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Who the heck are those crazy players from Scandinavia who keep
sweeping up at Pro Tours and other championship events? Well,
they aren't aliens (O.K., the Finns are aliens), and they may not
always get along (Swede-bashing is the national pastime of Norway
and Finland, behind mosquito roping and Fjord climbing), but outside
of North America, no other group of countries has had a greater
impact on the sport of Magic than Scandinavia. From Pro Tour
Champions, to Player of the Year, to original deck designers
(remember Turbo Stasis? Thank the finns for that generous gift!), the
scandinavians are a potent force in the sport of Magic. Here's a
behind-the-scenes look at the Scandinavians and the players they
sent to the 1998 World Championships. Not sure where Scandinavia is? (hint: it is not close to Australia or Hawaii) Here's a map:  Norway http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/europe/Norway.GIF The Westernmost "finger" of the Nordic countries is Norway. Long considered the "latecomer" to professional Magic, Norway has lately been producing some of the best players in Scandinavia. Nearly all of Norway's professionals come from the two largest cities on either side of the country: Oslo (the capitol) in the East and Bergen (the fjord-based seaport) in the West. Similar to New York - Los Angeles rivalries, Oslo and Bergan players often tease each other and compete solely to demonstrate one city's dominance. The Bergens tease the Osloans for their accents (they slur their words similar to a country accent in America - "Oslo" is pronounced "Oshlo" only in the capitol - the rest of Norway says "Oslo"). Not to be outdone, the Osloans make fun of the Bergen accent (similar to the difference between London and American accents, Bergen natives tend to ignore syllables. The name "Kjartan" is pronounced "Chart N" in Bergen and "chart an" in Oslo). It is that type of competitive fun that helps make Norwegian players great at Magic. On the Oslo side (http://www.oslopro.no/) , Sigurd Eskeland qualified for worlds this year on player points and joins two other Osloans (Gisle Salem (pronounced "Gee sell eh" with a hard 'g') and Nicolai Herzog, both of whom qualified for the Norwegian Team. Sigurd, a native of the Akershus area of Oslo (Akershus, pronounced "ah curse whose", is the ancient fort and castle dating back from the days of the Vikings) has steadily developed a reputation for placing high in Pro Tours and is one of the favorites of the PT regulars for his easy-going nature and strong play skills. Despite Sigurd's strong showing in last year's Pro Tour season, his Bergen-based brethren on the other side of the country are winning the Norwegian city-race for best players. On the western side of Norway, Bergen (http://www.bergen-travel.com/cgi-bin/brll/imaker?sprak=2) hosts an incredibly talented group of Pro Players. Bergen native Sturla Bingen, the son of Norwegian Foreign Diplomats, has traveled widely around the world in the past with his family but now travels extensively thanks to a quarterfinals finish at Pro Tour - Paris and by winning the European Championships. He joins friend and fellow teammate Kim Eikefet (the first woman to qualify for Worlds), who made the Norwegian Team. Rounding out the Norwegian Team at worlds this year is Trondheim (http://cityguide.lycos.com/europe/northern/NORTrondheim.html) native Snorre (pronounced "snore eh") Helvik. If the name "Snorre" sounds unusual to English speakers, it is because most Norwegians are named after famous Viking ancestors. 1,001 years ago, the Viking King Snorre established the city of Trondheim after his usual runs of raping and pillaging hapless Swedes and Brits got boring and he wanted to settle down (note: even the Vikings pretty much ignored Finland). Now, 1 in 4 children in Trondheim is named after their famous Viking ancestor and it is only by their highly descriptive last names that Norwegian school children learn to tell the Snorres apart in Trondheim. Curious about the meanings of the last names of the Norwegian players? Here you go: Snorre Helvik (hel is whole, vik is bay - Snorre is named after a place) Nicolai Herzog (Swiss/Russo name - ignore him) Kim Eikefet (Eike is an oak tree and fet is large - a poetic last name) Gisle Salem (not norwegian - ignore him too) Sturla Bingen: (bingen is a "bin" - like a pigsty (though, truth be told, Sturla is rather scrupulously clean in person) Sigurd Eskeland (Sigurd is a viking king. Eskeland: eske - box and land - land) Friendly rivalries aside, Bergen and Oslo natives also differ in another unique way. Oslo players tend to play at shops whereas the Bergen players tend to play in their houses. In Bergen, all the pro tour players congregate at teammate Sturla Bingen's house to playtest and practice - stores are only for the tournaments. In Oslo, natives from all across the city converge on the few stores and play in the various tournaments located throughout the city. Finland (http://etd.pnl.gov:2080/fac/finland/map.html) Nearly all of the Northern European countries share a similar language based on Latin and most scandinavians can understand what is being said between Norwegian to Swedish or Danish to Dutch. Nearly all, that is, except Finland. It is ironic that to most Scandinavians, Finland is considered more of a foreign country than America. Finland's language is based on an ancient hungarian dialect and is similar only to Estonian in the world. As well, Finnish culture is extremely different from either of its closest neighbors (Sweden and Russia - St. Petersburg is closer to Finland than San Francisco is