Top 8 Report

Now that finals and travels are over, I can at last present to you...the Fall 2012 FITSSFF Magic Champioooooonnnnss!!

Drumroll please.

4: Miles Davis
3: Tucker Hunter
2: Skye Kutner
1: Jonah Melegrito

To quote Skye regarding the finals, "It was an 0-2 stomp, with his Bolas crushing all my hopes and dreams in the second game."

The winners got bonus packs of Zendikar as well as their choice of prize packages including a holiday gift box and a shockland-art playmat.

Thanks to everybody for a good semester, and make sure you come back for more Magic in Spring!

Here are player profiles of some of the Top 8 of this semester (not all players responded):

1.    What is your name?
a.    Chris Pear
2.    What is your age/class standing?
a.    20 years old, Junior
3.    What is your major?   
a.    Marine Biology
4.    Where are you from?
a.    Newtown, CT  (Don’t worry not many people of ever heard of it, except Max)
5.    What is your proudest Magic accomplishment?
a.   
6.    What Standard deck are you playing for the top 8?
a.     Jund Midrange
7.    What is your best matchup and why?
a.     I prefer other midrange decks and control decks, I want games to be long, drawn out and exciting
8.    What is your worst matchup and why?
a.    Selensya Aggro, They just want to play cheap, fast, but still large creatures and beat me in the face as quickly as possible.
9.    What was your favorite event this semester?
a.    Proxy block constructed because I got to play 4 Jace the Mind Sculpters
10. What is your favorite card from Return to Ravnica?
a. I would have to say stab wound, that card was so annoying for my opponents during draft and sealed.
11. What is your favorite guild and why?
a.    Simic, because they are basically the biologists of Ravnica

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1. Luke Glesener
2. 21/Junior
3. Mechanical Engineering
4. New Brighton, Minnesota
5. Making my reanimator deck
6. Hellrider and the Hasties...(Red Deck Wins)
7. My best match up would be decks that take longer to build a field or can't slow me down.
8. My worst match up would be a deck with lots of control or life gain or cheap big creatures
9. My favorite event was the pauper event because I could actually win with a deck that I built.
10. Rakdos, Lord of Riots
11. Gruul

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Name: Skye Kutner
Age/Class: 23, Alumnus
Major: Interdisciplinary Science / Physics
From: Satellite Beach, Florida

Proudest Magic Accomplishment: Taking 11th place (out of 98 people) at a Modern PTQ using a deck designed and developed from scratch

Standard Deck: An Azorius tempo/control build featuring Serra Avenger

Best Matchup: Probably Selesnya aggro decks. Between Lyev Skyknight and Dungeon Geists, I can steal a lot of time and fly over for damage. A handful of sweepers, coupled with Keyrunes and Serra Avenger, allow me to rebuild quickly.

Worst Matchup: Definitely control decks featuring a Planeswalker suite. I made some last-minute changes which should help a bit, but removal-heavy decks make it very difficult for me to answer Planeswalker threats. If they stick one, I can fall behind very quickly and usually get locked out of the game.

Favorite Event: Block Wars this semester was a ton of fun. I love playing with older cards. While I didn't build an original deck for the event, I did get to experience a piece of Magic history I missed out on while playing around the tons of unexpected interactions that come from matching up decks that were never meant to be played against each other.

Favorite RtR Card: It's a tie between Lyev Skyknight and Gatecreeper Vine. My two favorite archetypes for creature designs are the 4-mana 4/4 and the 3-mana 3/1 flyer. Lyev Skynight is so good at what it does—winning damage races. As for the Gatecreeper Vine, I've had a fondness for base-green 5-color control decks ever since Fifth Dawn's Etched Oracle. Gatecreeper vine is another in a long line of cards that makes this strategy so fun to play.

Favorite Guild: It might be a copout, but I've really got three favorites. URG has long been my favorite color combination, so the guilds Izzet, Gruul and Simic have always been my most beloved guilds. Each of them embodies something that I love about Magic; Izzet's frenetic nature and particularly the "looting" mechanic (draw/discard); Gruul's simple penchant for beating down and blowing things up; and Simic's ridiculous creature shenanigans.

