Magic: The Gathering Modern Preliminary Pro Tour Qualifier Dublin $1K Top 8 Decklists

Thanks to all who participated in the MTG Modern PPTQ Dublin $1K held Saturday, September 17, 2016, at Dragon's Den in Poughkeepsie, NY. Congratulations to our top 8 finishers, who all won prizes, and to the first place finisher, Paul Mendez, who won $400 and an invite to the Regional PTQ! Here are the winning deck lists of the top eight finishers:

1st - Paul Mendez Affinity Creatures: 27 4 Orinithopter 2 Memnite 4 Signal Pest 4 Vault Skirge 4 Arcbound Ravager 3 Steel Overseer 1 Spellskite 3 Etched Champion 2 Master of Etherium Spells : 16 4 Mox Opal 1 Welding Jar 4 Springleaf Drum 3 Galvanic Blast 4 Cranial Plating Lands: 17 4 Inkmoth Nexus 4 Blinkmoth Nexus 4 Darksteel Citadel 3 Glimmervoid 1 Island 1 Sea Gate Wreckage SIDEBOARD 15 2 Grafdigger’s Cage 2 Thoughtseize 2 Spell Pierce 2 Ghirapur Aether Grid 1 Vandalblast 1 Whipflare 1 Wear//Tear 1 Blood Moon 1 Ancient Grudge 1 Etched Champion 1 Bitterblossom	2nd - Delury Brendan Infect Creatures: 13 4 Blighted Agent 4 Glistener Elf 4 Noble Hierarch 1 Viridian Corrupter Spells: 27 4 Gitaxian Probe 4 Might of Old Krosa 4 Mutagenic Growth 4 Become Immense 4 Vines of Vastwood 2 Apostle’s Blessing 1 Spell Pierce 1 Distortion Strike 1 Dismember 1 Fog 1 Wild Defiance Lands: 20 4 Inkmoth Nexus 4 Wooded Foothills 4 Windswept Heath 2 Pendelhaven 2 Forest 1 Misty Rainforest 3 Breeding Pool SIDEBOARD 15 1 Dryad Arbor 2 Twisted Image 2 Spellskite 2 Spell Pierce 3 Kitchen Finks 2 Nature’s Claim 2 Dismember 1 Grafdigger’s Cage
3rd - Rich Cali Bring to Light Scapeshift Creatures: 6 4 Sakura Tribe Elder 2 Snapcaster Mage Spells: 28 4 Cryptic Command 4 Remand 4 Bring to Light 4 Search for tomorrow 3 Izzet Charm 2 Farseek 2 Scapeshift 2 Worldly Consul 1 Damnation 1 Maelstrom Pulse 1 Hunting Wilds Lands: 26 4 Stomping Grounds 4 Steam Vents 1 Cinder Glade 1 Mountain 3 Misty Rainforest 1 Watery Grave 1 Overgrown Tomb 1 Swamp 2 Forest 3 Island 2 Breeding Pool 2 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle 1 Flooded Grove SIDEBOARD 15 2 Swan Song 2 Anger of the Gods 2 Nature’s Claim 1 Crumble to Dust 1 Shatterstorm 1 Obstinate Baloth 3 Lightning Bolt 2 Engineered Explosives 1 Slaughter Games	4th - David Haass Bant Eldrazi Creatures: 24 4 Noble Hierarch 3 Matter Reshaper 2 Eldrazi Skyspawner 4 Eldrazi Displacer 4 Thought-Knot Seer 4 Reality Smasher 3 Drowner of Hope Spells: 12 4 Path to Exile 4 Ancient Stirrings 2 Dismember 2 Engineered Explosives Lands: 24 4 Cavern of Souls 4 Windswept Heath 4 Eldrazi Temple 3 Yavimaya Coast 3 Brushland 2 Forest 1 Plains 1 Hallowed Fountain 1 Breeding Pool 1 Temple Garden SIDEBOARD 15 3 Stony Silence 2 Grafdigger’s Cage 2 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion 2 Stubborn Denial 2 Blessed Alliance 1 Engineered Explosives 1 Worship 1 Thragtusk 1 Worldbreaker
5th - Jack Ma Infect Creatures: 14 4 Blighted Agent 4 Glistener Elf 4 Noble Hierarch 2 Spellskite Spells: 26 4 Become Immense 1 Dismember 4 Gitaxian Probe 4 Might of old Krosa 4 Mutagenic Growth 1 Spell Pierce 4 Vines of Vastwood 3 Apostles Blessing 1 Rancor Lands: 20 2 Breeding Pool 1 Dryad Arbor 2 Foest 2 Pendelhaven 4 Inkmoth Nexus 1 Misty Rainforest 4 Windswept Heath 4 Wooded Foothills SIDEBOARD 15 1 Dismember 1 Dispel 1 Rancor 2 Spell Pierce 2 Twisted Image 2 Relic of Progenitus 1 Serum Vision 1 Spellskite 1 Ground Swell 1 Viridian Corrupter 1 Hurkyl’s Recall	6th - Michael Derszo RG Ramp Creatures: 17 4 Arbor Elf 1 Birds of Paradise 2 Obstinate Baloth 1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar 1 Thrun, the Last Troll 4 Stormbreath Dragon 4 Inferno Titan Spells: 21 4 Utopia Sprawl 4 Blood Mon 4 Stone Rain 1 Beast Within 4 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss 1 Chandra, Pyromaster 3 Bonefire of the Damned Lands: 22 4 Wooded Foothills 4 Windswept Heath 9 Forest 1 Mouintain 3 Stomping Ground 1 Kessig Wolf Run SIDEBOARD 15 2 Spellskite 3 Sudden Shock 2 Ancient Grudge 2 Shatterstorm 2 Scavenging Ooze 4 Kitchen Finks
7th - Brian Montero GR Tron Creatures: 7 1 Spellskite 2 Wurmcoil Engine 2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger 2 World Breaker Spells: 33 4 Ancient Stirring 4 Sylvan Scrying 4 Chromatic Sphere 4 Chromatic Star 4 Expedition Map 4 Oblivion Stone 3 Pyroclasam 4 Karn Liberated 2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon Lands: 20 4 Grove of the Burnwillow 2 Forest 2 Sanctum of Ugin 4 Urza’s Tower 4 Urza’s Power Plant 4 Urza’s Mine SIDEBOARD 15 1 Platinum Angel 1 Warping Wail 2 Relic of Progenitus 2 Sudden Shock 2 Thragtusk 4 Nature’s Claim 1 Ghost Quarter 2 Spellskite	8th - Anthony Ennis Naya Burn Creatures: 14 4 Goblin Guide 4 Eidolon of the Great Revel 4 Monastery Swiftspear 2 Grim Lavamancer Spells: 26 4 Boros Charm 4 Atarka’s Command 4 Rift Bolt 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Lava Spike 3 Searing Blaze 2 Skullcrack 1 Shard Volley Lands: 20 3 Mountain 2 Sacred Foundry 2 Stomping Ground 3 Copperline Gorge 3 Bloodstained Mire 3 Wooded Foothills 4 Arid Mesa SIDEBOARD 15 3 Kor Firewalker 4 Path to Exile 4 Destructive Revelry 2 Smash to Smitherines 2 Deflecting Palm

