Pictures from n00bcon 9

Well, this was spectacular. Over 30 communities present, over 100 players, an awesome pile of beer, and just amazing Magic. Probably the largest number of Chaos Orbs in a room since Unlimited left the printer.

Russians, Americans and Italians representing. German, Norwegian and Spanish players. Dudes taking a roadtrip for days from Switzerland, a UK crew showing up with matching Beasts of Borgadan t-shirts and a crew of Dutch players hanging out until five in the morning to watch the finals. The finals between a casual player from Växjö and a man whom represented the Icelandic team in the 1996 Magic World Championship. Players from all over, with all kinds of backgrounds, decks, and stories.

I can tell you that 100 players are more than 50 in the same way a marathon is longer than a half-marathon. It is not just twice as much, running it becomes a different ballpark. It may get crowded, the scorekeeping and barkeeping may become a different monster, and every now and then you just have to sit on a beer keg and play in liue of a chair. But when you have a community like this, it just works. Everyone is so damn friendly and nice to hang out with. There are honestly like zero douchebags here. You make this what it is.

I was something of a wreck on Saturday and unfortunately missed Kalle's Huvudturneringen ("The Main Tournament") the day after n00bcon. That seemed like a super sweet event, one which I wouldn't mind getting some stories from. I also heard, sometime in the middle of the night, that one player from the Netherlands would write a tournament report from the event, so I'm holding out for that one ;) But first, let's check out a bunch of pictures from the event.

Thursday preparations. Trophies, Easter Eggs and a pack-fresh Giant Shark.

Beer prepping. Both Old Viscosity and Older Viscosity ;)

Players starting to roll in and registration is up. Thanks a bunch to Mällroth, Timecode and Knutsson who made it work after short-notice cancellelations from other guys.

It was a little too crowded to announce the tournament starting in the middle of the playgroup, but the pub provided a sweet balcony for me to stand and shout and drop pairings from.

The game's afoot! Sitting arrangements alternated between most things between sofas and empty beer kegs. In other places at the location, people played on most things between bar tables and a pingpong table. Chaos Orb flips were supposedly hard to reach at the pingpong table ;)

Island of Wak-Wak and Gaea's Avenger looking good against Serendib Efreet.

First game of the day. Drinking Deadguy Ale and attacking with Serras and Sengirs. Feeling good.

Ninth-time n00bcon player Sveby with Eureka versus third-time Russian player Constantine with TwiddleVault. Crazy games.

Among the stranger binder pages. Altered blackbordered power, BB duals, and Sorrows Path. The trick is to have the cheaper cards closest to the D-rings, so they shield most of the damage you get from keeping the cards these kind of binders ;)

A good third or so of all the completed Ultra Pro Puzzles in the world. I got the chance to flip my entire Orb puzzle on an entire Lotus puzzle. Achievement unlocked.

Øyann versus Tall Steve. In the background we see our glorious commentators Yespair and Elof.

Steve's deck. A glorious Living Plane/Drop of Honey/Prodigal Sorcerer pile.

The UK team; Steve, Ben, Jonas and Karl

Representing! Karl is a properly built man, but looks kinda tiny in comparison to the Hill Giants of the Kingdom.

Random prize for the highest placing Brit. Couldn't find a proper Hill Giant, so I went Garfield Alter on a similar card.

Robin "Hagelpump" relaxing between rounds. His ninth year at the tournament.

Super friendly Andrea Braida from Italy showing who's the boss. Shivan Dragon, that's who.

A true expert on playing Magic on a computer, Gregory from Switzerland won the Skype group invite. He just found an Easter Egg with the "Shandalar" game for his accomplishments.

I myself got this fantastic Beta Braingeyser alter from Constantine and Shelest from Russia. Thanks a lot guys, you rock! This will see a lot of play :)

William from Mindstage set up an impromptu shop for those needing to round out their decks during the weekend. He also help out a lot with the score keeping. Thanks man!

Though some cards had better grading than others ;)

I got to play a feature match against Danny Friedman and his sweet Millstone deck. Circle of Protection: Black doing a lot of work!

Danny also found an Easter Egg, this one with four Ashnod's Coupons that could get free drinks throughout the tournament (and could be cast from outside the game during matches). Other Easter Eggs btw contained stuff like a Legends booster and a Pre-Alpha playtest card.

Paddan's first turn Erhnam is sufficiently matched by my first turn Juzam. Note the gentleman's agreement of leaving out Mind Twist and LoA from our decks ;) Also note the sick championship play may!

