2013 Magic Online Community Cup

2013 Magic Online Community Cup

August 30-31, 2013

2013 MAgic Online Community Cup

The Community Team took an early lead, and never looked back at the 2013 Magic Online Community Cup – ultimately crushing the Wizards Team 233-201.

Going into the 2013 Magic Online Community Cup, the hopes of the entire Magic community rest in the hands of eight talented players: Reid Duke, Melissa DeTora, Michael Jacob, Matthew Watkins, Tom Delia, Kenji Egashira, Jan van der Vegt, and Keya Saleh. Standing in their way was the powerhouse Wizards team made up of Aaron Forsythe, Mike Turian, Dave Humpherys, Wort, Boggart Auntieh Wollpert, Alexis Janson, Sam Stoddard, Ryan Spain, Sean Gibbons, and Brian Clinton. The teams battled across Modern Masters Draft, Wacky Draft, "Ironroot Chef" Constructed, and Cube Draft to determine the 2013 winner of the Erik "Hamtastic" Friborg Memorial trophy.

The 2013 Community Team did the Magic Online Community proud, earning not only bragging rights, but also granting every Magic Online player who logged in between Friday, August 30, at 10 a.m. PDT and Saturday, August 31, at 7 p.m. PDT, during the Community Cup a premium foil Sliver Queen promo and a Rakdos Cackler FNM promo.

 

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Follow live streaming video coverage of the Magic Online Community Cup at twitch.tv/magic with Brian David-Marshall, Marshall Sutcliffe, Rashad Miller, Graham Stark, and James Turner.

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EVENT COVERAGE

INFORMATION

Team Points
Community Team 233
Wizards Team 201

SATURDAY

FRIDAY

COMMUNITY CHALLENGE

Community 35, Wizards 32

Friday: Communication is Key

by Steve Sadin

The Magic Online Community Cup is a team event that pits 8 representatives from the Magic Online Community against 8 representatives from Wizards of the Coast.

 

Unlike in individual events where players must keep their thoughts to themselves, even if they have a strong opinion about what their friends should do – at the Magic Online Community Cup players are allowed to communicate with their teammates during drafts and matches.

In order to take advantage of their freedom to advise their teammates – players here are spending as much time out of their chairs, as they are in them...


Egashira giving advice to Tom Delia and Melissa DeTora.

Mike Turian (left) and Sean Gibbons (right) combining their powers.

Even with the freedom to give each other advice, Fblthp and Lee Sharpe are still Totally Lost .

Friday: DING!

by Steve Sadin

Jan van der Vegt streams Magic Online tournaments regularly at http://www.twitch.tv/dzyl/ - and, unlike most Magic streamers, Jan has a number of props that he uses on his stream. Notably, “The Bell.”

Whenever something exceptional happens – Jan takes action.

Going Platinum

by Steve Sadin

After the Community Team got off to an early 42 to 30 point lead in Modern Masters, the competitors moved on to "Wacky Draft". The Wacky Draft is done using the most recent iteration of the Magic Online Cube and each player is randomly assigned a draft stipulation that they must follow. During the draft, if a player can make a pick that fulfills the requirements of his or her draft rule, he or she must do so. If there are no cards that fulfill the draft rule, the player can draft any card in the pack.

 

A full list of the rules and restrictions that the players were subject to can be found here.

Jan van der Vegt got randomly assigned perhaps the wackiest of the stipulations. Gone Platinum.

As a result Jan was required to "Pick the card with the name that makes the best band name". In order to ensure that these picks were not made with a bias, Jan's draft was judged by Pro Tour Historian, and band name aficionado, Brian David-Marshall.


From Left to Right Greg Collins, Nate Holt, Jan van der Vegt, Brian David-Marshall, Fblthp

Below are some of the highlights of his draft:

  • After taking Rancor first (a pick which Jan had some reservations about – as he couldn't see himself ever listening to a band called Rancor ) Jan had no trouble making his second pick. " Mind's Desire is clearly the best band name here... and it goes really well with my 1st pick, so..."
  • " Genesis Wave ... they're a new wave Genesis cover band." – Jan
    "That sounds terrible." – Greg Collins
  • " Stunted Growth , they're a band that's had a lot of trouble..." - Jan
  • " Bloodghast is the best band name." - BDM
  • "Not Augur of Bolas ? I really like Augur of Bolas ..." – (a clearly biased) Jan
    But a little while later, Jan started to see the value of adding Bloodghast to his deck
    "I can Brainfreeze myself, and get back Bloodghast ! We're doing it! DING!"
  • "You're going to have a hard time getting anything past Bone Shredder ." - BDM
  • " Hellrider is the best band name here. There's just no way around it." - BDM
    "Alright, straight to my sideboard." - Jan

In the end, Jan wound up with a (surprisingly) solid Blue-Green-Black deck that was able to make quick work of Brian Clinton's Backdrafted deck in the first round.

Friday: Bear With Me with Kenji Egashira

by Steve Sadin

On January 1st, 2013 Kenji Egashira committed himself to the “Livestream Challenge” - resolving to stream Magic Online matches every day this year at http://www.twitch.tv/numotthenummy

 

Kenji’s well on his way to accomplishing his goal having already streamed for the first 242 days of the year.