Magic: The Gathering Standard PPTQ Honolulu 1K Top 8 Decklists

Thanks to all who participated in the Magic: The Gathering Standard Preliminary Pro Tour Qualifier (PPTQ) Honolulu $1K held Saturday, June 4th 2016, at Dragon's Den in Poughkeepsie, NY. Congratulations to our top 8 finishers, who all won prizes, and to the first place finisher, Jack Ma, who won $400 and an invite to the Regional PTQ! Here are the winning deck lists of the top eight finishers:

1st - Jack Ma, GW TOKENS Creatures 16 4 Archangel Avacyn 4 Hangarback Walker 4 Sylvan Advocate 2 Thraben Inspector 2 Lambholt Pacifist Spells: 19 4 Dromoka’s Command 4 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar 4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar 4 Oath of Nissa 1 Evolutionary Leap 2 Secure the Wastes Lands: 25 4 Canopy Vista 4 Fortified Village 2 Westvale Abbey 7 Plains 8 Forest Sideboard:15 2 Clip Wings 4 Declaration in Stone 2 Tragic Arrogance 2 Quarantine Field 1 Lambholt Pacifist 1 Dragonlord Dromoka 1 Sigarda, Herons Grace 1 Linvala, the Perserver 1 Stasis Snare	2nd - Tim Bachmann, BANT COMPANY Creatures: 26 2 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy 2 Nissa, Vastwood Seer 2 Eldrazi Displacer 4 Sylvan Advocate 4 Duskwatch Recruiter 4 Tireless Tracker 4 Bounding Krasis 4 Reflector Mage Spells: 9 2 Declaration In Stone 3 Dromoka’s Command 4 Collected Company Lands: 25 1 Wastes 1 Island 3 Plains 3 Forest 4 Evolving Wilds 2 Lumbering Falls 3 Canopy Vista 4 Yavimaya Coast 4 Prairie Stream Sideboard:15 1 Dragonlord Dromoka 2 Invasive Surgery 1 Dispel 1 Surrak, the Hunt Caller 2 Tragic Arrogance 1 Declaration in Stone 2 Clip Wings 3 Negate
3rd - Joe Countryman, BW MIDRANGE Creatures: 10 3 Archangel Avacyn 2 Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim 2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet 3 Hangar Back Walker Spells: 24 2 Languish 2 Secure the Waste 1 Tragic Arrogance 3 Transgress the Mind 1 Declaration in Stone 3 Read the Bones 3 Anguished Unmaking 3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar 2 Ultimate Price 2 Grasp of Darkness 1 Silkwrap 1 Sorin, Grim Nemesis Lands: 26 3 Westvale Abbey 3 Plains 3 Blighted Fen 5 Swamp 4 Shambling Vent 4 Forsaken Sanctuary 4 Caves of Koilos Sideboard: 15 1 Ob Nixilis Reignited 2 Hallowed Fountain 1 Silkwrap 1 Tragic Arrogance 2 Thought-Knot Seer 1 Languish 3 Duress 1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet 3 Reality Smasher	4th - Matt Tumavitch, BANT HUMANS Creatures: 25 4 Thraben Inspector 2 Knight of the White Orchid 3 Duskwatch Recruiter 4 Lambholt Pacifist 4 Reflector Mage 4 Tireless Tracker Spells: 10 4 Collected Company 4 Dromoka’s Command 2 Ojutai’s Command Lands:25 6 Plains 3 Forest 1 Island 4 Evolving Wilds 4 Fortified Village 3 Prairie Stream 2 Yavimaya Coast 2 Canopy Vista Sideboard: 15 1 Knight of the White Orchid 3 Gryff’s Boon 2 Den Protector 3 Negate 2 Nissa, Vastwood Seer 1 Sigarda, Heron’s Grace 3 Tragic Arrogance
