Mike Long

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Michael Long is a former professional Magic: The Gathering card game player, and was one of the most influential Pro Tour mainstays for a number of years in the late 1990's. A revolutionary deck designer and current record holder for being on the most winning national teams (three), Long's legacy is the subject of much controversy due to several documented instances of cheating and unsportsmanlike behaviour.

Contents

[edit] Career highlights

  • Four Pro Tour Top 8s
  • Winner of Pro Tour: Paris (1997)
  • Grand Prix winner
  • Winner of 1998 Magic Invitational Tournament
  • Member of three winning national teams (holds record)
  • Formerly #1 on lifetime earnings list
  • Over $100,000 in lifetime pro tour earnings
  • 191 Pro Points (24th All-Time)

[edit] Contributions to the game

Mike Long's revolutionary Prosperous Bloom (or Pro's Bloom) deck, which he piloted to a Pro Tour championship at Paris in '97, is widely recognized as the first successful combo deck in tournament-level play. The deck was centered around a card-drawing and tutoring strategy (Prosperity, Infernal Contract, Vampiric Tutor) contributing to a mana engine (Cadaverous Bloom, Squandered Resources) that eventually led to a 20-plus damage Drain Life spell for the victory. Prior to this, no combo deck was consistent and powerful enough to warrant any major tournament success.

By winning the 1998 Magic Invitational, Mike became the third pro player to create a card for inclusion in a future Magic expansion and have himself drawn into the card's art. The card, Rootwater Thief, was printed in the Nemesis set. It is the only Invitational card that does not depict its creator as the card's subject creature, instead depicting Long as a rower being ambushed by a humanoid sea creature.

Head Magic Designer (and former Pro Tour organizer) Mark Rosewater once wrote that "Mike made the Pro Tour exciting. He made it tense. He made it [...] more interesting than any other player on [the list of inaugural Pro Tour Hall of Fame candidates]." In another article, Rosewater commented that Mike was "the best I ever had" at star building. Mike Long's reputation as the Pro Tour's greatest villain consistently evoked passion and emotion among tournament followers, and often brought large turnouts to normally low-profile games and events. Although few people would admit to being true "fans" of Mike's, everyone came and watched. In 2005, Mike's possible induction into the Pro Tour Hall of Fame brought a similar sense of intrigue and controversy, several years after his departure from the pro circuit.

[edit] Playing style and controversy

Mike's level of talent and skill that led Mark Rosewater to label him one of the top five players of all time. Called Magic's Ty Cobb by former Magic Lead Designer Brian Schneider, Mike Long, who played pro Magic from about the age of 19 to the age of 22, is also well known for a series of incidents that earned him notoriety throughout the professional Magic circuit.

  • At the 1997 Pro-Tour Paris, Long was playing Mark Justice. Mike realized that he would lose the next turn if he could not get his "engine" to go off this turn. However, in order to get his combo to go off, he would have to discard his only win condition - a single Drain Life he had placed in his deck. He decided to do so anyways. After drawing a large number of cards, Long showed a Prosperity and asked his opponent if he would give up the game. Before the days of well-known and circulated internet decklists, Justice didn't realize that Mike had no way of winning the game, so he said "Yes" and conceded the game.[1][2]
  • At the 1998 U.S. Nationals, Mike was caught with a key card, Cadaverous Bloom, on his chair during a game. [3]
  • During the quarterfinals of Pro Tour Los Angeles in 2000, Long's shuffling technique drew attention from several players, among them Rob Dougherty, Tom Guevin and Shawn Regnier. The latter two independently informed the judges, and Long was given a warning for improperly shuffling his deck. [4] Later analysis of the event led judge and fellow competitor Robert Dougherty to accuse Long of deliberately cheating by evenly distributing copies of the card Howling Wolf throughout his deck. [5]
  • During the "US Nationals Draft Challenge" held at United States Nationals in 2000, Long was disqualified without prize and given a one-month suspension after improperly shuffling his deck.[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Rosewater, Mark (2004-07-26). On Tour, Part 1. Retrieved on 2006-09-19.
  2. ^ Long, Mike (2005-03-19). Mike Long’s Biggest Magic Secret: Revealed. Retrieved on 2006-09-19.
  3. ^ Burn, Seth. The Rule of Law. Retrieved on 2006-12-05.
  4. ^ Buehler, Randy. Pro Tour-Los Angeles 2000 Round 14 Feature Match. Retrieved on 2006-12-05.
  5. ^ Dougherty, Robert. The Anatomy of a Cheating Method. Retrieved on 2006-12-05.
  6. ^ Burn, Seth. The Rule of Law. Retrieved on 2006-12-05.
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