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Magic the Gathering has long been appreciated as an international sport.   However, it wasn't until Alexandre Blumke of Switzerland and Jakub Slemr of the Czech Republic won the 1995 and 1997 World Championships that it was understood just how widespread Magic had become across the Atlantic.  Jakub Slemr especially helped break many of the stereotypes concerning the former Soviet bloc countries.

This represents the first in a series of portraits on Magic in Europe - from Slovenia to Portugal to Finland to Croatia.  One of these countries will produce the Pro Tour's next big European star.

 

Magic In Austria

For the American visitor, Austria's rich cultural and intellectual history is most famously embodied by Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Klimt, Mahler, Freud, or even the movie The Sound of Music. However, Austria's great cultural and intellectual wealth is not limited to the past; the country continues to serve, as it has for centuries, as the intellectual and creative center of Central Europe and as a meeting point and melting pot of Eastern and Western European cultures.

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Austrians have been playing Magic since the game first arrived in the capital city of Vienna in 1993 (spelled 'Wien' in German).  30 year-old Christian Gawrilowicz of Tyrol (near the German border) recalls his early days with the game.  "In May '94, I discovered Magic while attending a gaming convention in Brighton, England. I flew back with about 400 cards and thought, 'Wow, crazy to have so many cards!'"  After the convention, Christian introduced Austrians to the game and spent a year posting flyers at various gaming stores in Vienna. He was soon able organize a small league and the first tournaments in Austria.  Since the DCI was only tracking American rankings at the time, Christian started his own ranking system for Austrians in May of 1995 and even tried to unite the other organizers to build an Austrian Magic network.  Christian still runs tournaments; however, they are no longer DC-sanctioned since his personal rankings system conflicted with the DCI ranking system..

Since those early years, the game has spread throughout the country and into the smaller provinces that include the well-known cities of Innsbruck, Salzburg, and Linz. In the many Austrian cities dotting the breathtaking Alps, players enjoy the game purely at a fundamental level – they have no need for the DCI or formal rules and they play Magic to be as outrageous, fun, and creative as possible. The capital city of Vienna, on the other hand, is Austria’s pro player bastion; it is in this grand city that you will find the Pro Tour Qualifiers, Nationals, and other major DCI-sanctioned events.

Vienna and the Pros

In 1995, the first Austrian Nationals was organized in the city of Traun (Upper Austria). The format for that Nationals was Type I free-for-all (by contrast, the US Nationals format was type II and Ice Age constructed) and the unconstrained nature of that format was a reflection of the inconsistency and disorganization of nearly all the Nationals in Europe at that time.  Austria's Worlds team consisted of Alexander Rauber (Upper Austria), Jakob Grzesiak, Liou Pei-Cheng and Mu-Luen Wang.  Looking at the names of the players who went to Worlds in 1995, few would have guessed they were the Austrian Team; and yet, they were a perfect representation of the diversity and depth of the Austrian people.  Ironically, Austria put a player in the top 8 at Worlds that year (Mu-Luen Wang placed 5th) yet most Magic players still considered the country to be in the dark ages of the sport.  Each of the members of Austria's first National team (with the exception of Alexander Rauber) gave up Magic a year later. 

An amusing sidenote to the sport in that summer of 1995 involves a swiss player named Amiel Feldmann who spent some of his holidays in Vienna playing Magic. He was the swiss champion (and the only player to defend his title two times in a row) and told the Viennese that he came to Vienna because, "At home I don't have any worthy opponents."  A short two months after Amiel made that statement, countryman Alexander Blumke won the 1995 World Championships. 

In 1996 the nationals were again held at Traun and this time the Austrian Team consisted of Christian Peschta, Clemens Kodrik (Upper Austria), Thomas Nistelberger (Styria) and Walter Herzig (Carinthia). This was the one and only true Inter-provincial Austrian team and all Nationals in the future would  consist of players exclusively from the city of Vienna.

In 1997 the nationals moved to Salzburg and the Team consisted of Christian Peschta (again), Christian Gregorich, Peter Koch (who couldn't play at worlds because of his military service) and Alexander Proschofsky. It would mark the rise of Austria's established pros and the domination of the sport by the Viennese players.

In1998 the nationals were held in Vienna and each of the Top 8-Players hailed from that city (the 9th and 10th place slots were taken by players from Upper Austria including Szilard Nagy, who finished 5th in 1997 and Salzburg native Herbert Engleitner, who himself qualified for a Pro Tour in the past). 1998's team consisted of Christoph 'Stoffi' Derdak (who beat Austria's top ranked player Benedikt Klauser in the quarterfinals), Alex Proschofsky, Christian Gregorich, and Ron Windauer. 1998 was the first year in Austria's magic history where the National Champion was undefeated.  14-year old Stoffi Derdak beat Benedikt Klauser, Alexander Proschofsky and Christian Gregorich, the three best Austrian magic-players at this time in the final 8 rounds of the Nationls.