5th - Noah Landara, JUNK MIDRANGE Creatures: 14 2 Den Protector 3 Sylvan Advocate 2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet 1 Linvala, the Preserver 2 Archangel Avacyn 2 Nissa, Vastwood Seer 2 Hangarback Walker Spells:20 1 Ob Nixilis Reignited 2 Oath of Nissa 2 Dromoka’s Command 1 Ruinous Path 2 Grasp of Darkness 2 Painful Truths 2 Anguished Unmaking 2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar 2 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar 2 Secure the Wastes 2 Sorin, Grim Nemesis Lands: 26 2 Canopy Vista 1 Plains 1 Swamp 4 Shambling Vent 3 Caves of Koilos 2 Westvale Abbey 3 Forest 4 Fortified Village 3 Hissing Quagmire 3 Llanowar Wastes Sideboard: 15 1 Languish 1 To the Slaughter 2 Infinite Obliteration 3 Declaration in Stone 2 Hallowed Moonlight 1 Ob Nixilis Reignited 1 Hidden Dragonslayer 1 Tireless Tracker 1 Seasons Past 2 Duress	6th - Nick Langella, MARDU CONTROL Creatures: 6 4 Goblin Dark Dwellers 2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet Spells:29 3 Fiery Impulse 2 Sinister Concoction 2 Transgress the Mind 2 Grasp of Darkness 1 Ultimate Price 4 Read the Bones 1 Kolaghan’s Command 3 Anguished Unmaking 3 Ruinous Path 2 Radiant Flames 4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar 2 Secure the Wastes Lands: 2 Swamp 2 Plains 1 Mountain 2 Evolving Wilds 3 Foreboding Ruins 3 Smolding Marsh 4 Shambling Vent 3 Caves of Koilos 3 Battlefield Forge 2 Westvale Abby Sideboard: 15 1 Thought-Knot Seer 1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet 1 Linvala, the Preserver 2 Duress 1 Ultimate Price 1 Transgress the Mind 1 Hallowed Moonlight 1 Radiant Flames 1 Kholgan’s Command 2 Eldrazi Displacer 3 Reality Smasher
7th - Joe Fassino, GB Ramp Creatures: 11 4 Sylvan Advocate 4 Tireless Tracker 1 Den Protector 1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger 1 Ulvenwalkd Hydra Spells: 23 2 Ruinous Path 2 Grasp of Darkness 1 Ultimate Price 1 Duress 2 Languish 1 Ob Nixilis Reignited 1 Transgress the Mind 1 The Great Aurora 3 Dark Petition 1 Seasons Past 1 Nissa’s Renewal 1 Pulse of Murasa 3 Explosive Vegetation 3 Nissa’s Pilgrimage Lands: 26 1 Blighted Fen 5 Swamp 4 Evolving Wilds 4 Hissing Quagmire 4 Llanowar Wastes 8 Forest Sideboard: 15 1 Gaea’s Revenge 1 Ultimate Price 2 Transgress the Mind 1 Clip Wings 1 Duress 1 Virulent Plague 1 To the Slaughter 1 Naturalize 1 Pick the Brains 1 Seasons Past 1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet 2 Languish 1 Worldbreaker	8th - Mike Bott, BANT HUMANS Creatures: 26 4 Duskwatch Recruiter 3 Eldrazi Displacer 4 Lambholt’s Pacifist 4 Reflector Mage 4 Thalia’s Lieutenant 3 Thraben inspector 4 Tireless Tracker Spells: 9 4 Collected Company 4 Dromoka’s Command 1 Ojutai’s Command Lands: 24 5 Plains 1 Island 2 Forest 3 Canopy Vista 4 Evolving Wilds 4 Fortified Village 1 Prairie Stream 1 ? 4 Yavimaya Coast Sideboard: 15 1 Gryff’s Boon 2 Den Protector 2 Archangel Avacyn 3 Negate 3 Ojutai’s Command 2 Declaration in Stone 2 ?

