Old School Player’s Ball 2017 – Results, Decklists, and Photo Report

The first annual Old School Player’s Ball has finished, and was an incredible day for the community. With road warriors hailing from California to Texas to Wisconsin to Tennessee to Maine, and everywhere in between, 58 ballers showed up to battle. This will probably go down as the third largest Old School 93-94 event in 2017, and we were filled to our capped registration limit immediately, even after expanding from 48 to 58 seats.

The Player’s Ball was held at Revolution Brewery Taproom, in Chicago (Illinois, USA), and was organized by Bob Agra and Chicago’s native crew, the Lords of the Pit. Eternal Central helped promote and support these efforts, and the tournament was able to raise nearly $1000 for charity (going to the Chicago Public Library Foundation, in this case). This was the first Player’s Ball held, and the plan is for the Player’s Ball to become an annual event each August in the summer, part way between NoobCon and Eternal Weekend’s Old School events.

The tournament was run with timed 50 minute Swiss rounds, plus a Top 8 playoff, using Eternal Central’s recommended Old School 93-94 rules, with no draws allowed (and Sudden Death Chaos Orb flipping if any matches went to time). The point of Old School is to play Old School, meet new friends, and catch up with old ones. Here are some of the prizes given out to all players:

#OldSchoolPlayersBall prize pool for Chicago #OldSchoolMTG charity tournament today. pic.twitter.com/zwEb0ScOAs

— Eternal Central (@EternalCentral) August 26, 2017

While there were a few copies of UR Control and other UWx Control variants present, there were notably zero copies of The Deck, as people took the time to design things that were far more interesting or fun, as you’ll no doubt discover in the deck pictures section below. There is everything from Eureka to Diamond Valley to Titania’s Song to Living Plane Control to very aggressive Zoo decks. The field was fairly creature-heavy and aggressive overall, with lots of interactivity in games.

Final Standings After Swiss

Final standings after Swiss rounds at #OldSchoolPlayersBall today. Top 8 playoff about to start! pic.twitter.com/HKNLLvKjVK

— Eternal Central (@EternalCentral) August 27, 2017

Top 8 Playoff

Quarterfinals
1 Matt S (RUG Tempo) vs. 8 Jimmy McCarthy (Green White Workshop Aggro) – Matt wins
2 Chris Bergeson (3C Goblins) vs. 7 Steve McGrew (Bant) – Steve wins
3 Jaco (Naya Bazaar Zoo) vs. 6 Jason Happel (UR Control) – Jaco wins
4 Nathan Mullen (Naya Bazaar Zoo) vs. 5 Robert Westergaard (White Weenie) – Nathan wins

Semifinals
1 Matt S (RUG Tempo) vs. 4 Nathan Mullen (Naya Bazaar Zoo) – Matt wins
3 Jaco (Naya Bazaar Zoo) vs. 7 Steve McGrew (Bant) – Steve wins

Finals
1 Matt S (RUG Tempo) vs. 7 Steve McGrew (Bant) – Steve wins

All Decks, Alphabetically, by Last Name

Bob Agra – Mono Brown UrzaTron

Joe Alane – Naya ChannelBall

Chris Bergeson – 3C Goblins

Brendon Bowersox – Mono Black

Zach Bowersox – White Weenie

Andrew Bowman – 5C Titania’s Song

Mike Butzen – Esper Workshop Aggro

Grant Castleton – Green White Geddon

Curt Christian – Crimson Disco

James Cooney – Mono Blue Merfolk

Matthew Deering – Esper Skies

Dominic Dotterrer – Arabian Esper Aggro

Lorian Elleman – UR Control

Tyler Etters – Red White

Paul Fiero – Blue Green Living Plane Control

Danny Friedman – Nether Void Control

Charlie Hahn – 4C Gasoline

Matt Hahn – Mono Blue Tempo

Jason Happel – UR Control

Amanda Hilton – Mono Black Discard

Michael Hilton – White Weenie

Trevon Hilton – Mono Black

Daniel Humphreys – White Weenie

Jaco – Naya Bazaar Zoo

Ryan Jean – Black Red White

Jay Krusac – Bant

Andrea Longhi – Red Green Aggro

Ron Longhi – Mono Black

Mike Lupo – Cyclopean Lich

Peter Lupo – Mono Black

Stephen Maldonado – Bant

Robert Matthews – White Weenie

Ray Mattson – Eureka Reanimator

Jimmy McCarthy – Green White Workshop Aggro

Steve McGrew – Bant

Andrew McLennan – Esper Skies

Mith – Junk Song

Matt Moss – Mono Black

Nathan Mullen – Naya Bazaar Zoo

Evan Nyquist – Tusk Eureka

Sean O’Brien – Kuato Lives (Black Red White)

Frank Pedota – Esper Skies

Carter Petray – Turbo Stasis

Dan Piquard – Naya Zoo

Dan Rech – Red White Skies

Nick Rohr – ShahraZoo

Matt S – RUG Tempo

Brandon Sanders – Black White

Shane Semmens – The Gothenburg Special

Shaman Ben – Eureka

Jeff Simpson – Bant

Joe Stacko – Power Monolith Combo; NO DECK PHOTO

Chad Teuscher – Pink Weenie

James Tork – Thallids

Michael Walker – 4C Aggro Control

Robert Westergaard – White Weenie

Chris Wynes – Bant

Matt Young – Blue Black Beast Control

Tournament Action, Social Media Roundup, and Closing

The hashtag for social media for the event was #OldSchoolPlayersBall, which you can use to find more on Twitter, Instagram, etc. Thank you to everybody who came out to play, and we hope to see you again soon. As we move forward experimenting with more changes we hope to make each event more unique and fun. For any corrections, comments, or follow up, please email jaco@eternalcentral.com. Below are just some of the sweet action and community pics from the day.

Player’s Ball 2017 Full Crew