Learn more about five players who put up a great weekend through a high finish, interesting deck, or memorable moment.
5. Andrew Jessup
Andrew Jessup
Andrew Jessup is one of the top Elves players on the SCG Tour®, so it was no surprise to see him crush the Swiss once again with his army of little green creatures. Jessups rattled off 12 wins before taking his first loss and coasted into the elimination rounds as the top seed. For Jessup, it was his sixth Open Top 8, and the Team MGG player was looking for his first trophy after three finals losses in those appearances. But Jessup’s run came to an abrupt end when he had to face Counterbalance and Sensei’s Divining Top to send Jessup home empty handed. In a field full of Miracles and control decks, Jessup still showed the power of the Elves combo. Check out Jessup’s Elves decklist Blood+Moon and Chalice of the Void in a format dominated by dual lands and one and two-mana spells. Red quickly defeated Tony Murata on U/G Eldrazi Post in the quarterfinals before matching up with Griselbrand to hand size on the draw, he was unable to take either of the following games. Check out Morawski’s Reanimator decklist Leovold%2C+Emissary+of+Trest. Barton took down Chris Allan on Infect in the quarterfinals in two quick games before eliminating Jonathan Morawski on Reanimator in the semis, setting up a finals match against Gitaxian+Probes and his first draw step before finding a Tropical+Island. By the time he found the needed lands to play, Kassis had already set up Counter/Top on rode the lock to victory. Check out Barton’s Grixis Delver decklist Eli+Kassis
Eli+Kassis has been playing on the SCG Tour® long before it had that name, dating back to when the events were 5Ks, but still didn’t have a trophy. While Kassis took down two Classics over the past year, Kassis converted in his 13th Open Top 8 and claimed the hardware. Kassis squeaked into the Top 8 as the No. 8 seed with Miracles and made the most of his opportunity. First he took down Andrew Jessup on Elves in the quarterfinals in two decisive games, then he dispatched Nathaniel Red on Mono-Red Sneak Attack in three games – coming out on top of a tough matchup. Finally, Kassis clinched the trophy by defeating Nate Barton on Grixis Delver in a three-game set. The win not only granted Kassis his first trophy, but also put him in the lead of the Season One points race. Check out Kassis’ Miracles decklist here.
