An audio interview with Damon Whitby, a.k.a "Parcher." Damon talks life and Magic.

[Plague Sliver]

I usually post episode updates in the dedicated Humans of Magic thread, but this is a special one.

Damon Whitby, a.k.a. Parcher. One of the original proponents of the Legacy, or 1.5, format.

https://soundcloud.com/humansofmagic...7-damon-whitby



“The most important lesson I’ve learned is letting that which truly does not matter, go.”

Damon Whitby has been advancing the Legacy format for over a decade. These days he can usually be found terrorizing opponents with his Dredge deck, although he has played a wide range of archetypes over the years.

This episode is filled with Damon’s experiences and musings on life. Never one to hold back, he talks about his rough childhood and what lies beneath his gruff exterior. Damon also talks about the mid-Atlantic Magic scene and some of the best players he’s interacted with. In many instances, the discussions verged into personal and life-related observations. The honesty really came through in this conversation.

As someone who grew up with The Source, I hope that I have done Damon justice in representing his views and that you will enjoy this recording.

Time stamps:

[4:33] Introduction
[7:01] Early childhood // family history // Seattle memories
[12:00] Hanging out with the punks
[14:57] Hooked on wargames
[19:58] Joining the army
[20:40] Games Workshop in Maryland
[22:47] Magic first impressions
[27:24] Breaking out of casual play with Pros-Bloom
[30:59] Meeting top local players and pros: Matt Linde, Kyle Rose, Brock Parker
[36:10] How “Huey” Jensen got his nickname
[38:06] Building the White Weenie deck that Linde won Nationals with
[39:47] Mike Long and Tongo Nation
[41:22] The greatest match ever played in Rochester draft
[43:50] Success at ’98 Regionals
[45:59] Transitioning to Extended and Legacy // First contact with The Source
[48:32] The Virginia crew: Anwar Ahmad, The Hatfields, David Gearhart, Dan Signorini, Dave Price, and Jesse Krieger
[53:25] Virgnia vs. Syracuse rivalry
[54:27] Perceptions of Legacy and its legitimacy
[58:06] Alix Hatfield: the best deck builder
[1:02:20] Mental preparation and honing one’s deck over time
[1:05:31] The importance of format knowledge
[1:08:43] The luckiest man in the world with Cabal Therapy?
[1 : 10 : 39] “Where other people have decision trees, I see my job as pruning the trees.”
[1 : 14 : 32] Dredge puts the fear into opponents // Letting opponents beat themselves
[1:20:12] Team Dredge goes on a tear // Keeping things fresh
[1:25:39] “I am my [tournament] record” — a fallacy
[1:27:53] Learning to let go of things that don’t matter
[1:29:23] On being direct
[1:31:47] Perceptions people have of Damon
[1:24:16] On legitimately disliking some people
[1:36:22] “You don’t break somebody else’s rice bowl to refill your own.”
[1:38:04] Origins of the name Parcher
[1:39:22] Dan Signorini
[1:45:32] Helping Dan prepare for PT Honolulu // Shaheen Soorani // Alex Majlaton
[1:47:32] From one generation to the next
[1:48:54] Ben Friedman’s rapid growth as a person
[1:52:10] Jarvis Yu
[1:55:14] “At his heart, Dan is a gigantic nerd” // judging a book by its cover
[1:59:44] Why BBD is a great player
[2:04:50] The power of listening // Signal to noise in the online community
[2:07:10] Generalizing Magic lessons to life
[2 : 12 : 50] How has the game been detrimental to Damon?
[2:17:03] Shoutout to the mid-Atlantic area

[Parcher]

I've only listened long enough to hear myself say y'know about 200 times, but I want to point out from those time stamps that I absolutely did not claim to have created the deck Linde won Nats with. I just added the tech of Mox Diamond with Charm in the SB. Which he won without anyway.

EDIT:Holy hell. I sound like a moron. I was a little drunk and VERY tired. Thanks for carrying me as long as you did, James.

[Plague Sliver]

I've only listened long enough to hear myself say y'know about 200 times, but I want to point out from those time stamps that I absolutely did not claim to have created the deck Linde won Nats with. I just added the tech of Mox Diamond with Charm in the SB. Which he won without anyway.

EDIT:Holy hell. I sound like a moron. I was a little drunk and VERY tired. Thanks for carrying me as long as you did, James.

Don't worry about it man, I got your back. 300 "you knows" and 5,000 "uhs" have already been surgically scrubbed (extracted?) from the final recording. Slight exaggeration on the last one, but don't worry about it. Makes it sound organic.

Good clarification -- I wanted to keep the Linde time stamp as is because it entices more people to listen to that part. Maybe I'm crazy.

I had a great time doing the interview, thanks again for your time.

P.S. One of these days I definitely need to hit up an East Coast GP again -- haven't done it since GP Providence in 2011. And I'm not sure if NJ in 2014 counts because that was a disaster for me on many fronts.

[Stevestamopz]

Another really good episode James, thanks.