The Next Ironroot Chef

Posted on October 21, 2015

Four of our community’s most flavorful deck-brewers will battle in the toughest flavor-driven deck-building competition ever devised. They will draw on the flavors of planes across the Multiverse, taking us from Theros to Shandalar. The winner will be rewarded with the ultimate prize, joining our hallowed ranks as an Ironroot Chef.

Cards will be tasted.

Decks will be judged.

But before we can do any of that, our four competitors must be decided. Do you think you have what it takes to be crowned the next Ironroot Chef?

Prove it.

What Is The Next Ironroot Chef?

The Next Ironroot Chef is a flavor-driven deck-building competition we will be facilitating here on Gathering Magic. We just finished season one of our Ironroot Chef series with a battle between Ironroot Chef Ant Tessitore and Wizards of the Coast Designer Ethan Fleischer, and before we start season two, Gathering Magic would like to add another Ironroot Chef to the ranks. What better way to determine which of you is the greatest chef than by pitting you against each other?

Four community members will be chosen to compete in this series. Each week, two of our competitors will face off in a double-elimination-bracket-style contest until a victor can be decided. Many obstacles will present themselves along the way, including fierce battles against our two current Ironroot Chefs themselves.

The winner of this contest will become an Ironroot Chef and will be offered up to future challengers in future seasons of Ironroot Chef alongside Ant Tessitore and Mike Linnemann.

At the end of week seven of The Next Ironroot Chef, the competitor who was able to defeat an existing Ironroot Chef will be crowned as winner. If both chefs are able to best their Ironroot Chef opponents, the two combatants will face off against each other in a final battle that will decide an ultimate victor—and newest member of our Ironroot Chef ranks.

What Do I Need to Do if I Want to Compete?

Interested in competing in our competition? Send an e-mail to Ironrootchef at Gmail dot com. In that e-mail, please provide the following:

An appetizer decklist. This decklist should be no more than forty cards, built around the Mercadian Masques card Puffer Extract. The deck must contain four copies of the ingredient and may have no more than two copies of any other card.

A short description of your decklist and the choices you made. This should be no more than two hundred words.

A short bio, describing yourself to us and why you should be the next Ironroot Chef. Again, this should be no more than two hundred words.

Submissions will be accepted until this Friday at midnight, EST.

Who Will Judge This Competition?

The contenders’ decks will face three judges. One will be you, the community, voting to award up to 9 points: 1 to 3 points in each category of creativity, boldness, and overall theme-adherence. The other two judges will also vote in the same categories and briefly explain why they made their decisions. One judge is the closest to a chairman the format will ever have, and the other is the editor for Gathering Magic and a Community Cup Champion:

Adam Styborski @the_stybs

Adam is the Content Manager for Gathering Magic. He's a casual player at heart and weekly columnist for MagicTheGathering.com. He also travels the country for Pro Tour and Grand Prix coverage, and he shares his Pauper Cube everywhere.

Nathan Holt @walktheplanes

Nate’s the host of Walking the Planes, a documentary series about Magic: The Gathering with a healthy dose of sketch comedy (for value).

Between the community's and judges' votes, each challenge will have only one winner. Things tend to become heated in the Ironroot kitchen, and these judges are not known for holding back when it comes to picking apart flavorful decks. Make sure your submissions are not cutting any corners—or risk being burned.

Sauté by Jeff Miracola

Spectators, There’s Fun for You, Too!

Not interested in becoming an Ironroot Chef but still want to participate? There is plenty for you to do as well! Not only will you be able to serve as a community judge each week, but we will be taking suggestions for ingredients to use and other challenge constraints along the way.

If you have an idea for an ingredient or flavorful deck-building challenge you would like to see used on The Next Ironroot Chef, submit it to Ironrootchef at Gmail dot com.

While competitors are busy submitting their appetizers, we would like the community to help us pick the ingredient for week one. Vote below for the card you want to see our competitors build a flavorful deck around.