This tournament report is not like any other, join us as Joel Bantiles shares the story about this awesome event.

Playing Magic: The Gathering has always been the very first passion that ignited the spark for many judges. Yes, solving tricky rules interactions are exciting or running a 100 person Limited event can prove to be a challenge. But, before those even come to pass winning a game of Magic with your peers will always be a fulfilling endeavor.

In the Philippines, we have recently concluded our very first MTG Arena tournament – the Philippine Judges Open. It was a free Standard Constructed event participated by 25 judges in our country. It had some modifications.However, with deck building in which you can only use cards starting with the letters P-H-I-L-J-U-D-G-E-S besides basic lands. (Also modifiers like ‘the’ are ignored when determining legality)

For the event, we opted to use Challonge and run it as Swiss (initially it was double elimination but that created a lot of byes which is not what many players like).

Scheduling of matches were done by the players themselves. Which was a good thing as not everyone can freely play Arena during these busy times. We got there in the end and the feedback has been positive with hopes of being able to do it again. Wearn had been generous to share some of the leftover RC stash foils as prizes which is greatly appreciated.

After two ½ weeks, five rounds and an exciting Top 8 of competition, Wella Anne Ladera piloting an aggressive Red Green deck won over Cuppy Paras who used a Blue White Artifact Creature deck reminiscent of Robots.

Besides placing second, Cuppy also won the most interesting deck of the Top 8 as well.

In these trying times, this kind of activity can help keep the fire burning and also promote a kind of bonding experience with your local community. We may not be able to judge events like we use too but we can still keep our community in tact and ready to serve again when the cloud of uncertainty winnows off.

The Top 8 are as follows:

Top 8 decklist

wellanne – champion
Deck
2 Domri, Anarch of Bolas 3 Paradise Druid 1 Skarrgan Hellkite 4 Stonecoil Serpent 4 Gruul Spellbreaker 3 Pelt Collector 2 The Great Henge 1 Scavenging Ooze 2 Embercleave 3 Gemrazer 1 Domri’s Ambush 8 Forest 4 Stomping Ground 6 Mountain 4 Gruul Guildgate 3 Lovestruck Beast 1 Gilded Goose 1 Sarkhan the Masterless 2 Legion Warboss 2 Evolving Wilds 1 Scorching Dragonfire 2 Heroic Intervention

Sideboard
3 Shifting Ceratops 2 Lava Coil 2 Scavenging Ooze 1 Gemrazer 2 Garruk’s Harbinger 2 Scorching Dragonfire 2 Storm’s Wrath 1 Garruk, Unleashed

Cuppycakes – 2nd Place

Deck
4 Stonecoil Serpent 4 Locthwain Gargoyle 4 Gingerbrute 3 Steel Overseer 4 Inquisitive Puppet 1 Shadowspear 1 Iron Bully 3 Gods Willing 2 Dance of the Manse 4 Hallowed Fountain 10 Plains 8 Island 2 Lurrus of the Dream-Den 4 Shambling Suit 3 Emry, Lurker of the Loch 3 Palladium Myr

Sideboard
3 Disdainful Stroke 4 Glass Casket 2 Sorcerous Spyglass 3 Prison Realm 1 Heliod’s Intervention 2 Grafdigger’s Cage

janang – 3rd place

Deck
4 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon 4 Ugin, the Ineffable 2 Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath 11 Forest 6 Island 2 Elder Gargaroth 4 Hydroid Krasis 4 Evolving Wilds 4 Growth Spiral 4 Incubation Druid 3 Paradise Druid 4 Llanowar Visionary 2 Solemn Simulacrum 2 Sublime Epiphany

Sideboard
2 Disdainful Stroke 1 Elder Gargaroth 4 Shark Typhoon 1 Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath 2 Sublime Epiphany 4 Sorcerous Spyglass 1 Steelbane Hydra

raistlin33 – 4th place

Deck
4 Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath 4 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon 4 Solemn Simulacrum 4 Hallowed Fountain 4 Growth Spiral 2 Hydroid Krasis 3 Sinister Sabotage 4 Forest 5 Island 5 Plains 4 Indatha Triome 2 Dream Trawler 3 Dovin’s Veto 3 Elspeth Conquers Death 2 Shark Typhoon 4 Simic Guildgate 4 Shatter the Sky

