"Isn't it crazy that we can trigger the part of the brain that makes sounds, and then those sounds travel through a screen across the world, to another part of our brain that hears sounds, and then makes sense of all that?"
I'm interviewing Simon Nielsen a week after his extraordinary streak of Top Finishes saw him complete the journey with a title at Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3—a win which gave him a trophy to cap an unprecedented five Top Finishes in his last six events—and the conversation turned away from the expected topic to what else is going on in the life of the Pro Tour victor. If you think the famously animated player gets excited by Magic, just know that he brings that same energy to something the rest of us take for granted.
We've heard epic stories of players duo-queueing things (Ben Stark once made Top 8 at a Grand Prix and Pro Tour on the same day), but while Nielsen has been reigning atop the Magic world as the Player of the Year, he's also been quietly wrapping up his secondary studies back home at the University of Copenhagen. Right before winning the Pro Tour, he completed a degree in linguistics, the scientific study of language.
"I speak Danish and English and only a little bit of German, but I've always been fascinated by language and how it works in general," Nielsen told me in between asides about his Modern deck and exactly where he ranks himself with the likes of current and former world championship winners Jean-Emmanuel Depraz, Javier Dominguez, and Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa. "It's all very interesting to learn about."
As I hung up the call, it again struck me just how much of enigma Simon Nielsen is. Sleep-in Simon. Always-wearing-a-tie Simon. Simon, the table jokester, who is simultaneously the silliest and most serious player in the room. Simon of the famous "Daneblast" national team that won the World Magic Cup. Simon, who almost misses the Pro Tour because he wanted to take a bike ride in. Simon, who jetted off almost immediately to a music festival after winning the Pro Tour. Simon, whose banter even make Dominguez crack in a Pro Tour Top 8. Simon, who can talk as much about linguistics as he can Limited. Simon, the man who can make me do a double-take and consider the very nature of communication while carrying on a conversation about World Championship testing.
Simon, the reigning Player of the Year. Simon, the favorite to win it again. Simon, the Pro Tour champion. Simon Nielsen, the most dominant Magic player in the world.
No one is enjoying the ride more than him.
🏆Congratulations to Simon Nielsen, winner of Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3!🏆
— PlayMTG (@PlayMTG) June 30, 2024
After two incredible years – including winning Player of the Year and making the Top 8 in five out of six events – he finally secured his first ever Pro Tour victory.
Congratulations again, Simon! pic.twitter.com/etQyotNe8I
"I'm not someone who dreamt specifically of winning a Pro Tour; it's all really very arbitrary. But it was a pretty nice experience," explained Nielsen in his signature happy-go-lucky style. "So many matches have to go your way to win a Pro Tour, and I think the main thing it matters for is the narrative. I went top four to third to second to first in Top 8s over the last year, it's a really good story."
It's, of course, much more than that. His performance has put him on the very short list of the most dominant stretches ever played—and even in the season of the run where multiple players are carrying impressive streaks into Magic World Championship 30, Nielsen stands out.
Nielsen's Run
His Top 8 at Pro Tour March of the Machine last May ignited what gone on to be the greatest streak we've seen since at least Nathan Steuer. Nielsen followed it with a Top 4 at Pro Tour The Lord of the Rings that July and then added another semifinals appearance at the World Championship, where he earned the Player of the Year title. He was the runner-up to Seth Manfield at Pro Tour Murders at Karlov Manor in Chicago in February, and then in Amsterdam he capped the run with a victory over another PT winner in Sam Pardee in the finals of Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3.
That kind of performance is unheard of in modern Magic. But perhaps what's even more unexpected is exactly how that run has played out: to laughs and jokes that have upended 30 years of what Pro Tour excellence looked like.
My favorite from last PT:
— Simon Nielsen (@MrChecklistcard) July 8, 2024
Javier draws 4 cards.
Me: "You look so happy when you draw cards!"
*staring lovingly at him*
Javier: "Wow, you're looking at me so intensely Simon!"
Me: "That's my only out at this point. It's to make you fall in love with me."https://t.co/ZpQdUUILMY https://t.co/BJFFNaOVzw
We all know the stereotype: the stoic Magic pro whose goal at the table is to pass a reverse Turing test and function as much like a calculator (but not the Calculator; that's Christian Calcano) as possible. Remove all emotion from the game, run the math at breakneck speed in your head, and bottle it all up. Give nothing away, treat defeat and victory the same detached way.
But not Nielsen. As far back as the Duneblast heard ‘round the world, there's been a consistent word that I think describes Nielsen simply, and succinctly: aware.