1998 also marked the first year Austrian players from all over the country traveled outside of Austria to play in a multinational tournament other than Worlds. Fifteen or so players took the train to play in Grand Prix at Zürich and Christian Peschta, Christoph Derdak and Christian Gregorich finished 9th, 10th, and 14th - thereby qualifying for PT Chicago (and thus the joke began that in Austria your first name must begin with "Chris" in order to qualify for a large event).

Despite respectable Pro Tour appearances (including a top 8 at Worlds), Austria's presence in the professional sport of Magic has been relatively obscure. Indeed, most competitors at a Pro Tour immediately dismiss them as German (since German is the most commonly spoken language in the country) and it was no surprise when an Austrian competitor at Worlds ‘97 was asked by an American if Austria was a city near Mainz, Germany.

A quick survey of Austria’s current Pros (who are all residents of Vienna) and their PT records: 

The Austrian pro player websites are located at: 

When asked why Austria is not one of the Pro Tour’s recognized competitor countries, Vienna native Benedikt Klauser opines, "We are missing a Pro Tour final 8. Until then, Austria will not be recognized as a Magic playing country." The 17 year old jokes, "Actually I fear that Austria is hardly recognized at all." And as for the German references, any Austrian will be quick to remonstrate, "Don’t ever mistake us for Germans -- we hate that" (Lingering issues from two World Wars tend to strain relations between the two nations).

Unlike the U.S. or Scandinavian countries, Austria’s pros tend to play Magic in their local pub. In downtown Vienna, there is a regular Magic meeting on Monday nights at the local bar, followed by a small DCI sanctioned tournament. That Pub, Centimeter, also hosts many of the larger monthly tournaments (excluding PTQ's and prerelease events). Benedikt describes a night at Centimeter, "We're a friendly bunch and whenever Austrians get together, you can count on having a blast. People tend to show up between 6:00 and 8:00 in the evening and the more serious players register for the Monday night tourney (usually some type of draft) while casual play continues through the night among the less serious players. Two-Headed Giant and Emperor are the formats of choice for casual play and people eat, drink, and play Magic with equal abandon." The consumption of alcohol at Centimeter is usually limited to a beer or two (although the locals all joke about a certain unnamed Viennese who simply cannot play Magic until he has imbibed several bottles of the pub’s finest brew) and the younger players usually stick to soda.

The pros prefer to playtest privately and so serious matches are limited to "prestige games" featuring equal amounts of skill, strong deck designs, and the ubiquitous "Pro Tour trash talking." In Vienna, meeting friends is frequently a greater motivation to show up than the wish to test the latest creation for Extended.   Unlike many countries or cities around the world whose players tend to specialize in one particular format, Austrians are equally at home in either a Standard or Limited tournament.

Since most Austrian players do not own nor have access to Type I power cards, it is extremely rare to see a Type I or Type 1.5 tournament. For that reason, finding a well-run Extended tournament in Austria (or even Europe for that matter) can be very difficult and few judges or organizers are familiar with Classic environments of any type. Klauser notes, "This is especially frustrating since the DCI has now decided to include Extended into composite rating calculations." Obviously, European players face radically different challenges than their American counterparts in getting to the Pro Tour.

Another frustration for Austrian players is the lack of Pro Tour slots in their country. Most Austrians attempt to qualify for the Pro Tour in the city of Vienna; However, once those two slots are filled it is not uncommon to travel to one of the neighboring countries (Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia) to participate in other Pro Tour Qualifiers. Benedikt notes, "We’re constantly doing better and even the measly two-slot frustration doesn’t prevent us from sending four or five players to a Pro Tour." At Pro Tour Chicago this year, the Austrian contingent will number five: three qualified at GP Zurich, one on ranking, and one from a Qualifier in Vienna. (Bendikt Klauser won the other Vienna QT, but discovered shortly after he was qualified on ratings anyway).

