Orlando, Florida may be most famous for its Disney attractions, but Orlando’s contribution to Magic: The Gathering is equally known among Magic history buffs. Let’s take a stroll through The Sunshine State’s hall of champions.
Things started in 2000, when Magic’s equivalent of Michael Jordan rose above a potent Top 8 to become the U.S. National champion on the back of Mike Flores‘ crown jewel: Napster. Fellow Hall of Famer Mike Turian, Head of R&D Aaron Forsythe, bad boys Mike Long and Chris Benafel, later U.S. National champion Kyle Rose, Frank Hernandez, and Elliot Fung made up the rest of the finalists, with Finkel leading the U.S. National team of Benafel, Forsythe—who had to go through CMU teammate Turian—and Hernandez to Worlds.
That would be a tough act to follow, but Trevor Blackwell was up to the task, surviving a Top 8 featuring William Jensen, Chris Benafel (for the second consecutive year), Brian Hegstad, and Eugene Harvey—whose legend started with him grinding his way right to the national team—among others in a format dominated by the unstoppable Fires of Yavimaya deck. This year’s U.S. team was made up of Blackwell, Hegstad, Harvey, and David Bachmann.
Eugene Harvey finished the job in 2002, leading Eric Franz, Andrew Ranks, and Alex Borteh to Worlds as Mike Long looked on yet again. The deck of the tournament was Psychatog, but Harvey managed to defang the hungry monster with RUG Squirrel Opposition.
Osyp Lebedowicz conquered Grand Prix Orlando in 2004 with Vial Affinity, powering through a Top 8 with William Jensen, Antonino De Rosa, and Jeff Garza, and Conley Woods won this year’s Grand Prix Orlando with a Jund Ramp deck of his own design, taking out Patrick Chapin in the finals with Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa, David Ochoa, and Ben Friedman also in the Top 8.
With the @SCGLive team of Drew Levin and Jacob Van Lunen commentating and Glenn Jones slaving away on text, #SCGORL has a lot to live up to. However, we’ve watched talented players win week after week, and this weekend will be no different as we hope to see Avacyn Restored finally make a big splash with players looking to bag their share of $20,000 in the Orange County Convention Center (9800 International Drive, Orlando, FL 32189).
And in addition to the Standard and Legacy Opens, we’ll have side events running all weekend long, plus three special guests on hand: Lindsay Burley, Chris King and Joe Lechner all working their artistic magic.
Check out our fact sheet for more information, and we’ll see you this weekend! Good luck!