After nine months of Legacy events, the AZMagicPlayers.com 2014 Legacy Series will conclude tomorrow at Desert Sky Games with the Championships crowning two victors: the AZMagicPlayers.com 2014 Legacy Series Champion and the AZMagicPlayers.com 2014 Player of the Year!
So how did we get to this point? Let’s take a look at our events leading up to tomorrow’s epic tournament.
The first Legacy Series Event was set for January 26th – a week before the Born of the Gods Pre-Release. While the first place prize was 4 Verdant Catacombs, there would also be an FTV 20 for the player who earned the most Legacy Series Points after our first four events. You would earn points based on your finishes in the Legacy Series Events.
Whatever happened here would set the tone for the rest of the year. And boy, did it not disappoint. A whopping 57 players showed up at Pop Culture Paradise Tempe showed up for six rounds of Swiss! After the dust settled, we saw eight players left standings:
- Charles Kraver with Mono Green Infect
- Trevor Carr with Death and Taxes
- Mike Griffin with UWR Miracles
- Zach McKeown with UWR Delver
- Scott Alter with Elves
- Matt Czuzak with Junk Depths
- Phimus Pan with BUG Delver
- Tyler Libraro with Affinity
Eight different decks. While the Legacy mainstays were well represented with Death and Taxes, UWR Miracles, UWR Delver, Elves, and BUG Delver in the Top 8, so were the rogue decks with Mono Green Infect, Affinity, and Junk Depths. The Legacy mainstays prevailed in the end, with Trevor Carr and Phimus Pan winning their respective ends of the bracket and splitting the prize to conclude the first Legacy Series Event!
Three weeks later, the second Legacy Series Event was under way! Thirty-six players went to Crusaders’ Retreat in Phoenix to do battle. Once again, it was another six round event, cutting to the Top 8. Once the Swiss concluded, we saw the following Top 8 players:
- Kai Ruan with Elves
- Wiliam Leach with Punishing Jund
- Mike Evans with DeathBlade
- Trevor Carr with Death and Taxes
- Matt Czuzak with Junk Depths
- Brent England with OmniTell
- Kyle Henriksen with UWR Delver
- Jake Kempfer with Sneak Show
Matt Czuzak and Trevor Carr repeated their Top 8 performances from the previous event, but could not stop Kyle Henriksen, who left the Swiss with a 4-0-2 record with UWR Delver and didn’t stop there. He went home as the February Event Winner!
A month later, the AZMagicPlayers.com 2014 Legacy Series stopped by Gilbert, Arizona, where 38 players gathered for another day of battle. Out of the 38 players, we saw 26 different archetypes being played throughout the day. It should be no surprise that we saw eight different archetypes again in the Top 8:
- Tony Murata with Reanimator
Jay Webb with Merfolk- Chris Worman with BUG Delver
- Gary Wong with DeathBlade
- Phimus Pan with BUG Midrange
- Alex Tamblyn with BW Stoneblade
- Bobby Greene with Tin Fins
- Mike Griffin with UWR Miracles
If anyone would have told me that Tin Fins would have made the Top 8 of one of our Legacy Events, I don’t think I would have believed you – and here it was! Bobby Green defeated BW Stoneblade and DeathBlade before falling to the BUG Midrange brew brought by Phimus Pan. This win all but locked up Phimus for the FTV: 20, as mostly anyone else would have had to win the fourth event to even have a chance at that FTV: 20.
So a week after Grand Prix: Phoenix marked the fourth Legacy Series Event, this time held at ManaWerx. We had 34 players at this event, awarding a Volcanic Island to 1st Place, Savannah to 2nd Place, and store credit to the rest. After the Swiss, we saw these players advance to the elimination rounds:
- Nathan Cardinell with Imperial Painter
- Vladimir Delvalle with Burn
- Gary Wong with Deathblade
- Matt Shaffer with BUG Midrange
- Tony Murata with 12Post
- Zach McKeown with UWR Delver
- Kai Ruan with UWR Miracles
- Alex Tamblyn with Reanimator
Gary Wong, Tony Murata, Zach McKeown, Kai Ruan, and Alex Tamblyn all posted their second AZMagicPlayers.com 2014 Legacy Series Top 8! With most of the brackets filled with grindy matchups, it is no surprise that Kai outlasted the rest and claimed the April Event Winner! Phimus Pan, however, with his attendance at the April Event, claimed the FTV: 20 for his efforts throughout the first half of the series.
The May Event took a turn down south as we visited Amazing Discoveries in Tucson, Arizona. As a side event to the PTQ: M15 event happening the same day, the May Event had 39 entrants. While the sun was shining brightly outside, a Storm was brewing inside the store as Storm put two archetypes into the Top 8 for the first time in the history of the event, in the hands of Jason Black and eventual winner Nick Gil.