Few would disagree that a Worlds Team can best capture the most interesting national perspectives in the sport of Magic and this year’s National Team was no exception. The Austrians enjoyed themselves at Worlds with, as Klauser puts it, "tons of fun with quite some verbal (albeit friendly) abuse going on." Alex, at almost seven feet in height, was quite a sight next to 15 year old Stoffi (whose size and sweet looks would let him pass for 14 easily). Unfortunately for the Austrian team, they had been on holidays prior to Worlds and subsequently had been unable to playtest sufficiently before the event.  The Austrian national team may not have set the Worlds tournament on fire; however, the four teammates along with Benedikt (who qualified on his top 20 world composite ranking at the time) spent copious amounts of time in Seattle tormenting each other during the day and then heading over to the Wizards of the Coast Game Center every night. 

With five Austrians slated to appear at Pro Tour Chicago, and many Austrian pros opting to travel to neighboring countries to secure more slots, it is conceivable that Austria will finally put a native in the final 8 of a Pro Tour in the coming year.

 Salzburg, Linz, Innsbruck, and the Sound of Magic in the Provinces

The DCI database currently lists around 300 Austrian players. However, that number poorly reflects the sizeable number of individuals who never attend sanctioned tourneys and/or play only in small groups. According to Klauser, there are well over 1,000 Magic players in Vienna alone and many times that outside of the capital city. It is in the smaller, more provincial cities that you find a true love for the game of Magic.

The country of Austria is divided into nine states (or principalities): Burgenland, Carinthia, Lower Austria, Salzburg Province, Styria, Tyrol, Upper Austria, Vienna, and Vorarlberg.

Styria (capitol city: Graz):  Klaus Bachler and Hannes Klapf of Styria were the first to organize large tournaments in this province. They started in December 1994 and their first tournament included over 40 players. In January of 1995, a group of Viennese players drove to Graz for one of the earliest major tournaments and took 7 of the top 8 spots (the winner was a local from Styria). In March of 1995 another group of players from Vienna drove to the tournament and that time took all the top 8 slots. By May of that year, the picture changed radically when the Styrian players bought Type I power cards (Mox, Lotus, Mana Drain, etc.) and  served their own form of beatdown revenge on the incumbent Viennese.  Oddly, the number of players from Vienna at the Styrian tournaments dropped heavily after that time. Klaus and Hannes eventually stopped organizing tournaments in 1997 and only until recently has a new organizer (Toni Glatz) began organizing tournaments in that province again.

Carinthia (capitol Klagenfurt): Carinthia has a very strong but very localized Magic scene centered around organizer Gunter Kubicza in the city of Kärnten. Gunter runs roughly one tournament a month and his players rarely venture beyond the Kärnten city limits. There is also a weekly Magic meeting at the local toystore "Spielwaren Spielmann."

Lower Austria (capitol St. Pölten):  Nearly all of this province's players travel to Vienna and it was only a few months ago that the region featured its first tournament run by Martin Moser. The area is starting to develop a very strong Magic: The Gathering following and it is expected that many of the individuals from this area will give the Viennese a run for their money in next year's Nationals.

Tyrol (capitol Innsbruck): Christian and his brother Florian Gawrilowicz have been organizing tournaments at the city of Kufstein since 1996. In 1997,  the city of Innsbruck obtained its own organizer in the form of Alexander Steinwende, whoorganizes tournaments monthly.  Tyrol is the only region in Austria other than Vienna where players can find more than one tournament each month.   Tyrol's best player, Geritt Egg (from Innsbruck), recently won a PTQ for Chicago at Vienna even though he had only started playing in 1997.  It is expected that Gerritt will also challenge the Viennese elite in the coming year.

Vorarlberg (capitol Bregenz):  This region is at the far Western end of Austria and most players from this area journey to Tyrol or simply make a 30 minute drive to play in Switzerland.

Salzburg (capitol Salzburg): Local organizer Horst Baierhofer has taken the initial steps towards starting a tournament cycle in Salzburg (in the footsteps of the city's former organizers Mike Brenner and Raimund Awender).  For the most part, the Salzburg players ignore DCI strictures and play and meet in a pub run by the brother of the city’s Magic shop owner. When the regular group begins to accumulate at night, the barkeep closes the pub down at and lets players come in and play for free. Players also gather during the day to play and compete at the local coffee-shop "Café Melange." Salzburg is a city given to relaxed and free play – you won’t find many tournaments there – just a large group of people having fun and enjoying the mechanics of the complex game of Magic. They are a very friendly and relaxed group who view Magic as a game and not as a professional sport. Most could not care less about the DCI, tourney formats, rankings, or beating a metagame. Grand melee is the favorite at the Café Melange.

