck list, it doesn't it automatically updates before it tells you to like change the archetype, yeah, just with how the system is made. And so I I I had changed my deck back and forth six times so much that I think the system just didn't update the name um to airbending. So yeah, it's I I wasn't playing Demerex Cruciator, I was playing Bant Airbending, I was one of the last airbenders, you know. It was but yeah, like that decision too. Um going into it, I I had just this like internal feeling that I wasn't comfortable enough with Doomsday. Um, even though like everyone had told me, you know, it's the better deck, you should probably play that. Like, I just had this feeling that I knew that I could play banter bending way better. Um, and so Drew and Elijah kind of talked about Cub too, because we were kind of pretty low on Cub decks at the at the moment, but Elijah and Drew was like, oh no, well, we've seen these trends, and it feels like Cub's kind of on the up and up again. And so that conversation kind of was like, okay, fine, like I'll finally lock in, banterabending. This is the deck I'm taking. We're just gonna, you know, say screw it, just go for it, and we're gonna do our best and just have a good mindset. Also, like that tournament, I after the talk with Austin, I made a mental decision that I'm not gonna complain about any game I play. I'm not gonna talk about my games with anyone. I'm just gonna have a positive mindset, cheer on my teammates at the same time, and after every single game, just chill. Just kind of just relax, not be so focused. I feel like, no offense, like magic players, but we have a huge problem of every single time we lose, we rant to the hell about it, which is completely okay. It's there's nothing wrong with it, but I feel like in my past RCs, I've never day two'd, and I feel like it's because I was constantly complaining about the games that I was messing up on, and I was so always so frustrated, and so I feel like I really need to take a different approach and try it out. And I mean, I feel like it paid off for me personally. I only dropped one one game uh day one, which I I mean I've never made day two before, so to only drop one day one was an absolute it felt great.

SPEAKER_02 11:36

Can we deep dive into that a little bit? Because I I remember you were qualified for Houston, right? You played Houston, didn't day two, and then when we were in Las Vegas, if I remember, you were trying to LCQ for that second invite, right?

SPEAKER_00 11:47

Yeah, so so Houston, I actually I wasn't actually I wasn't qualified at all for Houston or Vegas. I I was too busy, you know, getting married, so I do I didn't do many RCQs during that season.

SPEAKER_02 11:57

Yeah, yeah, you know, priorities.

SPEAKER_00 11:59

Yeah, so I I went to Houston anyway, just you know, for the love of the game. It was like I got some money, I got some PTO, I can definitely give it a shot. Houston went with some local buddies. Um it was the I was I think it was like the first RC that you know that Pillow Team Pillow Fort was really at.

unknown 12:15

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 12:15

So I got to meet some of the teammates, which I really wanted to do, you know, kind of get a feel for the team, um, go with some of my local buddies, and I just you know I LCQ'd there and I I played how did I play? I think I played Tron. Um it probably was it might have been Blue Tron.

SPEAKER_02 12:29

And it, you know, I just pretty sure you were on Blue Tron at the time, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Blue Tron. I mean I I had top four to 10k with it, was like a local at a local uh uh open, and so I was like, yeah, this actually's kind of hot, I can give it a shot. Um unfortunately in the LCQs, everyone was playing the new uh the Blink deck um and as well as like Prowess. Um and Prowess was a really hard matchup for me at the time, and so I I ended up not making it the LCQs. Um Vegas, because Avatar was out, I love Avatar, and so I was like, I'm just gonna play a bunch of the uh limited LCQs. And I had one really good deck and ended up losing in the final one, and then I had a really bad deck and ended up losing like round two, I think. And so I don't know. I was like, I don't know. I wasn't like super stressed about those events because I know I didn't like put the time and energy in during the RCQ season. So like me not qualifying, I couldn't be too upset, but it was still nice like be there with the team and for the team.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

It's still it's it's it's pretty stark, right? To to go from not being qualified, not being not getting the LCQ wins, to you were qualified in Portland, right? You played that event?

SPEAKER_00 13:33

Yeah, I was qualified in Portland and I was qualified in uh Milwaukee.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

And I don't remember exactly how Portland went, but I I feel like it didn't go as well as you had hoped.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

No, I went two and four. I played uh Jess Guy Control. It was one of those things where I was so stressed about what the meta was gonna be, because I think we were the first event after like um a major change to the format, right? Standard hadn't really been touched like that much. Moralin was new and it was yeah, Portland was a like a whole new world, pretty fresh uh standard tur standard format. So I yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:02

I'm just trying to set the table for these conversations with Austin in in Milwaukee because it it wasn't like you know, you'd had one bad tournament or something, you had sort of maybe felt a little bit like you were hitting that glass ceiling and you were trying to break through it. Is that is that sort of how it felt?

