Sentences that immediately precede financial ruin: so a friend of mine has been getting me into Magic: The Gathering lately. Unfortunately, since I am trying to finish a novel in around two weeks, I haven’t had much time to play or explore the mechanics. Instead, I have taken to exploring the fandom and its history through YouTube. This is what brought me to the Rhystic Studies video Red Deck Wins, which reactivated my dormant obsession with skateboarding.
During the lockdown for the COVID-19 pandemic in New York, I bought a skateboard. Like a lot of people, I had grown up with Tony Hawk Pro Skater, wishing I knew how to ride like Hawk or Rodney Mullen. But what had really invigorated my love of skateboarding—and would ultimately be the reason why I could never be a great or even good skater—were the antics of skateboarder Ali Boulala.
The Flip skateboarding tape Sorry was something I watched over and over and over in high school, and the highlight for me was always Boulala’s part. He skated around France as if the entire country was his, often doing reckless, dangerous stunts on various pieces of public architecture. The most famous was his failed attempt to jump 25 stairs in Lyon, which ended when he kicked his board away mid attempt and landed on both of his feet. He couldn’t skate for two months after that. In order to be a good skateboarder, you just can’t be afraid of getting hurt, even hurt badly. I am not that kind of person—I do fear physical pain.
Red Deck Wins is all about the dominance of classic mono-red Magic decks. The conceit is simple—as long as you can last until the fourth turn, you can just dominate your opponent with cheap cards. It’s high risk and high reward, relying on perseverance and stamina to hurtle you towards an explosive ending. You can see where the comparison to skateboarding comes in, and the video also namedrops one of my favorite bands, PUP, whose vocalist Stefan Babcock famously blew out his vocal chords in the lead up to their second album The Dream Is Over. But what it makes me think about is the delusional level of self confidence one needs to have to get anything creative done, ever.
Red Deck Wins opens with a clip of skateboarder Aaron Homoki successfully completing the 25 stair jump in 2015 that Boulala failed to complete in 2002. I ended up watching the video from Thrasher that documented his attempts. It’s fascinating—what I keep lingering on is his second to last attempt.
After tearing his MCL on his first attempt, Homoki went back the following year to try again, only to be kicked out by the police. They allowed him one hour to attempt the trick the next morning, and Homoki puts everything into it. He breaks a couple boards, he hurts himself a little bit, and on the second to last attempt he successfully lands at the bottom—he just doesn’t roll away.
“Oh my god, I can do it though,” he says to himself as gets back on his board and climbs back up the stairs. “I can do it.”
I think this is the only way you can ever achieve anything—to commit so hard that even under the risk of incredible injury, to just know, in your gut, that you can do this. It has been the only thing that has motivated me to keep writing, even after losing my job and trying to build myself back up from that. I just know I can do it. There’s no rational belief system behind that, it’s just something I have to believe, because if I didn’t I would just completely fall apart. It’s not that I’m not afraid of the pain. I just can’t let it stop me.
Starting Aftermath was also something I’d consider high risk, high reward, as is writing a novel on as tight of a deadline as I am. You’re probably not going to break any bones doing these things, but you can still absolutely eat shit, fall flat on your face, fail utterly. But as Rhystic Studies says in Red Deck Wins, it’s the risk that makes it an utter thrill.
“I used to think the red deck was cheap, dumb and simplistic. But the older I get the more I understand the attitude of those who play with mountains and a grip full of fire,” he says. “This one’s for those who go all in.”
This is a four year old YouTube video with 940k views—I know I’m late to the party. But it’s also been a long time since I’ve felt so moved by a YouTube video, and I’ve certainly never thought Magic: The Gathering would be a topic that could make me feel so utterly affirmed for the often downright stupid choices I’ve made in this life. Right now I’m freefalling, in the air between the first and 25th step. I don’t know if I’ll land. The impact could really hurt me. But I’m not afraid. I know I can do it.
