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Name: Robbert Menten

Age: 24

Occupation: Copywriter

Hometown: Hasselt

Number of pro tours: None yet. Austin will be my first, followed by Worlds

Top8’s in GP/PT: 1 GP Top 8

Pro Points: 11

Robbert is a player from the Hasselt crew and he literally exploded this season. He made Top4 at the Belgian Nats 2009 and later on, reached the Quarterfinals in GP Brighton, losing to eventual winner Olivier Ruel.
He is trying to reach lvl3 status this year and maybe his goal will be fullfilled depending his results in Worlds. Check out whether Robbert will be Belgium's rookie of the year!

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Hi Robbert, When did u start playing the game? Exactly three years ago now. My girlfriend told me she had some Mtg cards. I recognized them from my highschool (when I was like 11?) days, and we started playing some games…

Your first tournament memories? My first NQ, Auvelais 2007. I played a BW idiot life/arena deck and out of the blue I qualified. Kudos to Dennis Moons btw, he knows what I’m talking about!

Your first homebrew deck? I rarely take homebrew decks to the tournament scene, though I always edit decks to my own perception.

Your best deck ever in a tournament? Probably Relic Teachings, the deck was so fun to play with.

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Your all-time favourite card? When I started playing, I immediately fell in love with dark confidant and phyrexian arena! Furthermore I absolutely adore mystical teachings!

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Style of play: Aggro/control/combo/agro-control/whatever... I’m more of a control player, though that’s fading away since I’m getting more comfortable with turning critters sideways.

What do you like the most in the game in itself? First of all the social aspect. If it weren’t for the wonderful people of the Hasselt crew, I’d have stopped a long long time ago. A get-together with friends, booze, food and some cards: I love it! Furthermore the idea that one can improve it’s game attract me also a lot. The feeling of improvement and learning from better players means a lot to me.

What do you like the least about the game? Players that forget that magic is only a game and a hobby. We all like to win, but not at every cost… Unfriendly players in general just piss me off, ffs it’s only a game.

Where can we play with you? Most of the time I play in Hasselt.

Player you respect the most in Belgium/Europe/World ?

Belgium – Obv the test buddies, they know who they are (now nobody can complain I forgot ‘m;-), btw: LORENZ BUNGENEERS (he paid me royally for this)

Europe – Marin Juza, cool fella! Absurdly talented as well.

World – PV since he’s just ridiculously good, although I never met him.

Player you are afraid of playing in Belgium/Europe/World? None in specific!

Your worst experience (tournament, event)? PTQ in Barcelona. Me playing Reveillark, worst matchup: fog. 300 players. 2 fog players in the field. And I obviously got paired against both, starting round 1. That was just very disturbing, but it happens to everyone.

Which aspect is more important to you while playing Magic? Intuition/hard thinking/preparation? Probably preparation, since I’m only a rookie. My metacalls are regularly right on.

Is Magic a big part of your life or just a hobby? It’s my most important hobby (next to the gf obv), especially since I can combine mtg with my friends.

What do you think of Modo? Did you play it a lot? Never had an account, mostly money was an issue. Now that I work and worlds is coming, I might try it.

Are you a bad loser? Can you get really angry after a loss/bad play? I used to be very hard on myself when I lose and sometimes that resulted in an epic bad mood. But I’m working on it so now that’s no problem anymore.

How do you prepare yourself for big competitions? Who do you test with? Do you often test? I tested obviously with the Hasselt crew! Fantastic group op peeps!

Your favourite format? Why? Standard, but I have absolutely no idea why…

Your best topdeck? I did several topdecks at nationals ranging from pulses, lieges etc…(not a single profane topdeck though)

Your worst “badbeat”? GP & PTQ Barcelona. Not a single thing worked that weekend in Barca! I looked so much forward to this Standard GP, but everything seemed to have turned against me. That weekend was my fair share of bad beats lol.

What do you like the most in competitive play? The feeling of improvement, no doubt! Finding edges both in-game and within decks and the meta.

Your best trip abroad? Brighton! We had an awful lot of fun and when that gets translated to a top 8: a dream come true!

http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/gpbri09/welcome#1

How did u prepare for Nats? We had some BBQ’s and testevenings, both constructed and limited. With the usual crew.

What was your result? That Dennis Moons is a fine cook!

Who did you test with? The Hasselt crew^^

What did you play, why? BG elves. A deck that had no auto-losses and with decent play could defeat any other deck. Plus putrid leech & vanquisher are the 2 most aggressive 2-drops in the format, hence:)!

Result in constructed/limited: 5-1 in constructed, 4-2 in draft. 3-0 in quarters and 2-3 in semi’s.

draft strategy? I drafted twice UW flyers splash B for bouncers/removal. Worked like a charm!

What was your feeling when you made top8/when you made the semis knowing that you would go to Worlds? Jurgen Cleuren was the first to congrats me and the first to say that top8 means nothing if you lose the quarters. Win the quarters and you go to Rome was his message. Saturday night we played a few BG mirrors and I won 3-0. I simply had the better cards for the mirror. When I reached the semi’s, first thing I did was texting the whole crew:)! I was a bit too exclectic, since I punted 0-3 against Darras for the spot in the team:(.

Any good story during Nats? Nothing in particular. Only that I won each elf mirror game that weekend.

Tell us about GP Brighton. Did you test a lot in M10? Nope, not that much.

Tell us about your pool in sealed. Simply awesome! Looter, removal, nice curve, Sphinx Ambassador and Baneslayer! Especially the latter one won me an awful lot of games.

Any draft strategy during day2? I loved drafting UW with a lot of looters. Worked twice!

Were you particularly lucky during the GP? I was blessed with a awesome pool on day1! Day 2 I never got really lucky anywhere, only some close games.

This was the best GP abroad for Belgians. Comments? Mmmh, might have something to do with the superb atmosphere on the bus and hotel?

People feel like you are the 2009 rising star in Belgium after those two major events. Comments? I can only hope to live up to the expectations of the 2 PT’s… I’ll do my very best!

Do you think you'll manage to stay on the train and reach level3? Reaching level 3 will probably happen, but those 5 more points to catch the train will be a huuuuge challenge!

What are your expectations in life? Hoping for a joyful life with my gf and a nice job! And if possible, nice MTG results!

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Hopefully in a nice apartment, cool job etc

Your favourite meal? In general Italian & Asian food!

Your favourite book? I rarely read, I do check the newspapers daily though

Other interests in life? Hobbies? Sport? I try to swim 1-2 times a week (usually before drafting), I play tennis occasionally & I love going out in the weekends!

Belgian players are usually.... leaving PTQ slots to Germans & Dutchies:(

Walloon players are usually.... trying to fetch mirror entity with summoner’s pact (seriously happened!) Otherwise most of them are cool:)

Flemish players are usually… fun to play against.

Any nice website or band you like? Time to spread the good word/sound! New cd of Absynthe Minded is really decent. And everyone should listen to “The last shadow puppets – the age of the understatement” , that album is saaauce:D!

Anything you would like to say about you to finish this article? A little thx to the crew we test with, It’s them who make mtg worthwhile

Thanks Robbert!