SPEAKER_00 14:18

Like I had never day two'd before, ever. I was constantly I think the like the closest I got, I went like five, three, and one because I was like six and two, I was like five and two uh in Dallas like a year or two ago for Pioneer. And me and my opponent were going to time, and before it was like we ran five minutes left, game three, and he was like, we were both like, hey, whoever has like the better position, um, we made like a gentleman's agreement that the other one would concede because if we tie, neither of us really have a strong chance making day two. Of course, we get to the end of the game. I feel like I'm very head. He says he still has a chance. We cannot agree on who gets to have the win, so we tie, and we both end up losing the last round, neither of us make day two. That was the closest I had ever been. Other than that, like you know, a lot of four-four drops, um, stuff like that. Like, just it was it was it was hell, right? Like, I just I never felt like I could break that glass ceiling, and then had the conversation with Austin because I felt like I was like, I don't feel like I I'm progressing, I'm not improving. And then next thing I know, Austin's here supporting me. This wonderful team we have, which is so supportive and so willing to help each other become better, has my back, is helping me figure out what deck I should play last second, helping me fix my mindset, and then I'm able to make top eight of Milwaukee.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

And I think one of the things that we talked about too, that it's it it's really important to to understand is that like uh I I remember having the conversation that like dude, uh almost everybody on the team has had a series of runs of you know, two fours, three fours, five fours, whatever. You know, like I I had at that point I had only made I think two or three day twos. Um a bunch of the people on on the team had never qualified for for the Pro Tour at all, and there were still a handful of people left that hadn't day two'd, you know. And and when when you start seeing these players that you respect uh as you know, the the the real life circumstances that they come with, you know, the the fact that they haven't had these day twos, and it's like, oh, okay, well now I I understand that like it's not just a matter of me doing something wrong. It's like, no, this is actually like a hard thing to achieve. And if people that I respect aren't also achieving that, then it's less of a reflection of, you know, me as a player, and it's more of a reflection of, you know, just kind of the circumstances that I was put in sometimes, you know. Uh we we've talked before on the podcast about how you you you have to be both good and lucky in order to qualify for these things, you know. It's it it's it's one thing to be good and you know, put yourself in the best chance possible to qualify for, you know, the Pro Tour or to cash these big events or whatever, but it's it's not enough to just be good. You all you also have to have some luck in there. You know, some of the best players in the world have O-Ford or two forward some of their regional championships, and it's just kind of the nature of the beast.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

It's it's just magic, right? Like, that's the biggest thing, right? Like, we as magic players can only do so much, and that's like that's our goal, right? Is to maximize our chances of having these um good runs. But yeah, like it is a card game, right? There is luck involved, and so you have to like recognize that like just make sure you check yourself. Like, did you do your best? Did you do for like do you feel like there's anything you could have improved on? Did you maybe not take a mulligan that you should have? Did you keep maybe like a mediocre hand? You know, like these are all things you have to kind of like figure out, and like once you know and you can play better to those outs, like you'll become a better player, but like I don't know, mental state is a huge part of magic, right? Like, I feel like a lot of people hit like a loss and kind of just like stumble from there. And that was like kind of my my history with like RCs is like I might start 3-0, 4-0, but then like I'll lose one game and it just like spirals out of control. I that's why like at Milwaukee, I was really like, I'm not gonna talk about any of my games. I'm really just gonna focus on staying calm, staying comfortable, and just like playing for the next game because I didn't want any loss to cause me to mentally fall apart.

SPEAKER_02 18:08

And you had APA in your doomsday deck.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

I did have OPA in my doomsday deck, yes.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

That's that's one of the old cliches, you know. You you hear it all the time. Anybody who's talked to somebody who's been on the RC grind at all uh has heard somebody saying, like, just focus on the next match. You know, your previous matches don't matter, the next several matches after this one don't matter, like just focus on your current match. You're you're here to play this one game, you're here to play this one match, whatever, you know. Uh but I feel like it doesn't really click until you have the moment where you're able to separate the rest of the tournament from your current match, you know. Like it was one thing that I heard a lot before, and and I would I would process it mentally, but not like really understand what it meant until I actually put myself in that position where like, no, if I have a loss, I'm not gonna carry that with me. I'm just going to focus on this match. So so obviously, you know, you you you were able to do that, and I'm sure that you had heard it a hundred times before, uh, but for whatever reason, this time it really clicked for you and and you made that conscious decision to and honestly, like, honestly, like it did it didn't click for me.