Toy Fair 2014 Part 2

As promised, here is some more information about Toy Fair 2014.  Some in this post I think I'll talk a little about Funko and :

Funko:

They have some many fantastic new releases coming out including A Game of Thrones, Galactic Guardians, The Walking Dead, and Magic the Gathering.  With new bobble heads, blind pull boxes, action figures, and vinyl figures; I'm sure there is something to appeal to everyone. To give you a few quick looks, check out the pictures below to see some of the upcoming products.

Galactic Guardians

Magic Action figures (back lite so hard to see)

Magic Vinyl Figures

Magic Vinyl Figures (Close up on Jace)

Konami:

From the makers of Yu-Gi-Oh, there will be some amazing new releases this year.  They only had product out on display through June, but they mentioned a few other great products.  

So we will see a new Gold series this year, Gold Premium.  This set will include cards from Premium series that were released in Japan, but not in the US.  They will also be reprinting a bunch of the best cards from previous Gold series releases.  The are also making the playable god cards... but doing them in an all new gold rarity!

Another release will be the Dragons of Legends.  Konami has been asked over the years and now they are doing it, "Where are all the cards from the TV show?  How come we never get the cards they use in the show."  Well now you can!  Dragons of Legends will be a set of cards not released in card form (but have been on the show).  

One last little teaser... Light Sworn structure deck!  Wait... did I really post that just now???  YES I DID!  There are not a lot of details about this yet, but what I heard was that there are to many great Light Sworn cards to fit in one structure deck, so they will have a booster in each one (similar to V for Victory).Once we learn more, I will share.

I hope this helps everyone out.  Enjoy and read on!

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

Welcome 2014 from the Dragon's Den

It has been a while since I last posted here.  Sorry for the delay and I hope you all had a really good 2013.  Happy New Years and welcome 2014!

What BIG accomplishments happened in 2013??

• We open the Gamers Gambit CT in Danbury CT
• HUGE events with a Regional for Yu-Gi-Oh, PTQs for Magic, and one of the biggest KMCs for Kaijudo in the country!

So what do we have to look forward to in 2014???