Deathrite Shaman decks were also victorious in the tournament, putting five into the Top 8:
- Nick Gil with ANT
- Jason Black wih ANT
- Mike Evans with DeathBlade
- Mike Anderson with Post MUD
- Logan Gunnison with Shardless BUG
- Hans Kyselka with BUG Midrange
- Christian Casto with Maverick
- Niccolo Stopponi with BUG Nic Fit
From there, the AZMagicPlayers.com 2014 Legacy Series went back to Crusaders’ Retreat, where 37 players showed up for yet another round of Legacy battles.
The day went by quickly, as combo ran rampant throughout the day. At the end of the Swiss, our Top 8 was
- Aaron Nahm with UWR Miracles
- Scott Alter with Elves
- Colin Stapczynski with ANT
- James Smith with Oozing
- Nohea Slocum with Sneak Show
- Riad Mourssali with Death and Taxes
- Alex Tamblyn with Reanimator
- Mike Griffin with UWR Miracles
Mike Griffin and Alex Tamblyn each posted their third Legacy Series Top 8 and Scott Alter earned his second Top 8. In the end, Alex Tamblyn’s fast draws reigned supreme over the rest of the Top 8, getting him his first AZMagicPlayers.com 2014 Legacy Series Event title.
From Crusaders’ Retreat, we went back to where it all began: Pop Culture Paradise Tempe on July 27th. The turnout did not disappoint again, as 55 players showed up in downtown Tempe to get away from the summertime heat…and into the oven. We saw the following players emerge from the Swiss rounds unscathed…or unscatched enough to survive:
- Robert Nix with UWR Delver
- Eric Lambert with Post MUD
- Zach McKeown with Shardless BUG
- Nathan Cardinell with Moggcatcher Stompy
- Mike Hadley with Goblins
- Vladimir Delvalle with Burn
- Logan Gunnison with Shardless BUG
- Matthew Van Vleet with BUG Delver
The Top 8 could not stand the heat as Vladimir ran away with Burn. Nathan Cardinell and Logan Gunnison each got their 2nd Top 8, while Zach McKeown earned his 3rd Top 8 of the year.
The madness continued two weeks later. Another 55 players convened in Avondale, Arizona at Play or Draw for another day of Legacy. In the end, the following decks made the Top 8:
- Riad Mourssali with Death and Taxes
- Mike Hadley with Goblins
- Andrew Caponera with Shardless BUG
- Anthony Lehman with Sneak Show
- David White with Sneak Show
- Alex Tamblyn with Reanimator
- Charles Kraver with UG Infect
- Dustin Way with UB Delver
Mike Hadley, Charles Kraver, and Riad Mourssali all got their 2nd Top 8 while Alex Tamblyn grabbed his 4th Legacy Series Top 8. Riad faced the two Sneak Show decks in the Top 8, cruising to the Finals, while Charles Kraver grinded through Reanimator and Goblins. The army of white creatures could not stop the onslaught of the Mirrodin’s Infected and Charles Kraver became the Avondale August Event Winner!
Just a week later, the AZMagicPlayers.com 2014 Legacy Series went up north to nice and cool Flagstaff, Arizona, where 30 players battled at the Geekery for five rounds of Swiss. The heat remained though, as a whopping three Burn decks made the Top 8 of the event:
- Devin Jones with OmniTell
- Alex Tamblyn with Reanimator
- Myc Fromm with Junk Depths
- Sam Kemph with Burn
- Scott Alter with Elves
- Samantha Burns with Death and Taxes
- Jesse Mapel with Burn
- Vladimir Delvalle with Burn
Scott Alter and Vladimir Delvalle each earned their third Top 8 while Alex Tamblyn collected his 5th Top 8. Despite the three Burn decks in the Top 8, they would have to battle off unfavorable matches to take victory. However, Burn did as Burn does – Burn, and that meant that Burn would be the first deck to take multiple Legacy Series Events, this time, in the hands of Flagstaff player Sam Kemph.
So now that leaves us here – with the Championships looming this weekend, what deck will reign victorious? And which player will be wielding that deck? It could be you.
AZMAGICPLAYERS.COM 2014 LEGACY SERIES CHAMPIONSHIPS!
Open to all entrants
This event is a Grand Prix Trial for Grand Prix: New Jersey! Winner will also receive 2 byes. This means this will be at Competitive REL.
Date: September 6th, 2014
Round 1 Start: 12:00pm
Location: Desert Sky Games, 2531 S Gilbert Rd Ste 106, Gilbert, Arizona
Decklists will be required.
Entry Fee:
- $15 for AZMagicPlayers.com 2014 Players’ Club Members (10+ Legacy Series Points)
- $30 for non-Members
Prizes:
- 1st Place: Choice of 4 FORCE OF WILL or 4 WASTELAND, the AZMagicPlayers.com 2014 Legacy Series Championship Trophy, 2 byes to GP: New Jersey!
- 2nd Place: The remaining playset listed above
- And of course, more prizes based on attendance. This is also a BONUS event, where the amount of Series Points awarded will be multiplied by 2, meaning that the winner will receive 20 points instead of 10 points!