SPEAKER_00 19:17

Um, because like obviously I had like a really good run, and so I didn't have to worry about like my bigger my bigger thing in Milwaukee was like not focusing so much on the losses, but also like not focusing on the fact that like I'm doing so well and like not being like, oh, like well now that I'm like 6-0, I'm already left for day two, and now like instead of like I don't know, I had the moment where I was like, oh, like well now that I'm left for day two, how should I be doing in day two? I had to like refocus myself and see and say, look, like I know I made day two, but that doesn't matter right now. What matters right now is the fact that I'm playing this Boros Dragons opponent who is a really hard matchup, and I need to make sure I win this game too, you know. So I needed to like stop thinking about the fact that I made day two and start focusing on the game now. So I feel like a lot of times we also need to worry, not focus on like the future of the tournament, but really focus on each individual game.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it's great advice. Tyson, can you just give us a little victory lap? Uh walk us through the highlights of of Milwaukee. Some of the the peak matches, the the great moments. There's too much of a story here, you know. Spoiler, playing against a teammate for worlds, right? Walk us through gosh. So this is this is the highlights, right? Get get rid of no humility allowed, okay? Um tell us about your greatness in Milwaukee, walk us through the story and how we got there, then we'll get into that PT stuff.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

Sure, sounds good. I man, like I I feel like I sit down around one, you know, and um I start the joke off right because my opponent sees my deck list, and on my deck list it says Demir Excruciator, and then you look at the deck list, you're like, none of these cards are Demir Excruciator. So I pull the joke with my first opponent, I was like, yeah, you know, like this happened, lol, this is a crazy Demir Dexcruciator list, huh? And they're like, this is funny, haha, I guess. And I end up beating him 2-0. And I feel like the first couple of rounds, you know, it's just randoms really. I'm not I don't feel like there's I don't I don't want to say like I'm like playing like all-star pro-level players, but I'm playing like some weird niche decks, like for the first couple of rounds. I think I played like Demir Dexcruciator the first one, and then like I ended up playing like a Jess Guy, almost like your list, Austin, where you were playing um like Blue White Flash, but then they also played like red as well, so like a Jess Guy Flash deck, and it just like I don't know. Everything felt a little like you know, like I'm uh F and M almost for the first couple of rounds. Um and then I get to round four and I really start playing against like you know these everyone else's 4-0, and um but things are just going super well. But I remember like after I after round six, round seven, I'm playing against um I can't remember his name. He was at the Pro Tour 2, but I was playing against this guy on Boros Dragons, and in my testing, uh, because we had some teammates who were very interested in the deck, it's a pretty bad matchup. You know, they play they can play Clarion Conqueror, so it's really bad for like all my Mana Dorks, um, my cubs, but I end up like Changing my game plan for him and winning honestly, like probably a very intense game three where I decided my role in this matchup was no longer like I'm gonna combo. My role in this matchup was I'm going to flip three mana ink and I'm gonna beat your face in until you're dead. And it like this change of mindset, change of role really helped me like win this highly intensive game. So that was by far like probably probably one of my hardest matchups. And then I ended up, you know, I ended up losing day like round I think eight to uh the blue-white flash deck because yeah, like it it's uh that's actually probably my worst matchup. Um Avon Interruptor, shout-out, like playing spells from exile costing two more, really bad for the combo. So I ended up losing that and then sweet like destroying landfall. Like the moral of the story is like I destroyed landfall every time I saw it. Um 2-0 easy. And so I ended up day one, um, eight and one, kind of on top of the world. But like I I know we get back to the place. I can't remember if it was that night or the night before, but I think you guys were playing like uh you had like the commander cube. Yep. And I I really needed my sleep. I really needed to make sure that I had at least my eight hours, you know, had a good morning start. I wanted to make sure I was succeeding the next day. And so we get to day two, and I start playing against people. Like I played, I think I played Michael Plummer um around like 12 or 13, I can't remember. I just didn't care. I was like, this guy, oh yeah, this guy was in the pro tour, whatever. It's another game. I just want to kick his ass. We have we actually have a really good uh series of three. Um he gets a little unlucky, but I also like again like the mindset of like what my role is in the matchup changes, and I'm able to just I don't know. I think I I think like I had a position where like there was like three different cards that if I top deck, I win on the spot, and that's like either another Aang to like um get rid of one of his blockers or like one of my like several removal spells I bring in, and I end up top decking the removal spell and able I'm able to swing in and kill him after he had Doomsday and kind of just like Doomsday and Parade. Um and so I ended up being beating Michael Plummer, I end up um beating like a Soul Tower Reanimator deck, and I well also, yeah, like after that, I was on stream. I was my first time on camera. I'm playing against Matthew uh Umcas, I think his last name is. He was at the Pro Tour as well. He's on four color elementals, my first time on camera ever in an RC. And I was like, uh mentally, first off, I was like, is this gonna be nerve-wracking for me? Is this gonna be like a roadblock? And I was pretty nervous at first, but the moment we started playing, like, nerves all gone. I end up 2-0ing him. I'm pretty sure the commentator said I made some misplays, but like, I don't know. At the end of the day, like I look back at them and they're so minor, like it just they didn't really matter during the game. I think I missed like one or two ally triggers, but in my head, I was already like doing other things to combo off. Like, I didn't need the one or two extra allies, and so like I don't know. For those that are listening, like being on stream, yeah, it can be kind of scary, but like just ignore the cameras and play the game. And it I don't know. I played the game and I I won the Elementals. I don't think I dropped a game day two until the top eight, where round one, I play against Luckily Landfall, my easiest matchup. I easily 2-0 him. Um, I'm sitting there waiting, and I noticed that Elijah, our teammates, playing against Spell Mentals. In my head, I'm like, okay, Spellamentals is a way better matchup. As much as I would love to play against my teammate in the semis, for my odds of making it to worlds and getting second or first, I was kind of like hoping that Spell Mentals would win just for my sake of the matchup.

