BrookLAN Community Tournament
On Saturday, one of the largest public tournaments following Thanos’ nerf was held. 18 players came out to BrookLAN in Brooklyn, NY, to compete for over $750 in prize money. The event was broadcast on Super Tech God's and IFCYipeS’ channels on Twitch, with commentary from Yipes, Perry Manilow, Sino Montana, and Super Tech God. The tournament went six Swiss rounds with a top cut of four.
It was amazing to see community members come together for an in-person event. The players had diverse backgrounds, experiences, and motivations. I was able to meet and talk to several of them. Rudy was playing at a BrookLAN tournament for the second time, having attended BrookLAN’s first in-person tournament. He likes to brew decks and is a Peach Momoko fan. He brought a comfort pick and a Negative deck and did quite well with it, just missing the Top 4 cut. DenmanFalcon told me he mostly loves Snap for the variants and played Hela/Corvus ramp deck. He loves the connection between Snap and comic books. Kat was the youngest competitor at 13 years old. She won her first round with Hela by winning the first two cubes with a surprise Shang Chi and then winning 8 cubes when the Danger Room blew up her opponent’s Kitty Pryde. She then immediately won a raffle for a PAX code. What a way to start your first tournament!
[BrookLAN had games streaming on several screens]
Decks and Meta-implications
It's hard to draw too many strong conclusions about the meta from this tournament because the sample size is small. What was obvious, however, was the variety of decks that were played, which bodes well for the future. If this tournament had been played last week, Thanos would have been the top choice. Instead, players felt they could compete with decks like classic Heimdall move, Phoenix Force, ramp, and toxic Surfer. It was also clear that decks incorporating small movers (some all-in, some just as elements) were the biggest winners from the last OTA, and discard decks (both with and without Hela) are still in a strong meta position. Both types of decks were well-represented. Various Yondu/Baron Zemo and Hope Summers/Kitty/Angela decks were present, but none made the top 4. There was only one Loki in the field, but Loki could have done well if more players had brought it.
[The play area at BrookLAN]
The Top Four
DenmanFalcon lost his final Swiss round to Kat (Zabu/Hela) but was able to squeak into the top four with a 4-2 record. He then beat Flash (Apocalypse Discard) and TimmyTrogdor (Traditional move) to win the tournament. TimmyTrogdor beat out Kat in the top four.
DenmanFalcon (4-2 Swiss)
TimmyTrogdor (6-0 Swiss)
GamingwithFlashX (5-1 Swiss)
Kat (5-1 Swiss)
Final Thoughts
The staff at BrookLAN ran the tournament very well, and the commentators were funny and energetic. I hope that this event serves as a model for more and larger in-person community events in the future. Hopefully, the meta follows suit and remains diverse and interesting. We're still in the early stages of the meta, but if this tournament is any indication, the change to Thanos has opened up space for a wider variety of decks.