By Rich Hagon
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Rich Hagon combines a deep knowledge of the players of the Pro Tour with a passionate love of the game. He's a regular commentator for Pro Tour and Grand Prix live video coverage, and is the official Pro Tour Statistician. He has been covering Magic events since 2006.
Fifteen players are here in the main event today thanks to rattling off five straight wins in the viciously hard-to-win contest that is the Last Chance Qualifier. While two players relied on the vagaries of Sealed Deck, the other thirteen were giving their possible Nationals Standard decks a run out. Here's how the west was won:
Grinder 1 - Marcio Araujo got the ball rolling with Tempered Steel. You know the drill - Memnite, Glint Hawk, Glint Hawk Idol, Steel Overseer... |
Grinder 2 - Diogo Oliveira won with Pyromancer Ascension. Lightning Bursts and Lightning Bolts stack up to a lot of damage when you're copying them over and over. |
Grinder 3 - Guilherme Moura took down grinder 3 with mono-red, featuring the card that Paul Rietzl wanted to see so badly in the final of Pro Tour Paris, Hero of Oxid Ridge. Lots of burn spells got the job done for Guilherme. |
Grinder 4 - Another Guilherme, this time Guilherme Cruz, winning with a Blue-Black control list that looks like Worlds 2010. Grave Titan very prominent, ways to sweep the board, spot removal, Into the Roil, plus things like Solemn Simulacrum and a singleton Karn Liberated. |
Grinder 5 - The first Splinter Twin to get the job done, in the hands of André Franco, who we featured earlier in the day. |
Grinder 6 - Hugo Terra brings us our first sighting of Plated Geopede, making a welcome reappearance at the top tables in a mono-Red concoction featuring Chandra, the Firebrand. |
Grinder 7 - Birthing Pod decks are always interesting, so here's the winning list from grinder 7, courtesy of Rafael Quadros:
Rafael Quadros - Grinder 7
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Grinder 8 - Carlos Tognoli went 5-0 to secure his place with Splinter Twin.
Grinder 9 - Splinter Twin also got the job done for Tulio Jaudy.
Grinder 10 - Guess what won grinder 10 for whom? Who was Eduardo Saraiva. What was Splinter Twin again.
Grinder 11 - Three to go, and here's the first appearance of Valakut. With time running out, Tarciso Costa made his way into Nationals.
Grinder 12 - There were more Titans on show, as Cesar Augusto took Valakut to a second victory.
Grinder 13 - Splinter Twin would not be denied as the most successful deck in the grinders, taking down the last slot in the hands of Leonardo Martins.
Well, there were five winning Splinter Twin lists, but an awful lot of decks that got their handlers a place in the main event. What would the metagame look like on day one proper? Stay tuned to find out.
