Live Coverage of StarCityGames.com Open Series: Los Angeles

In contrast to the Standard day of competition, the StarCityGames.com Legacy Open in Los Angeles truly was open: no deck posted more than a 10% threshold of the field! Early on the question was whether or not Life from the Loam-based decks would be as successful as they had been in St. Louis a few weeks prior. As the Top 8 rolled around, the answer was a resounding NO!

Instead, Dredge, Threshold, White Weenie, and even Enchantress made the top tables. Lou Christopher, running his innovative Enchantress list, managed to take it all down. He agreed to a split with Shane Downey in the Finals that allowed him to take the title as well as a generous portion of the cash prize.

Congratulations to Lou Christopher and Luis Scott-Vargas, the StarCityGames.com Open Series Los Angeles Champions!

Too Much Information: Los Angeles Legacy Open	By Jared Sylva
With 13 archetypes in the top 16, modern Legacy is continuing to prove itself as one of the most diverse metagames in Magic History.

Legacy Open Top 8 Player Profiles	By Bill Stark
Meet the Top 8 competitors from the StarCityGames.com Legacy Open in Los Angeles!

Legacy Open Top 16 Decklists	By Nick Sabin
The Top 16 decklists from the StarCityGames.com Legacy Open in Los Angeles.

Finals: Lou Christopher vs. Shane Downey	By Bill Stark
Shane and Lou worked out a deal to split the prizes and allow Lou Christopher to be declared the champion.

Semifinals: Jeff Lin vs. Shane Downey	By Josh Silvestri
The game began as a battle of the early-drops.

Quarterfinals: Shane Downey vs. Chris Higashi	By Josh Silvestri
In a battle between Zoo and Dredge, both players could be sure the match would be a quick one.

Quarterfinals: Matt Nass vs. Sam Blau	By Michael Sohn
Matt Nass got to the Top 8 on the back of his Counterbalance deck, but would he be able to hold off Sam Blau’s Threshold beats?

Round 8: Jeff Huang vs. Robb Miknus	By Josh Silvestri
Jeff Huang was in contention for a second Top 8 appearance in as many days, standing in his way was Robb Miknus.

On Camera: What’s the Best Deck in Legacy?	By Bill Stark
Hear some of the biggest names in attendance at the StarCityGames.com Los Angeles Legacy Open chime in with their thoughts on which decks are big in the format and why.

Round 7: Sam Blau vs. Caleb Neufeld	By Josh Silvestri
This match pitted two decks that cared more about the graveyard than the battlefield, with Blau’s Threshold deck squaring off against Neufeld’s Dredge.

5:11 – Adam Cai, Road Warrior	By Bill Stark
Adam Cai: Road warrior and a player who knows how to take advantage of an opportunity when he sees one.

Round 6: Luis Scott-Vargas vs. Steven Thompson	By Josh Silvestri
Thompson, playing Belcher, was looking for a speedy win vs. LSV’s Aggro Loam build.

Round 4: Matthew Nass vs. Robb Miknus	By Josh Silvestri
Matt Nass took a Counterbalance Progenitus build into the feature match area against Robb Miknus’s Fish.

4:31 – Legacy Metagame Breakdown	By Jared Sylva
A fresh change from the Jund-filled field of Standard, no archetype broke 10% of the field in Sunday’s Legacy Open.

Round 3: Sherwin Pu vs. Jeff Huang	By Bill Stark
The third round in the Feature Match area saw a battle between two of the Standard Open Top 8 class: Jeff “fob” Huang and Sherwin Pu.

Round 1: Jake Beardsley vs. Bryce Bullock	By Bill Stark
Jake brought a Monored burn deck to battle, while Bryce was sporting a deck full of fish, Standstill, Umezawa’s Jitte, and of course… Force of Will.