Sideboard
3 Devout Decree 2 Heliod’s Intervention 3 Elder Gargaroth 2 Essence Scatter 2 Sorcerous Spyglass 1 Dovin’s Veto 2 Scavenging Ooze

ckgjarkeld – 5th place

Deck
4 Gutterbones 1 Dead Weight 4 Eliminate 2 Grasp of Darkness 2 Lazotep Reaver 2 Lampad of Death’s Vigil 3 Priest of Forgotten Gods 3 Demonic Embrace 1 Liliana, Waker of the Dead 1 Epic Downfall 4 Spawn of Mayhem 23 Swamp 4 Gingerbrute 2 Lurrus of the Dream-Den 1 Drag to the Underworld 3 Stonecoil Serpent

Sideboard
3 Drill Bit 2 Soul-Guide Lantern 2 Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage 1 Grasp of Darkness 3 Dreadhorde Invasion 1 Liliana, Waker of the Dead 1 Legion’s End 1 Epic Downfall 1 Elspeth’s Nightmare

LazarusDamian – 6th place

Deck

3 Dovin’s Acuity 2 Island 4 Dance of the Manse 5 Plains 4 Doom Foretold 3 Prison Realm 4 Hallowed Fountain 4 Godless Shrine 4 Evolving Wilds 4 Dismal Backwater 3 Elspeth’s Nightmare 2 Elspeth Conquers Death 1 Leyline of Anticipation 1 Leyline of the Void 1 Leyline of Sanctity 2 Glass Casket 4 Shark Typhoon 2 Swamp 3 Disinformation Campaign 4 Hero of Precinct One

Sideboard

1 Leyline of Anticipation 1 Glass Casket 2 Sorcerous Spyglass 2 Leyline of the Void 2 Erebos’s Intervention 2 Heliod’s Intervention
1 Elspeth, Sun’s Nemesis 1 Elspeth Conquers Death 1 Despark 2 Duress

rown2k4 – 7th place

Deck
4 Pelt Collector 6 Mountain 4 Stonecoil Serpent 2 Llanowar Visionary 2 Paradise Druid 4 Gemrazer 2 Heroic Intervention 1 Primal Might 3 Embercleave 4 Stomping Ground 10 Forest 1 Everquill Phoenix 1 Gruul Spellbreaker 2 Domri’s Ambush 1 Garruk, Unleashed 1 Domri, Anarch of Bolas 2 Shifting Ceratops 1 The Great Henge 4 Scavenging Ooze 1 Skarrgan Hellkite 4 Gruul Guildgate

Sideboard
2 Lava Coil 2 Healer of the Glade 1 Inescapable Blaze 2 Shifting Ceratops 1 Scorching Dragonfire 1 Irreverent Revelers 2 Legion Warboss 1 Planewide Celebration 1 Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge 2 Garruk’s Harbinger

Zoikz – 8th place

Deck
4 Growth Spiral 4 Plaza of Harmony 4 Simic Guildgate 4 Gruul Guildgate 4 Izzet Guildgate 3 Gate Colossus 4 Gatebreaker Ram 4 Guild Summit 4 Gates Ablaze 3 Dryad of the Ilysian Grove 2 Deafening Clarion 1 Expansion // Explosion 4 Selesnya Guildgate 2 Plains 1 Forest 1 Dimir Guildgate 1 Golgari Guildgate 1 Sunder Shaman 3 Prison Realm 1 Shatter the Sky 2 Hydroid Krasis 1 Dream Trawler 1 Mountain 1 Gemrazer

Sideboard
4 Skarrgan Hellkite 2 Embereth Shieldbreaker 3 Essence Scatter 2 Disdainful Stroke 2 Elspeth’s Nightmare 1 Shifting Ceratops 1 Legion Warboss

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Talk about a standard tournament with a twist.

One could only imagine what decks will be brewed if we changed the format, Historic perhaps?

Enjoy the weekend everyone and stay safe
– Felix Ramon M. Capule III