The team of Greg Dyer, Tom Martell, and Sam Black won Magic Spotlight: Marvel Super Heroes at SCG CON Las Vegas on Sunday.
In the first Team Limited tournament with Pro Tour invites and tons of money on the line in seven years, stacked teams flocked to Sin City to battle for cash, glory, and the Infinity Gauntlet trophies. Longtime Limited grinders and Pro Tour stalwarts came out of retirement to duke it out in Magic: The Gathering | Marvel Super Heroes Team Sealed across two days. The final four teams got to Team Draft, and those teams were some of the strongest in the field.
Joining Dyer, Martell, and Black in the Top 4 were Ondrej Strasky, Steve Rubin, and Alexander Hayne; Jesse Hampton, Charels Wong, and Zevin Faust; and Neil Estrada, Zev Goldhaber-Gordon, and Liam Etelson. The Top 16 was also littered with legends of the game and many of Magic’s brightest up-and-comers.
Dyer, Martell, and Black had a rough Day 1, ending the first day of competition as the 47th ranked team out of 48 squads that advanced to Day 2. Unclear if it could make the elimination rounds with a perfect Day 2, the team stayed focused, opened a solid Sealed pool, and ran the table to make the Top-4 cut as the No. 3 seed.
Martell and Black are no strangers to the pro Magic scene, but this finish secured them their first PT invites since COVID, while Dyer earned his second PT qualification after playing at Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed earlier this year. But the trio wasn’t satisfied with PT invites — it was time to put their drafting skills on display. In the semifinal draft, Dyer, Martell, and Black ran over Hampton, Wong, and Faust in a quick set of games, leading to a finals matchup against Strasky, Rubin, and Hayne — a team containing two Pro Tour champions in Rubin and Hayne and a longtime pro player in Strasky.
In the finals, Black won a flashy match with his Simic deck against Hayne filled with combat tricks and gutsy maneuvers. Strasky defeated Dyer to set up the deciding match between Martell against Rubin. After splitting the first two games, Martell got out of the gates early on the play and kept Rubin on the backfoot, despite his Turn-1 Political Triumph. The two traded resources, but Martell’s Rakdos deck got the best of the exchanges allowing him to keep pressuring Rubin’s life total. Rubin attempted to stabilize, but connive triggers from multiple creatures kept the action flowing for Martell who chipped away turn-after-turn, forcing Rubin to extend the hand without every completing the Political Triumph plan.
Dyer, Martell, and Black earned $15,000, PT invites, Elektra promo cards, and the Infinity Gauntlet trophies for their effort on the weekend. Strasky, Rubin, and Hayne took home $7,500 in addition to their PT qualifications and promos. View the Melee page for full standings and more from Magic Spotlight: Marvel Super Heroes.
Top 4 Team Photos
SCG CON will be back in action in Dallas on September 4-6, featuring Magic Spotlight: The Hobbit™.