Kenji Egashira

Kenji’s also well on his way to going 3-0 in the Wacky Draft with his Bear Force One Deck.

Bear Force One Rule
Must draft the card that fulfills the most of the following:
* converted mana cost 2
* 2 power
* 2 toughness
* green
* creature

Saturday: Battle of Wits with Tom Delia

by Steve Sadin

Only one of the competitors at the 2013 Magic Online Community Cup chose to play more than 2 ingredients during the Ironroot Chef challenge: Tom @mtgradio Delia. Tom chose to fill his deck with 4 copies of each of the 5 ingredients: Goblin Test Pilot , Angelic Accord , Feed the Pack , Conjured Currency , and Strionic Resonator .


Tom Delia

In addition to these 20 cards, Tom filled out his deck with 232 other cards to build a Battle of Wits deck.

"As soon as I learned that I could play more than two of the ingredients, I knew that I wanted to play all five. But in order to play all five of them, I was going to have to play five colors. Then I got to thinking, I could play Battle of Wins in my deck! Not only is this a lot of fun, Keya Saleh won the Texas State Championships a few years ago with Battle of Wits – so I had an expert to help me figure out my mana base."– Tom Delia

The result? A 252 card deck that has struck fear into the hearts of every member of the Wizards Team.

But is it flavorful?

The judges have yet to cast their verdict.

While they have acknowledged the fact that almost all of the pieces in the deck have synergies that work with at least one of the Ironroot Chef ingredients, there's some question as to whether or not Tom's deck has actually made proper use of those ingredients.

"I feel like you stapled 5 ingredients onto Battle of Wits , and that Battle of Wits is the theme of the deck."– The Wizard


The Wizard is a harsh judge.

Will Tom's deck be able to win? Will it be deemed flavorful enough by the judges?

Stay tuned to find out.

CC_Tom
Download Arena Decklist
Decklist Stats Sample Hand
Planeswalker (3)
3 Ral Zarek
Creature (55)
2 Archangel of Thune 2 Bloodgift Demon 3 Borborygmos Enraged 4 Borderland Ranger 2 Captain of the Mists 2 Disciple of Bolas 3 Dungeon Geists 4 Gatecreeper Vine 4 Goblin Test Pilot 4 Greenside Watcher 2 Isperia, Supreme Judge 2 Mindclaw Shaman 3 Obzedat, Ghost Council 1 Sepulchral Primordial 4 Shadowborn Demon 2 Sphinx of Uthuun 3 Thragtusk 4 Trostani, Selesnya's Voice 2 Vampire Nighthawk 2 Vizkopa Guildmage
Sorcery (27)
4 Diabolic Revelation 4 Diabolic Tutor 4 Farseek 4 Increasing Ambition 4 Merciless Eviction 3 Supreme Verdict 4 Urban Evolution
Artifact (14)
4 Chromatic Lantern 2 Ring of Three Wishes 4 Strionic Resonator 4 Traveler's Amulet
Enchantment (28)
4 Abundant Growth 4 Angelic Accord 2 Assemble the Legion 4 Battle of Wits 4 Conjured Currency 4 Feed the Pack 2 Primeval Bounty 2 Sanguine Bond 2 Verdant Haven
Land (124)
3 Azorius Guildgate 4 Blood Crypt 2 Boros Guildgate 3 Breeding Pool 4 Dimir Guildgate 4 Drowned Catacomb 4 Evolving Wilds 8 Forest 4 Godless Shrine 4 Golgari Guildgate 2 Gruul Guildgate 4 Hallowed Fountain 4 Hinterland Harbor 4 Island 4 Izzet Guildgate 4 Maze's End 4 Mountain 4 Orzhov Guildgate 4 Overgrown Tomb 4 Plains 4 Rakdos Guildgate 4 Sacred Foundry 4 Selesnya Guildgate 4 Simic Guildgate 4 Steam Vents 4 Stomping Ground 2 Sunpetal Grove 4 Swamp 4 Temple Garden 4 Transguild Promenade 4 Watery Grave 4 Woodland Cemetery
251 Cards
Deal Another Hand

Saturday: Why is Lingering Souls in Your Deck?

by Steve Sadin

 

 

During the Ironroot Challenge, The Wizard wandered the floor and asked the competitors to justify some of their choices.

 

In between the 2nd, and 3rd round – The Wizard found Sam Stoddard and asked him to explain why Lingering Souls was included in his Angelic Accord + Strionic Resonator deck.


The Wizard Interrogating Sam Stoddard
Sam Stoddard: "Well, do you know Bogbrew Witch ?"
TW: "Yes, I know her personally. We have tea sometimes. It's not very good tea, but it's still tea."
SS: "Well, then you know about the time when she massacred her family... then resurrected them, and massacred them again."
TW: "Ah yes, of course. It was a very difficult time in her life."
SS: "Well, the souls of her family still linger and haunt her to this day."

Saturday: Aaron Forsythe's Rough Day

by Steve Sadin

Director of R&D Aaron Forsythe has been having a tough time this weekend. After winning his very first match on Friday by Tooth and Nail ing in Progenitus – Aaron has gone winless through his next 7 rounds.

But just when things were starting to look really grim for Aaron, Community Team member Jan van der Vegt took pity on him...

...and brought him ice cream!


Aaron Forsythe drowning his sorrows.