SPEAKER_02 25:23

It's also a bad matchup for Cub. Although Elijah would argue that. I think everybody besides Elijah would say that that's a bad matchup.

SPEAKER_00 25:29

Spellamentals is or for Spellamentals or for that airbending?

SPEAKER_02 25:33

No, no, it's a bad matchup for his cub deck. Um they're they're on four Sunderflock, four Merc Crab, and lots of removals.

SPEAKER_00 25:40

No, like I I'm so sad we don't have the footage of that game because they were one of the backup matches. But yeah, I don't know how Elijah did it, but Elijah beat Spellamentals, which is insane. Like I think the win rate's like 20%, if not lower. And so I like Elijah pulls out the win. And so now I'm sitting here, semifinals, which I never thought I would be. Already $5,000, prizes, like I'm I'm growing to the Pro Tour. And now I'm sitting across from the person who I probably look up the most to on the team, who like helped me decide to play banter bending, who's probably like one of the better like better players on our team. Oh, 100%. And we're playing for $5,000 and an invite to worlds. And I don't know if you guys go back and watch the VOD, go watch the game, but like Elijah just honey night cheerio, the man was like insane. It was yeah, literally, like the combo on turn two or three. Like, it was it was disgusting.

SPEAKER_02 26:29

Yeah, it was uh exciting. I mean, for for us, it's hard because it's a win-win, and the the two of you, you know, gave a lot of um good publicity to team pillow for you know, playing each other, and they were talking about y'all being teammates and stuff. And yeah, I wish I wish the bracket would have been flipped so you guys could have met in the finals and then both go to worlds.

SPEAKER_00 26:49

Oh, I know, I know. I was looking at it, I was like, please, like, just if I would have had like either I know because Matthew was in the top eight too, and then the lessons opponent. I was like, if I had Matthew Umkis in like the semis, and then like Elijah was able to make it to the finals, if we had a finals before, it would have been insane. Crazy publicity, right? Both going to worlds. But at the end of the day, like, no hard feelings towards Elijah. I'm so happy he made it to worlds. But I will tell you one thing, when I saw that trophy, there was a huge part of me that became so envious. I had a I mean I had a new goal, right? It's like I already had made it to the Pro Tour. I had qualified for the Pro Tour, which was a lifelong dream of mine. But now that I saw that trophy, I had this huge desire to win a trophy. So that's my next goal. My next goal is to have a trophy I can place on my mantle and just be like, yeah, that's my trophy. I know that sounds super envious of me, super, you know, like I don't know. I was just so jealous. It's not even a good looking trophy, but I just there's just something about it that like Was it the Black Lotus one? No, the um Milwaukee, the RCQs, the RC uh trophies, the light little teardrops.

SPEAKER_02 27:49

Those ones are way less cool. My my wife was looking at the one PTs, she's like the black lotus, she's like, that's the coolest trophy ever. Um I would I would love one of those.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

Anyway, yeah, I I it was a great time in Milwaukee. I felt insanely good. Um, the team was around me. Like I know a lot of the people, like Drew kind of comments on it, like you know, he scrubbed out a day one, but he was still really there for me. He was helping me sideboard map, um, which is probably one of my weak weak points in uh Magic is just knowing how to sideboard and win. Um and Drew really helped me walk through like a lot of my future matchups and a lot of everything, and that really, really helped me really do really well. I think like having a solid team where we're all you know supporting each other regardless of how we do, I don't think I could have done it without you guys.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

Well, we are proud of you, man. Yeah, absolutely. So we head into the pro tour season, we're getting some testing in, and the the thing that I'm hearing from Tyson is that despite the top eight finish in Milwaukee, we're we're still unsure about our place or belonging in Vegas and and all of that. Tell tell us about some of your feelings and and how you know even even a top eight in Milwaukee wasn't enough to really like solidify that like I belong here, I belong with these players.

