Robert Jacko
Age: 26
Residence: Prague
Occupation: Developer / Analyst
Number of GP Top8s: 1 (including this)
Number of Pro Tours played: 0
Biggest Magic success: Member of Alkaatch Team
Constructed result in this tournament: 12-1-2
How did you prepare for the tournament? I tested this and a few other decks with the rest of the team in our favourite pub called "Hottlek"!
Which deck did you choose and why? Faeries is just a good deck. And it is a blast to play and it's fun to ambush people with unexpected flash creatures usually played in limited only.
Takayuki Koike
Age: 17
Hometown: Tochigi, Japan
Occupation: High school studen
Number of Times Playing on the Pro Tour: This is the first time.
How did you qualify for Pro Tour-Valencia? PTQ.
Number of GP/PT Top 8s: This is first.
Other previous Magic accomplishments: None.
What deck are you playing and why?
I love Jyunya Takahashi deck.
How did you prepare for Pro Tour-Valencia? Who did you prepare with?
With Morikawa Yunta, my friend and Bakayasu.
Shuhei Nakamura
Age: 26
Hometown: Osaka
Occupation: Wayfarer
Number of Times Playing on the Pro Tour: 15 (?)
How did you qualify for Pro Tour-Valencia? Pro Players Club
Number of GP/PT Top 8s: 10 GPs, 4 PT (including this PT)
Other previous Magic accomplishments: Wow, I'm playing in the Invitational (thanks!)
What deck are you playing and why?
White-blue Tron. I think it's better matchups against (the field).
How did you prepare for Pro Tour-Valencia? Who did you prepare with?
Three weeks. One week, I went to Tokyo to practice with Saito, Kurihara, Taru, Mitamura, Kaneko.
Makihito Mihara
Age: 25
Hometown: Chiba, Japan
Number of Times Playing on the Pro Tour: More than 10
How did you qualify for Pro Tour-Valencia? World Champion
Number of GP/PT Top 8s: Two
Other previous Magic accomplishments: World Champion
What deck are you playing and why?
Blue-white Tron.
How did you prepare for Pro Tour-Valencia? Who did you prepare with?
Practiced with Tomoharu Saito, same as Shuhei.
Tine Rus
Age: 21
Hometown: Loski Potok, Slovenia
Occupation: Student
Number of Times Playing on the Pro Tour: 0
How did you qualify for Pro Tour-Valencia? Won a PTQ in Zagreb
Number of GP/PT Top 8s: 0
Other previous Magic accomplishments: Nothing worth mentioning / nothing outside Slovenia.
What deck are you playing and why? "Rock the Domain" - because I've been playing Rock for a long time and I have foil cards for it.
How did you prepare for Pro Tour-Valencia? Who did you prepare with?
I tested with Andrej Rizner and Grgur Petrie Naretic.
Sam Stein
Age: 19
Hometown: Los Angeles
Occupation: Card player
Number of Times Playing on the Pro Tour: 6
How did you qualify for Pro Tour-Valencia? Won a PTQ
Number of GP/PT Top 8s: 1 Grand Prix
Other previous Magic accomplishments: JSS Championship 2003, third place
What deck are you playing and why?
Affinity. I didn't get to test much so I played a deck I was very familiar with.
How did you prepare for Pro Tour-Valencia? Who did you prepare with?
I practiced with Dredge online to get a feel for the format and then tested in Barcelona with a group of friends starting the Sunday before the PT.
Remi Fortier
Age: 16
Hometown: Mortree, France
Occupation: Student
Number of Times Playing on the Pro Tour: 3
How did you qualify for Pro Tour-Valencia? PTQ
Number of GP/PT Top 8s: This is the first
Other previous Magic accomplishments: None
What deck are you playing and why? Countertop Goyf because it got a good match up against Aggro and Dredge. And it's funny to play.
How did you prepare for Pro Tour-Valencia? Who did you prepare with?
I tested on the Internet for two weeks before the Pro Tour with Guillaume Wafo-Tapa, Jonathan Rispal, Malo Wilefert and Florent Lucas.
Andre Mueller
Age: 27
Hometown: Getseukirchen
Occupation: Dealer and gamer
Number of Times Playing on the Pro Tour: 20
How did you qualify for Pro Tour-Valencia? Grand Prix-Stockholm Top 16
Number of GP/PT Top 8s: 2 GP, 2 PT
Other previous Magic accomplishments: Isn't that enough?
What deck are you playing and why? Enduring Ideal, because it beats Aggro and doesn't lose to graveyard hate.
How did you prepare for Pro Tour-Valencia? Who did you prepare with? Most qualified Germans from the area met at my place for a five-day boot camp. Klaus Joens and Aaron Brackmann contributed to the actual building of the deck while the rest played the field against us.