NAME: Shawn Yu
DECK AND WHY: Grixis Control – “I feel like it’s the best [deck] overall and I wasn’t comfortable going with a metagame’d choice. It’s reasonably well-suited for the field.”
HOW DID YOU QUALIFY?: LPS Tournament Points
BEST MAINDECK CARD TODAY: Brainstorm
BEST SIDEBOARD CARD TODAY: Surgical Extractions
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN PLAYING LEGACY?: 8 years
TOUGHEST MATCH ON THE WAY TO TOP 8?: Greg Mitchell’s Tin Fins – “I got kind of lucky”
BEST MATCH UP FOR DECK TODAY?: “Maybe not the best, but [the deck] has one of the strongest Sneak and Show match ups.”
WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE PLAYER IN THE INVITATIONAL? (NOT YOURSELF): Joe Cool
OPTIONAL SHOUT OUTS: Card Kingdom/Mox Boarding House for putting on a great event – I hope it keeps growing!

NAME: Garth Brewe
DECK AND WHY: BURN – “I just love it.”
HOW DID YOU QUALIFY?: I won a 1k (01/28/17).
BEST MD CARD TODAY: Eidolon of the Great Revel
BEST SB CARD TODAY: Pyroblast
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN PLAYING LEGACY?: About 2 years.
TOUGHEST MATCH ON THE WAY TO TOP 8?: “I beat Omnitell round 1.”
BEST MATCH UP FOR DECK TODAY?: Aluren.
WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE PLAYER IN THE INVITATIONAL (NOT YOURSELF) ?: Brad Rutherford
OPTIONAL SHOUT OUTS: Team Gamma – They know who they are.

NAME: Elston Cloy
DECK AND WHY? : Eight Moon Rising – “I saw the meta and realized that Blood Moon would be very strong on turn one against over 85% of the field.”
HOW DID YOU QUALIFY?: At Card Kingdom, Second Place in Weekly Points
BEST MD CARD TODAY: Ensnaring Bridge
BEST SB CARD TODAY: Hellrider
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN PLAYING LEGACY?: 1 year and 5 months.
TOUGHEST MATCH ON THE WAY TO TOP 8?: Burn.
BEST MATCH UP FOR DECK TODAY?: Jordan’s Deck
WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE PLAYER IN THE INVITATIONAL (NOT YOURSELF) ?: Jeremy Edwards – His creativity is pretty awesome.
OPTIONAL SHOUT OUTS: Michael Tessier and Garth, even you (Jake McCune) – the people that don’t play Brainstorm.

NAME: James Johnson
DECK AND WHY?: RUG Delver – “It’s the deck I’m best with, I think it’s very well rounded.”
HOW DID YOU QUALIFY?: “An absurd amount of weeklies at Mox Boarding House – Bellevue”
BEST MD CARD TODAY: Nimble Mongoose – “It’s just great.”
BEST SB CARD TODAY: Invasive Surgery – “I tagged all the Loams in a Loam deck.”
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN PLAYING LEGACY?: “4-5 years, somewhere around there”
TOUGHEST MATCH ON THE WAY TO TOP 8?: Grixis Delver against Shawn Tabrizi – “Delver mirrors are the most skill intensive”
BEST MATCH UP FOR DECK TODAY?: “Probably Reanimator”
WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE PLAYER IN THE INVITATIONAL (NOT YOURSELF) ?: Jordan Aisoka
OPTIONAL SHOUT OUTS: Jordan Aisoka

NAME: Adam Prusa
DECK AND WHY? : UWR Sanctuary – I enjoy the deck, have been working on it since Top was banned
HOW DID YOU QUALIFY?: “I got in on weekly points from MBH – Bellevue, but because Andy [Stowell] qualified in the last 1k.”
BEST MD CARD TODAY: Supreme Verdict
BEST SB CARD TODAY: Humility – “Hilarious against Sneak and Show”
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN PLAYING LEGACY?: “I think like two years?”
TOUGHEST MATCH ON THE WAY TO TOP 8?: “Against Randy, who I then lost to in top 8”
BEST MATCH UP FOR DECK TODAY?: Lands
WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE PLAYER IN THE INVITATIONAL (NOT YOURSELF) ?: Sam Hriljac, He’s on the same deck.
OPTIONAL SHOUT OUTS: “Tim for helping me prep for the tournament. Sam, again, for working on the deck. Andy for winning the last 1k and getting me in.”