U/W/R Takes Down Jund!	By Bill Stark
Fan-favorite Luis Scott-Vargas takes down the los Angeles StarCityGames.com Standard Open Includes Top 8 Bracket

Too Much Information: Los Angeles Standard Open	By Jared Sylva
In a sea of Jund, All-American Control stated its case as “The Answer.” Is it the players or the deck? This article has all the information that you need to come to your own conclusions.

Standard Open Top 8 Player Profiles	By Bill Stark
Meet the Top 8 competitors from the StarCityGames.com Standard Open in Los Angeles!

Standard Open Top 16 Decklists	By Nick Sabin
The Top 16 decklists from the StarCityGames.com Standard Open in Los Angeles.

Finals: Luis Scott-Vargas vs. Arthur Halavais	By Bill Stark
After nine rounds of Swiss and two rounds of Top 8 action, Arthur Halavais and Luis Scott-Vargas were all that were left standing.

Semifinals: Luis Scott-Vargas vs. Sherwin Pu	By Bill Stark
LSV, regarded as one of the better players in the world, was a name any opponent could tremble at being paired against, but Sherwin Pu gave no indication he was intimidated by his more experienced Semifinals opponent.

Quarterfinals: Eric Hopkins vs. Avrom Oliver	By Peter Martinez
Sherwin Pu was the youngest member of the Top 8 at the StarCityGames.com Standard Open in Los Angeles. The high school student had a tough Quarterfinals draw, sitting down to face Alex Tamblyn.

Quarterfinals: Alex Tamblyn vs. Sherwin Pu	By Bill Stark
Sherwin Pu was the youngest member of the Top 8 at the StarCityGames.com Standard Open in Los Angeles. The high school student had a tough Quarterfinals draw, sitting down to face Alex Tamblyn.

Quarterfinals: Arthur Halavais vs. Matt Sperling	By Bill Stark
Matt Sperling sat down to his first match in the Top 8 as a well-known professional entity who frequently tests with some of the best players in the United States.

Round 9: Arthur Halavais vs. Cassius Weathersby	By Bill Stark
The Standard portion of their StarCityGames.com Open weekend was all down to one final round.

Round 8: Daniel Moore vs. Avrom Oliver	By Bill Stark
On full stomachs the competitors had made it back just in the nick of time, and with only a single loss a piece they were within striking distance of the Top 8.

6:24 – Ask a Judge	By Bill Stark
Every tournament and format brings about interactions, combos, and complexities that take a talented, with-it judge staff to help players get through an event.

On Camera: How Do You Beat Jund?	By Bill Stark
At the first major Standard tournament of 2010, we asked a host of the game’s top minds whether Jund is beatable and how the powerful deck stands up to “best” decks historically.

Round 6: Matt Sperling vs. Kia Kordestani	By Bill Stark
On full stomachs the competitors had made it back just in the nick of time, and with only a single loss a piece they were within striking distance of the Top 8.

3:21 – Standard Metagame Breakdown	By Jared Sylva
As everyone expected coming into the event, Jund is still the top dog in Standard.

3:02 – Gabe Walls Needs to Play	By Bill Stark
With a stated desire to compete at Pro Tour-San Diego, the first Pro Tour of the 2010 season, why had Walls decided to risk his rating to play?

Round 4: Luis Scott-Vargas vs. Daniel Sneider	By Bill Stark
LSV, as he’s known to his fans, had the luxury of competing in his home state though he had driven some six hours to do it.

Round 2: Gabe Walls vs. Kevin McCabe	By Bill Stark
“Are you famous?” McCabe asked with a smile, adding, “because I’m definitely not…”

On Camera: Pros’ Thoughts on the StarCityGames.com Open Series	By Bill Stark
Live from the StarCityGames.com Open series in Los Angeles, we sat down with some of the game’s biggest names to ask them how they feel about the Open series.

10:53 – The Stars Are Out in Los Angeles	By Bill Stark
A quick look around the tables revealed a host of champions, Top 8ers, local heroes and more.