• Magic Release: Born of the Gods, Journey to Nyx, Core Set 2015
• Yu-Gi-Oh Release: Legacy of the Valiant, Premium Gold, Dragons of Legend
• Kaijudo Release: Booster Brawl, The 5 Mystics
• Pokemon Release: Fairy Type Pokemon with X and Y releases
• Video Game Release: Titan Fall for X-Box 1 just to name a game
• The release of Dungeons and Dragons Next (or 5th edition if you like to think that way) 
• Free Comic Box Day: 5/3/2014
• Halloween Comicfest: 10/25/2014
• Star Trek Attack Wing: Wave 3

So we have a lot planned for 2014!  If you are playing a card game, board game, or miniatures game you should check out our calendar... or maybe check out the calendar for the store closest to you:

Dragon's Den: Poughkeepsie, NY 

Gamers Gambit CT: Dandury CT

Gamers Gambit NJ: Saddlebrook, NJ

If you are looking for a gift or item for yourself, try our website.  We have many different items for sale right from our site: http://www.gamersgambit.com/

So with a warm welcome to the new year, I look forward to seeing everyone at the Poughkeepsie location, where I work.  

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

2012 Magic Player of the Year

So we got in our player of the year awards for Magic 2012.  Time to show them off... which the players who won them.

Don't forget to click on the "Read More" to see all the great pictures!

MTG Sealed and You: The Basics

Hey everybody! If you are reading this, pat yourself on the back –stumbling through the labyrinth of the internet, feet weary and sore, you have found Dragon’s Den blog for all things Magic: The Gathering. My name is Lyon, and if you’ve played much Magic at the Den, chances are you’ve spotted me. Today, we’ll be discussing the ins and outs of Sealed. Since Sealed is the primary format of a prerelease (and prereleases are super duper fun), knowing this format is essential to participating in one of the best casual tournament settings Magic has to offer. We’re going to discuss the basics: what Sealed is and how you can best tailor your deck to not only have a blast at the prerelease, but also hopefully take home some additional packs while you’re at it!

At its core, Sealed is a very basic concept: you are given 6 packs. You open these packs and make a 40 card magic deck (lands are provided, so don’t worry about that). That’s it. Like many things in gaming, the nuances of it are what can give it more depth, and knowing those nuances is the difference between staring down handfuls of unorganized cards and preparing your weapon of destruction for the tournament.

The upcoming Dragon’s Maze prerelease is going to function a little differently, but it’s not cause for alarm. In fact, it should be pretty fun! When you sign up, you will only receive 4 regular packs of Dragon’s Maze instead of the usual 6. The other 2 packs will be 1 pack of a guild of your choosing (any of the 10 bicolor combinations in Magic), and 1 pack of a guild allied with the one you chose. These packs will have cards only belonging to those guilds in them, so it’s important to pick guilds that have colors you think you might want to use.

Okay, so that’s the easy stuff. The most challenging part of Sealed for many players is what to do once you’ve opened all of your packs. Let’s cover some sound advice and also discuss what to avoid! Note that there are no 100% foolproof formulas for victory. If there were, the game wouldn’t be fun at all! The following advice is merely to better your chances of having a fine-tuned deck that will play in a way that (hopefully) won’t make you pull your hair out in frustration and curse your “bad luck”.

• First thing first: lay out your cards in a way that is organized and makes sense to you. Just like writing an essay, having an “outline” for your deck can be really helpful. Some useful ways to organize your cards are by color, by casting cost, and by usefulness. Before you begin building, it’s important to see how many actually playable cards you have in any color (or combinations of colors). You’d be surprised how much you might “see” about your cards and options simply from doing this!

• Make sure that you know have an idea for the ‘proper’ amount of cards vs. lands. While this may vary depending on the player or card selection, there are a few general guidelines for your spells / lands ratio for Sealed (and Draft) decks. First, no matter how tempted you are to go over, you should try your hardest to keep your deck to 40 cards. Statistically, it will give you the best chance to draw the cards you want. Second, my base rule is 23 cards / 17 lands for an average deck. If you have mostly cards with very low mana costs (and few, if any, cards with higher mana costs), 24/16 is your best bet. Similarly, if your deck has a lot of high mana cards and not a lot of “mana ramp”, 22 /18 should be fine. Deviating too far from these ratios may result in too many games of either drawing too few or too many lands. You don’t need me to tell you why this is frustrating!

• Make sure your deck has a ‘plan’, but also that the plan is good. While a little bit of everything is a good thing, your deck should really fit one a few archetypes, or things you want your deck to be doing. This decision should have less to do with what you “want” to do when you build decks ‘normally’ and more to do with what your packs are telling you. Did you open up a lot of fast, aggressive creatures? Aggro might be your plan. Did you open up a lot of counterspells, creature removal, and a few larger creatures that can finish up a game? Control is probably the way to go. What do both of these things have in common? You are evaluating your deck based on ALL of the cards, not just a few (or one that you really like). It is better to have a deck full of cards that all work together than a deck with one or two REALLY good cards and a bunch of . . . “meh” to support them.