SPEAKER_00 29:03

I mean, it's just imposter syndrome, I don't know how else to put it, right? Like, I don't know. Like, I had a good run in banned terror bending, and I genuinely think that anyone, anyone that's playing their best and trying their best can have like a successful tournament. There's a local buddy of mine who always like whenever someone does well, they're like, damn, they just let anyone top eight, don't they? And that's just he's like joking and teasing, but like it's it's kind of true. Like anyone can do it, right? Like it's just it's just a matter of making sure you give yourself the best possibility. But yeah, going into Pro Tour, I was very stressed. It was finals, like, we're right before like I had my like I literally took a final on Tuesday, got in the car, and then drove to Vegas for the Pro Tour. Like, it was like school was like kicking my ass, like I didn't have a lot of time to play tests. I was worried about PTO, making sure I had enough to like spend as much time as I wanted to, like, prepping. And I just like I don't know, like it just I do feel like I it wasn't as bad as of imposter syndrome because I'd finally reached my goal, but I was worried that like I really wanted to show that I can make it. We have a couple other local Utah players who have been to the Protestant times, and I I I kind of look up to them. All right, I looked up to them a lot, um, and I just wanted to show that like I wanted to prove to myself that I could be at that level that they were at, and that I could I could be a ProTour player, not just some guy that like does pretty well at RCQs and you know plays with like the local the local RCQ grinder, right? I wanted I wanted to show that like I could do it. Um and so I was really, really worried because my limited expertise and like knowledge was nothing compared to what like I thought it should be.

SPEAKER_02 30:37

Bro, and that your first SWAR uh your first run into that with the early release uh was rough. Oh, yeah. You were like banging ahead in the world. Tell tell the tell the audience about that.

SPEAKER_00 30:48

Oh gosh. I I look back at like because we get early access, right? For the Pro Tour and I was looking back at like because all I did was play limited. Literally, like um, shout out to Elijah for like testing a lot of standard and me being able to like almost piggyback off of that. And I'm really I'm really grateful for that. But I had like I spent literally like 90% of my free time was playing limited. But yeah, the so the the early access, like I think my win rate ended up being like 20%, if not worse. Like I had like a horrendous time at like the early access, just like could not understand like what like cards were necessary, like what cards were good. Um, I feel like I was just having a hard time like understanding my lanes, even and like what like yeah, I it was it was a bad time.

SPEAKER_02 31:29

So I I just gotta tell everybody who's listening kind of about this because it's it's impressive when we get to the progress that you've made. This guy was in our voice chat just streaming drafts. I swear you didn't sleep for like the two days that you you had the early access, and then you would post the decks in the the limited channel for our limited officers and people to give feedback and help, and it was brutal. It was here's this archetype 03, here's this archetype 13, here's this archetype, and it's just it didn't seem to matter like what you were doing, it was just really, really rough. And but you obviously kept pushing the boulder up the hill like sysphists. And you know, for a little little foreshadowing, uh, what was your limited record at the PT?

SPEAKER_00 32:12

Um I went 2-1 day one and two one day two, so I didn't didn't I never 3-0'd my pod, but I I was positive both.

SPEAKER_02 32:18

4-2 pro REL after early real early access, basically 0-3ing like every draft you did. And I exactly we're not over-exaggerating this, guys. Tyson could not win a game. He could not win a game.

SPEAKER_00 32:30

It was so bad. But that's like that's like that's the point of early access, right? Is getting that practice in. Like sometimes, I don't know. Like I play a couple fighting games here and there, and it's the same thing. Sometimes you just have to like bang your head into the wall for several hours, like getting your ass kicked, absolutely destroyed before like you start to like even be like comparable, you know? Like you just have to go through that. And shout out to like our teammates, right? Like, we we we had some awesome limited players, right, on our team. Like I know Ben, Amaz, Drew, Isaac, like all of them like really, really like helped me become like a competent limited player, especially in Secret District even. Um, Amaz was able to like easily point out, like he watched me do like one draft, and he was like, Yeah, like you should focus on this and this. And I was like, Oh, I I guess you're right. And I did that at the PT, and I mean I went four and two. Like, yeah, it like easy easy fixes, right? Just like, you know, changing your form a little bit, right? Like, gotta make sure you're like it, for example, like in bashful, right? Like maybe you're shooting with like your elbow sticking out, right? And like that's an easy fix. Oh, just tuck your elbow more, you'll have a cleaner shot, right? Same thing here. Like Amaz just kind of pointed out you need you need more two drops, focus on your two drops, and when you build your deck, kind of organize it like this so you can see like what you're missing, what you need. And it it paid off, I mean, dividends.

SPEAKER_02 33:44

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SPEAKER_01 33:52

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SPEAKER_02 34:14

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SPEAKER_01 34:20

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SPEAKER_02 34:26

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SPEAKER_01 34:33

That's game night in Columbia, Tennessee, where the community actually shows up. So talk to us, uh like obviously, you know, you you did all that testing and everything, you you found a way to kind of tighten up some of that limited stuff. Um, talk to us about like what happens when you actually get to the Airbnb and we're testing beforehand, and you know, those those final couple days leading up to the actual event.

