The Regional Championship at SCG CON Washington DC is for players who qualified during Round 1 of Season 3 between April 20th-July 21st. Follow along as Team Moonshot battles this weekend for their share of $130,000 and invitations to the Pro Tour and World Championships.
I’ll be posting periodically throughout the next few days to keep everyone updated on how the team is performing…and various other shenanigans happening in Chantilly. Please check back to see updates.
The Drive: we’ll followup in an additional post about the conversations and learnings from the drive out to east coast. For now, I’ll keep this coverage focused on the event itself.
8-9am: We’re staying the Fairfield Inn in Chantilly…and it turns out they have free breakfast. 6/10. But, free moves it to 8/10. Everyone got fueled up before we left for the convention center.
9:05am: Bob suggests we should stop and get Starbucks in route. We head to the closest one to find an insurmountable pickup line for the time we have…so we order and I drop the team at the Expo Hall to then come back to Starbucks, and make personal deliveries to their assigned seats for the Player’s Meeting. Doordash…Moonshot style.
10:00am: Star City promptly starts the players’ meeting right on time. 1,817 registered players. Players all had to submit their deck lists last night and each player shows up a sweet metal badge and a copy of their decklist. The head judge welcomes all, explains the competitive rules enforcement and kicks things off to applause from the room.
10:05am: Pairings for round one are up. The team heads to their seats.
10:16am: Players are presented with their round one opponents’ decklist. For this level of competition the decklists are public and you get to inspect your opponents list for two minutes prior to starting game one. You also get to peek at their list during sideboarding.
11:16am: Round one is in the books. Team is 6-2 in round one:
- Charles Eiler (WIN) 1-O -> 2-1 vs. Phoenix. Started game 3 with 5:30 on the clock and got it done!
- James Moskal (WIN) 1-0 -> Beat Rakdos Aggro.
- Nick Roller (WIN) 1-0 -> Beat U/W Control 2-1.
- Abe Schnake (WIN) 1-0 -> 2-1 vs. Rakdos Midrange. All three games were super close. Damage races. Abe is good at racing.
- Bob Culp (WIN) 1-0 -> Beat Izzet Ensoul. Bob’s removal kept his opponent’s threats in check.
- Jonathan Hobbs (WIN) 1-0 -> Beat the mirror, Rakdos Midrange
- Rob Hayes (LOSS) 0-1 -> Lost 1-2 to Azorius Control, but really mana flood. Won game one with Thoughtseize, Lilly, Annex. Game two could’ve taken Teferi and did’t…and lost to Teferi. Game three flooded.
- Jordan Otero (LOSS) 0-1 -> Lost to Esper Control 1-2. Games were close, but they had too much removal.
11:20am: Round two started quick. Updates posted as soon as all are finished.
12:30pm: Round two is complete. Team went X-X in round two Team is 4-4 in round two:
- Abe Schnake (WIN) 2-0 -> Beat Green Devotion 2-1. All three games both players had great hands and the player on the play won.
- Bob Culp (WIN) 2-0 -> Beat Lumra Ramp. Early removal against Cobra and Nissa. His opponent never drew Lumra, and the deck can’t block fliers well.
- Charles Eiler (LOSS) 1-1 -> Played Rakdos Transmog and punted 1/2. Misplay cost him the match. Let’s give Charles some props about being honest. Be a goldfish Charles.
- Jordan Otero (WIN) 1-1 -> Beat Abzan Combo 2-0. Archfiend is really good
- Rob Hayes (WIN) 1-1 -> Beat Kaheera Control 2-0. Liliana & Annex/Demons are good.
- Jonathan Hobbs (LOSS) 1-1 -> Lost 0-2 against Azorius Control.
- James Moskal (LOSS) 1-1. Lost 1-2 to Bogles. Yeet!
- Nick Roller (LOSS) 1-1 -> Lost 0-2 HARD to Mono Green. Nythos is insane!
1:56pm: Jimmy John’s is Freaky Fast and relatively good. Round three results are pouring in. Team is 3-5 in round three:
- Abe (WIN) 3-0 -> 2-0 against Artist’s Talent Phoenix. Spell Piecing a Treasure Cruise feels good!
- Charles (WIN) 2-1 -> 2-0 against Rakdos Aggro. All his opponent’s creatures were exiled. Like…all of them.
- Hobbs (WIN) 2-1 -> Won in 9 minutes against Lotus Field.
