Winc0n 2022: The Oldschool Magic World Championships

It's a bit weird to think of right now, but there hasn't been a World Championship in Oldschool Magic for three years. The last champion was crowned in 2019, almost a year before the pandemic hit.

Martin "Fluffy" Lindström, the 2019 World Champion.

When we first started noting n00bcon as "the Oldschool Magic World Championship" in 2010, it was a bit tongue in cheek. We didn't even have players from outside Sweden until n00bcon 6 in 2014, but as the Swedes were pretty much the only people that played Oldschool in the world before then, we figured that we mise well call the main yearly gathering in our home-brewed format The World Championship. Then things started to escalate, and eventually the later n00bcons had around 40 communities represented across twenty or so countries, with qualification tournaments and invites structures and all that Kafkaesque jazz.

As the format grew around the world, there were some discussions if we should be the "authority" to hand out the World Championship title. After all, there were American EC tournaments with well over a hundred players, why couldn't they be the World Championship? And basically, my answer to that would be sure, they can of course also call themselves a World Championship if they want. In boxing there are like five World Championships. That Tyson Fury is the World Champion according to The Ring and WBC doesn't really diminish the fact that Oleksandr Usyk is the boxing World Champion according to WBA, IBF, and WBO. So feel free to create you own circuits for your local variants as well if you feel the need, this is a community driven format, and we don't do much in terms of authority here.

That said, for the original Swedish-born oldschool format - and for oldschool Magic in general to be frank - there has only been one traditional World Championship; the one that has taken place at n00bcon since 2010. And as you also might know, that is not the case anymore; n00bcon 13 is a slightly scaled down event with around 90 players, and the old qualification system for the tournament has been thrown out. Instead, the World Championship in Oldschool Magic will take place at Winc0n in Genoa, Italy.

Winc0n

The road to Winc0n hasn't been straight, to say the least. In a sense I guess it all started with Fishliver Oil Cup Ed. 0 in 2016; a tournament that boasted "Italian rules, Swedish style". "Italian rules" basically meant that it was a little more forgiving on the reprint policy (but no difference in the actual Restricted list), and "Swedish style" is what is now known more as simply "Oldschool style"; play to have fun, no large monetary prizes for winners, avoid being a douche, have a beer.

Fishliver Oil Ed. 0 players

A bit more rural than the later editions.

Having joined a few Fishliver Oil Cups, it was soon clear to me that Megu, Lorenzo, and the other organizers were likely the most qualified people on Earth to organize the Oldschool World Championship. And after ten years in Gothenburg, I figured it was high time to pass the reigns. So the idea was to run the first Winc0n in 2020, ushering in the new World Championship.

A tournament that never was.

But some six months after Fishliver Oil Cup 3, that whole pandemic happened. We held out hope for Winc0n 2020 for a while, but soon it became clear that it wouldn't work. So we set our sights on 2021 instead.

Playtesting the new waters.

But, as you all know, things didn't slow down. The prospects for Winc0n 2021 grew bleak, and eventually the organizers decided on hosting a smaller, 50-player invite-only tournament called Waiting for Winc0n in the late summer instead. Showing their commitment to eventually running Winc0n, but respecting the situation at hand.

So 2020 and 2021 both passed without a World Championship. And if you're looking for it, n00bcon 13 in a few days is not the place to seek. So we figured it would be high time to post some info about Winc0n now, in the days before n00bcon 13, to avoid any confusion. So here (finally!) comes some info about Winc0n!

Winc0n 2022

Venue: The events will take place in various locations including Columbus Sea Hotel in Genoa, Italy. We are working to let everyone play with comfort in a relaxed environment. 

Registration: We will use Tolaria to manage all the events, including registrations and entrance fees.

Calendar

• 2 September 2022: Special Event - Scryings World Championship.
• 3 September 2022: Main Event - 93/94 Old School World Championship.
• 4 September 2022: Side Event - Atlantic Cup.
  

Main Event B/R: The B/R list used for the tournament is the one published on the 93/94 old-school blog (i.e. "Swedish rules"). 

Reprint policy Main Event: We will apply the so-called Ravenna updated rules: all reprints of cards originally printed in The Gathering (ABU) or one of the first four expansions (AN, AQ, LG, TD) are legal as long as they use the original art and layout, they are non-foil, and they are tournament legal. Additionally, Revised versions of Plateau and Serendib Efreet are legal. See the image below for easy reference:

City of Brass has multiple personalities

Atlantic Cup B/R: The B/R list and the rules enforced for the tournament are those published by New England Old School.

Reprint policy Atlantic: We will apply the reprint policy adopted by Eternal Central: all cards that are legal for Ravenna rules + gold-border printings from e.g. Collector's Edition and World Championship decks are also legal to be played in decks.

...There is a bunch more info up at www.winc0n.com, check it out and save the dates!

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Oh, and if you're attending n00bcon 13 in a few days, please sign up at Tolaria.app! We'll use Tolaria for score keeping purposes, and I'd love it if you register there before the tournament to make things a bit smoother before Friday. Also, please upload a deck pic so that Timmy and I can trash talk your decks on the stream. See you soon!