Live Coverage of StarCityGames.com Open: St. Louis

It has been seven months since the 2010 StarCityGames.com Open Series got underway. The city in which it began? St. Louis. The weekend of July 26-27 marked the first time the Open Series had returned to a city it had been to previously and expectations were high.

One player who had extremely high expectations was Alex Bertoncini. Why? Because he headed into the weekend the Open Points leader, gunning for the title of Open Player of the Year and the set of Power 9 that comes with it. The Standard day of competition was mediocre for the player, but he powered back on the second day of competition. In the Legacy format, Alex’s Merfolk deck proved tough enough to make the Top 8. There he squared off against Cody Damm in the Quarterfinals. Cody’s Zoo deck was a bad matchup for Bertoncini, but he proved just why he’s the Open Points leader by tearing through in two straight games.

Across the bracket Blue-White Control player Josh Guibault was headed to the Finals with all eyes on the prize. His Counterbalance/Thopter Foundry control strategy had a host of silver bullet targets for a powerful Enlightened Tutor engine. That proved key allowing him to fetch up the Foundry or Sword of the Meek for his combo, or occasional bullets like Moat. It was that Legends enchantment which let Josh lock Alex out of attacking in the pivotal game 3 and sent Bertoncini off in the lead for Player of the Year but without the second title he was gunning for.

Josh Guibault is your StarCityGames.com Legacy Open champion in St. Louis!

Finals: Alex Bertoncini vs. Josh Guibault	By Bill Stark
Josh’s blue-white control strategy had been very powerful against creature strategies on the weekend, but had it met its match against Alex’s Merfolk deck?

Top 16 Legacy Decks	By Event Coverage
The Top 16 finishers’ decklists from the StarCityGames.com Legacy Open in St. Louis!

Semifinals: Anthony Avitollo vs. Josh Guibault	By Bill Stark
Before his Semifinals match against Anthony Avitollo had started, Josh Guibault pointed out he felt favored due to the fact Anthony was playing creatures.

Quarterfinals: Christian Valenti vs. Josh Guibault	By Bill Stark
Throughout the weekend Christian Valenti Charbelcher combo deck had been killing people as early as the first turn by way of Goblin Charbelcher or Empty the Warrens.

Quarterfinals: Alex Bertoncini vs. Cody Damm	By Bill Stark
His opponent, Cody Damm, didn’t have as many Open points as Bertoncini, but he did have a favorable matchup with his Zoo deck squaring off against Alex’s Fish build.

Deck Tech: Ballers Don’t Pay for Their Spells	By Bill Stark
Neither of these decks pays for their spells once their engines get rolling, one with Alluren, and another with Dream Halls.

Round 8: Noah Swartz vs. Sam Kuprewicz	By Bill Stark
th were gunning for Top 8, but as Sam studiously pointed out, while the winner would play the single elimination rounds the loser would plummet so far in the standings as to miss even making the Top 16.

On Camera: Thoughts on Legacy Changes	By Bill Stark
Bill Stark asks a host of the game’s brightest minds how they feel about the recently announced banned/restricted changes coming to Legacy.

Deck Tech: Dreadnoughts & Co.	By Bill Stark
Conley Woods has been unleashed on Legacy, is the world prepared?

2:05 – Cedric’s Dilemma	By Bill Stark
Mixed in with his outgoing smile and quick-to-laugh approach to life is the characteristic that has allowed him to succeed as a competitive gamer: his will to win.

Round 3: Andy Hanson vs. Alex Bertoncini	By Bill Stark
Alex Bertoncini entered the third round of competition at the Legacy Open in St. Louis the leader in the StarCityGames.com Open Player of the Year race.

Deck Tech: Legacy Elves	By Bill Stark
St. Louis local Jeff Blyden opted for a fan-favorite tribe at the St. Louis Legacy Open.

Red Deck Wins… Again	By Bill Stark
The StarCityGames.com Open Series returned to St. Louis, and Red Deck Wins took another pilot to the Standard Open title, giving Joey Mispagel his first Open Series win!

Top 16 Standard Decks	By Event Coverage
The Top 16 finishers’ decklists from the StarCityGames.com Standard Open in St. Louis!

Finals: Joey Mispagel vs. Joe Bernal	By Bill Stark
Joey Mispagel looks to take down a second Jund deck in the Top 8 to give RDW its second St. Louis Standard Open title!

Semifinals: Jason Schousboe vs. Joey Mispagel	By Bill Stark
After both surviving Quarterfinals matches that went to all three games, Jason Schousboe and Joey Mispagel sat down to determine who would go on to compete for the title of Open champion.

Quarterfinals: Jason Schousboe vs. Matt Winters	By Bill Stark
Jason Schousboe would have to pilot his Turboland deck through Matt Winters’ Jund deck if he hoped to find himself in the semifinals.

Quarterfinals: Joey Mispagel vs. Damien White	By Bill Stark
Damien White was a slight underdog in this matchup pitting his Jund build against Joey Mispagel’s RDW.

Deck Tech: Abyssal Esper	By Bill Stark
Conley Woods is a man who can always be counted on to have an innovative deck at events, and the StarCityGames.com Standard Open in St. Louis is no different.

Round 9: Christian Valenti vs. Damien White	By Bill Stark
“I wanted to go to sleep after Round 3; I thought I was done!” Damien White joked with his opponent as they sat down to the final Swiss match of the day.

MTGCast – Standard Open Coverage Part 2	By MTGCast
Part 2: Eric talks to Patrick Chapin at StarCityGames.com Standard Open: St. Louis.

Round 6: Craig Wescoe vs. Noah Swartz	By Bill Stark
Round 6 pitted two players who both made their first Pro Tour Top 8 finishes this year – Noah Swartz in San Juan, and Craig Wescoe in San Diego.

MTGCast – Standard Open Coverage Part 1	By MTGCast
Enjoy Part 1 of the live coverage from StarCityGames.com Open Series: St. Louis being offered up by Eric Wachman from the MTGCast crew!

3:49 – Turboland and the Open Series Effect	By Bill Stark
We look at the metagame waves the StarCityGames.com Open Series has been making on the rest of the Magic metagame, and one of its most recent products – Turboland.

On Camera: Pro Thoughts on M11	By Bill Stark
Find out what some of the best players to show up to StarCityGames.com Standard Open: St. Louis think about the spoilers from M11 so far.

Round 3: Patrick Chapin vs. Michael Rabey	By Bill Stark
Patrick Chapin is a StarCityGames.com columnist and is widely regarded as one of the game’s top minds.

12:31 – Who’s Here to Battle?	By Bill Stark
We took a look around the hall early in the day to get a feel for who was in the house. Answer? Some of the game’s best players.