This past weekend, I took part in the Mythic Society’s monthly $1000 Arena Community Cup. For the first time, the format was Historic, instead of the usual Standard. I had been playing Mono-Red Aggro and Orzhov Vampires recently, but decided to try a Gruul Aggro list that had won the MTGHistoric subreddit tournament the day before.
I started the event with a 4-0 record, defeating 2 Gruul Aggro, Simic Nexus, and Izzet Aggro (h0lydiva’s Kiln Fiend and friends). The fourth win came in a mirror match, following a mull to 4 in game 3. In that game, I really saw the power of Scavenging Ooze, a new addition to the deck, thanks to its reprint in M21. After a few trades, the Ooze came down and eventually grew to a massive 9/9 that dominated the battlefield.
For round 5, I was paired against two-time Arena Community Cup winner David Schnayer on Bant Field. Kenrith was a key piece of the deck, and David was able to take it in three games with a swarm of hasty zombies. Then in round 5, I was paired against Mitchell Sachs on Bant Nexus (vod here). The first two games were one-sided, but a Blast Zone 3-for-1 gave Mitchell the edge to pull out a long game 3. My 4-0 start turned into a 4-2 finish. However, I snuck into the Top 8 as the 8th seed!
The quarterfinals brought a rematch with David Schnayer (vod here). Kenrith and Field of the Dead did their thing in game 2, but Llanowar Elves powering out Questing Beast and Skaargan Hellkite let me take the match in 3. I had my third Gruul mirror in the semifinals against Kasey Jarvis and was able to win it in 2 games. Gruul wound up taking 3 of the top 4 spots in the event. That set up another rematch for the finals against Mitchell Sachs and Bant Nexus (vod here). The match was a nailbiter, but Mitchell survived at 1 life and was able to pull ahead with his planeswalkers, Uro, and Nexus of Fate to win the Arena Community Cup!
The next Arena Community Cup will be Historic again, so make sure you are subscribed to The Mythic Society’s Twitch channel and register for the event on mtgmelee. It will be taking place on July 26th, with $1000 of The Mythic Store credit for prizes, and it’s free!
