Magic Spotlight: Dragons is only a little over a week away and the Star City Games coverage team is excited to broadcast two full days of Tarkir: Dragonstorm Limited action. It has been a blast to stream the US Regional Championships and Spotlight Series events this year. It’s been equally enjoyable to see the Magic community enjoy a more regular schedule of large-scale tournament broadcasts that feels similar to coverage from the pre-pandemic era.
Up to this point, SCG’s return to streaming has showcased constructed Magic — ranging from Standard, Pioneer, and Modern. Next weekend’s Magic Spotlight: Dragons in Denver will mark the return of a strictly Limited tournament. Day 1 is Tarkir: Dragonstorm Sealed and Day 2 is Tarkir: Dragonstorm Booster Draft. Limited Magic coverage presents some different hurdles to produce, but more importantly, it asks a lot from the viewer to engage with at the same level of something like Modern where a player can root for their favorite deck or archetype each round.
It’s a tough ask for viewers to memorize a whole set a day after its global release to be able to follow along at home. And just when you get acquainted with a couple players and their decks the next round starts and you’re back to square one. That’s why we are trying something different with our coverage plan for Magic Spotlight: Dragons.
What if coverage followed two players from the start of Day 1 until they reach the finals or drop out of Top 8 contention? What if viewers got to hear from those players after they built their Sealed deck then again at different points in the tournament? What if those players were not only Magic Hall of Famers, but also beloved content creators? What if those players were two of the best Limited Magic players in the world? What if those two players were Luis Scott-Vargas and Reid Duke?
We’re going to find out.
To make Sealed coverage the most accessible it can be, we will start each round watching LSV on the main camera match and end by watching Duke on the secondary camera match. I am going to spectate both players register their Sealed pool and build their deck, then I will record interviews with both players to see what went through their minds as they assembled their deck. We will air both Deck Tech videos so viewers can follow along with how each player decided on their final decks from their pool of cards.
On top of the Deck Techs, we will have graphics to show at the start of each round to remind viewers what cards are in their decks to keep things familiar. This will reduce the amount of tracking and time spent each round learning a bunch of new Limited decks, which will be particularly helpful in an event without open decklists easily available on Melee.GG. Our stellar cast of commentators will still have paper decklists to reference for the players facing LSV and Duke to keep viewers as informed as possible.
As long as each player is live for Day 2 we will continue watching them. As the tournament progresses, I will record quick update interviews with each player to get their thoughts on the performance of their decks and insights from previous matches. If one or both reach Day 2, we will follow their drafts and matches as long as they are live for making Top 8. If disaster strikes and LSV and Duke bomb out of the event by the middle of Day 1 we will simply fall back on traditional feature match selection (and curse our bad luck).
Whether we see one of our featured players go the distance or not, Magic Spotlight: Dragons will award $50,000, with $10,000 going to first place. Cash prizes will go all the way down to the Top 128 players in addition to a foil Borderless Sword of Forge and Frontier promo card. The Top 8 players will also earn invites to Pro Tour Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY. And the winner, of course, takes home the Dragon’s Hoard (a case of Tarkir: Dragonstorm Collector Booster Boxes, adding up to 288 Collector Boosters in total).
Broadcast Schedule
- Day 1: April 12, 10 AM ET
- Tarkir: Dragonstorm Sealed, 8 rounds of Swiss
- Day 2: April 13, 9 AM ET
- Tarkir: Dragonstorm Draft
- Draft 1 – rounds 9-11
- Draft 2 – rounds 12-14
- Top 8 Draft
- Tarkir: Dragonstorm Draft
Commentators
- Maria Bartholdi
- Patrick Sullivan
- Paul Cheon
- Eilidh Lonie
Viewers can watch all the action on our SCG Tournament Coverage YouTube channel and on our Twitch channel. Stay tuned for more updates and make sure you are signed up for our email newsletters. Follow us on Facebook, X, and Instagram, for latest news and live stream details.
For those looking to battle it out, and perhaps take down one of these Hall of Famers in Denver, register for Magic Spotlight: Denver here. All players receive a non-foil Sword of Forge and Frontier promo card illustrated by Sam Guay just for playing.