SPEAKER_00 34:56

Yeah, so so I finished my final for school, and me and my wife are driving down. We're stopping at like every game store trying to make sure I have almost every card I need for my decks. I at that point I had I think I had three to four decks that like I know me and Elijah were looking at. I was pretty locked in on Doomsday though, because that's what Elijah was playing, and in my head I was like, it's way better for me to have a teammate that like we can walk through things together and have the same mindset than me choosing a deck that I might be a little more comfortable on, which sounds crazy considering what I did in Milwaukee, but because of I spent most of my time in limited, that's kind of my that was kind of my mindset going into the ProTores. Like I didn't have the energy to like find my own deck, and I felt like playing a team deck was way more valuable to me. So I get to the we get to the Airbnb Airbnb, I'm talking to Elijah, I'm like, hey, like I don't know how I feel about the Spellamentals matchup um against Doomsday. So again, uh we get there, we settle in, and we start testing, and just like the literally just like the early access event, I start banging my head into the wall against this matchup, and I I I think again, like I win maybe three of the 15 games that we ended up playing, but I really start to understand my role as doomsday playing against Spellamentals. Me and you know Elijah talk more about the sideboard plans, why we do what we do in this matchup, and I ended up um spoiler alert, I ended up beating Ellie Cassis on Spellamentals 2-0, in my opinion, all thanks to Elijah showing me how the matchup needs to play out for me to win.

SPEAKER_02 36:30

Yeah, that's just great teamwork. I mean, there there are times where you can be you can have a bad matchup, and you just have to understand what a game looks like that you actually win the bad matchup. And rather than complaining that, oh, I'm just gonna lose, figuring out like, okay, well, I know that my odds aren't great, but what does a winning game look like, and how do I put myself in a spot to get there? Sometimes that means mulliganing hands that you'd otherwise keep, and you're just taking a different approach than you might typically.

SPEAKER_00 37:01

No, yeah, that's very important. Um anyway, so after we uh jam a ton of games, Spell Metals versus Doomsday, um, later that night we end up doing a practice draft um with some of the Italian players, and you know, it went okay. Uh my deck was okay. Um Austin's deck was insane, so Austin and I ended up playing round one and he kicked my ass. Um but yeah, you know, just like that's it's it's all that really is um before like the actual pro tours. We we I know Austin and Elijah ended up going Thursday, the day before the Pro Tour, to practice draft with some other players as well. I ended up staying back, I really needed a mental check and a mental break. Um, because I was I was honestly insanely stressed um for for the Pro Tour. And for me, like the best way for me to prepare, and I kind of did this in Milwaukee too, um, instead of playing, you know, having like chilling, like I really just need a break. And so I I spent most of Thursday just relaxing, really trying to just you know calm down, lock in the mental, and just just be ready for the next day.

SPEAKER_02 38:04

So tell us about the PT.

SPEAKER_01 38:05

Yeah, yeah, we we get to the PT, and um obviously, you know, you you have a good start. We we start off with with a day two, day one, walk us through what that looked like.