• Don’t feel like you have to use the guild you chose a pack from. If you chose Rakdos (red and black) as your guild for the prerelease, but the rest of your packs had very few playable red and black cards, that color combination might not be right for your deck. Instead, look to see which colors have the quality and quantity you will need to succeed.

• You don’t have to include every rare you open! While it can be tempting to fall back on a formula like rarity = power level, it’s more important to play with cards that can functionally win a game of magic. For example, in a Gatecrash Sealed tournament I would include  a Disciple of the Old Ways (common) over an Unexpected Results (rare) almost every time. One is an aggressive creature that beats many others in combat, while the other is a sorcery that will not function better than simply drawing a card that affects the game directly.

• Don’t include cards in your deck simply because they are “on-color”. Even if your deck has a lot of powerful cards in any given color, don’t put in bad (underpowered or very little use) cards to fill in those last 2-3 slots you need to make your deck 40 cards. If you have enough good cards in a 3rd (or sometimes 4th) color, it is often better to “splash” (put in lands to support) for that color for 4-6ish strong cards. In Dragon’s Maze and other sets where you will have access to lands which tap for more than 1 color, this is particularly powerful if you have the special lands (like guildgates and the rare shocklands) to support it.

There’s certainly a lot more to say about both deck-building and playing in Sealed (and other formats), but these core basics can take you a long way. Future articles will talk about other formats, more specific strategies for formats, and Magic theory. Most importantly, future articles can discuss whatever you want to know more about, so please leave comments, feedback, and suggestions! I hope to see everyone at the Dragon’s Maze prerelease, ready to kick some butt and have a great time. Remember, the most important rule of Magic is to have fun 

See you next time (but not really because I can’t see you through the computer – I’ll have to trust you’ll be there),

Lyon, Golgari Lich Lord

Standard Top 8 as of 11/28

FREE Standard			11/28/2012
Rank	Name	Points	Matches
1	Evan Odden	370	240
2	John Franczak	351	176
3	Mike Cox	301	175
4	Will Shost	251	107
5	Dave Oppenheimer	245	110
6	Scott Fish	235	136
7	Carl Naumann	213	116
8	Scott Yager	199	122

Limited Top 8 as of 11/28

Limited			11/28/2012
Rank	Name	Points	Matches
1	Paul Lake	170	72
2	Will Shost	134	64
3	Douglas Kimball	109	50
4	Daniel Stockton	93	46
5	Alex Sherman	90	44
6	Carl Naumann	87	42
7	Mike Cox	83	45
8	Lyon Kressner	79	39

Competitive Legacy Top 8 as of 11/28

Legacy			11/28/2012
Rank	Name	Points	Matches
1	Rich Cali	154	81
2	Paul Lake	145	64
3	James Rynkiewicz	138	57
4	Casey Madrick	138	74
5	Janene Andersen	122	81
6	Steve Carpenter	118	58
7	Darryl Moss	97	74
8	Frank Kick	94	60

Competitive Standard Top 8 as of 11/28

Competitive Standard			11/28/2012
Rank	Name	Points	Matches
1	Scott Fish	111	81
2	Alex Sherman	109	64
3	Doug Kimball	103	52
4	Nick Langella	99	46
5	Steve Carpenter	89	46
6	Mica Buchanan	81	55
7	Kevin Jones	75	45
8	James Rynkiewicz	71	27

Magic Player of the Year, Competitive Legacy Update

As we are getting closer to the end of the year, I thought more players might like to know the Top 8 standings in each area of our Magic Player of the Year here at the Dragon's Den. If you are curious about the whole list, I posted last month complete lists. I'll also have a hard copy printed out in the store if you really want a look and hate being online...

Magic Player of the Year, Competitive Standard Update

As we are getting closer to the end of the year, I thought more players might like to know the Top 8 standings in each area of our Magic Player of the Year here at the Dragon's Den. If you are curious about the whole list, I posted last month complete lists. I'll also have a hard copy printed out in the store if you really want a look and hate being online...

Magic Player of the Year, Limited Update

As we are getting closer to the end of the year, I thought more players might like to know the Top 8 standings in each area of our Magic Player of the Year here at the Dragon's Den. If you are curious about the whole list, I posted last month complete lists. I'll also have a hard copy printed out in the store if you really want a look and hate being online...

