A miracle right in front of our eyes
An epic showdown of colossal proportions was brewing. No, this isn't your typical children's cartoon anymore. The titan of the format, Bogles, was facing a new challenger and previous tournament winner, the UW Miracles deck, over the spot of the most dominant deck in the format.
Like the previous time, the tournament was hosted on a Sunday and drew in 8 competitors. This tournament marked the release of Ikoria cards on the platform that the tournament is hosted, Xmage, and that brought in a slew of new deckbuilding options and game-breaking bugs.
Rules:1. Same as traditional format rules as provided in github page.
Date: 06-21
Time: UTC 18:00
Format: Swiss
Deck submission deadline: 30 minutes before the start. But not really, yet.
Tournament was held on Challonge. Click here to see the final standings of Scottish Pound Sterling.
The result
In an ending worthy of a novel, Bogles met UW Miracles in the final match of the tournament to decide the absolute winner. This time, it was Miracles which came out on top as the undisputed king of Traditional.
We hope to make further improvements while hosting tournaments. And now for the result:
| cmpxchg | miracles deck | miracles | 3 | 0 | 9 | 100.00% | 66.67% | 6 | 1 | 85.71% | 58.93% |
| Gravis | eldrazi tron | tron | 2 | 1 | 6 | 66.67% | 44.44% | 4 | 3 | 57.14% | 50.00% |
| zeitgeist | Jeskai turtlelol | Jeskai Control | 2 | 1 | 6 | 66.67% | 44.44% | 5 | 3 | 62.50% | 44.44% |
| Durga | bogles | bogles | 2 | 1 | 6 | 66.67% | 55.56% | 4 | 3 | 57.14% | 56.35% |
| SergeWing | 7-forest belcher | other | 1 | 2 | 3 | 33.33% | 55.56% | 4 | 4 | 50.00% | 49.21% |
| Kibernetik | UR Nettle tea | other | 1 | 2 | 3 | 33.33% | 22.22% | 2 | 4 | 33.33% | 32.54% |
| Sacritor | astral drift | azorius control | 1 | 2 | 3 | 33.33% | 55.56% | 2 | 4 | 33.33% | 50.99% |
| Dragas | Expenses | taxes | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0.00% | 55.56% | 1 | 6 | 14.29% | 50.99% |
The winner of the tournament was once again cmpxchg me mommy's UW Miracles, with an always impressive 3-0 showing.
The tournament began in a fantastic way, with most players finishing up their games quickly and watching cmpxchg's Miracles go against Zetgietto's Jeskai Turtle. Their incredible control mirror took close to the whole hour, with sharks, turtles and lots of cryptic commands being played. The last game went on for so long, Miracles were at risk of running out of cards in the deck, but they managed to pull out a close-cut victory with only a couple cards remaining in their deck.
Although the top two decks, Bogles and Miracles, were Traditional staples, Scottish Pound Sterling found several new and surprising strategies pop up, aided by the new cards in Ikoria. New to the format were flying sharks and hasty turtles, as well as Astral Drift, an innovative cycling-focused deck built around a Commander 2020 card of the same name. Finally, two strange combo decks popped up - 7 Forest Belcher, which shockingly plays only 7 lands, and UR Nettle Tea, a combo deck that can mill, ping or swarm with near-infinite creatures.
All in all, the format pendulum swung again, and this tournament was more control heavy, with even some combo flavor. Traditional crowned its new king, the UW Miracles deck, in an exciting tournament, aided by new cards and Xmage bugs.