Tundra Wolves Challenge 3

Saturday March 7th, 2020 was held the third and biggest (so far!) Tundra Wolves Challengeat L’Adversaire Pub in Montréal (Canada); a fundraiser Old school 93/94 Magic: the Gathering tournament. 44 players from the New England Old school (NEOS), Toronto Citizen of Brass, Ottawa Capital Chaos, Québec city Brew Crew, and the Montréal Tundra Wolves communities, as well as a few outliers and/or new-to-the-format players gathered for the occasion.

Ah, Christian et son doux sourire!

+ Charity and Support +

We are thrilled to announce that we were able to raise a 1000$ sum to support, for a third consecutive year, Montreal’s Sun Youth Organization which has been striving to help children and teenagers in need since 1954. To everyone who attended or donated, it is very humbling to see such generosity. We know that these dollars will have very tangible impacts upon people in need’s life, so you should feel good about this. We know we do. Thank you!

This year, TWC also had the pleasure of being supported by local stores itself. Stores who, frankly, blew our minds! TopDeck Hero graciously donated a Beta Manipulator, a FWB Badlands as well as a playset of ANT Strip Mines, on top of managing tournament logistics. Face to Face games graciously donated a Collector’s Ed. Tundra. L’Expédition offered great deals and general support, once again. Shout out also to Derfington for providing awesome Hymn and Wolves alterations, bringing the prizepool to the next (obscenity) level; to L’Adversaire Pub, for their excellent venue and care. And to Festival de Magic de Montréal(FMM) and Festival Montréal Joue, for helping us reach a little further out from our underground dwellings. Ditto to MTG Podcast Terrain Basique, for offering live coverage of the event. Major props to you guys!

+ EVENT +

6 rounds of Old school Magic were played by the Atlantic + 4 Strip Mines ruleset a.k.a. codename «Boreal», with proxies allowed for the sake of inclusive-ness. We once again followed the «Glamourous cardboard for All» ideology, so besides special prizes for the Top 8 and Champion, Most Creative deck, Best Unpowered and Best Gentleman finish, the bulk of the prizepool value was raffled out — while some other juicy items were auctioned for charity (not pictured):

Here’s a good hunk of it, freshly inked by yours truly.

Now before we dive into the standings and deckpics, a word on the fun add-ons. First there was the North-East Flip-Off, with each of the 5 represented communities sending forth their best Chaos Orb flipper, and from which Montrealite Laurence Boulanger emerged flipping Champion of the North-East. Hats off to you, sir! Until next year. There was fierce competition for the raddest Wolf shirt contest as well. NEOS’er Scott Bradley came out on top, with his on-point scary hairy wolf entry! And there was the poutine afterparty Chez Claudette: has us wondering still, why the hell had we not though of that before? And lastly, for a second year, just the perfect family sunday at the Sugar Shack. What a week-end, eh? Now, on with the honours.

+ HONOURS +

With Street cred applied.

Without further ado:

8th place: Tristan Bates (4-2, Atog, TOR) 7th place: Christian Arcand (4-2, WUb Aggro, QC) 6th place: Benoit Seveno (4-2, ‘the Garfield Deck’, MTL) 5th place: Kyril Doubson (5-1, The Deck, MTL) 4th place: Jared Doucette (5-1, Shops, NEOS) 3rd place: Sébastien Dubé (5-1, UBW Shops, QC) 2nd place: Derrick Boyce (5-1, UBW Midrange, MTL) 1st place and TWC3 Champion: Patrick Burt (6-0, 5c Goodstuff, OTT)

Best Unpowered finish: Christopher Bates (13th@4-2, WUR Aggro, MTL) Best Gentleman finish: Jared Doucette (4th@5-1, UWb Shops, NEOS) Most Resilient finish: Yanick Blanchet (44th@0-6, ‘Bad Karma’, QC)

Most Creative decks Top 3 (deck pics below): 3rd place: Yanick Blanchet, ‘Bad Karma’ (44th@0-6, QC) 2nd place: Martin Hébert, ‘le Chateau de Lumière’ (36th@2-4, MTL) 1st place: Thomas Ashby, ‘Blasphemer’ (18th@3-3, TOR)

+ DECK PICS and MORE +

In standings finish order:

1st place and TWC3 Champion (!): undefeated Patrick Burt (6-0, 5c Goodstuff, OTT):

2nd place: Derrick Boyce (5-1, UBW Midrange, MTL):

3rd place: Sébastien Dubé (5-1, UBW Shops, QC):

4th place and Best Gentleman finish: Jared Doucette (5-1, UWb Shops, NEOS):

5th place: Kyril Doubson (5-1, The Deck, MTL):

(Julien Pouliot’s actual pic. Decklists identical.)

6th place: Benoit Seveno (4-2, ‘the Garfield Deck’, MTL):

Of note: all cards signed by R. Garfield. More of this madness on this space.

7th place and North-East Flip-Off contender: Christian Arcand (4-2, UWB Abyss Aggro, QC):

8th place: Tristan Bates (4-2, Atog ‘White doesn’t belong in Atog, Joel’, TOR):

9th place and North-East Flip-Off contender: Joel Bowers (4-2, Atog White, TOR):

10th place: James Duncan (4-2, The Deck, OTT):

11th place: James Slowikowski (4-2, UR Aggro Control, OTT):

12th place and otherwise TWC2 Champion: Greg Titcomb (4-2, UWR Aggro Edge, NEOS):

See more from Greg on his OldschoolMTG Instagram space.

