Padawan in Training?

I'm sure that the Filipino Magic community (if not the global community) is aware of how much noise our very own 8-year old kid; Kurt Porter generated. Kurt piloted his Jund deck to the 2nd day of the Grand Prix and finished 92nd overall. It was not enough to qualify him for a Pro Tour or win him some money, but it is a monumental feat for an 8-year old who started off with zero byes.

So how did he do it? We have been asking ourselves the same question for months now. Yes, months.

Early gaming background:
1. Kurt started playing real-time strategy games on PC when he was 3 years old. Warcraft 3, Command and Conquer: Generals, and Warhammer: Dawn of War were among his favorites. He was later prohibited from playing these games because he was starting to exhibit violent tendencies.
2. Kurt then shifted to handheld consoles. He played emulated Pokemon games on his PSP and plays Monster Hunter up to this day.
3. He was introduced to Monopoly early 2009. He has been beating his aunts, uncles, and Grandparents in the game ever since. He also likes playing banker whenever he plays.

I think his story is all about exposure. Yes, he is an 8 year old but we never allowed him to play or bring his cards to school. We did this so that he would focus on his studies and not just play Magic. He has never played a game against his classmates. In tournaments, we would tell him who the good players are; he would watch them and learn a few moves. Kurt then emulates those players when he plays. He requires very minimal verbal instructions, just a few reminders on some keypoints.

MTG exposure prior to tournament play:

Kurt first played the Jund deck when he was practicing with the 2009 Philippine National Team in Rome. The team had no alternate and he was the only person that was with the team who knows how to play Magic.

2009 Philippine Team

Kurt clearing the challenges in Duels of the Planeswalkers

Watching Antonino De Rosa in gunslinging

Gunslinging against Antonino De Rosa...

... and Mike Turian...

... and Tom Lapille...

... and Olle Rade.

Fun times with Schuyler Garfield...

... and Terry Garfield

Tournament milestones as of today:
1. Dec 20, 2009 - 1st tournament. Played Dredge and finished 13th out of 14 players at a local Vintage tourney
2. Dec 27, 2009 - Played Jund and finished 1st out of over 100 players at a local Standard tourney
3. He has consistently piloted Jund on local Standard tourneys last January, 4W-3L being his worst record.
4. Kurt decided to change his deck for the Feb 13 JTQ Kuala Lumpur. He piloted a Summoning Trap deck to a 4W-3L finish.
5. He again decides to try a different deck for the Feb 21 JTQ Kuala Lumpur. He played Pat Chapin's UW control deck and went 1W-4L-1D-drop in the tourney, winning only the mirror match. Yes he cannot play control yet, just like 90% of the MTG population.
6. With very little time to practice due to school (final exams was March 8-11), Kurt picked up a Jund deck again for Grand Prix Kuala Lumpur and placed 92nd overall out of over 500 players.
7. Mar 20, 2010 - Finished 5-0-2 in the swiss rounds of GPT Manila but lost the top 8 match for 3 byes.
8. Mar 23, 2010 - Played and won his 1st booster draft (ZZW)

Kurt is now enjoying his summer vacation and practicing everyday for the upcoming GP Manila in June. He will also be doing summer sports to give him better resistance against fatigue; which was the main reason he did not do well in day 2 of GP KL. Let us not forget that he is just 8 years old, he gets tired much quicker than the older players.