Congratulations to our Seattle trophy winners: Nate Anderson and Ian Kendall! Nate’s G/R Aggro deck trounced the field and bested Delver on Sunday morning, while Ian took Merfolk to the top, including a mirror match win in the semifinals!
Join us in two weeks after the Magic 2013 prerelease for more @SCGLive, with hosts Matthias Hunt and Adrian Sullivan! Twitter users, point yourselves to #SCGSTL for all the news—we’ll see you then!
An alliterative finals pitted Mono-Blue Merfolk against Blue-White Miracles—a matchup bound to favor the aggro-control deck, but miracles do happen, right?
Two masters of Merfolk squared off in the semifinals, having both advanced through the tournament by swimming with the fishes. Ian went into black for Underground Sea, while Josh utilized Cavern of Souls.
“Man, guess I gotta win game 1,” Corbett said as he scanned Josh’s list. The sideboarded Gilded Drakes were very threatening, and Josh even had access to Phantasmal Image in the main.
Piloting U/R Delver, Brad sat down for his last match of the day against one of Legacy’s darlings: Maverick. Sam was on a loss and a draw, just like Brad, and these players were hoping to cash in on an outside shot at Top 8.
Playing with Top 8 in reach, Francis Yao sat down to try and take another match with RUG. He had a tough matchup in front of him, because Sean was on Reanimator—not a great pairing, so he’d be leaning on his sideboard for help.
The classic Reanimator and Maverick matchup for these undefeated players would determine which of them was positioned to draw over the next two rounds. Jesse came with Griselbrand, while Daniel was playing Knight of the Reliquary and crew.
It has been a little while since we’ve seen some Aluren performing on the Open Series, but that’s exactly what Martin spent the early rounds doing, with a quick undefeated start thanks to Joe Bono's Aluren list.
Everyone loves a stab at the ol’ Food Chain deck these days, and Wes Dawson has one of the cooler lists I’ve seen. The addition of Manipulate Fate functions as a tutor for Misthollow Griffin that cantrips, very handy, and as a blue card it can even be pitched to Force or Misdirection!
The age-old battle between U/W Delver and G/R Aggro tended to favor the green deck, but it could vary depending on play and sideboarding skills. Would Nic have anything up his sleeve, or would Nate’s animals run rampant?
Nate and Dustin were both playing green decks, but who would have the advantage? Dustin’s white gave him Blade Splicer and Restoration Angel, but Nate had a bit more Burn and Wolfir Avenger. Truthfully, the match would likely revolve around Bonfire of the Damned.
Sean wasn’t excited to face Zombies in the Top 8—one of his worst matchups, and with a list that seemed well-suited to smacking him down. Glen’s Zombie Pod deck was a little faster than RUG Pod, and he seemed poised to advance.
The last round had almost every player on one loss forced to play, and even then one of them might miss Top 8! The choice was clear for Nate and Isaiah: do or die. Nate’s G/R Aggro deck had been doing that all day, and he needed one more win for the single elimination rounds.
With the Top 8 growing ever closer, the fight at the top for slots began to heat up. A Delver mirror awaited these two, after a long day of scrapping. With one loss each, neither could afford another, and even a win would not lock the Top 8.
These two hadn’t had long drives to the tournament site this weekend, both hailing from the area. They were each playing Snapcaster Mages and Ponders, but Adam’s Delver deck with blade Splicers would have its work cut out for it against Esper Midrange, a deck designed to utilize many of the same synergies.
Zombies has been notching some strong finishes on the Open Series lately, culminating in a win for Brad Eier last week. The metagame moves fast, however, and the shambling undead are not known for their sprinting abilities.
Everyone enjoyed seeing the poisonous power of Robert’s deck on SCGLive during the Round 3 feature—here’s an inside look at the decklist that took Robert to a 3-0 start in the Standard Open.
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