Roy Varney won Magic Spotlight: The Hobbit™ with Izzet Prowess at SCG CON Dallas on Sunday.
Izzet Prowess Roy Varney
After sneaking into the Top 8 of Magic Spotlight: The Hobbit™ as the No. 8 seed on tiebreakers, Varney was simply, “happy to be here.” He battled it out in the final rounds of Swiss unsure if he could even make the cut, but a pair of victories for him and an unintentional draw at a higher table cleared the way for the Austinite to play a little more Magic and a chance at a bit of glory he’s been chasing for more than a decade.
With his first ever Pro Tour invite secured, Varney settled down for the biggest matches of Magic in his career. With his friends already on the way home, Varney quickly dispatched Sean Goddard in the quarterfinals to set up a rematch against Mark Jacobson, a longtime pro who gave Varney one of his two losses on Day 1. Varney got the best of Jacobson in three games to advance to the finals and face PT regular, Liam Kane on Tameshi Belcher.
Kane took the first game in typical fashion, landing a Turn-4 Goblin Charbelcher on the play while Varney’s interaction resided in his sideboard. Loaded with four copies of Consign to Memory and additional counterspells, Varney was well-equipped for the remaining games. He had all the answers in Game 2 and in the deciding game, Kane had a slow start while Varney had plenty of pressure and just the right answers. When Kane brute-forced a Belcher onto the battlefield, Varney was able to deliver a lethal attack on the following turn with Kane’s shields down.
The entire Top 8 earned Pro Tour invites, cash prizes, and a foil copy of the Riddles in the Dark promo card, but Varney walked away the big winner with $10,000 and a beautiful Black Lotus trophy.
Tameshi Belcher Liam Kane
Izzet Prowess topped the metagame on Day 1, taking up 10 percent of the more than 900-person field following Jefferson Lee’s victory at the Spotlight Series event in Brisbane last weekend. Esper Goryo’s and Esper Blink followed in second and third place, but both archetypes failed to put a player into the Top 8. Izzet Affinity and Devoted Druid Combo rounded out the five most-played decks.
Day 2 consisted of 208 players that reached 18 match points on Day 1. See how the archetypes converted below.
View the Top 8 decklists from the Magic Spotlight: The Hobbit™. For all the decklists from the event and final standings check out the Melee page for the tournament.
SCG CON will be back in action in Baltimore on September 11-13, featuring the Regional Championship.