Upper Austria (Capitol: Linz): 100 miles west of Vienna and just South of the steel town Linz, a hotel/restaurant owner with a love of games has kept Magic popular for players in the city of Traun (population of 25,000). Bayer Franky, owner of the hotel Traunerhof, has closets and trunks full of games, his own Magic team, and is the head of the Wednesday night gaming club. He even writes a magazine for the Magic playing community. Best of all, he lets his club members use the extra hotel rooms for free every Friday night to play Magic. Traun, like Salzburg, is home to the hobby-players, most of whom play once or twice a week. Unlike Salzburg, however, there are small tournaments in Traun and it is a nice intermediary between the serious Vienna players and the ultra-casual Salzburg group.

It is in the smaller cities such as Salzburg and Traun that you find the true heart of the game in all its fun and creativity. 27 year-old Sascha Neumayr (who works as a schoolteacher and has a degree in Business Administration) describes the Magic scene in the Austrian provincial cities. "Playing in Salzburg or Traun or any of the cities outside of Vienna is like experiencing different worlds. Vienna is, in my opinion, the only city in Austria where the players give a damn about the DCI and rankings. There the top players have a very professional attitude towards the game and practice multiple times a week and over the net. Salzburg is the capital of multi-player Magic and they rarely have formal tournaments -- they almost exclusively play for fun and the atmosphere is very relaxed and beginner-friendly. In Traun, constructed is the most common format with draft not too far behind."

Traun is also the home of the only sponsored team in Austria. Team Provinz Pischers (loosely translated as the "provincial pissers") has received over 10,000 ATS/Austrian Schillings (roughly $850 US) from two different sponsors. When not wearing their team shirts, they wear The Dojo t-shirts to tournaments. It is interesting to note that according to Dojo owner Frank Kusumoto, Traun school teacher Sascha Neumayr was the first European to receive a Dojo t-shirt.

The friendly rivalry between the competitive Viennese and more playful provincials leads to an interesting Nationals every year. Many of the provincials rack up cautions for taking the tournament too lightly and even pro player Ron Windauer’s girlfriend Astrid (who accompanied him to Pro Tour New York last year) found herself joking with one of the Traun locals so much she nearly fell out of her chair laughing at a Pro Tour Qualifier. Contrast that with Viennese native Alex Proschofsky who, when angered after he lost to a girl in the National Qualifier, threw his deck against the wall in disgust and walked out.

It is interesting that most Austrians choose to play with English cards rather than German translations. They consider it much more in the flavor of the game to use the original version and they have adopted many of the terms used by Americans players including "Tim" as both a verb and a noun for a Prodigal Sorcerer. Like many European countries, quite a bit of English sneaks into the German syntax when playing the game. Even so, Austrians have their own nicknames for cards including the favorite "Trottlel Gnomes" for Bottle Gnomes (which translates something like "Idiot Gnomes").

While the Vienna players are frustrated with the Pro Tour 2-slot limit for their entire country (and they are not the only country frustrated by the limitation by far), the provincial players also have their own set of frustrations. Most smaller city players are concerned with the lack of support for casual play from Wizards of the Coast. They frequently lament that Wizards cares more about the game of Magic in the terms of a cash cow and so have forgotten that the company also needs to take a hand in promoting the game and bringing in new players.

Austria was first assigned a distributor in 1995.  Unfortunately for the Austrians, it was a German company and Austrians generally have problems with Germans since the two cultures, despite sharing the same language, are diametrically different socially.  German Magic players and judges are generally considered arrogant by the Austrians since they are viewed as always playing (and working and living) by the serious and hard interpretation of the rules - the total opposite of the Austrian way of life.  In 1996, an Austrian representative was chosen from the state of Upper Austria.  This created a problem with the emerging pro players in the capital city since nearly all sanctioned events and qualifiers were run in Linz and Traun - and not in Vienna where it could be argued that 80% of the serious players live. Unfortunately, it was through a series of miscommunications between the distributor and Austria that a mistrust of the DCI and Wizards developed.  Also problematic is that the German distributor uses DCI Legends memberships as a metric of the popularity of the game in Austria (and indeed, that is a logical metrology for a country that plays the sport as seriously as the Germans do); however, Austria is a fun loving country whose players and player base could never be accurately measured by using a strict system such as the DCI as the standard.  Therein lies the crux of the miscommunication problems between the two countries and why most of the Austrian players feel ignored.