NAME: Randy Buehler
DECK AND WHY?: 4-Color Leovold – “I like all the cards in it and it’s what I’ve been playing lately.”
HOW DID YOU QUALIFY?: “A 1k Winner [Matt McCullough] gave me the spot as runner-up.”
BEST MD CARD TODAY: Kolaghan’s Command
BEST SB CARD TODAY: Sylvan Library
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN PLAYING LEGACY?: “I mean, technically forever.”
TOUGHEST MATCH ON THE WAY TO TOP 8?: On camera against Delver.”
BEST MATCH UP FOR DECK TODAY?: “[UWR Helm] Control seemed super easy, I hope it still is because I’m paired against it [in top 8].”
WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE PLAYER IN THE INVITATIONAL (NOT YOURSELF) ?: “I really like Martin Goldman-Kirst, I keep meaning to try his Aluren list.”
OPTIONAL SHOUT OUTS: “I went literally 0-10 on MTGO with this deck coming into this event.”

NAME: Matt Staver
DECK AND WHY?: Lands – “It’s pretty well positioned, very powerful. It can combo quickly or grind out. The power is there, and it’s fun to kill people with lands”
HOW DID YOU QUALIFY?: I won a 1k (03/18/17) playing 4c Loam. Dropped R1 and then won 8 straight.
BEST MD CARD TODAY: “Besides Dark Depths? Exploration. It won most of my match ups.”
BEST SB CARD TODAY: “I barely side-boarded. I’ll say Drop of Honey even though it did nothing. I cast one SB card (Krosan Grip) the whole tournament, and I lost afterwards.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN PLAYING LEGACY?: (asks brother and fellow invitee Alex Staver) 4 years ago.
TOUGHEST MATCH ON THE WAY TO TOP 8?: “UWR Sanctuary Control. Only match I lost.”
BEST MATCH UP FOR DECK TODAY?: “Elves.”
WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE PLAYER IN THE INVITATIONAL (NOT YOURSELF) ?: My brother, “Alex Staver.”
OPTIONAL SHOUT OUTS: “My brother Alex, we worked a lot on the sideboard and meta, and we were really close. We played the same 75.”

NAME: Sam Hriljac
DECK AND WHY? : UWR Sanctuary – “It’s probably an out-dated name at this point – don’t care. Rest in Peace + Helm is my favorite way to win a game of magic. Also I hate creatures.”
HOW DID YOU QUALIFY?: “I was a weekly points winner at MBH – Bellevue”
BEST MD CARD TODAY: Spellsnare
BEST SB CARD TODAY: Blood Moon – “Single handedly won me my camera match”
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN PLAYING LEGACY?: “The most recent time that I started playing was about two years ago, I rode the Miracle train that entire time. 3-4 years before that I played High Tide.“
TOUGHEST MATCH ON THE WAY TO TOP 8?: “I played against Grixis Pyro, it just shreds your hand. It was [against] Shawn [Yu] on camera, actually.”
BEST MATCH UP FOR DECK TODAY?: “I played against Lands and Aggro Loam, both are Loam decks against maindeck Rest in Peace.”
WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE PLAYER IN THE INVITATIONAL (NOT YOURSELF) ?: “Probably Adam, we worked together to build this deck, and we’ve come to about a 72 that we’re happy with.”
OPTIONAL SHOUT OUTS: “James, Matt, Sam and Daniel Goh. I play modern with them. They convinced me not to play a janky Lantern Control build.”