- Jordan (LOSS) 1-2 -> Lost 1-2 against Yorion Niv Mizzet Reborn. Searching for Supreme Verdict is not ideal.
- Nick (LOSS) 1-2 -> Lost 0-2 to Caretaker’s Talent after a 35-minute game #1. Forced to play aggressively to get two games in 15 minutes…and got punished.
- Rob (LOSS) 1-2 -> Lost 0-2 to Kaheera. Mulligan’d both games and died to Teferi, then Sharks.
- Bob (LOSS) 2-1 -> Lost game three to the Phoenix mirror by missing land #3 four turns in a row.
- Moskal (LOSS) 1-2 -> Punted a super close one to U/W.
3:45pm: The Internet at the Dulles Expo Hall is AWFUL. So…I’m back in the hotel room to make this update. Round four just finished. Team Moonshot went 4-4:
- Abe (WIN) 4-0 -> Beat U/W Control 2-0. First game no High Noons to be seen and Phoenix did work. Second game his opponent’s sweeper was Farewell, not Supreme Verdict, so Abe countered it and won.
- Charles (WIN) 3-1 -> Beat Michael Bernat on Phoenix 2-0. Charles lost to Michael in the Top 8 of an NRG a year ago…so this one felt extra good.
- Hobbs (WIN) 3-1 -> Beat Rakdos Midrange 2-0.
- Bob (LOSS) 2-2 -> Lost a close one to U/B.
- Jordan (WIN) 2-2 -> Beat Esper Contorl 2-0. Creature lands are very good.
- Nick (LOSS) 1-3 -> Lost 0-2 to Mono Black. Game #1 lost to a Mutivault and 2 Unholy Annex. 4-point life swing every turn = bad news. Game #2 laid an egg.
- Rob (LOSS) 1-3 -> Lost to Enigmatic Fires 1-2. Elesh Norn & Boiler clobbered him game #1. Won game #2. Mulliganed to 6 game #3. Thoughtseized his opponent three times down to a World Tree. His opponent drew Beans, into Beans, into Leyline into Enigmatic and ran away with it.
- Moskal (LOSS) 1-3 -> Lost a frustrating match to the mirror. His opponent just had more Phoenixes.
4:26pm: Round Five results are in. Team Moonshot went 4-3-1 and Abe improved to 5-0!
- Abe (WIN) 5-0 -> Beat U/W Yorion 2-0. Game #1 was normal Phoenix plan and game #2 Abe was able to counter a key Settle the Wreckage. Big win!
- Charles (DRAW) 3-1-1 -> Azorius Control vs. Yorion. Yawn. First game took 35 minutes and Charles died in turns on game #2.
- Hobbs (LOSS) 3-2 -> Punted against Greasefang. Math is hard sometimes.
- Bob (WIN) 3-2 -> Beat Izzet Ensoul 2-0, featuring the Duskmourn card Chainsaw! Proft’s Eidetic Memory is winning most of Bob’s games today.
- Jordan (LOSS) 2-3 -> Another bad matchup against Niv Mizzet Reborn. Fought hard, but couldn’t get there.
- “Honse Man” (WIN) 2-3 -> Beat Mono Green 2-0. Extinction Event is a very good Magic card.
- Rob (WIN) 2-3 -> Beat Rakdos Prowess 2-1. Rob combo killed game #1 and Sheoldred dominated game #2.
- Moskal (LOSS) 1-4 -> Lost quickly to Rakdos Aggro. The deck is fast.
5:02pm: Pairings for round 6 are up. Abe is currently ranked #4!!! That said, with over 1,800 players there are still 53 undefeateds. To get to day two each person needs at least 18 points (6-x).
6:33pm: I fell asleep in the hotel room and woke up to Corey Baumeister’s booming voice and Abe is on the TV!!! I was watching the last match and the long drive yesterday got the best of me.
Ignore the me falling asleep part…and focus on Abe Schnake ranked #1 and on the SCG Livestream!! Go Abe.
6:50pm: Sorry for slow response. I’ve been watching Abe and talking to Lance, from Rip & Ship, on the phone. I wanted to make sure the team back home was tuned in. Round six was good. Team Moonshot went 6-2 and our X-3 players all stayed alive.
- Abe (WIN) 6-0 -> Abe improved to 6-0 against Rakdos Midrange. Game #1 he buried his opponent under Treasure Cruise and game #2 his opponent had lots of 4-drops in hand and missed his 4th land drop for two turns.
