March 25th and 26th, 2023 were held in Montréal Tundra Wolves Challenge 6 as well as the Branching Paths Release Party. 47 attendees from the Montréal Tundra Wolves of course, but also Ottawa Capital Chaos, Toronto Citizen of Brass, Québec Brew Crew, New England Old School, and more, came slinging spells for 7 rounds of Boreal Old School Magic at Saturday's tournament. Then, there were 20 to showed up for the Sunday casual event. By all accounts, both events were a success, raising a total of 2000$ for Montreal's own Sun Youth Organization -- helping young folks in need -- that we are proud to support for a sixth year in a row.
Mighty thanks to everyone who donated, including from the Branching Paths printing group. Props also to our great enablers and friends: L’Adversaire game pub and shop for its warm welcome on Saturday, Le BroueHaha pub on Sunday, Tome 2 game shop, artists Annie Rodrigue for the original TWC6 art, and @Derfington for the grand prize alter, as well as for the COM support. The same goes for @OldschoolMTG, Rich Bourque, and the dudes at the Terrain Basique podcast who helped amplify our message. Thank you to wizard Benjamin Gadoua and his 3D printing magic, too. Last but not least, Anthony Fortunato and Mark Seccareccia for the commentary gig on the live stream. You guys rocked!
Glamorous cardboard was raffled in random giveaways of increasing awesomeness throughout the night, with special prizes for the Champion of course, Top 8, Spiciest deck, and Best Unpowered finish:
In the end, it was free agent Guillaume Poulin from Sherbrooke who took the Best Unpowered finish trophy (placing 12th with a whooping 4-2 record), killing it with his Monoblack Drudge Skeleton and Clay Statue deck! Here it is in all of its glory, on a TWC5 playmat, nothing less. I mean, what's not to love about it?
TWC6 MOST POWERFUL UNPOWERED MAGE: Guillaume Poulin (4-2 and overall 12th position)
Listen, the deck wasn't even submitted in the Spicey Decks category. But we'll take the segway!
SPICERS
For another year, the honorary Spice committee was led by Tundra Wolves' own (and North American Chaos Orb flip champion AFAIK) Laurence Boulanger.
Their top 5 selection for Spice brings these beauties:
« Operation Desert Storm »
by Simon Gaudreault, tied in fourth/fifth position.
« Poisoned Land »
by Yanick Blanchet, tied in fourth/fifth as well.
« RW Hazezon Gauntlet »
by Guillaume Soucy, in third place.
« Tron From Beyond »
by Etienne Dupuis.
While it's « Tron From Beyond » that takes second place -- perhaps the deck that led to the most stories beginning with « You won't believe what my opponent did ! » told that night. Rumor has it, that by the end of the tournament, he managed to check all the boxes on his little list.
TWC6 SPICIEST: « Atog Omelette »
by Christian Arcand.
And taking home the sweet Braingeyser trophy card for Spiciest deck, they selected Christian Arcand's flavourful « Atog Omelette », which came with a poem, or rather--errr, a recipe!
SPIKERS
As for the Spikey stuff, it was Yves Gillet from the Montréal Tundra Wolves who took the TWC6 Champion title in a grinding finale against fellow Wolf and the blackest of all black mages, Arnaud Labelle. They stand out in a Top 8 that is otherwise very, fittingly enough, burning hot RED.
A heartfelt congratulations to Yves! He went undefeated (7-0) playing The Deck, followed closely by homie Sébastien Gaudreault and Kevin Vanier from the Ottawa Capital Chaos, who finished 6-1 both. Here are the Champ and other Top 8 players' deck pics, for posterity, before the general result sheet:
TWC6 CHAMPION: Yves Gillet's deck (7-0)
TOP 8: Sébastien Gaudreault's deck (6-1 and 2nd position overall)
TOP 8: Kevin Vanier's deck (6-1 and 3rd position overall)
TOP 8: François Rousseau's deck (5-2 and overall 4th position)
TOP 8: Arnaud Labelle's deck (5-2, finalist and overall 5th position)
TOP 8: Tristan Bates' deck (5-2 and 6th position overall)
TOP 8: Greg Titcomb's deck (5-2 and 7th position overall)
TOP 8: Andrew Ruschpler's deck (5-2 and 8th position overall)
That being said, here are the general results for TWC6:
And before throwing the bajilion other deck pics on here, I think it's fitting to take a look at some action shots first, from TWC6 but also the Branching Paths Release Party! Hey while at it, let's try the gallery feature, shall we?
TWC6 ACTION SHOTS
INTERLUDE
DAY 2: BPATHS RELEASE PARTY SHOTS
If you're living in a cave, you might have missed that some of us anonymously united under the « New Old School » collective name, have designed and released a complete pseudo-Old-School set called Branching Paths. Long story short, it's been awesome and it's now played in the darkest of pubs around the world. On the day following TWC6, 20 mages gathered for its official release party. Spicemaster Derrick Boyce took the event (below showing off his trophy card in the hands of Jeanne, my then-newborn -- the very reason this report is months late baha):
OTHER TWC6 DECKPICS
...aaaand lastly, the rest of the playing field for the amazing event that was TWC6, in no particular order:
Yan Desmeules (1-5-1)
Sébastien Dubé (4-3)
Julien Pouliot (1-6)
Max Bergeron (3-4)
Peter Soltesz (3-4)
François RDT (3-4)
James Mitchell (1-5-1)
Mike Biron (1-6)
Laurence Boulanger (4-3)
Martin Hébert (1-6)
Aymeric Yanitch (3-4)
Emil Andersson (3-4)
Drew Harris (1-5-1)
Jérôme Mongeau (2-5)
Pascal Piché (3-4)
Emmanuel Séguin (4-3)
Karl Rivest-Harnois (4-3)
Samuel Beaudry (3-4)
Dave Dupont (4-3)
Derrick Boyce (3-4)
Jason Keays (4-3)
Martin Boutet (2-5)
Benoit Seveno (4-3)
Pierre-Olivier Roy (5-2)
Benjamin Gadoua (4-3)
John Vatsis (2-5)
Dominic Beaudry (5-2)
Kyril Doubson (4-3)
Joel Bowers (4-3)
Eric Do (3-4)
Joshua Rider (4-3)
IN CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we must give a shout-out to judge and tourney logistics extraordinaire Benjamin Burke for lending us his expert hands year after year allowing the event to run as smoothly as it does. Another thanks to all you players who drive many hours to come sling spells with us, these come-togethers are the most precious thing, and this community is the best! Lastly, a big fat thanks to the organizer’s crew: Jean-Sébastien Jacques, Benoit Seveno, Sébastien Gaudreault, Maxime Bergeron, Karl Rivest-Harnois (sometimes), Dominic Beaudry, Laurence Boulanger, Simon Gaudreault, and (this is) François RDT. Mic drop.