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1.    What is your name?
Hunter Garrett
2.    What is your age/class standing?
22, grad student
3.    What is your major?   
Aerospace Engineering
4.    Where are you from?
Stockton CA
5.    What is your proudest Magic accomplishment?
Coming within a single play mistake of making Day 2 of a Constructed Grand Prix.
6.    What Standard deck are you playing for the top 8?
Jund Midrange
7.    What is your best matchup and why?
I think my combination of removal and card advantage put me in a good position against control.
8.    What is your worst matchup and why?
All-in aggro can overwhelm me before I can set up defenses.
9.    What was your favorite event this semester?
Modern Pauper was something fun and a little different
10. What is your favorite card from Return to Ravnica?
Izzet Charm just does everything
11. What is your favorite guild and why?
Izzet zaniness is fun, although I've always been a UW Control player in general.

Final League Points and Top 8

Sorry for the delay, but here are your final League Points for the Fall 2012 semester.

Congrats to the rest of the Top 8.  The tournament to decide the semester champion will be tomorrow, Sunday the 9th at 10am in the SUB.  I believe the 7 of you know all the details, but ask if you're unsure of anything.

Everyone who didn't make it to the Top 8 this semester: Feel free to come out anytime tomorrow and play some pickup Magic with anyone who's around.  Make sure I see you there playing and you'll get League Points for next semester!

Place	Name	Points Won
1	Jonah Molegrito	33
2	Luke Glesner	32
2	Miles Davis	32
4	Chris Pear	26
5	Hunter Garrett	25
6	Max Kruger	21
7	Andrew (Tucker) Hunter	20
8	Skye Kutner	16
9	Ethan Pepmiller	12
9	John Kreinbring	12
11	Sean Davenport	10
12	Sam Blitch	8
13	Hydeckel Freitas	7
13	Ryan Ripper	7
15	Tyler Deforge	6
15	Tom Barranger	6
17	Kyle Coleman	5
17	Jared Sork	5
17	David Alvarado	5
20	Alycia Johnson	4
20	David Wyland	4
20	Kareem Elashmawy	4
20	Joe Hammond	4
24	Nick Catalfano	3
24	Dan Goerlik	3
24	Joseph Martin	3
24	Veronica Giguere	3
24	James Throne	3
24	Nick Catalfano	3
30	Marvin Murphy	2
30	Alex	2
30	Will Sturges	2
30	Dean Wilson	2
34	Anthony Giguere	1
34	Geoffroy Hart	1
34	Andy Chow	1
34	Alec Guntie	1
34	Sol Zhang	1
34	Dominic Wynters	1
34	Leven Zhang	1
34	Kyle Byun	1
34	Roy Mustang (David Kim)	1
34	Dane Newton	1

Final Event and League Points

This weekend we'll have our last tournament of the semester before the Top 8.  It will be our monthly Standard event and will be at the usual time and place.

Then on December 7 (study day) will be the Top 8 tournament to decide the semester champion, along with an Open Magic Day for anyone who didn't make it to the top this semester.  Stay tuned for more details about that.

Who will the Top 8 be?  The race is looking pretty well-defined...but there's still a chance of an upset.  Come play Standard on Saturday to help decide fate!

Place	Name	Points Won
1	Jonah Molegrito	33
2	Luke Glesner	31
3	Miles Davis	28
4	Hunter Garrett	25
5	Chris Pear	23
6	Max Kruger	20
7	Andrew (Tucker) Hunter	18
8	Skye Kutner	16
9	Ethan Pepmiller	12
10	John Kreinbring	12
11	Sean Davenport	9
12	Sam Blitch	8
13	Hydeckel Freitas	7
14	Tyler Deforge	6
14	Tom Barranger	6
14	Ryan Ripper	6
17	Kyle Coleman	5
17	Jared Sork	5
17	David Alvarado	5
20	Alycia Johnson	4
20	David Wyland	4
20	Kareem Elashmawy	4
20	Joe Hammond	4
24	Nick Catalfano	3
24	Dan Goerlik	3
24	Joseph Martin	3
24	Veronica Giguere	3
24	James Throne	3
24	Nick Catalfano	3
30	Marvin Murphy	2
30	Alex	2
30	Will Sturges	2
30	Dean Wilson	2
34	Anthony Giguere	1
34	Geoffroy Hart	1
34	Andy Chow	1
34	Alec Guntie	1
34	Sol Zhang	1
34	Dominic Wynters	1
34	Leven Zhang	1
34	Kyle Byun	1
34	Roy Mustang (David Kim)	1
34	Dane Newton	1