Congratulations to our winners this weekend! Todd Anderson took down the big event with a combination of U/W Delver and RUG Delver at the Invitational, earning a big check and a shiny new trophy for his mantle, while Josh Robinson and Max Tietze took down the Standard Open and Legacy Open, respectively. Don't miss our next big event in Cincinnati, featuring Return to Ravnica for the first time! Zack Hall and Matthias Hunt will be covering it on @SCGLive, so follow #SCGCIN for all the action.
Todd was no stranger to the Open Series spotlight, but it was his first Invitational Top 8, and he was feeling the pressure in the finals, facing Alabama rival Chi Hoi Yim. Chi Hoi won both Birmingham SCG events—the Open and the Classic—and now he was one step away from taking the coveted Invitational trophy.
They may not be household names, but Chi Hoi Yim and Milton Figueroa have proven themselves worthy of this semifinal berth. Which player will make a case for Invitational stardom?
Todd and Ben aren't strangers, having both notched a number of wins and Top 8s on the Open Series over the years. Ben's a master of Stoneforge Mystic, giving him an edge in experience, but Todd's familiarity with Legacy from all sides gives him the ability to think pretty creatively.
Anthony had a 6-2 run in the Legacy portion of the Invitational, while Ben went 7-1. The two would go head to head in the quarterfinals in a fairly rough matchup for Goblins.
Two friends and fellow Roanokians met in the Invitational quarterfinals, with eight Lightning Bolts between them. Todd was playing the popular RUG Delver archetype, while Ali had diversified his range significantly with Burn!
These two players were on the outside looking in for Top 8, almost certainly playing for 10th place with a decent shot at 9th or 11th... but not at 8th. Still, that made a win here worth $500 to $1,000 in the standings!
David and Kenny were playing for a top 8 slot. No big deal, right? “It’s just another game of Magic!” said Kenny. David was equally cheery. “Yeah, it just means one of us gets to go get food after this.”
10-3 with just three more rounds left, Shaheen Soorani and Benny Beatdown wanted every win they could get at this point. They could just barely taste the Top 8.
Once the only undefeated player in the tournament, Cedric had since suffered a single defeat and needed two more wins to guarantee Top 8. Matt Costa was also in search of a Top 8 berth, and playing Cedric’s sworn nemesis: Delver of Secrets.
The Invitational here in Atlanta will feature eight rounds of Legacy, eight rounds of Standard, and a Legacy Top 8. In order to beat the field of 310 talented players, competitors will have to predict the metagame accurately and build their decks to defeat the opposition. So the question everyone has to answer is: What is the field?
Carl Dillahay, SCG Open: Buffalo Champion, faced Josh Ravitz in the final round of the day—both 5-2. They were both playing Delver variants, one of the most intense and skilled matchups in Standard.
Reigning Invitational champ Lauren Nolen was off to a fine start in this tournament as well, but Joe Bernal looked to dent his record with one more loss before the close of Day 1. Could the Delver devotee be defeated?
With four StarCityGames.com Open Series Top 8s on his resume and a Pro Tour win, David Sharfman is no slouch in this room of ringers. He was facing Dan Jordan this round—a very familiar face on the Open Series. With a recent Grand Prix Top 8 in Legacy, Dan was probably feeling pretty good about a Legacy Top 8 in the Invitational.
Both of these players have had success on the Open Series and are sitting on undefeated records, heading into Round 4 armed with pillars of the Legacy format. Who will win in this classic matchup of RUG Delver and Maverick?
Josh had a relatively normal Delver deck carry him into the finals, but Danny’s Zombie build was something completely different. With four Butcher Ghouls to go with his Mortarpods and Bloodthrone Vampires, Danny’s horde was a pretty literal take on the “undead” tribe!
This matchup inevitably depends on how prepared the U/W Delver player is for the aggressive Zombies deck—and how much time Zombies gives the Delver player to find its answers.
Much fanfare has been made recently about the Phyrexian mana spells in U/W Delver decks like Josh’s over the past few months, but there’s another important spell that utilizes Phyrexian mana in this format: Birthing Pod. Trevor is using the ‘green’ artifact to full effect. Will he be able to take down Standard’s top dog?
David Bauer and Gabriel Nieves were two of the Delver pilots making it into the elimination rounds with Augur of Bolas at their disposal, but their builds were highly dissimilar. With Gabriel on the play, he had a slight edge... but would it carry?
It’s almost the end of the Scars/Innistrad Standard format, and two decks stand above the rest in terms of popularity and success: Zombies and Delver. Which will win in this clash of the proverbial titans?
The finals pitted Max Tietze against one of his tougher matchups in Esper Stoneblade, and Brian Eason was not an easy opponent, either. Could Max get his Goblins through, or would Stoneforge Mystic bring the pain?
Marius Cholewa had broken a personal wall this weekend, making an Open Series Top 8 with an interesting take on a familiar favorite. Max Tietze, meanwhile, was no stranger to the elimination rounds.
The StarCityGames.com Open Series has been kind to both competitors in this match. Joe enters the match having come off a long grueling mirror match against Michael Hetrick, while Brian’s top 8 match today was slightly easier. Does Joe have enough left in the tank to take the trophy?
The mirror would prove to be incredibly skill-intensive—and all about knowing what's important, what to fight over. This match tested the mettle of both sides.
Marius and James are friends from way back battling here in the top 8 of the Legacy Open. James is a well-known Legacy player from the northeast, and a winner of the last Jupiter Games Northeast Legacy Championship, while this is Marius’ first significant finish. Can he ‘punish’ the ringer from New Jersey?
Valakut decks were extremely powerful in Extended before the advent of Modern, so much so that it was banned before the format was first played! Will the unbanning of Valakut open the floodgates at PT: Seattle?
The first day of fall is fast approaching, and that means it's time for the leaves and the Standard format to change. What's your overall impression of what you've seen of Return to Ravnica so far?
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