Qualifier Swiss Rounds Recap

An unfortunately small pool of players without byes arrived for the first round of the Qualifier. However, players were still in high spirits, glad to be playing Magic and hoping for the chance to earn the final spot in the Top 8. Some players at this event had been gone for a while and were hoping to return to form. Alex Kerns, who had missed the last few events, put up an impressive win in the first round with one of my old favorites: mono-green Treefolk.

However, it turned out to be newcomer Garrett Zynca who seemed to be en route to playing spoiler. Despite having never played in a FITSSFF Magic event before, Garrett's mono-white soldier deck was serving him well and led him to back-to-back wins to open the tournament. Another mono-white deck, Joe Hammond's Sun Titan/Flickerwisp concoction, also earned him a second round win following his first-round bye.

As round three began, the favorites, each with two byes began their matches. Two players immediately earned a spot in the playoff rounds, becoming the only players paired at 9 points. Dane Newton, fresh off a strong appearance at the recent PTQ, defeated Liz's Jund deck with his blue/black reanimator combo, using Makeshift Mannequin and Rise from the Grave on targets like Empyrial Archangel, Woodfall Primus, and Sphinx of the Steel Wind. John Kreinbring revamped his Naya deck that earned him runner-up in block wars, and also earned a spot in the playoff after a hard-fought match against Garrett.

Other players had to wait until the last round to earn a trip to the playoffs. Kevin Hoover advanced after picking up a win with his mono-black control deck. Liz defeated Joe in the fourth round, but both advanced, as Joe had been paired down at 3-0. Another player moving on was Max Kruger, whose mono-blue artifact deck had lost in the first round, but had won three consecutive games to back into the elimination rounds. Who would earn the coveted 8th spot in the Invitational? I'll tell you by way of the feature matches below...