- Hobbs (WIN) 4-2 ->
- Charles (LOSS) 3-1-2 -> Charles drew again. He exiled both of his opponents Atraxa’s and was forced to play for 10 minutes with a Teferi Emblem…but ran out of time.
- Bob (LOSS) 3-3 -> He lost 0-2 by combo in game #1 and to 2x Mayhem Devil in game #2.
- Jordan (WIN) 3-3 -> Got past Jund Sacrifice. Again, Archfiend is a good card.
- “Honse Man” (WIN) 3-3 -> Beat Rakdos Aggro 2-1. Game #1 Nick Transmogged on turn 4. Game #2 was grindy and Nick lost with 12 lands in play. Game #3 Nick kept Case of the Stashed Skeleton and Transmogged on turn 5 for the W.
- Rob (WIN) 3-3 -> He beat Enigmatic 2-0 in 8 minutes.
- Moskal (WIN) 2-4 -> James beat Mono Green.
11:50pm: Welp…I was at the Expo Hall supporting the team as a few of them were fighting to make day two. And the Internet at the Hall was useless…so I’m late to make this update. Apologies.
Here’s how the day ended:
- Abe 9-0. That’s right…he went undefeated on Izzet Phoenix and is ready to Top 8 tomorrow. Top overall seed going into day two. Let’s go Abe!
- Hobbs 6-3. Good enough for Day Two.
- Rob & Bob 5-4. Both lost their win-and-in matches and will be playing in side events tomorrow.
- The rest of the team took their fourth loss/tie prior to round 9…so they too will be jamming in side events tomorrow.
After day one came to an end, we headed to Maggiano’s in Tyson’s Corner and enjoyed a nice family-style meal. Now we’re back at the hotel, getting some shuteye before an 8:30am departure for the Expo Hall tomorrow.
Sunday
1:05pm: Apologies again for the delay. Hobbs and Abe had to be at the Expo Hall at 9am this AM and I’ve been there since with the team. And again…crappy Internet.
We’re three rounds into Day two and both Hobbs and Abe are 2-1 on the day. Abe finally lost his first match in the 11th round against Rakdos Aggro that just fought through a few removal spells. But he came back in the 12th round and beat an impressive 5-color Human Deck.
The rest of the team is playing in side events. Most are playing in a $10k Pioneer Event. Roller is 3-0. Moskal and Hayes are 2-1. Bob and Charles are 1-2. And Jordan is playing in the Modern ReCQ, thus far 1-0.
1:32pm: Abe lost to Artist Talent Phoenix. Game three his opponent had Talent on turn 2, which is incredibly hard to beat. He moves to 11-2 as he fights to stay in top 8 contention.
Hobbs won and improved to 9-4. If he can close strong, he’ll make the money and potentially get a Pro Tour invite.
In the Pioneer 10k: Charles and Bob busted out. Roller lost and is now 3-1. Rob won and moved to 3-1. Moskal lost to WB Midrange and is now 2-2.
1:59pm: Standings for Round 13 and pairings for Round 14 are up. Abe moved down to third with the best breakers at 33 points. If he wins the next two rounds he’s likely the top seed in the Top 8. If he wins this one I think he can draw in, but I’ll defer to the team members that study tiebreaks. Looks like he’s playing against Enigmatic Incarnation, who lost to the same Izzet Phoenix deck that beat Abe last round.
2:45pm: Rough round for Team Moonshot. Abe lost. Hobbs lost. Moskal lost and dropped. Rob lost and dropped. The Honse Man won and moves to 4-1 in the 10k Pioneer Challenge.
Abe is now 11-3 and is likely out of Top 8. I think he can still lose the last round and get a Pro Tour invite. A win might be a top 16. And an intentional draw could mean top 32.
3:20pm: Abe ID’d into the Top 32. Final pairings were against him. Had he won the final round, the best he could’ve finished was 9th. Well done Abe. We’ll wait for the round to finish to find his final spot.
4:00pm: Abe finished 13th overall, which was good for $2,500 and a Pro Tour Invite!
Overall the teams’ win-rate in the main event was 56%. A good start for a new team finding it’s footing the competitive world of Magic.
- Abe: 11-3-1
- Hobbs: 10-5
- Rob: 5-4
- Bob: 5-4
- Charles: 3-2-2
- Roller: 3-4
- Otero: 3-4
- Moskal: 2-5
Next up: Vegas!
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