Behind the jokes and the trash talk and the loving stares is a man who is hyper-aware of himself, his opponent, and perhaps most importantly the Magic world writ large. He knows he's making a made-for-camera moment when he needles good friend Dominguez at the table. He knew he was breaking norms when he first showed up to a tournament dressed in a bright suit and tie. Nielsen doesn't shy away from that spotlight; he seeks it out.
He's aware that the product of him playing Magic for tens of thousands of dollars doesn't exist just for his own personal glory or bank account, but for the entire Magic world. He knows the intense, added pressure that comes with stepping into that spotlight, and he's embraced it—more than that, he's turned it into a strength.
Even his greatest hallmark, the table talk, comes from a place of awareness—and using that awareness to improve the experience for all involved.
"The way I've been framing it is as a way to release tension, both for me and for my opponent. At some point I decided to just make sure I'm comfortable playing a match of Magic, and my opponent is as well," he explained. "In every game there's going to be a winner and a loser at the end of the round; there's two people playing a match and if you're enjoying yourself in a loss and your opponent is enjoying themselves in a win, that's a good mindset to have. I tend to goof off more when I'm losing or in between games, so I can be dialed in and focused when I need to be."
Nielsen's Fun
For us viewers, Nielsen's antics are an unending source of joyful reprieve in an environment that can sometimes be a slog. But his explanation speaks to a more central point: players at the highest level are playing for top tier prizes. The pressure and tension at that level can break people. In the days of the Magic Pro League, it wasn't uncommon for league members to enlist a sports psychologist to help manage that stress. Nielsen knows what he needs to compete at his best, and after years of work he's clearly found a formidable formula.
"Every single skill in Magic is about balance—you can give a piece of advice to one person that would be terrible advice for someone else, and that goes for how you conduct yourself at the table and how much pressure you put on yourself," he explained. "You always want to be mindful of the people around you, of course—being jovial can't be a one-person job, or you're just a clown."
Congratulations to #PTMH3 Champion Simon Nielsen! pic.twitter.com/Sg6JXVXvvJ
— PlayMTG (@PlayMTG) June 30, 2024
A clown, Nielsen is not. The best Magic player in the world right now, he very well may be—even if he's had to come to grips with that suggestion over the past year.
"I think it makes sense that people could say that," he allowed. "From my perspective, it's not true, although I probably have to admit now that I am up there—maybe if you made a list of the top five. To me, the best players in the world right now are probably Javier or JED, or Paulo if he were playing the Tour at the moment. But the best player could also be someone who hasn't quite made Top 8—the rest don't just speak for themselves."
Not quite, but in Nielsen's case they sure to do come close. And with the World Championship looming just over 100 days away, he'll have the opportunity to do something that only one player has done before: hold the World Championship trophy and the Player of the Year trophy at the same time. The only other person to accomplish it? Kai Budde. You might have heard of him. The Player of the Year trophy bears his name.
"It would be cool to get Player of the Year a second time, but that's really hard to control. I'm just going to focus on preparing for the draft and see if I can keep my streak going from there," he explained. "Honestly, the thing I'm thinking about right now is whether I'm going to be the featured drafter on Day 1—the last time I finished Day 1 of a Pro Tour 8-0 I thought I would be the featured drafter but I didn't get it—Kai did instead."
Sometimes these storylines just write themselves. And Nielsen's story is far from finished.
"Honestly, the amount of success has been awesome, and it's given me a lot of freedom; I know now that I can do this professionally for at least the next year, and monetarily for at least two years," Nielsen intimated. "I'm thinking about going and playing Eternal Weekend in Japan, something I never would consider before. I'm so grateful for these results, they've given me the time and the funds to really enjoy it, and I am."
The Road to the World Championship
Magic World Championship 30 now sits just over 100 days away, and to celebrate the milestone, Frank Karsten and I have been recounting the previous champions. This week takes us back to 2009, when more than 400 players converged on Rome to crown a champion.
The format was a unique one: three formats across three days. Draft, Standard, and Extended. The event was dominated by one of the most famous deck cores of all time: "Naya Lightsaber" featuring
But more notable to the larger Magic world is that the event was won by André Coimbra, who became the first World Champion from Portugal. While the World title would be both the height and final Top Finish in his career—he also posted a Top 8 at the World Championship in 2005—it was a seminal moment for Magic in the region. Today, the Portuguese Magic community is among the strongest in the world and continues to make waves at the Pro Tour level.
Next up for us? A Regional Championship cycle, and then Magic World Championship 30 kicks off on October 25–27 at MagicCon: Las Vegas!