13th place and Best Unpowered finish: Christopher Bates (4-2, UWR Midrange, MTL):

New blood Chris Bates’ EPIC tournament loot!

14th place, North-East Flip-Off 2020 Champion: Laurence Boulanger (4-2, ‘Evil Enchantress’, MTL):

Don’t miss out on reading Laurence’s tourney report on this very blag.

15th place: Guillaume Poulin (4-2, Monoblack Rack, MTL):

16th place: Arnaud Labelle (3-3, Monoblack, MTL):

17th place: Dominic Beaudry (3-3, UWRb Midrange, MTL):

18th place in standings, Most Creative deck award winner: Thomas Ashby (3-3, ‘Blasphemer’, TOR):

‘Blasphemer’. Stay tuned for the upcoming guest post about this rad pile on this very space. Soon.

/edit: It’s up –> A deep dive into Thomas Asbhy’s Most Creative award winning deck’s history.

Action shot! The Spice, Mmmmmmm

19th place : François R. Derbas Thibodeau (3-3, ‘the Pain Train, Blood Ed.’, MTL):

20th place: Kevin Vanier (3-3, 5c ErnhamGeddon, OTT):

21st place: Étienne Dupuis (3-3, Zoo, MTL):

22nd place: Nicolas Normandin (3-3, URb Aggro Control, MTL):

23rd place and North-East Flip-Off contender: Louis-Gabriel Émond (3-3, ‘Rukh Machine’, OTT):

Follow Louis round by round on the Terrain Basique podcast live coverage!

24th place: Rémi Ouellet (3-3, UWB Control, MTL):

25th place: Karl Rivest-Harnois (3-3, Twiddle-Vault, MTL):

26th place: Samuel Beaudry (3-3, UR Aggro Control, MTL):

27th place and North-East Flip-Off finalist: Christopher Mason (3-3, Twiddle-Vault, NEOS):

Action shot. This one came with a note: «Please restrict Recall!!!»

28th place: Anthony Fortunato (3-3, Twiddle-Vault, MTL):

29th place: Julien Pouliot (3-2-Drop, ‘La Pile’, MTL):

30th place: Mark Seccareccia (3-2-Drop, Atog Shops, MTL):

31st place: Paul Kovalov (2-4, WB Vise Midrange, NEOS):

32nd place: Dylan Kibbee (2-4, UWR Big Skies, OTT):

33rd place and raddest Wolf shirt contest winner: Scott Bradley (2-4, The Deck, NEOS):

34th place: Drew Lennon (2-4, 4c Midrange, OTT):

35th place: Brian Bogdon (2-4, URb Atog, TOR):

36th in standings and 2nd Most Creative deck: Martin Hébert (2-4, ‘le Château de Lumière’, MTL):

The blueprint.

‘le Château de Lumière’

37th place: Jason Keays (3-3*, Merfolks, OTT):

38th place: Dave Firth Bard (2-4, ‘Bad Moon Rising’, NEOS):

39th place: Marc Flore (2-4, Unpowered & Gentleman Beast-Void, NEOS):

May we suggest « Guardians of the Void»?

40th place: Pierre-Luc DL (1-5, WG Aggro-Berserk, MTL):

41th place: Olivier Deraiche (1-5, Merfolks, MTL):

Also known as ‘Pixels tribal’

42nd place: Steve Gravel (1-5, BG Enchantress Aggro-Rack, MTL):

43rd place: Jean-Michel Lussier (1-5, RG Aggro, MTL):

44th place, 3rd Most Creative deck and Most Resilient finish award recipient: Yanick Blanchet (0-6, ‘Bad Karma ‘N Getting Hit by the Mob’, QC):

‘Bad Karma ‘N Getting Hit by the Mob’

+ FURTHER COVERAGE +

To be updated

• Live coverage, interviews and more by MTG Podscast Terrain Basique

• Tournament report by Laurence Boulanger on piloting Evil Enchantress to a 4-2 finish

• A deep dive into Thomas Asbhy’s Most Creative award winning deck’s history!

• A TWC3 Spicy decks analysis by yours truly, Dave Firth Bard and Mike Van Dyke, on the Spice Files podcast;

• Hit us up with your content!

+ Acknowledgements +

Lastly, props to every single one of you who made it, new and seasoned Mages alike. The Challenge would be nothing without y’all.

Words of gratitude also to you all who support us Wolves, in one way or another: TopDeck Hero, Face to Face Games, L’Expédition, Festival de Magic de Montréal, Festival Montréal Joue, and L’Adversaire Pub.

And mandatory shout out to the TWC3 organizing team: Wolves Derrick Boyce, Mark Seccareccia, Karl Rivest-Harnois, Julien Pouliot, Laurence Boulanger and François R. Derbas Thibodeau.

To all of the above, thank you so much for your generosity. Here’s to many more of those! Hopefully we’ll see you at the Ottawa Dazed and Fused-Con 2020 in April.