Arne Huschenbeth is used to playing long weekends of Magic. He is, after all, a longtime tournament grinder. He's put in the hours in airports, taxis, and convention centers to know how draining it can be travel long distances and then play high-level tournament Magic.
Huschenbeth is one of the best at it. He racked up seven Grand Prix Top 8 appearances in just a three-year span from 2016-19 – and as hard as it is to make the Top 8 of a Pro Tour, slogging through a 2,000-person GP was a marathon achievement of an entirely different kind. And Huschenbeth is familiar with both: he has a pair of Top Finishes including a win at the Kaldheim Championship.
Magic players at the highest level know a dedication to slinging cards I wish I had in me. I love to draft and I do so on Arena more than 99% of Magic players but I can't hold a candle to the stamina of players like Huschenbeth, who was introduced to the game at seven years old and traveling across Europe to play tournaments before he was out of high school.
But last weekend in Lille was a busy one. Even for Huschenbeth.
"When it was all over, totally exhausted, relieved, and in disbelief, I just fell into bed like a stone," was how the German Pro Tour winner described it.
And that was just Day One.
We know the Regional Championships – like the one that Huschenbeth was competing in at LEC Lille that was won by Adrián Iñigo Tastet – are tough tournaments. This one was a two-day affair with Pro Tour spots and World Championship seats on the line. And it did not get off to a great start for the GP Rimini 2016 champion. He struggled out to a 1-2 start, which was disappointing but not devastating since he is qualified for the next Pro Tour in Chicago already.
Huschenbeth is a champion, and not one to quit while there's still meaningful Magic to be played. He kept grinding away through the nearly 700-players strong field, and things started to turn around in a major way. He rode his Omnath to Light list masterminded by Lukas Honnay and Nico Bohny all the way up to a 7-2 record and a prime spot in Day Two.
Yet, that wasn't what left Huschenbeth crashing into bed at midnight. At least not entirely. What might be more responsible is what he decided to do after the stunning turnaround: enter another Magic tournament.
"Well, Day One of Lille finished around 9 p.m.," Huschenbeth explained. "That left me about five hours to play the Arena Championship Qualifier
I told you these players are on a different level. As I walked the aisles in between rounds at Magic World Championship XXIX last month, it was normal to see the competitors getting in a few extra rounds on their phones. Players fly around the world to find the perfect events to play in. Point is, Magic players go to great lengths to play Magic.
"I didn't have the nerve to try and play both events at the same time," admitted Huschenbeth, wisely deciding to not try and duo-queue such important tournaments. "You never know how long a best-of-three match on Arena can go. But I did build my deck in between rounds of the Regional Championship.
"After the day ended, we reserved a big table at a French restaurant. But I wasn't able to mingle much, because I kept winning and was staring at my phone. At 5-0, we left and I finished the rest of the qualifier from my hotel room. I was done at midnight, and exhausted."
That's about as harrowing as a day of casting magical spells can be. 16 straight hours of playing cards will wear out anyone. Personally, I think I'd be down for the count for about the next day or two to recover. Huschenbeth's reaction?
"I started Day 1 in Lille 1-2, and rattled back to 7-2. Then I went 7-0 in the Arena Championship Qualifier. What a really awesome and crazy day."
Wow, what a day! 7-0 in the Qualifier Day1 after going 1-2 into 7-2 in #LECLille with Omnath. Let's gooo #teamultimateGuard pic.twitter.com/Wm96I65JIS
— Arne Huschenbeth (@Huschenmtg) September 30, 2023
Sleep is for the weary or something like that, and Magic is for Huschenbeth – he was back in the trenches at the Regional Championship the next morning, trying to remain undefeated and avoid Lotus Field Combo, the one matchup he couldn't afford sideboard spots for. The deck had handed him his two losses on Saturday, and Huschenbeth had no option but to cross his fingers and hope to avoid the matchup.
