David Thomas missed the Standard Open trophy Sunday morning, but he made the most of a second chance in the Legacy and clinched the title! Showing some remarkable consistency, David's top finishes in Nashville combined with a Top 4 and a win in Kansas City have made him one of the rising stars to watch on the Open Series circuit. David's previous Legacy finishes have come with Dredge, but he took a break from his favorite combo deck to play Delver of Secrets this weekend, modifying Lewis Laskin's Baltimore list en route to the victory. The Player of the Year race also experienced some heat, with Gerry Thompson in the Legacy Top 4 and Alex Bertoncini in the Top 8, boosting both of their point totals.
Farewell to Gavin Verhey; he's moving onto a bright future at Wizards of the Coast, and everyone here at SCGLive is happy to have worked with him for as long as we did. Next up on the schedule is the Las Vegas Open Series, featuring Jacob Van Lunen and Patrick Chapin in the booth—we'll see you there next weekend!
"Did you lose a match today?" Alex asked. "So far, I've dropped two matches on the weekend," David replied. He has had a banner weekend—after barely missing two consecutive Top 8s in Nashville, David managed to make the semifinals in the Standard Open, and had improved upon that finish in Legacy today.
It's that time again—time for Dredge to carve up a Legacy Open. At least that's what Ryan Daly was hoping! Invariably, the hate recedes, and Dredge becomes a potent choice on the Open Series circuit. That was certainly the case in this match, as Alex Gonzalez's BUG list was a little light on disruption for the graveyard-based combo deck.
It's Alex vs. Alex in the Top 8, and two champions of the Open Series face elimination this round. It's been a while since Gonzalez graced the Top 8, but he was in fact the one who knocked Bertoncini out of the Standard Open in Louisville several months ago.
Friends Jason Golliher and Ian Ellis weren't happy to be paired in the final round, but certainly seemed determine to make the best of it. Chucking barbs left and right, the matchup pitted Jason's Delver RUG list against Ian's old school Junk build.
Pat McGregor won the Kansas City Standard Open in January, but his best work this weekend has thus far come in Legacy. Piloting Life from the Loam—one of his favorite cards in the format—within a Tempo Thresh shell, one more win might put him in range of the Top 8.
Piloting his own variant of RUG Counterbalance incorporating Punishing Fires and Grove of the Burnwillows, Gerry had started off strong in Kansas City. The inevitability of the burn spell gives him an edge in control mirrors…as does his pesky two-mana enchantment.
After a Top 8 with Wolf Run Green in the Standard Open, Mark Hinsz was off to a strong start playing Zoo in the Legacy Open. This round, he'd have to chew through a tough matchup in Andrew Lozano.
One of the most entertaining Legacy decks to watch can be the Kuldotha Combo deck Michael Bomholt first ran into the Top 8 of the Indianapolis Legacy Open much earlier in the year. Based around playing an Ancient Tomb or City of Traitors on turn 1 and resolving a mana accelerant that would enable a big artifact fatty, Michael used Goblin Welder to pound through Force of Wills and make his Wurmcoil Engines especially deadly.
Following a dual Wolf Run Green finals in Baltimore, the Kansas City Standard Open featured nary a copy in the Top 4 players, and clearly none in the finals. Two locals, John Schwandt and Adam Boyd, sat down to duke it out with two different flavors of U/W aggro decks.
Among the diverse four decks represented in the semifinals, David Thomas alone hoisted the Solar Flare flag. His opponent this round was John Schwandt, piloting the vaunted U/W list.
After a strong weekend in Nashville, David Thomas was back in a Standard Open's elimination rounds. Still piloting Solar Flare, he'd made several modifications for a Wolf Run metagame that had paid off by locking Top 8 early in the Swiss.
With all but the top two 7-1 players forced to play if they wanted a guaranteed slot in the Top 8, Zach Krizan and Mark Hinsz sat down to play the last match of the day…for one of them. Both players were on Wolf Run Green, the most popular deck in the room by a mile, and the mirror match would hinge on Titan timing.
Darin Minard has been in this room before—he was a leading contender in the StarCityGames.com Kansas City Open we hosted last year, entering the Top 8 as a top seed but falling short during the elimination rounds.
Cody Jennings had made it to undefeated with Township Tokens as built by friend and former Standard Open champion Joey Mispagel, and had no intentions of stopping. He faced a real foe this round in Ari Lax, whose affection for Tempered Steel had once again led to him sleeving up Memnites.
Drew Levin's Haunted Humans list was in-theme for Halloween, but Forrest Ryan had shown up in-costume. Sporting a wig, glasses, and trademark athletic shorts, Forrest Ryan was doing a mean Matt Nass impression en route to a winning record with Wolf Run Green.
Aggressive decks spent the first weekend with Innistrad performing very well in Indianapolis—since then, they've faded as players adapted to the presence of Mono Red in the metagame. Of course, there's more than one way to deal twenty damage, and Drew is one of a few players in the room using Humans to take down his foes.
If you were watching SCGLive this morning then you might have been surprised to see Moonmist under the camera…and perhaps even more surprised to see it bested in the end by Delver of Secrets! One of the most prominent brewmasters on the Open Series, Caleb Durward has crafted another concoction in Kansas City this weekend.
Many players find themselves doing an "Ooze check" when each new set comes out. Following the interaction between Phyrexian Devourer and Necrotic Ooze that defined Legacy for some time, there's always the hope that you'll find the next big thing with the awkward Necrotic Ooze, one of Magic's most unique monsters.
New customer? Start here!