Bad quality pic, but you get the idea. The mats are inspired by early Khalsa-Brain mats; the guys who made the first ever play mats and the play mats for Magic World Championships in the later half of the 90s. They are completely hand made; the art is hand drawn and then hand printed, the mats are hand cut from top quality cloth. Around 50 were made total by co-founder of the format Kalle Nord, but we didn't manage to cut them all up in time for the tournament. So if you played at n00bcon 9 and want one but didn't manage to find it, find Kalle on Facebook and he might be able to set you up. They are made to be exclusive and the few made are only for sale to people who competed in the tournament. The price is around €50 (which was the cost to make one). They are awesome.

Speaking of top-notch cloth, Danny and Shane shows how to represent the Lords of the Pit from Chicago.

Fransesc representing the Saint Feliu de Llobregat comunity in Spain. Dude also made sweet 5/5 djinn tokens for all the participants at the tournament :D

Fransesc's sweet deck.

Shark-winner Robert Schram seems certain on an impending victory.

All Hallow's Eve looking good.

Death by a thousand pings. Or at least 20.

Some players prefer it less subtle ;)

The Italian players printed out an oversized plane ticket and gave free airfare to Fishliver Oil cup in Linguria to the eventual champion. If you have the chance to join the Fishliver Oil cup in Italy this autumn, I can't recommend it enough. Awesome gathering :)

A lot of cards changed hands during the gathering, and crazy trades were all over. Here's a guy from Norway upgrading five power cards from Unlimited to Beta in a single transaction.

It is rare to have an Alpha Lotus being outshined, but of the three on this table, the one on the right is simply next level. Three signs (two Rush, one Garfield) and an awesome Ishan's Shade alter by the late master Rush to complete the awesomeness. Of the 10+ Alpha Lotuses seen at the tournament, this one won ;)

Another one of the alluring flowers was seen in this great pile. It's an Alpha-only deck, probably the only deck in the tournament that could be completed already in the summer of 93. And it went 4-3, winning record!

Sengir Vampire's second ability actually matters when opponent plays Flying Men and Chain Lightning.

n00bcon 3 winner Viktor "Oldschool" Peterson getting beaten down by a Preacher. Still keeps that winning smile :)

The Lestree Pose.

Alpha-deck player Montag, David Chambers of New Zeeland, n00bcon 8 winner Martin Berlin, and n00bcon 6 winner Christoffer "Stalin" Andersson. Good people.

Good times in the trading/heavy drinking area.

Megu's sick blinged-out MonoBlack deck. Everything that can be Alpha is Alpha.

Round seven. Still around 97 players standing ;)

Yeah, so how many Amy Weber altered Alpha Time Walks has anyone seen? Some of the German players had collections that just blew me away.

The 2016/2017 Rookie of the Year, Arvika Shark winner Andreas Cermak! Thanks a bunch for the Mtg Poker Chips btw :)

Stalin in the bar still keeping the fort. A few of the bartenders had an 18 hour shift. Well played!

While the top8 has started elsewhere, a bunch of hardcore players starts Hövveturneringen ("The main tournament"). Single elimination, one round, last person standing.

This year the glorious Rukh Egg of Hövveturneringen was picked up by the 15/16 Rookie of the Year Thomas Nilsen of Norway.

Some casual playing with Jonas from the UK while waiting for the finals to start. He didn't dare to play for Ante as he had borrowed a bunch of cards in his deck. Jokes on him, as he won the game and would have been a Summer Mishra's Factory richer otherwise ;)

It's time. For all the marbles.

Icelander picking up his fifth n00bcon top8 and second final appearance in the last three years. Facing of against Hashi, a top skilled casual player from Växjö.

The final was a truly great game of Magic. The crowd couldn't hold the applause when Hashi deployed a Nightmare through Icelander's defenses.

After three tight games with impressive spell slinging, the Dark Side emerges victorious! Congratulations to the new World Champion: Kristoffer "Hashi" Arlefur! Awesome played man!

The winning deck of the 2017 Old School Mtg World Championship: Hashi's Disaster.

Finally, I want to express my gratitude again to all of you who came and made this the largest and most represented Old School event ever! Hope to see a bunch of you next year. The rest of the top8 lists will be posted in the not to distant future. And if anyone else would be interested in posting a report of the event, I'd be very happy to host them as always.
Cheers!