Application - Ben Costrell

-Your Name and age
Ben Costrell, 17 (18 in a week)

-How you found out about Team Unknown Stars
MTGS Forums, Gavin's signature

-Your Magic accomplishments
About 8 PTQ top 8's, one win, this year for San Juan. Two states top 8's, regionals top 8, nats qualifier top 2 (q'd for nats this year), Midwest masters series top 8

-The last three major tournaments you attended and your record at each of them (Major tournaments are considered to be large events such as PTQ's, Regionals, Champs, Nationals, the Pro Tour, and other events on those levels or higher.)
Nats qualifer in Arkansas, 4-0-2 in the swiss, 2-1 in the top 8 losing in the finals but still qualifying.
Midwest masters series in St. Louis, 5-1-1 in the swiss, 0-1 in the top 8 losing the quarters.
GP Houston, 4-3 drop with 3 byes, so basically 1-3 drop, played a deck with which I had little to no degree of control over my wins or losses (living end).

-A link to your DCI Rating page
https://webapp.wizards.com/ratings.aspx?action=search_member&personid=1953449&brandid=1

-Why you play competitive Magic
I love playing the game and I am a competitive person by nature, so it gives me a fun and productive outlet for my competitive drive. I like the social aspect of the game and the mental challenges it provides.

-What your main reasons are for wanting to join the team
There is a dearth of competitive players in my area, just a couple of people who are really into playing at higher level events and who actually do well at them, so I'd like to be able to network a bit more.

-What you think you would bring to the team that makes you stand out above other applicants
I keep an open mind as far as deck construction and actual play goes, so I'm able to consider perhaps something unusual objectively.

-What your strengths as a Magic player are
I try to be honest with myself about play mistakes that I make so I can try to correct for them in the future, I try my best not to blame things on luck and try to identify where I went wrong, whether it was in gameplay or deck construction. I'm pretty decent at making tweaks to decks based on what the expected metagame is. I'm pretty good at avoiding tilt as well because I'm able to be honest with myself and I keep a positive attitude (that is, until I'm totally out of contention, in which case I typically get sulky!).

-What your weakness as a Magic player are
I sometimes adhere too closely to the typical play sequences and thus occasionally overlook something, or I focus on the wrong decisions such that I maybe make the correct decision based on the factors I was considering, but I might completely miss a certain line of play that is correct based on all the factors actually operating.

-What the main formats that you play and focus on are
Whatever the relevant format is at the time, for ptq's, nats/nats qualifiers, cash tournaments, the pro tour (if I'm qualified), etc. Mostly constructed I guess, I probably don't practice limited nearly enough.

-Which format you think you're most proficient in
Constructed.