Tony Chu came into this Open after a win in Charlotte with Stoneblade. He’s piloting the same archetype with significant tweaks this weekend, and it has served him just as well so far—a win here would make him a back-to-back champion! David Bauer also had a fine weekend in Charlotte, taking Top 8 in the Invitational.
The StarCityGames.com Open Series always features a plethora of side events. Today, we fired a Modern one alongside the Legacy Open. If you’re curious which decks took it down, look no farther!
Two aggressive decks without a Brainstorm in sight met in this quarterfinal. Josh Burgoa’s mono-white list had creatures aplenty, including Flickerwisp and Serra Avenger for aggro in the sky. Adam’s list was more varied, featuring three colors and the Green Sun’s Zenith package alongside Geist of Saint Traft.
This match for the Top 8 pitted Casey Hogan’s Dredge list against Phillip Lyons’ Maverick build featuring Punishing Fires. Casey found himself unable to draw into Top 8, as Phillip’s tiebreakers couldn’t sustain that route, so they were forced to play a match for the right to advance.
Adam Cai took an early loss in the Atlanta Legacy Open, but he’s been battling back ever since. His weapon of choice? A Bant list he brewed up himself, featuring Standard powerhouse Geist of Saint Traft, which has impressed him ever since Charlotte.
Fresh off a Top 8 at the Charlotte Invitational, David Bauer was back at the top tables in the Atlanta Legacy Open with Delver RUG. His opponent this round was a frequent Legacy player as well, Josh Burgoa, playing an aggressive white deck with some similarities to Maverick from the look of things.
Todd Anderson was on U/W in Legacy as well as Standard—he even had Geist of Saint Traft and Moorland Haunt! This round, he was pitted against Andrew Wright’s Maverick list, sporting a few tweaks to the usual complement of creatures. In particular, Andrew has been a big fan of his Sylvan Safekeepers.
If you spotted Adam Prosak playing at a table this morning, you might have thought he was playtesting Modern—until you saw him cast Brainstorm and Force of Will!
“Felt like it was always going to be us here,” John said as they each sat down, and Gindy laughed. “Yeah, we did sit next to each other for pretty much the whole tournament.”
Dustin Flora was one of just two players left in this tournament without a Delver of Secrets in his deck, while Gindy was one of the staunch supporters of the one-drop. Dustin’s Wolf Run Ramp list had a lot of anti-aggro elements, but the archetype has been known to struggle against U/W tempo strategies.
Michael Braverman fought hard through a field of Delvers to get into this quarterfinals, and he’d need to win one more match against Innistrad’s most popular transformer if he wanted to return for the Sunday semifinals.
A Runechanter’s Pike mirror would decide which of these players would remain in contention for the Top 8 of the Standard Open. Midnight Hauntings, Geist of Saint Trafts, and of course the Pike itself would decide the winner of a convoluted race based on tempo, evasion, and Vapor Snags!
They didn’t know it as they sat down, but this was a Primeval Titan mirror match! StarCityGames.com Open grinder-turned-buyer David McDarby was piloting Wolf Run Ramp, which he’d nearly taken to an Invitational Top 8 in Charlotte, while Eric Jones came with Wolf Run Green.
With a trophy in just about everything, Charles Gindy’s mantle might need to make some more space—he has started the Standard Open on undefeated. His opponent, Tyler Winn, is also 6-0 and looking to make a push for the single elimination rounds.
Ben Isgur has been making an effort to break into Magic this year, and 2012 might just be his season. He’s started the Atlanta Standard Open off 5-0 with a Puresteel Paladin list that’s not like the ones others are playing.
As I wandered through the tournament hall looking for sweet decks, this one immediately caught my eye. Glissa the Traitor in play alongside a Mimic Vat and a Ratchet Bomb? Ouch!
Travis Schneider began the day 2-0 with a “Dredge” deck in Standard, built to mill away spells and creatures alike quickly in order to fuel large Splinterfrights or lethal Kessig Cagebreakers, with New Phyrexia’s Mostmortem Lunge to resurrect whichever one you want.
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