神河当時 - Jonathan Sonneへのインタビュー

The Grand Prix–Austin field featured just under 400 players and when that event was honed down to a final match, it was again between a relative unknown and a Pro Tour-caliber player. Jon Sonne has a current string of money finishes and was probably the most prominent member of the TOGIT/CMU crowd without an championship trophy on his proverbial mantle. He drafted a powerhouse red-white deck with four copies of Cage of Hands.

It says something about the depth of white that Jon had four copies of what many pundits consider the best white common and there were still two other decks that were at least half white at the final table. One of those players was finalist Eugene Levin, a Los Angeles-based Pro Tour aspirant who nudged Blessed Breath a little bit higher on everyone’s pick orders with his Houdini-like use of the card in the Top 8. While three players drafting white might seem like the color was contested, consider this: I witnessed one draft where five out of six players in a row took white cards out of the same pack.

Sonne took out Levin in two games to earn $2,400 and the Grand Prix trophy. It was a long time coming for the TOGIT star. While Jon has made the Top 8 of a Grand Prix before and has several high Pro Tour finishes to his credit, he had never won a major event. Sonne is known as a deliberate player, and like YMG’s Dave Humpherys, would often find himself saddled with unfinished matches going to time. Over the past year or so he seems to have made a conscious effort to hasten the pace of his play and it has shown in his results.

I spoke to Jon about his success, his reputation, and the extraordinary base of players that have emerged from Somerville, N.J., at a little store known as TOGIT.

引用元
A LONG TIME COMING Posted in The Week That Was on October 14, 2004
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/week-was/long-time-coming-2004-10-14

グランプリオースティン04/Grand Prix-Austin 2004での優勝者、Jonathan Sonneへのインタビュー記事です。

神河環境への話よりは、MTG歴などの話がメインでした。

過小評価されているカードとして《目覚めの悪夢/Waking Nightmare》を挙げていたのが気になりました。ただ、このインタビューではそれ以上深く掘り下げてはいません。