The third World of Warcraft TCG World Championship was a doozy. The tournament drew over 250 competitors from 26 countries to Austin, Texas, for four epic days of battle. Day 1 shifted from its usual format, Constructed, to Block Constructed, and gave players a brand new metagame to conquer. Everyone pegged Ryno the Wicked as the deck to beat, but he quickly gave way to Mage. The Mage class dominated the tournament, representing more than half of the field and claiming 75% of the Top 8 slots. Ryno himself fell out of favor amongst the top players, who traded in the power of Backlash for the Blizzard-bursting, Mana Ruby-stealing flip on Pidge Filthfinder.
Pidge was clearly the real deal, as proven by Phillip Martin's remarkable 8-0 run on Friday. He extended that lead to 11-0 on Saturday, locking himself into the Top 8 at record speed, and making him an early favorite to win the entire tournament. Unfortunately, Pidge didn't have a ninth win in her, and Phillip fell in the quarterfinals to Remi Lacorre. Remi, of course, felly to Billy Postlethwait, who went on to defeat Matt Markoff in one of the most epic and fast-paced matches I've ever had the pleasure of covering. All of our Top 8 matches were riveting, and several of them are available courtesy of Livestream.
Billy Postlethwait (better known as “Billy P.”) hails from Orlando, FL, where he works for Cool Stuff Games. Billy rose to prominence in the TCG as a DMF Columbus Champion and Limited columnist for WoWTCG.com, but had since taken a respite from the game. He decided that the allure of a stateside Worlds was undeniable, and tested in earnest with local friends Jeremy Blair and Kevin Whittington, among others. Billy played Spellweaver Jihan, whose flip fundamentally changed the Mage mirror. Normally, Mages could dodge one another's The Taste of Arcanas while simultaneously threatening their own: against Billy, that plan was doomed to failure. It would be impossible to win the game by holding 2 resources ready at all times, and thus Billy's opponents were forced to play full-speed into his powerful 1-drop ability. Billy credited Kevin Whittington with the primary genesis of the deck, and it took the Top 8 by storm.
Billy's victory snagged him an additional trophy for the mantle and a cool $50,000, in addition to his other prizes. Going home in second-place, to everyone's surprise and amusement, was perennial bridesmaid Matt Markoff. Matt stunned the world with back-to-back Worlds Top 8s in 2008, and he broke his own record in Austin, with a third Top 8. Jan Palys had surely laughed at the idea of Dark Horse Markoff stealing the Hero of the Year crown, but he might have found himself in second place if he'd missed the Day 2 cut. Markoff once again proved that he should never be counted out, as he roared to life and 3-0'd his last pod in order to lock the Sunday spot. For commentary on that draft, review the coverage! In a minor coincidence, Markoff won the 2008 NACC by 3-0'ing his last pod after a video interview as well: something about the camera seems to be working for the Jersey boy.
The Top 8 was filled with other noteworthy names. French competitor Remi Lacorre made the elimination rounds with a unique build of Velindra Sepulchre, as did DMF Austin winner Tim Batow. Rounding out the Mages in the Top 8 were Luke Chen, of Team Seattle, and Anssi Alkio. Podcaster Rich Hagon picked Anssi to win the tournament, and he very nearly did! Anssi was fresh off a victory at DMF Amsterdam, and his ability to post such strong finishes in back-to-back tournaments should give his future opponents plenty to fear.
It wasn't all Mages and interrupts, although the Top 8 was 100% clothie. Dusty Hostutler bowed out in the quarterfinals with Emek the Equalizer, while Phillip Martin lost his first match with Pidge Filthfinder at a very unfortunate time. Ryno the Wicked had been pegged as the Alliance Warlock of choice, but several top players decided to swap access to Backlash for Pidge's powerful flip, which could break Blizzards or remove Mana Rubys as the pilot saw fit. Pidge proved to be an excellent choice in the metagame, although it had difficulty beating Mage over and over, as variance tended to inevitably triumph. In the end, Phillip couldn't squeeze a 9th win out of his tiny Gnome.
The stories of Worlds 2009 were not just limited to the Top 8, however. Jan Palys made Hero of the Year a mortal lock with his 18th place finish, in spite of an uneven start to the tournament. With Brad Watson and Matt Markoff both breathing down his neck, Jan held onto the lead he'd solidified earlier in the season and won plenty of prizes. The rest of our Elite Mob has already been posted, so if you're in need of EA Mystic Denials, track them down and put on your game face!
One of the few non-caster decks, and perhaps the only one to ever sit at 5-0, was Matt Spreadbury's Kauno Stonehoof control deck. Boasting the ability to jump to 40 Health, and the power to accelerate resources like nobody's business, Matt managed to make several opponents “cry uncle” before he even showed them a win condition. Spreadbury, ever fond of under-appreciated cards, even found room for Aquatic Form in a deck that had as many people laughing as it had scratching their heads. Matt fell to 5-3 after his fantastic start, but he rallied on Day 2 with a 5-1 finish, planting him firmly into the Top 16.
Michael Jacob started off strong on Day 1, piloting the Chloe Mithrilbolt deck that he and Phil Cape had worked on to a 7-1 start and 2nd seed, but the experienced TCG player struggled through the drafts and missed making it to Sunday. I think it's safe to say that adding a little Warrior to that Top 8 could have made things very interesting, but I guess we'll have to wait until next year. Mage's dominance in the Top 8 is slightly misleading—due to the weight placed on Day 2, several of the top-finishing Block Constructed lists went unrepresented in the Top 8. Check out our Day 1 coverage for more information on those builds!
On the other side of the Feature Match arena, the TCG Darkmoon Faire was taking place. In a crazy format that used 6 packs from the two most recent blocks, players experienced some of the strangest Sealed games I've ever seen. Does it seem ridiculous to combine Myriam Starcaller and Blizzard? How about Ras'fari Bloodfrenzy and . . . well, he's insane with just about anything. Bad example.
The Top 8 contained Draft powerhouses Anthony Calabrese and Rob Victory, as well as two-time Darkmoon Faire winner Stu Wright, but victory would go to Robert Swarowski. Victory and Swarowski duked it out in a heated finals match that drew spectators away from the Worlds Top 8, and the battle ended with Victory taking his second runner-up finish in as many Darkmoon Faires. Most of the players chose to open Drums of War packs for the Top 8 Draft, and both of these players were among them. Victory chose to play The Longeye in a solo-based Hunter build, while Swarowski's Alliance deck curved out with massive allies, and sealed the deal with Marlowe Christophers's flip. Rob Victory will have to wait to claim his second DMF crown, but his recent finishes seem to indicate that he is likely to earn it soon.
Check out the Worlds coverage for podcasts, video interviews, match replays, commentary, and good old-fashioned deck and match features. Immerse yourself in Worlds 2009, and we'll see you next year!
