Locations
Some of you may recall that, last year, I attended a local charity tournament. It was enough of a success that the organizers made it an annual event. This year, we were supporting LIFE*SPIN, a local charity that helps out low-income families in the London, Ontario area. I, unfortunately, couldn’t play in it this time, as I had an exam that morning. Or so I thought, seeing that after writing my exam, running an errand, and grabbing a coffee, I showed up just in time for the Round 1 player meeting. My buddy Randy Sheffield, local Level 1 judge and the head organizer for this shindig, offered to put me in the tournament with an entire borrowed deck from one of the local players. I declined, though, as the round was already paired, and I was in no way prepared to play a seven-round Magic tournament with a deck I hadn’t even seen. I also thought that my time would have been better spent volunteering to help out with running the tournament and doing match coverage.
As far as the actual tournament went, it ran very smoothly. I did a few walkabouts to see what people were playing, and for the most part, it was a lot of the popular decks I talked about last week. There weren’t that many Sphinx's Revelation decks, but there were a lot of Orzhov control decks similar to Marlon Gutierrez’s list from Grand Prix Dallas. White weenie was the default aggressive deck, and I saw both Orzhov and Boros versions represented. And, of course, devotion decks were very popular. We didn’t require players to submit decklists, so I have no idea what the actual breakdown was like.
Here’s some coverage of the Top 8:
Quarterfinals: Alex Meliton (Boros Aggro) vs. John Winter (Orzhov Aggro)
Both players started out with cheap white creatures, Meliton with a Precinct Captain and Winter with a Soldier of the Pantheon. However, the Captain met his demise with an Orzhov Charm. Alex, not missing a beat, played a second Captain. A third Captain soon joined the party on Meliton’s side. Alex offered the trade on his turn, and when his opponent accepted, Brave the Elements ensured that Alex maintained the Captain advantage. The two players were playing similar decks, as within a couple of turns, Daring Skyjeks were on both sides of the battlefield. Meliton had the first battalion trigger, attacking with Skyjek, Captain, and a Soldier token. Winter elected to trade one of his two copies of Soldier of the Pantheon for the token. Winter’s follow-up was Imposing Sovereign. “A bit too late,” he said. The trade from the earlier attack didn’t stop Meliton from triggering battalion, as the dead Solider was replaced by another from the precinct. Meliton’s next creature was a Frontline Medic, so things started to look grim for Winter. He meekly played a Spear of Heliod. “Really too late.” Meliton had a second Brave the Elements to force through a lethal attack.
John Winter
Meliton 1 – Winter 0
Winter started things off by paying 2 life to play a Soldier of the Pantheon on turn one. Meliton also had a 1-drop in the form of Boros Elite. Winter immediately destroyed it with an Orzhov Charm, but Meliton had two more 1-drops: a second Boros Elite and a Soldier of the Pantheon. Winter wasn’t out of removal used a Banisher Priest to get rid of his opponent’s Soldier. Winter liked Meliton’s Brave the Elements trick from the first game and decided turnabout was fair play, protecting his Priest from trading with a Daring Skyjek. Meliton’s follow-up was Spear of Heliod, and the blisteringly-quick game suddenly came to a crashing halt. However, stalemates don’t last forever. Meliton added an Ajani, Caller of the Pride to his board, and Ajani threatened to start pulling him ahead. Winter wasted no time in turning all of his non-Priest creatures sideways. Meliton didn’t have quite enough blockers to protect his planeswalker, but Winter was forced to lose a Precinct Captain in the exchange. It seemed as though Winter had the advantage, as he had three creatures to Meliton’s one, but Spear of Heliod forced him to tread carefully.
Alex Meliton
Winter attempted to remove Meliton’s lone blocker with a Doom Blade, but Brave the Elements saved the Sovereign’s proverbial bacon. Meliton did find another creature, a Dryad Militant, and in his following turn, he felt confident enough to attack with his Dryad, his Sovereign, and his Mutavault. The Sovereign traded with a Daring Skyjek, and Winter was left with only a Banisher Priest. The top of his deck delivered a Spear of his own, but his lack of creatures proved to be his undoing. Meliton’s next attack proved to be too much for Winter to handle.
Meliton 2 – Winter 0
Semifinals: Richard Linton (Bant Control) vs. Matt Pinsky (Mono-Blue Devotion)
Pinsky 1 – Linton 0
Pinsky 1 – Linton 1
Pinsky 2 – Linton 1
The finals were a brief affair, as Pinsky’s opponent was his friend Ron Baumiller, and they agreed to split the winnings. A brief debate ensued to determine whose name would be going on the plaque next to none other than Kyle Duncan’s, last year’s winner. The comrades-in-arms agreed that that name would be Matt Pinsky.
We managed to raise $2,300 for LIFE*SPIN, more than doubling the amount from last year. The tournament was a huge success, and I look forward to participating in it next year, whether it is as a player or as a volunteer (or both). A big thank you goes to Randy Sheffield, James Wegg, and Cam Barber for organizing the event. I’m merely a fool with a typewriter and a microphone—they did all the real work. I also want to recognize all the local gaming stores and other businesses that sponsored the event. If you would like to donate to LIFE*SPIN, please check out their website.
Next week, I’ll be checking out what’s going on with Standard on Magic Online, now that Premier Events are back. If there’s a specific deck you want me to talk about, feel free to leave me a comment below.
Until next time,
Nassim Ketita
arcticninja on Magic Online
