If you followed the MKM Series, or basically any of the big Eternal events in Europe, the name Rodrigo Togores should sound familiar by now. With a victory at Grand Prix Prague 2016, a whopping five Top 8s and three titles at the MKM Series, Togores had long established himself as a force to be reckoned with. I talked to him about the MKM Series Power 8, about his season so far, and his plans for the rest of it.

When I spoke with him he had just taken his third loss in Sunday's Legacy main event here in Prague—not the first disappointment this year. In fact, Togores got off to a slow start into the season and had been playing catch-up ever since. Despite a Legacy Top 8 at MKM Series Milan, Togores only found himself in 17th place on the leaderboard after the first stop of the 2017 Series. Then, in Frankfurt, he played in Vintage, Modern, and Legacy, added another Legacy Top 16 to his résumé, and climbed to tenth place.

“Slowly getting there,” he commented, and told me that he would continue to try to play in as many events as possible. “I'll definitely play Vintage, Modern, and Legacy again in Hamburg.”

But Togores wasn't willing to sacrifice fun for a higher position in the ranking. “I would always choose Vintage over Modern, for example,” he said. “And I wouldn't let the need for points dictate my deck choice. I play decks I like. I mean, I like some decks which really aren't any good. But a deck doesn't have to be tier one for me, and I wouldn't play a deck I dislike just because it's ostensibly ‘the best' or anything.”

Admittely, him sticking to Vintage also continued to yield fine results. Said Togores, “Yesterday, at the Vintage main event, I finished in ninth place. I couldn't draw in the last round; had to play and lost. But at least I made another Top 16.”

Reflecting on the Power 8 race, now at the half-way point of the 2017 season, Togores said, “It's great. If you plan to play the events next year, this is a massive benefit you're playing for here. It's a way to get people to work toward a greater goal across multiple tournaments. The old system with the SuperFinals had always been too complicated, and added another day to your weekend as well. This is a major improvement.”