Eric Rill refused to lose today, and he went through his Top 8 competition in a red, blue and green blur, dropping just a single game over the course of three playoff rounds. Hidden under his success was Todd Anderson’s Top 8 performance with a brand new Hypergenesis deck that looks like the real deal, as well a glorious breakout by Griselbrand who proved to be one of the most powerful cards in Avacyn Restored. Congratulations to this weekend’s winners, and we hope you enjoyed the @SCGLive coverage of #SCGOH brought to you by Cedric Phillips and Joey Pasco. Good night from Columbus!
In the all-Eric final match it was Rill who got to play first, though it wasn’t that great an advantage when all he accomplished was getting a Volcanic Island blown up by Fry’s Wasteland.
Eric had already put the boots to Kurt in the swiss rounds, and things weren’t going to get any easier here with Eric leading off. A mulligan piled on Kurt, and he was forced to play very defensively with a bunch of blue instants in his six card hand.
Eric Rill dominated the swiss rounds with RUG Delver, earning him the right to play first in each game one throughout the playoffs. He would definitely need that edge against Joey Manner’s Sneak and Show deck featuring the Avacyn Restored monster Griselbrand who has really made a mark this weekend.
Mark was excited to be playing for a spot in the Top 8 and came out firing with an Ancient Tomb, revealing some kind of combo deck. Nick, on the other hand, calmly went about razing the dangerous land with Wasteland before firing out Delver of Secrets after Mark replaced his lost land.
After taking down a local Legacy tournament with a sweet prize of Imperial Seal, Michael Belfatto turned his attention to improving his list and bringing home some more bacon at this weekend’s Open Series.
Players who aren’t very involved with the Legacy format may not know that Hypergenesis is a competitive archetype, as it hasn’t put up many results over the last several months. Gerry Thompson and Kaitlin Lindburg put their heads together to change that.
It was an all-Michael final after seventh-seed Michael Belfatto and eighth-seed Michael Marlow left a trail of bodies—including a Delver deck apiece in the semifinals—in their wake.
Being on the play due to higher seeding after swiss was huge for Matt Hoey’s U/W Delver deck as Michael Belfatto’s Solar Flare would be more impactful in the mid-to-late game with assorted bombs.
John’s Wolf Run Ramp deck won the roll and was on the board first with pair of lands and Sphere of the Suns, but Michael’s B/U Zombies deck was up to the challenge with Diregraf Ghoul and Blood Artist.
Gerry showed off his U/W Delver skills with a first turn Delver of Secrets that immediately and naturally flipped on turn two, flying over Evan’s Avacyn’s Pilgrim for a bite. Evan’s Naya deck fought back with Birds of Paradise and a second Avacyn’s Pilgrim before the first Avacyn’s Pilgrim returned fire.
“I know the mana looks horrible, but trust me, it works” is not the most confidence-inspiring someone can say when they give you a deck, but in the case of this deck, played by Andrew Roystan, it might actually work.
For all the talk of infinite combos with Heartless Summoning, most players wielding the deck have opted for more of a value-oriented build that powers out Rune-Scarred Demons and Wurmcoil Engines. Combo lover Brian Rapp wasn’t about to give away his chance at playing a combo deck in Standard, however.
St. Louis area Magician Mark Mehochko came to battle in today’s Standard with a ridiculously sweet deck featuring a slew of miracles and a load of ways to get them on top of his deck in a natural evolution of Alexander Hayne’s Pro Tour Avacyn Restored winning deck.
New customer? Start here!