Austrian organizers also feel as frustrated as their player counterparts.  For example, Austrian organizers should theoretically receive the newsletter "ORACLE" (where tournaments and general information is announced), but most Austrian organizers have never received a copy.  Nearly all relevant information (change of floor-rules, new K-value, rulings, etc.) have to be tracked down by the Austrian players themselves through the internet.  As well, the current miscommunications between the German distributor and the Austrian players and organizers has resulted in a long period of time without an Austrian representative to promote tournaments or help bring new players to the game (the last rep was either fired or freely quit, depending on who you ask). Currently, all Austrian events are coordinated from Germany and a central source for information about Austrian Magic has never been established. It is rather frustrating for the Austrians since they feel there are many opportunities to increase the number of Magic players in the country that are not being actively pursued. It is unfortunate the smaller shops in each city cannot afford to promote region-wide larger events on their own and that Austria has never really had a major event like a Grand Prix to draw players from the different cities. If the pro players feel ignored by the DCI Pro Tour system, so too do the casual players feel ignored by Wizards of the Coast. As Sascha says, "Everyone can benefit from watching other players from other provinces, but no local organizer can afford to pay for announcements or other promotions for a larger event that would bring all Austrian players together. Without even a representative who understands Austrians and how to promote in our country, I just do not see Magic growing here at all."

Austrians themselves also bear a share of the responsibility for interest in Magic waning.   It is a common complaint around the world that the fierce competitiveness of the sport induces players to trash talk, be rude and insulting, play mind games with their opponents and do other unsportsmanlike actions like stalling and cheating - whatever it takes to achieve a win.  Austria is no different in facing this problem and a former member of the Austrian National Team once defended his unsportsmanlike actions with, "They are jerks at a Pro Tour and will cheat you out of a win any way they can.   You have to be a jerk yourself as well."  Christian Gawrilowicz adds his own perspective to the situation: "Some players are taking Magic very seriously and because of this, they play "harder", i.e. not allowing to tap lands differently or to take a move back. So there are many players who don't want to compete at tournaments any longer because of magic getting so serious. At the moment, there are still more players starting as players quitting, but I fear this trend will come to an end. The organizers have to learn their lesson too, because they should not allow 'foul' play at their tournaments.  Tournaments are not that numerous in Austria and new players who want to play in an event (because they know of no other tournaments) get their heads handed back on a silver platter and will never play a tournament or the game again."

Obviously, Magic in a smaller country such as Austria has its advantages and disadvantages for both the pro and the casual player. What remains constant, however, is that you would be hard pressed to find a more beautiful location in the world to play or a wilder group with which to simply enjoy the intricacies of a turn of a card.  One of the best aspects of the game of Magic is that it is a universal mirror of the cultures who play it; in the case of Austria, that country's players are among the most playful and fun of all the European countries and their culture beautifully blends with the more spontaneous and outrageous mechanics of the game.  

The next time you need a vacation from the same old group of players and can afford to travel a bit, give a call to Bayer Franky of the Traunerhof hotel in Traun (his phone number is below). Franky speaks wonderful English and would be more than happy to show players from anywhere in the world Austria’s own unique brand of play style and panache.

With special thanks to Benedikt Klauser of Vienna, Sascha Neumayr of Traun, Christian Gawrilowicz of Tyrol and the players and organizers of Austria who consented to be interviewed.

. ---- Andrea Kunstt. Contributing to thedojo.com

  • AREA: 83,856 sq km (32,377 sq mi).
  • POPULATION: 8,095,000.
  • CAPITAL: Vienna, 1,560,500.
  • RELIGION: Roman Catholic.
  • LANGUAGE: German.
  • LITERACY: 99%.
  • LIFE EXPECTANCY: 77 years.

  • ECONOMY: Industry: machinery, iron and steel, tourism, chemicals, textiles, paper products. Export crops: timber, meat, wheat.

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    Austria Facts

    Straddling the high Alps, landlocked Austria links Western Europe to the former Soviet bloc. In conjunction with Austria's acceptance in January 1995 as a new member of the European Union, the government has taken steps to increase competitiveness by privatizing industries and reducing subsidies. Manufacturing, powered by hydroelectricity, drives the nation's export trade; Austria also profits from iron ore, oil, and timber. Farms, many located along the Danube River, provide 90 percent of food needs.

    Austria's largest cities are Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Graz, Klagenfurt, and Linz

    • Centimeter Pub in Vienna Info:  Lenaugasse 11, 1080 Wien. Comic Treff Steiner, Manfred Stürtzer, Tel. 0222/5867627

    • Hotel Traunerhof in Traun: Hotel Traunerhof, Schloßstr. 28 A-4050 Traun Bayer Franky, Tel. +437229 73323, fax 73323-5

    • Magic-Meetings in Tyrol: Florian Gawrilowicz, Osterndorf 117 A-6323 Bad Häring Tel +43/5332/85052

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