Pinoy Planeswalker Profiles #1

Greetings, Pinoy Planeswalkers!

My focus on activities for MTG – Pinoy Black Market and the recent transition-in of Gatecrash has taken much from my writing time. Let me present this entry for the month of March. This is one of many profile write-ups to come. I hope it brings as much inspiration to your Magic playing as it has given mine.

Ray De Guzman: The Game Lifestyle

While many Pinoys planeswalk for fun, a rigid few shuffle on a more severe level – delving in the game to compete, while taking most joy from wins. And then there is Ray De Guzman who rode Magic (and gaming, in general) as a way of life.

Ray has been gaming for the last two decades.

Ray spent his young years in Chicago where he was picked up by a local nerd community and taught to play Magic. This got him out of the regular street trouble young people his age got into. His dedication and skill in the game progressed dramatically. Under the wing of Bob Maher, Ray played with an awesome team, had accessed to the cards he needed, and was flying all across the states and eventually breaking through in Grand Prix DC in 1997 for his first Pro Tour invite that would take him to Pro Tour New York.

New York’s format was draft with 5th Edition with Visions and Ray’s first deck had three Crypt Rats, a Pestilence and three reanimation spells. His second deck for draft had Elvish Archers and three Hurricanes. Ray would finish Day One at Rank One leading Bob Maher to dub the young man Ray De One. Overall, Mr. De Guzman would finish PT NY at 11th place.

His second Pro Tour would be in Chicago (Extended). Ray ran an RB Suicide Necro-deck that was designed to beat the more prevalent Bueler Necro-builds. Sure enough, he beat two opponents who ran the said deck while also defeating all his matches against UR Frenetic Efreet decks – a favored archetype during the day. Ray finished 32nd in this tournament (Randy Bueler wins the said event).

At this point, Ray was predicted to win Pro Tour Los Angeles and was considered as one of the best players of Magic during this period.

He managed Top 8 of Grand Prix Atlanta in 1998. He was paired with team mate Derek Rank for the first round of the play-offs, and while Ray’s goal for that GP was to make it to Top 8 which was already bagged, he chooses to sleep given that he had not gotten any that whole weekend.

Ray then juggles in and out of Pro Tours amassing his collection, winnings, rank and experience.
Ray churned enough resources from his pro-playing stint to send himself to school as a video game artist. This, his knowledge of fighting games from the arcades and his mastery of game theory and mechanics (thanks to Magic) propels Ray’s career in the digital gaming industry into a good ten years with his last job title being Senior Producer (basically the top of the food chain).

Ray now owns and operates a franchise of Tobey’s Games Café (a Taiwan based table top gaming shop chain) here in Manila. Ray found his friend Tobey Tamber in Taiwan while working in the international gaming industry and falls in love with Tamber’s business model built around table top gaming.

Mr. De Guzman continues to play Magic competitively and sets his goals at developing a team of amateurs in the same way his team ran under Dark Confidant.

Signed by The Great One himself
dedicated personally to the Ray

“Bob (Maher) is going back to Pro Tour soon. I would love to join him,” says Ray.

“I have the experience and knowledge to turn any dedicated Magic player into a professional and I intend to start a sponsorship program once I have dedicated players here at my store…” Ray declares. He believes that the local Pinoy Magic scene is a tougher deal compared to what he has seen in Taiwan. “Look. I just came from Taiwan. They won the world championship and Philippines got top 8. I can tell you by first hand experience that Magic is tougher here. Zu Ching Kuo is an extremely talented player, couple that with a Miracle Bonfire and that is how they became world champs…” Ray continues.
“I just need a good hardworking group of guys to play with me and be my teammates and it will happen - if not for me, then one of them. I’ve been there already, I would love to have someone from here get there and experience it like I have…” Ray concludes.



That's it for our maiden edition of Pinoy Planeswalker Profiles. If you think you or one of your friends should be one of our featured Pinoy planeswalkers, or if you have any related comments, do not hesitate to use the comments box below or shoot me an email via boomdizon@yahoo.com. Use the same email to communicate any other related inquiries.

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