A quiet night in front the computer could turn into a mini windfall, as I personally witnessed when a lucky viewer of Atlas’s Twitch stream won a Vampiric Tutor through a lucky draw. On another streaming day, Atolatsu – the game name he goes by – even included the highly valuable Jeweled Lotus into the pot, but sadly no one (myself included) picked it up.

In the last 6 months, Atlas turned his guest bedroom into a man cave, and upgraded his gaming rig to include lights, microphones and even control boards to play sound effects on stream. How did a camera-shy 34-year-old turn his hobby into a full-fledged online show? Let’s go live and find out.

What do you do for work when you’re not Planeswalking?

I’m an Experience Designer working in a consultancy by the day, and pretty much a nerd when I’m not at work – playing strategy games, MMOs, manga, anime and collecting cardboard rectangles. My less-nerdy hobbies include photography and whisky.

Tell us about your Magic playing history. When and how did you start, and what formats do you play?

It was around 1996-97 and I was still in preschool when I was visiting my two cousins and chanced upon them playing a game with two stacks of cards with a brown back cover. I sat there for the next hour or two watching them exchanging blows, with them each commanding a champion – a white knight on one side and a black knight on the other. “First Strike” was the first keyword I learnt in Magic. I was so intrigued by the gameplay and the art.

Since then I have been tagging along with them to Bishan (back then it was a popular MTG spot) every Sunday and watching them play. Eventually, I managed to save enough to buy my first pack of Magic when 5th edition (1997) was released, and I pulled a City of Brass!

From then on, I started putting in more time on Magic and eventually made a Turbo Stasis deck which was really fun for me (but not for my opponents) to play with. I guess control has always been my play style. It was all well until I moved away from my cousins and kinda stopped playing since I couldn’t find anyone to play with at that time, and since it always felt like this was an unfinished chapter all the years.

Truthfully, I came back to the game at a Guilds of Ravnica (2018) prerelease event with a bunch of colleagues who, like me, had an unfinished childhood dream and started playing more regularly…well, when work permits haha. We were all in the same category of being in love with the game, and we were wondering why did we quit the last time?

As my work also requires me to travel overseas often, I would always find time to stop by an LGS and see if I had any luck picking up some old-school cards. Since GRN I have been playing mostly Standard – both paper magic or Arena. But recently I’ve also gone into Commander, which is pretty fun when you’re playing with more players and the diplomacy among players just makes it so much fun for me as a strategy game player.

And how did you get started with streaming Magic – do you treat it as a job or a thing of passion?

While COVID affected a lot of people, it also gave me an opportunity to do something that I’ve always been thinking – streaming. I have been working from home since March and while I do enjoy spending more time at home, there are times I felt like I needed something to connect with the outside world. Besides that, I’ve also been regularly watching twitch streams from people like Reid Duke, Yellowhat, Noxious, Crokeyz.

Then I started doing researching on Youtube on how to set up a stream, equipment etc. I’ve had stage fright since I was young and in Secondary school although I was part of a choir, you’re hiding in a group and have lots of support.

But before long I realised I was already streaming MTG Arena and things just went on from there. Today in my work, I have to present to clients and sometimes I have trouble articulating my thoughts in a very concise manner, so streaming was good to force myself at getting better. So far I’ve been doing this as a hobby and it helps to get my mind of work and the current situation. Not so sure about making a career out of this yet but you never know…

With the surge of content creators during the Covid-19 lockdown, how do you plan to differentiate yourself from others?

Honestly, I think it’s a good thing that there are more content creators during this period, and since there are many, like me, who experienced what I did and did the same thing. Streaming is all about building communities and sometimes it can be lonely talking to yourself if you’re just starting out (like myself). One of the things I’ve really enjoyed besides streaming solo is the opportunity to hang out with other streamers and sometimes even collaborate with them on video content.

I’ve also gotten great support from my friends and slowly more people started joining in, such as extended friends and even strangers whom I’ve never spoken to before. I do enjoy sharing my experiences with couple of listeners who say they are just starting out in Magic, helping them with questions such as “how much should I invest,” and “which format should I play?”

I’ve also recently started doing more unboxing videos and giveaways because people like free stuff and I like giving out free stuff. It gives me an excuse from my wife to buy boxes by telling her it is for ‘content’ purposes. Truth is, I like cracking packs – the plastic sound, the chemical-ish smell of ink. okay okay… ahem… and most importantly, the excitement of pulling unknown cards.

What are your thoughts on Arena (or anything online) vs paper Magic? Can either take Magic into the mainstream (that everyone plays)?

MTG Arena is the future of Magic and the cornerstone of it becoming a true E-Sport. With Wizards of the Coast investing in more resources into the game and a surge in popularity of TCG (trading card games) in recent years, it would definitely become more accessible and mainstream. They just need to now bring Arena to mobile, make a Mac version (editor’s note: just release a few months ago), fix the crashes, and design a better user interface.

In your opinion, what are the ugliest aspects of the game (not necessarily about the gameplay)?

Simply put – People. There has always been an unspoken MTG etiquette around and it just makes my day whenever I meet great people, play some good games (win or lose) and just chill around chit-chatting. I have encountered at times where people were toxic and it can be quite sweaty to deal with them. For example they’d be heckling the players and game, throwing insults, behaving like he is in a Mythic Championship instead of a prerelease event (sometimes it is funny), or just outright cheating. It takes away fun from the game.

And have there been any positive experiences from the Magic community?

I am so fortunate to meet so many new people (some of whom I call friends) in the journey of Magic: the Gathering – respecting players, rules and gameplays while most of our LGS here also creates a welcoming environment for new players and rubbing positive vibes around.

What cards would be in your very own “Signature Spell Book?”

My Spell Book all comes down to the controlling nature of my play style:

Thought Erasure – Hand Disruption

Thassa’s Oracle – Card advantage and sometime alt win con

Mana Drain / Cyclonic Rift – Counter and bounce staple

Narset, Parter of Veils – Card draw prevention

Do you have a favourite LGS that you always play at? What’s the ideal store to you?

A couple of stores that I frequent includes Grey Ogre Games (GOG) and Sanctuary Gaming, simply because they have a large MTG community and run regular events. GOG if I must choose between either, just because the crowd there is a little more mature and good for a boomer like me to fit in. Any stores that has both MTG and alcohol is my ideal store. 

What’s the Next Commander Deck You’re Working On?

It’s called “Sakashima and his Legendary Friends!” The key strategy is Stax, using the new Sakashima of a Thousand Faces from Commander Legends to copy other Creatures such as Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, and Grand Arbiter Augustin IV.

And since Sakashima has Partner, I’ve chosen Tymna, the Weaver to be his co-Commander and also serves a nice target to copy. And like many of my other decks, control the board and lastly win with Thassa’s Oracle!