#013 - Jonathan Alexander on growing up, starting Legacy, and good ol' Canadian Threshold (Part 1)

Jonathan Alexander is a Legacy-format specialist, and a good friend. What started as an innocent discussion about Magic turned into an epic podcast of sorts. Probably the most fun I’ve had so far recording for this show. At one point we asked each other, 2 hours in, if we wanted to stop or keep going. The answer was an encouraging KEEP GOING. And so we did. There are 3 parts to this talk, that’s how crazy it was. Unfortunately (fortunately?), our hour-long discussion on hip-hop didn’t make the final cut. Jonathan and I probably need to create our own podcast show at some point. Jonathan’s web site: https://theweeklywars.wordpress.com/ Time stamps — Part 1: [03:21] Intro / the metric system [06:54] Jonathan's own intro [08:17] Family background and brief personal history [12:42] There and back again: university in Berlin [16:04] Homework? What's that? [18:09] Memorable teenage moments [23:06] Amsterdam [26:37] "It's all upside to not drink, in my eyes." [30:25] Happiness [31:13] Earliest gaming experiences [32:31] Playing Magic for the first time, and getting competitive [36:32] First Legacy deck [39:09] Local German Legacy scene [43:26] Initial breakthroughs in competitive Magic, and Mental Misstep [46:33] All time favorite decks [47:58] An ode to Canadian Threshold [51:44] The art of quoting stuff out of context / trolls [53:08] Good stuff deck vs. tempo deck / why he doesn't play Grixis delver [56:16] Incredible run at Bazaar of Moxen with Canadian Threshold [1:05:04] “Don’t be afraid to use your cards as Lightning Bolts.” [1:07:17] Starting to play Storm and the beginnings of Grinding Station