Mike Long
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Born | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |  American |
| Winnings | US$ 102,669[1] |
| Pro Tour Top 8 Finishes | 4[2] |
| Grand Prix Top 8 Finishes | 4[3] |
| Lifetime Pro Points | 191[4] |
Michael Long is a former professional Magic: The Gathering card game player, and was a highly influential and controversial Pro Tour mainstays for a number of years in the late 1990s. Despite making four Pro Tour top eights and winning Pro Tour Paris in 1997, Long's legacy is the subject of much controversy due to allegations of cheating and unsportsmanlike behavior. In 2003, he began selling "MTG Secrets", a book and DVD guide on how to play Magic.
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[edit] Contributions to the game
Mike Long's Prosperous Bloom (or Pros-Bloom) deck, which he piloted to a Pro Tour championship at Paris in 1997, 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, Long 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 has written 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. Rosewater wrote that while few people counted themselves as fans of Long, many came to watch him. In 2005, the possibility that Long could be inducted into the Pro Tour Hall of Fame reignited debates over whether Long's overall impact on the game was positive or negative.
[edit] Playing style and controversy
Long's detractors do not generally dispute that he was a talented Magic player. Instead, he is a controversial figure because he used a great deal of mind games and psychological tricks. He was also frequently accused of cheating and has been disqualified and suspended from sanctioned play for cheating on the Pro Tour.
[edit] Mind games and psychology
- In the finals of Pro Tour Paris 1997, Long was playing Mark Justice. In one game, Long, piloting his Prosperous Bloom combo deck, faced a sitution where he would lose unless he could win on his current turn. In order to get his combo to go off, he needed to discard his sole copy of Drain Life, the only card in his deck capable of dealing damage and thus killing his opponent. After drawing a large number of cards with a large Prosperity, Long showed his hand to Justice to communicate that he had the game won and would only waste time going through the motions. As Justice did not know the exact contents of Long's deck, he didn't know that Long only had one copy of Drain Life and thus no way to win the game. Justice conceded the game and went on to lose the match.[5]
[edit] Cheating and suspicious play
- At the 1998 U.S. Nationals, Long was caught with a key card, Cadaverous Bloom, on his chair during a game. [6]
- During a crucial round of Pro Tour Los Angeles in 2000, Long was given a warning for improperly shuffling his deck. [7] Long made a comment to his opponent, Darwin Kastle, designed to keep Kastle from shuffling Long's deck before starting the match. Distracted by Long's banter, Kastle only cut Long's deck, despite intending to shuffle because there were rumors before the round that Long's shuffling was suspicious.[7] Many players, including Rob Dougherty, a former Magic judge who attended that event as a player, accused Long of deliberately cheating by not randomizing his deck to keep copies of the card Howling Wolf evenly distributed. Dougherty wrote an article laying out his case against Long. Dougherty contended that Long's pregame actions were not shuffling but instead pretending to shuffle while stacking his deck. The judging staff, Dougherty asserts, was not familiar enough with catching cheaters to understand what Long was doing.[8]
- During the US Nationals Draft Challenge held at United States Nationals in 2000, Long was disqualified without prize and given a one-month suspension for presenting a deck that was not sufficiently randomized.[9][10]
[edit] References
- ^ Lifetime Winnings Leaders. Retrieved on February 16, 2007.
- ^ Lifetime Pro Tour Top 8s. Retrieved on February 16, 2007.
- ^ Lifetime Grand Prix Top 8s. Retrieved on February 16, 2007.
- ^ Lifetime Pro Points. Retrieved on February 16, 2007.
- ^ Rosewater, Mark (2004-07-26). On Tour, Part 1. Retrieved on September 19, 2006.
- ^ Burn, Seth. The Rule of Law. Retrieved on December 5, 2006.
- ^ a b Buehler, Randy. Pro Tour-Los Angeles 2000 Round 14 Feature Match. Retrieved on December 5, 2006.
- ^ Dougherty, Robert. The Anatomy of a Cheating Method. Retrieved on December 5, 2006.
- ^ Burn, Seth. The Rule of Law. Retrieved on December 5, 2006.
- ^ Eikefet, Kim. The Long Controversy. Retrieved on February 17, 2007.