The plan worked well enough early, but Huschenbeth ran into none other than eventual winner Tastet in Round 12, who ended his winning streak en route to the Top 8. Huschenbeth rallied to win his next three matches to finish the tournament an impressive 12-3, but the early losses caught up to him: he finished in ninth place on tiebreakers.
"It was certainly a bummer," Huschenbeth allowed. "But I had to keep my head straight. I sat down in the hall and started playing Day Two of the Arena Championship Qualifier. My deck was black-green again, even stronger than the one the day before. I played the first five rounds in the hall, and then went with my teammate Tim Schaufert and found an almost empty kebab chain. They had power outlets to charge my phone and the internet was good enough, so I finished my last three rounds while Tim and I ate kebab."
And when those last three rounds were finished, Huschenbeth found himself in a position he never considered when he first sleeved up his deck for the Regional Championship: qualified for an upcoming Arena Championship.
7-1. Unreal. Lost for words. What a weekend. pic.twitter.com/fGZTp0ZGWq
— Arne Huschenbeth (@Huschenmtg) October 1, 2023
"It was complete relief after I finished. I didn't jump in the air or anything, I high-fived Tim and we laughed," Huschenbeth recalled. "Special thanks to him for sticking with me and supporting me on the crazy ride, he's a really good player who just made the Top 8 of Arena Championship 3 and he did a lot of little things to support me, like providing a hotspot when the internet was shaky.
"When I got back to the hotel, the best celebration I could think of was to fall into my bed and sleep."
With an Arena Championship now on his calendar alongside the Pro Tour in Chicago, Huschenbeth plans to continue the disciplined approach that's gotten him here. He studies the game, streams and produces content, and he plans to direct his focus entirely on the two major events he's now qualified for.
...
While Huschenbeth was looking at a battlefield in miniature, Tastet was still holding court over a tabletop battlefield. Not that the Lotus Field Combo deck he and Sam Rolph both made the Top 8 with had much interest in the red zone. The deck has been a staple of Pioneer almost since its inception, and it had a particularly strong weekend in Lille.
Especially so in Tastet's hands. The 24-year-old Madrid native played a lot of Magic as a kid but only came back to the game in the last year. Since then, he's had one goal: qualify for his first-ever Pro Tour. Consider that mission accomplished after his dominant Regional Championship performance; Tastet went 15-2-1 in matches played over the weekend.
"It still kind of feels like a dream," he said in the days following a victory that qualifies him not just for the Pro Tour, but the World Championship beyond that. "I got so much love from all of my friends and family and the Spanish Magic community."
Coming into high-level Magic with a unique background, the experience of preparing with a team for a big event like the Regional Championship was just one of the many new things Tastet is picking up along the way to his Pro Tour debut.
"The preparation before the tournament was probably the most important part for me, as I knew that a tournament like this required it, but I've never done this before for Magic," he explained. "With my background in sports, I know that teamwork usually makes the dream work, and being able to work and prepare with the amazing group I had was what made the difference. We had a really strong decklist and were really confident in it. I want to give huge props to Mateo Ferreira [who finished 14th] for setting up the testing group and being the mastermind."
Huschenbeth's weekend was busy; Tastet's was a whirlwind. His path to the title included a clutch traditional Spanish dinner provided by a teammate after Day One, a 75-card mirror against Ferreira at table 1 in what was a Pro Tour win-and-in, and a memorable semifinals match against Christoffer Larsen who was making his second Regional Championship Top 8 appearance.
"Christoffer Larsen being so friendly during what was probably the most important match of my life, and him hugging me after I had just beaten him for the Worlds invite really felt special, too, and speaks volumes," Tastet reflected. "Winning this tournament brings me a lot of joy and happiness, and I feel motivated to prepare and learn as much as I can to try and do a good job at the Pro Tour and the World Championship. Hopefully I'll get to meet new people, make some new friends, travel and continue to enjoy every opportunity Magic gives me in the future."