| For Jim Davis, the #SCGPC was a dream come true. Some people play Magic because it's a great way to spend time with friends. Others play it because it's far too much fun to set down. And if you're like me, you play Magic because you love the mental challenge. For Jim Davis, it's a combination of the three. But more than anything, Jim Davis cares about one thing—winning. Top 8s are nice. Finals appearances are cool. But being the last one standing is what keeps Jim motivated and at the #SCGPC, he accomplished his goal. The 2014 #SCGPC didn't go well for Davis. He was an early out. Not to be heard from again after the first half of the first day. And if you ask him, he'll tell you—it bugged him. Therefore, the 2015 #SCGPC was a shot for redemption and he made the most of it. His Day One wasn't what he wanted, but he did enough to advance to Day Two. G/R Eldrazi Ramp was a risky Standard choice, but his read on the Standard metagame was perfect and he was rewarded in kind with $20,000, an enormous trophy, and a title that no one can ever take away from him. So what's next for Davis? The same thing that is next for everyone—2016! And while I've enjoyed these last few days off, lying low during the Holidays, I'm glad there's a Magic tournament this coming weekend in Cincinnati. I'll be joined by a debuting Craig Krempels, Nick Miller, and the rest of the @SCGLive crew as the SCG Tour kicks off Season One with some dynamic Modern action at #SCGCIN. If you can't make it out to The Blue Chip City, be sure to watch all the action at twitch.tv/scglive! And congrats once again to Jim Davis, your StarCityGames.com Players' Champion! — Cedric Phillips, Online Content Coordinator | | |  |  | I Smiled Jim Davis is a very focused Magic player. If you've ever seen him play a match, breaking his concentration is basically impossible. Yet during the semis of the #SCGPC, while facing defending champion, Brad Nelson, Jim cracked a smile. What made the normally stoic Davis show emotion? Click and find out! |  | 2015 In Review And Predictions For 2016 Looking back on predictions for 2015 and making predictions for 2016 are some of my favorite articles to read, and no one does it better than Chas Andres. What did he get right in 2015? What does he predict for 2016? A lot of it is Magic, but for you Chicago Cubs fans out there, Chas thinks the curse is coming to an end! |  | Daily Financial Value Of OGW: December 30! With Oath of the Gatewatch right around the corner, it's time for SCG General Manager Ben Bleiweiss to come out of his card sorting cave and give us all the necessary financial details about Magic's newest set. With brand new Mythics, super-charged Eldrazi, and Wastes on the way, Ben's got a lot to talk about. | | | The Players' Championship brought sixteen top players to SCG Headquarters to battle it out for the title, the trophy, and their share of $50,000. In the end, it came down to Jim Davis and Todd Anderson, and the best two out of three matches. Their Modern match between Davis' G/R Tron and Anderson's Temur Twin decided it all! |  | | You might think that the bannings looming over Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch are the biggest thing in Modern right now, but you would be wrong! The #SCGCIN Open is on the horizon, and for the hundreds of players that will descend upon Cincinnati, picking the right deck to do battle with is the first step to hoisting that coveted trophy in the air. Fortunately, I know such a weapon that would serve its master well, and it's forged in the hottest fires. We're talking about Burn, kiddies. | | Clean. Efficient. Lethal. These are a few of my favorite things. Naya Burn is one of the most potent Modern strategies, but also one of the most maligned and misunderstood. Since mid-October I've posted my best results in Modern after choosing to play Naya Zoo and its Burn counterpart, and I can safely say that this iteration might be its best yet.   Never in the history of Magic did winning a die roll feel so good. On the play your deck is incredibly potent. Kills on turn 4 are common and turn 3 wins happen a little more often than I would care to admit. The combination of efficiency and consistency makes this deck a fantastic choice in the current Modern metagame. Sure, you face some rough matchups when it comes to Junk or Collected Company decks, but nothing is "unwinnable." One of the best reasons to play Naya Burn is the assurance that if your opponent stutters or stumbles, they will lose. There aren't many decks that can offer that kind of guarantee.   The power of these Burn spells is off the charts. I wanted to play a mix of Searing Blood and Searing Blaze. The proliferation of the mirror match gives us plenty of incentive to want both, and I've found Searing Blood to be getting better and better as more players turn to decks like Infect and anything with one-mana accelerants. Skullcrack does quite a bit of work against Kitchen Finks and we've seen a lot of it lately, so I wanted essentially seven life-gain-denial spells between that and Atarka's Command.   Many Burn decks have added Kor Firewalker to the sideboard to trump the mirror match and it has also been popping up in other white-based decks. This gives us a great incentive to play Pyrite Spellbomb in the board. Aside from being two damage that can be used whenever it's convenient, the colorless Pyrite Spellbomb lets you instantly take out their Kor Firewalker with little fuss. Path to Exile is a much-needed answer to the many Tarmagoyfs present in Modern. Naya Burn is powerful and punishing. That's why I recommend it this weekend in Cincinnati. Unlock your inner pyromaniac. Melt faces. Show no mercy. — Mark Nestico, @DynamoNestico | | The Road to the 2016 Players' Championship has begun! The #SCGINVI Las Vegas Weekend was the first chance for players to earn SCG Points, so it's no surprise that those events heavily shaped the Top 32. It all starts with Invitational winner Caleb Scherer, whose 50 points send him up eight spots from his previous rank and make him the 2016 Leaderboard's first #1. Invitational finalist Vidianto Wijaya is in clear second place, while the Invitational semifinalists, Casey Pordes and Christopher Juliano, share an effective third place with Andrew Tenjum, who put together a Top 16 Invitational finish and a Modern Classic win. Farther down the list, we see a mix of familiar faces and relative unknowns. Brian Braun-Duin redeemed a disappointing Invitational showing with the season's first Open win for clear sixth place. Previous Leaderboard #1 Joe Lossett starts the season at #7 with his Invitational Top 8 result, and while few were familiar with Texas mage Michael Cortez, Colorado cardslinger Alex Smith, or Florida force Justin Rios before Las Vegas, all three players have a strong points base to grow on if they want to chase an SCG Points invitation to the Players' Championship. |  | | Notable names filling out the Top 16 include Steve Rubin, Jeff Hoogland, and Gerry Thompson, while 2014 Richmond Open champion Harlan Firer, Danny Jessup, and Ross Merriam appear in the Top 32. The Road to the Players' Championship has only begun, and the Cincinnati Open Weekend on January 2-3 is sure to shake things up! Who will be next to climb the Leaderboard? Find out on http://twitch.tv/scglive as the Road to the Players' Championship continues! |  |  | | Saturday, January 2 | | Invitational Qualifiers Albany, LA - Chuck's Sports Cards of Louisiana Burnsville, MN - Legion Games Centreville, VA - The Island Games Colorado Springs, CO - Enchanted Realms East Windsor, NJ - Gamer's Realm Hobby Granite Falls, NC - Warlords Games Roanoke, VA - Star City Game Center Stroudsburg, PA - The Gamer's Edge Westborough, MA - The Whiz Store York, PA - The Gamers Realm | Super Invitational Qualifiers Bellevue, WA - Uncle's Games | Sunday, January 3 | | Invitational Qualifiers Arvada, CO - Game Heroes Brooklyn, NY - Kings Games Charlotte, NC - Get Some Game Gatlinburg, TN - Gamers Link Glassboro, NJ - The Comic Book Store Springfield, VA - Curio Cavern | Thursday, January 7 | | Invitational Qualifiers East Windsor, NJ - Gamer's Realm Hobby | If you would like to unsubscribe and stop receiving these emails please click here. |
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