Pictures from the Fishliver Oil Cup

Ragazzi!

Last Sunday I went on my first ever proper Magic trip. The Italian community in Liguria, spearheaded by Lorenzo Novaro and Domenico Megu Chionetti, was throwing the first edition of the Fishliver Oil Cup; a tournament described with "Italian rules, Swedish style". It was clearly time for Hardy and I to pack our bags and fly down to the Continent to see what the Liguria scene was all about.

And hopefully win a Fishliver Oil. "Good combo with Giant Shark."

One thing that has become clear is that this is no ordinary format nor a single community any more. It's a grand organism of autonomous parts, and 93/94 Magic has become network of families. I kinda felt it already a couple of years back, when I first visited the Arvika community during the first Arvika Festival, and then again during the summer when I got to stay with Paddan in the Stockholm community. And here, way down south thousands of kilometres away from Gothenburg, in a different climate and culture where we speak different languages, meeting the old school players is like meeting old friends and family. They make it their own, with slightly different structure and slightly different wine, but the core values of 93/94 are unmistakable. The oldest of cards. Enjoying nostalgia and the fellow players, preferably with a beer or glass of wine in hand. The "play with what you have"-mentality. Having a good playing experience valued above winning. Community-driven Magic for the players themselves.

The 34 warriors of the Fishliver Oil Cup.

Lorenzo and Megu were amazing hosts whom went above and beyond what Hardy and I could ever have expected. They helped out with everything, from getting us places to stay and fixing breakfast to giving us a ride from Camaiore to Genua. Megu even picked us up at 04:45 in the morning to drive us to the airport from his hotel room in Genua (which he let us borrow to get a few hours of sleep before we went on to Munich). And these are guys we had never met before in our life.

It was also great to get a face on a bunch of other players I'd only had short interactions with online before. Like Andrea Braida, who defeated me with a grand smile backed up by a Mahamothi Djinn and a Shivan Dragon in the second round of the swiss. Or Valerio Minelli, who introduced himself with "Hi Mg! I'm Valerio. I've told you to fuck off on the Internet a few times." ;)

I hope that all you guys know that if you are ever going to Oslo or Norway, you'll always have a couch to crash on and a group of friends who will guide you through the city.

Let's check out some pictures from the weekend.

After an hour or so wandering aimlessly through Pisa by night, Hardy and I found the opportunity to fill up on local DHCG wine and a couple of pizzas each. Good start of the weekend.

And we found this awesome Tower.

When we eventually arrived at Nebraska Pub in Camaiore, we found ourselves drafting Martin Berlin's 93/94 cube in an old school wine cellar with Megu, Lorenzo and Zavo.

Team Sweden. Hardy, Berlin and myself.

Lorenzo fighting Killer Bees with Shivan Dragon.

Lorenzo and Megu had found a beatiful Air BnB home for the weekend. Three floors and 15 minutes from the site.

Players are starting to show up at Nebraska Pub. Representing Ravenna, Milan, Liguria, Tuscany and Veneto.

The glorious Fishliver Oil.

Apart from the Fishliver Oil, there was side competitions with prizes ranging from commons like Psychic Purge to rarities like Timetwister. One of the most amusing challenges was the "Eaten by Rats" competition. Players would submit four cards from their decks, and the player with the cards in worst condition would win a Sewer Rats and a Two-Headed Giant of Foriys. Hardy, myself and Berlin got the honor of being judges.

The Eaten by Rats winner (yes, that's an inked Unlimited Mind Twist). Solid play wear.

Felippo Caccia and me. Felippo started the scene in Ravenna and was introduced to me by Lorenzo as "The Magnus de Laval of Italy".

The game is on. T-shirt weather btw! A welcome change from the cold of the Norwegian autumn.

My weapon of choice, the Gonzo deck.

My first opponent Gab was a great guy, who unfortunately landed in the crossfires of Juzam+Armageddon twice in a row. He played a sweet Rwb deck with Wall of Earth btw, a proper Juzam killer.

Speaking of Juzam killers, my fourth round opponent slayed Djinns like there was no tomorrow. Eventually the Underworld Dreams got to him, but dude was a King Suleiman if I ever saw one.

Hardy with his Machine. It's not every tournament you get the chance to both drink beer and smoke while playing magic.

RAGAZZO! One of the sweetest things with the tournament was the sound volume and the Italian ambience. People yelling "Mama Mia!", "Mille diavolo!", "TOP!" and a hundred other interjections while watching duels. I understand why Italians sometimes write in Caps Lock on Facebook ;)

Top8 announcement and Timetwister lottery.

A happy player with his first power card.

Top8 bracket. Team Sweden representing with me and Berlin managing to claim a couple of the spots. The decks in the top 8 were UR Burn, UWrb Control-Skies, Lestree Zoo, Nether Void Ponza, Troll Disco, Gonzo, TwiddleVault and UBWR Sweetness. No clear "The Deck" (though UWrb Skies plays somewhat similar), and eight different archetypes. The rumors of Italy being taken over by The Deck are clearly exaggerated ;) I'll post all decks with some comments next week.

After intense battles, our glorious champion Luca Giannecchini was the last man standing. Congratulations!

The winning deck.

Cincin ragazzi!

Thanks again for an awesome tournament and the fantastic ospitalità. I had a blast. Next week we'll go deeper into some deck techs, but before that you should check out Marc Lanigra's upcoming tournament in Karlrhue. Everybody except the winner gets a Sorrow's Path.