SPEAKER_00 38:16

Yeah, I mean the goal really like to make day two, right, is you need to go four and four, day one. Um I didn't want that. I wanted it to two one and three-two minimum. Um I wanted to win as many games as I could. So back to that mental state, right? Making sure I'm locking in every single game, doing what I can. So we get we get set sit down for the draft. Again, insanely nervous. Um I I look to my left and I'm pretty sure I'm sitting next to JED, and which is in my head crazy. I'm like, this guy's on my card, he's like, he's the formidable speaker. Like, what is happening? But I'm sitting next to him, and like the draft starts, and I feel like I find my lane pretty quickly. I I end up diving into uh uh green black and it was pretty open. So my deck was pretty strong. Um I end up winning the first the first game uh pretty pretty easily. Second game I'm playing against JED and get my you know my teeth kicked in. The guy just I don't know, his mindset of drafting is just way different. And so his deck was really unique, really cool. Um and then I end up winning um round uh game three. Uh so I I end up going 2-1 in the in the in the limited section. We get we get ready for the uh standard. We have a little break in between, you know, so I'm sitting there, I'm talking with Elijah about some things, trying to really figure out what um my strategy needs to be, making sure I'm tightening up my my sideboard guide. And I end up going 3-2 um in standard, which is where where I about average where I want to be um in order to re-qualify. I'm trying to think day one, any of my matchups that were really um crazy or hectic. I I can't remember exactly who I ended up playing against. But yeah, I it it was just like I don't know, like again, like these are all pro tour players, but like anyone on the team that knows me knows like I only know a couple people by name that are like professional magic players. Like, realistically, most of these people are just people to me, which like honestly might be a benefit because then I'm not like freaking out when I'm playing these guys. Okay, so anyway, uh I'm looking at my notes right now actually about who I played, but I ended up playing, like I said, LE KC's round seven and two oh smack. It was crazy, it was kind of interesting playing against like this guy I had seen on TV, right? Like he was like, he's like I mean Hall of Famer, right? Like the guy is super well known in the magic world, and for me to be able to play against him, huge honor first off, but like also for me to be able to beat him because of the practice I had with Elijah, huge, huge, huge like mental boost. But the next round I actually play against Arne um on landfall, and I get blown out of the water, and I just like I I go back to Elijah and is like we didn't practice landfall like at all. I'm usually misunderstanding my role in this matchup. Um and so me and him talk about it, kind of figure out that like oh Arne's list is a lot different than others, so we really need to make sure that we kinda you know tweak our sideboarding plan for the different landfall decks that really popped out um during during the Pro Tour. But yeah, um I ended up making day two, uh finished right with the record of uh five and three, uh right where I need to be to to day two. Day two, honestly, um drafts went a lot worse. The signals were all over the place. Um I was talking to one of my opponents afterwards, um, Alex Rohan, for those of you that know him, who was on black, white, um, silver quilt, right? And he just had everything. Um and I was talking to him afterwards, he's like, Yeah, as I was sitting next to him in the draft, and he's like, Yeah, sorry, like how the cards were being passed, like passed early pack one and two, I should have been Prismari passing he said he should have been passing me all the silver quilt stuff, but he actually forced Silver Quilt because of what he opened, and he ended up I mean getting paid off immensely because pack three I just passed tons of silver quilt to him. Besides the point, like the draft was super weird, but I end up with this like really kind of just like just grindy, pretty just like shitters, like I don't know, like red-white shitters with like some combat magic tricks, and I'm able to pull out a 2-1 again, only losing to Alex Rohan on like stock silver quill um draft. After that, like right, like I'm probably the hardest part mentally for me was was round 13. No round twelve, sorry. I'm playing against this guy named Nathan, who's on Jesska control, supposed to be a really easy matchup for me, and I end up losing. I I somehow end up losing um you can't thought seize the top of your opponent's decks. He rips like Jessica Rev, Jesska Rev, like insane, like just blows me out of the water game three, and I I am in mental hell. I don't know if you remember Austin, but I I I literally like walk to the table. I don't know if you were that at the time, but I like literally walk to the table and I just like tell people like don't talk to me. I like don't want to talk right now, like I'm pissed. But my wonderful wife sees me like struggling, and you know, and she she just like gives me a massage, like massage my shoulders for like I don't know, five-ten minutes, and like really trying to help me calm down, and it helped, it really did. Um I ended up losing my lot my next game as well to landfall. I just still again didn't understand the matchup really well, but I feel I still felt good. I was like, okay, I just need to win the next three. I can do that. Like I've 3-0'd before, but realistically, like let's just win the next one, right? And so I sit down and I'm against Is It Prowess, and honestly, it it runs really smoothly. I end up winning. I only need to win two more to re-qualify. More importantly, I need to win the next one. And at the same at this point, like me and Austin have had the same record for almost all of day two. And so we keep talking about like we might play each other, we might have another Pillow Fort knockout where we both need to win all of our games. Luckily, it doesn't ever happen. But yeah, that was kind of on our minds like most of the time. I was like, Shit, Austin, like we might play. Um we actually ended up in the same we're actually in the same draft pod, right?

SPEAKER_01 43:58

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, and and we have the Same record for every match of draft too. So uh so it was it was very unlikely that we didn't play each other actually in draft, but we we ended up dodging for the for the whole draft.

SPEAKER_00 44:11

Which was awesome, right? And then same thing, like all of standard, like we dodge each other as well. Anyway, after round 14, I was playing as a promise. I won that 2-0. It felt pretty clean, honestly. Like the cyber plan really worked that me and uh Elijah had walked through. And then round 15, I play probably one of my best matchups, and one of like the I wouldn't say a breakout deck at the Pro Tour, but one of the decks that really kind of like made it like really made like try to make a run. I like the blue white momo deck, right? Like a deck that like we haven't really seen before. We like kind of saw like the mono white version, but blue white momo like really had like an uptick in the pro tour, and in our testing, like that's one of my best matchups. So lucky me, I get a good matchup, but I had just lost to Just Ked Control earlier this day, which is also supposed to be a really good matchup. So I'm stressed, I was like, like I can lose to anything, anyone can beat anyone. Like, I should lock in. Nothing's free, nothing, nothing is free. This is completely true. And so I ended up like I I am pretty sure I mold to five game two and three because I like again, like you really have to try to find like those windows of like your really good hands, like the hands that like will win you the game. Um so I ended up winning pretty convincingly. I actually lost route game one to George because I kept I doomsday'd him, and then he I thought I was in the clear. I had hand checked him the turn before, but he topdecked, I think it's called Parting Gift. It's like the white white exile target creature.

SPEAKER_02 45:36

Yeah, parting guess the gift of fish.

SPEAKER_00 45:37

Yeah, so he ends up exiling my land, which he topdecked, and so I end up losing game one because I I just draw out my deck. I don't have a way to mill him. So um in our cyber plan, we actually take out doomsday because we think we think we can just control them and win through that. So you can take out doomsday and end up just winning game two and three um without excruciator. Um and then round 16, I end up playing uh Matthew Wright, who is also on Blue White Momo. And he he has a really he wins the die roll, he has a really aggressive hand game one, kind of the dream hand for blue white momo, kills me really quickly. Game two, I kill him. I I beat him game two. Game three, really close matchup, but I know it's a turn the corner, and I end up going, you know, 10 and 6 overall, qualifying for re-qualifying for the next pro tour.

