The n00bcon top8, part 1

I would never have guessed. If someone had told me a few years back that 93/94 tournaments would attract more players than the national championships in Vintage, or that players would travel multiple time zones to battle for a Giant Shark, it would be hard to not be a sceptic.

There are communities around the world these days. There's a thriving scene in Italy, the second double-digit tournament in France was held last weekend, this Sunday I'll be playing in my first tournament in Norway, at the same time as n00bcon there was a Magic '95 tournament in New York, two weeks from now the first tournament in Russia will take place, and a month back I was playing old school in Germany. When we first started to call n00bcon "the world championships" it was mostly as a joke. The first tournament at Gothcon in 2008 had four players, all from Gothenburg. Today, with well over fifty players from different countries, I think that we in good conscience can say that n00bcon is the largest and most prestigious tournament for wizards and mages interested in the origins of Magic.

It's not about winning though. It's about nostalgia and to enjoy the game, your deck and the company. The four hidden Easter eggs at n00bcon contained a Sandrelin altered unlimited Scrubland, a Legends booster, a playset Felipega altered unlimited Enchantresses, and a two-player ash Khalsa Brain mat. Prices that you probably could use as incentives to get players to join the tournament, or give as incentives to win. These prices were not mentioned before the tournament though, nor given out to the top performers, but randomized to players after the swiss. If you win, you'd get a Giant Shark, if you placed second, you'd get nothing.

That's not the whole story, of course. Top8'ing n00bcon gives some pretty big bragging rights in the eternal community. It shows that you have what it used to take to Master Magic Cards.

Sehl, Icelander, Myfz and Arkanon.

Erik "Sehl" Larsson played his first game of Magic in 16 years in Januari 2014. Since then, he has pretty much crushed the format. He placed 2nd at both Warcon 2014 and the Mindstage premiére tournament, he top8'd BSK, won the 93/94 tournament at Vasa Gaming, and came into the tournament as the fifth highest ranked player in the format, behind three recent Shark-winners and Freespace. It is notable that he has used a myriad of different decks during the year to claim his victories; WW, Erhnamgeddon, WUR aggro and Monoblack. It is also notable that he doesn't own all the moxes nor the Lotus, but is still a favourite against most of the full-powered players.

Sehl's deck of choice for the tournament was The Burn Deck. It's a five-color pile of Lightning Bolts, Chain Lightnings, Psiblasts and Fireballs, backed up by most of the restricted list and a set of Factories. Simply put, it's broken burn.

Sehl's The Burn Deck

Erling "Icelander" Hansson showed his consistence with a third consecutive n00bcon top8. Last year he was maindecking Nicol Bolas, but this time it looks like he has slimmed his strategy quite a bit. Icelander was a member of the Icelandic team in the Magic World Championships in the 90s, and showed yet again that his masterful skills with old cards. He is also a really cheerful and friendly dude, which goes a long way in this format :)

Icelander's The Deck

Myfz had a pretty long hiatus from old school Magic in the last few years. He last played at n00bcon three years ago, though he top8'd that one as well. More recently, Myfz placed second at BSK last November and top8'd Frippan Open in December. During the last six months, he has pretty much been a fixture in the elimination rounds of the Swedish old school tournaments. He deck of choice was, as always, monoblack.

Myfz's Monoblack. It was a long night.

Last we have Nicklas "Arkanon" Johansson. Arkanon has played the game for well over 20 years but is actually fairly new to 93/94, having found the format last year. After placing second at WSK last summer, he kickstarted the local scene in Scania and organized a couple of tournaments in the autmn/winter. Arkanon's deck of choice looks like a very hard nut to crack for any creature based deck. He uses The Abyss backed up with the full playset of both Juggernauts and Su-Chis. With stones and jewlery, Arkanon can fairly easily cast one of the four-drop creatures turn one or two and start smashing. He backs up his core strategy with card advantage and control using restricted cards and the Tome.

Arkanon's Abyss Beatdown