Magic Player of the Year, Standard Update

As we are getting closer to the end of the year, I thought more players might like to know the Top 8 standings in each area of our Magic Player of the Year here at the Dragon's Den.  If you are curious about the whole list, I posted last month complete lists.  I'll also have a hard copy printed out in the store if you really want a look and hate being online...

October Dragon's Den Magic Player of the Year: Free Standard

This month I'm going to post the full list of everyone who has played Free Standard in the Den so far this year. We have currently had 293 unique players this year... some of whom have played in a lot of Free events. Click on the "Read More" link below to see the full list!

Thanks for playing at the Dragon's Den

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

October Dragon's Den Magic Player of the Year: Competitive Standard

This month I'm going to post the full list of everyone who has played competitive Standard in the Den so far this year. We have currently had 125 unique players this year... some of whom have played in a lot of competitive events. Click on the "Read More" link below to see the full list!

Thanks for playing at the Dragon's Den

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

October Dragon's Den Magic Player of the Year: Limited

This month I'm going to post the full list of everyone who has played limited in the Den so far this year.  We have currently had 359 unique players this year... some of whom have played in a lot of limited events.  Click on the "Read More" link below to see the full list!

Thanks for playing at the Dragon's Den

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

October Dragon's Den Magic Player of the Year: Competitive Legacy

This month I'm going to post the full list of everyone who has played Competitive Legacy in the Den so far this year. We have currently had 69 unique players this year... some of whom have played in a lot of Competitive Legacy events. Click on the "Read More" link below to see the full list!

Thanks for playing at the Dragon's Den

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

Commander on a Budget with Ashling the Pilgrim

Between Vintage cards that cost hundreds of dollars a piece and some of the strangest deck building rules in Magic: the Gathering, Commander can be a tough format to break into. It’s also some of the most fun you can have with the game. Here’s a way to get started for under $75.

Dragon's Den Player of the Year for Magic Update

Now that we have made it half way through the year, I thought we should post a quick summary of the top 8 players in each of the four different categories, as well as some statistics about the number of players we have seen for the different events we have run.  Also, this Friday I'll be giving small gift to the Top player for each category. 

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Just as a side note, I've been asked about why we run so many different events so I thought I would throw a quick answer here.  I like to run a Free and a Paid event at the same time on Friday nights so that the competitive players can play the tougher decks and the casual players don't feel like they are getting crushed all the time.  It is a work in progress as we still get many players in the Free event that could play in the Paid, but the hope is that the new players and more casual players can build up to playing more competitive over time.

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Free Standard has seen 235 unique players.

FREE Standard			7/4/2012
Rank	Name	Points	Matches
1	Evan Odden	267	167
2	Dave Oppenheimer	221	100
3	Carl Naumann	204	109
4	John Franczak	199	105
5	Mike Cox	198	111
6	Scott Fish	183	105
7	Will Shost	163	67
8	Niko Peone	152	73

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Legacy has seen 58 unique players.

Legacy			7/4/2012
Rank	Name	Points	Matches
1	Paul Lake	123	52
2	Rich Cali	105	56
3	James Rynkiewicz	98	42
4	Casey Madrick	89	50
5	Steve Carpenter	88	40
6	Frank Kick	88	57
7	Janene Andersen	76	53
8	Darryl Moss	64	49

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Competitive Standard has seen 82 unique players.

Competitive Standard			7/4/2012
Rank	Name	Points	Matches
1	Doug Kimball	70	34
2	Chris Brellochs	58	31
3	Kevin Jones	51	25
4	Steve Carpenter	51	25
5	Alex Sherman	51	31
6	Lyon Kressner	44	25
7	Alex Kobes	40	19
8	Mica Buchanan	36	30

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Limited has seen 227 unique players.

Limited			7/4/2012
Rank	Name	Points	Matches
1	Paul Lake	85	34
2	Will Shost	61	32
3	Mike Cox	53	28
4	Alex Sherman	51	23
5	Doug Kimball	49	20
6	James Rynkiewicz	48	23
7	Jonah Acosta	39	19
8	Mica Buchanan	36	22

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We are excited to see how the rest of the year plays out as many of the Top 8 players have changed in the past several months.  We will be posting some more information about what the players are getting for winning as well as changes to the Top 8 as the year goes on.  If you have not played yet, don't despair We have had several player climb the ranks by playing every week in the different events.  If you want to see what we have to offer each week check out our calendar of events!

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks