#016 - Alex Majlaton is the Affinity master! On Pro Tour dreams and Team East-West Bowl

“There’s really no reason to not be direct about what you want, or what you’re going for.” Alex Majlaton is a pretty darn good Magic player, with 26 Pro Tour appearances and 8 Grand Prix Top 8’s. He is doing solid work as the mathematical mind behind Team East-West Bowl. But more importantly, he’s humble about his status as a player and incredibly passionate about giving back to the community. Alex and I talk about his early childhood days, forays into competitive Magic, learning from experiences, and more. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to chase Pro Tour dreams, this episode is worth the listen. Time stamps: [3:15] Introduction [5:50] Growing up [9:02] Childhood hobbies [10:21] Washington, DC / Maryland / Baltimore [13:42] How Alex got into Magic [16:12] Earliest Magic decks [18:11] Alex’s two favorite cards of all time [20:37] Getting competitive — the why and how [27:04] The advantages of being a mathematician [30:20] The Pro Tour scene / First major success with Affinity [33:09] Affinity for Affinity (pun intended) [36:49] Alex’s approach to Magic improvement [39:11] No sacred cows — a learning breakthrough at the Pro Tour stage [44:35] Lessons from Pro Tours / Quantitative approach to Limited [49:46] Maintaining the fire [51:34] Questions that people ask Alex about [55:16] Contributing to the community = personal improvement [57:51] Team East-West Bowl / Breaking the format / Analyzing Limited [1:01:46] Magic-related goals [1:04:57] What needs to happen for Magic to advance as a game [1:07:03] How Alex plans to get from Silver to Gold status [1:09:23] What would Alex tell himself, if he could go back five years? [1:12:58] Shout-outs to Ben Friedman, Team East-West Bowl, the Maryland community, and Andrew Mitchell