SPEAKER_02 46:21

I mean, your first PT coming in after what you experienced in draft while while you were prepping to go 4-2 and to just overcome some ups and downs, it's kind of the same story of of where you've been in the last year, just kind of working towards getting here. So now you get to go to Amsterdam, uh, and you know your teammates are gonna be trying to join you here in the next couple of weeks. So, Tyson, just thank you for sharing your story. Uh, you're an inspiration I know to me and to others on the team. And I think if you're not to those listening, they don't have a heart, man. They gotta figure it out. So we just appreciate you uh so much.

SPEAKER_00 47:01

Thank you so much. Yeah, honestly, like couldn't have done it without team fill for it. Like, you guys really have like unlocked the next level for me. And so I'm very excited for where our team's gonna go. I think our team has a lot of good in store.

SPEAKER_02 47:12

Me too, me too. So are you playing DC and Cincinnati? What's what's the plan there?

SPEAKER_00 47:16

Um I'll be I'll just be at DC. I'm sorry, not DC. I'll be at Cincinnati having the sleepover at JJ's. I'm just I'm honestly just there to give and right, like I have the chance for a world's invite, which would be awesome. But more more than anything, I'm there to help my team get to Amsterdam with me. I don't want to go alone, so please please qualify, come with.

SPEAKER_02 47:34

We're doing our best, we're doing our best. So with that, um, you know, we come to the end of the show. You know we have this segment called Pillow Talk. It's closing time, you've got to take a deck home. Now, this this episode will likely be coming out the week after the RC. Um, we're recording two episodes in this week, so we can still have uh content. But what what are you taking to to Cincinnati? And also, if you had a modern RCQ, what would you be taking to that?

SPEAKER_00 48:02

So, I mean, if anyone knows me, right, I'm terrible at making these decisions, which is why Elijah helped me make my constructed deck decision for the PT. But honestly, we're recording this right now, but there is an allies deck that might be. Or maybe they just they might have made top eight of the spotlight in London. And if Jonathan knows me at all, is that I am I am crazy for the thing.

SPEAKER_02 48:28

I I was probably the harshest one in trying to convince Tyson not to play that deck for Portland and Milwaukee. And he did come back to me and I said, Hey man, just go crush it. And then in Milwaukee, he's like, just so you know there are allies in my deck, suck it.

SPEAKER_00 48:47

So I don't know. I'm uh it's hard to say. I I'm stuck between like actual allies, ban to airbending, and uh Demerex Cruciator. So I it'll probably be exactly the same thing as Milwaukee. We're all I'll decide the day before, but it's one of those three for sure. And then modern RCQ. Oh man, I don't know, man. I truth be told, like, I'm a way better at standard player than I am um modern player. But if I were to take one right now, it I'd either be Bruce Scale or I mean, flashback to creativity.

SPEAKER_02 49:22

Fair enough. Austin, what about you? Who are you taking home?

SPEAKER_01 49:25

I think for standard I'd probably be looking at Demir Excruciator. Um I think that obviously that deck has a lot to offer, and uh I think it's pretty well positioned right now. Um and then for modern, uh I I would probably be uh still on the uh Simic Ritual deck. Uh I know that I said that last week, but I think that that deck is really cool and if nothing's on the line, then that's that's where I want to be. I want to be having some fun.

SPEAKER_02 49:50

So for standard for me, I'm currently testing uh I was playing the Spellamentals deck a bunch yesterday. I think I'm kinda off of it. Um I do like Thunder Flock, but I think the the four or five color elementals deck is to me a better way to approach it for this weekend. So I'll probably be playing that or uh excruciator as well. So if it depending on how people shake out, there's likely to be a bunch of our team on the the Doomsday Excruciator list for standard. So hopefully when this episode comes out, it's not like a 25% win rate deck. Everyone's like, oh, team pillow four, you screwed it up. Um but right now we we do like uh that that deck, at least several of us do. So five killer elementals or that, probably for me. And in modern, I'm still going to stick with Belcher, like I said last week. I believe we had two teammates qualify yesterday with Belcher. Am I right?

SPEAKER_00 50:45

Uh yes, we did. I think so.

SPEAKER_02 50:47

I can't remember exactly, but yeah, I don't know if Austin got his his uh a different Austin uh got his or not, but I believe he did. I know Damian wanted to get Belcher. So yeah, we had two two qualify. So I'll be just in time for everybody to be bringing their consigns and pithing needles to play some Belcher when I can finally get in one of these articules. Alrighty. Well, we again so much appreciate you, Tyson. I will look forward to seeing you uh later this week. Of course. And for the rest of you, thank you for coming to our pillow talk.