to Los Angeles). Unlike Norway and Sweden, the Finnish pro Magic scene is centered in one city: the capitol Helsinki (http://www.hel.fi/english/). Nearly all of Finland's sanctioned tournaments occur in a shop located across the mall from Finland's best movie theatre (the lovely Helsinki Bristol Theatre). Safe Haven (or Tonishop, as the locals named it in honor of the person who runs the shop, Toni Niittymaki - http://www.clinet.fi/~safehave/ ) is located in downtown Helsinki just down the street from the main bus terminal that services most of the outlying cities in Finland. As a result, the shop is easily accessable and the best place to learn to play like a pro. Finns are unique in that, thanks to the Internet, they were among the first European nations to actively pursue the Pro Tour. Long before TheDojo or Wizards established a website, Finns were networking and establishing websites and chat locations used solely for discussion of the game of Magic. Unlike their Scandinavian neighbors, Finns have had a player in the Pro Tour since the very beginning - although it took two years before Tommi (pronounced "tome me") Hovi would win Pro Tour - Los Angeles. This year's finnish team includes Turku (http://www.turku.fi/eng/welcomee.html) native Arto Hiltunen (last year's Finnish Champion), and Helsinki natives Tomi "Jelly" Walamies, Mikko Snygg, and Mikko Punakallio (as you may have guessed, "Mikko" is one of the most common names in Finland). Fellow Turku player Tommi "Tope" Hovi qualified on Pro Tour points. Finnish players tend to take on nicknames once they begin to play in the pros or at the local shop regularly. Most use nicknames from the Internet (hence, Tommi "Tope" (pronounced "taupe pay") Hovi) while others are unceremoniously given a nickname (Tomi "Jelly" (pronounced "yell lieu" in Finnish) Walamies recalls how he was awarded his nickname, "I walked into Tonishop and one of the guys there looked at me and said, 'you look like jelly'. And it stuck, unfortunately"). Like the Norwegians, Finnish names are also very descriptive. Tommi Hovi (Hovi is a courtyard of kings) Tomi Walamies (wala is oath and mies is man) Arto Hiltunen ( an old Finnish name - Arto just has to be different) Mikko Snygg (Snygg is obviously a foreign name) Mikko Punakallio (puna is red and kallio is rock) Jelly placed in the top 15 at Pro Tour New York in Rye Town and Tope, of course, is the PTLA 97 winner. Both Mikkos are first time Pro Tour players. Sweden (http://www.algonet.se/~chrny/swedenma.htm) Despite the Finns' early entry into the pro tour and despite the incredible performance by Norwegian players in the past Pro Tour season, it was the Swedes who broke out and made the most memorable impression on the Pro Tour (thanks to the 1997 juggernaut known as Olle Rade). Although Magic in Sweden is centralized in two cities on opposite ends of the country (similar to the Bergen-Oslo rivalry in Norway), the capitol of stockholm (http://www.stoinfo.se/england/ ) has largely fallen off the map as far as the pro players are concerned. Back in the early days of Magic, organizer Neil Guthrie ran qualifiers out of his store "Tvspelsbörsen" (http://www.ktb.net/~autumn/judge.jpg) in downtown Stockholm. The store, located outside of the central downtown square, features two floors, with Magic and card games at the top and video paraphernalia at the bottom. Unfortunately for the Stockholm natives, after the first PTLA Neil had an argument with Wizards and renounced his Level III judge status in disgust and refused to have anything to do with the DCI. This shifted the qualifier scene to the western city of Goteborg. Unlike Stockholm, where Magic is centralized in the local shop, the players in Goteborg (http://www.gbg-co.se/ ) gather at a club on the fourth floor of a building conveniently located near the main train terminal. Since the Swedish government allocates locations for "youth organizations" free of charge, the players are guaranteed a location to play and have fun all night (and if they get bored playing cards, the club members climb out the back window onto the rooftop and watch the strippers come out to smoke cigarettes from the striptease across the street.) Club Sverok (no, it's not the name of a klingon war ship - it stands for "Sveriges roll- och konfilktspelsförbund (Sweden's role-playing and conflict-game association)), has for the past two years churned out the best players in Magic, including last year's Swedish National Team (which placed second in the Worlds team competition). This year, two-time Team Sweden member Mattias Jorstedt (Mr. Bloom) hopes to lead fellow Goteborg teammates Matti Leivo (how'd a guy with a Finnish name make the Swedish national team, anyway?) and Jonas Mathiasson to another semifinals - with this year a hopeful victory. The Swedish team is rounded out by Boras native (http://www.westsweden.se/kommuner/boras/boras.html) Leif Stockdale and perennial Olle Rade joins his fellow western Swedes with an invite based on pro player points. If the Swedes are popular at the Pro Tour, it is because they are among the most friendliest and laid-back of all the Scandinavian countries. While the finns tend to sit together and mumble "bore" and the Norwegians quietly congregate in their own area, the Swedes are usually all over the place at the Pro Tours joking and having a good old time. The happy blonde Vikings stormed the Pro Magic scene in 1997 but have an upward battle in the form of steep competition from their Scandinavian neighbors in 1998. Suomi hyva/sverige harskar/norge hersker Andrea Kunstt DCI Level II Judge Official Playtester, Magic: The Gathering Evil Blonde Spice |
