Shake II: An Old School and Premodern Magic Tournament Report

On November 29, 2020 the Earthquake League –a Chilean old school club– held their second annual event: Shake II. The tournament was a celebration of old school magic, friendship, and everyone’s newfound freedom after almost six months of strict-but-necessary safety measures to fight COVID-19.

While the Earthquake League is a Chilean club, its members are spread throughout three continents, and all of them lead busy lives at work and at home; so, meeting up to play in-person old school magic for an entire day is a hard feat. After the success of the first Shake, the club immediately started planning for the second edition of the event; but 2020 put all plans and preparations on hold. The improved COVID situation in Chile since the beginning of October and a last-minute business trip from Thomas to Chile provided the perfect excuses to jumpstart the entire operation; and a date, venue, and shopping list for the barbecue were quickly put together. Nicolás was unable to travel from San Francisco, but he joined the party via webcam, shrugging off a five-hour time difference like a champ. Ignacio couldn’t dodge a Sunday afternoon meeting, but was capable of manning the barbecue and the bar during the early session, and came back to the venue just before the top 4.

The wizards took advantage of the beautiful spring weather in Santiago to play with some old cardboard; while enjoying an assortment of grilled meats, homemade pizzas, and adult beverages. As the players battled under the sun, Mario’s playset of kids dashed between the pool, the barbecue, and the garden to play with a drone.

Good times were had.

The Earthquake League

Tournament Structure

The Shake II consisted of three rounds of old school magic under Eternal Central rules and three rounds of Premodern, with a cut to top four. Knockout-stage matches were decided with best-of-three old school matches.

The tournament eschewed tiebreakers. If after the sixth round two or more players were tied in points for a top-4 berth, Orbs would be flipped until only one man remained standing.

Old School Magic

Blue-red burn-based strategies were the most predominant macro-archetype of the tournament, with three copies. However, the three decks had significant differences: Goles played a more controllish version, with Disrupting Scepters and Control Magic. Capdevila played a tempo-oriented build, with 14 burn spells and a suite of counterspells to back up his blue creatures. Echeverría played a classic version of Dibatog, using artifacts and efficient creatures to enable quick kills.

José Luis Capdevila’s Blue-Red BurnJosé Luis Echeverría’s DibatogNicolás Goles Counter-Shivan

Red-green decks relying on Erhnam Djinn and assorted burn spells also made an appearance, with two copies. Camilo’s version was low-to-the-ground, aggressive chock-full with one-drops. Felipe’s deck was one of the most interesting builds of the event, taking a midrange approach which splashed black for Terror and enabled Sedge Troll’s upsides. Felipe’s deck also had a smart package of one-ofs which included Falling Star and Earthquake.

Camilo Fernandez’s Erhnam n’ Burn’emFelipe Trazar’s Jungle Boogie Woogie

Black-heavy discard decks also showed up in twos. Thomas opted to go with a mono black midrange deck that combined Nevinyrral’s Disk, Hymn to Tourach and Sinkhole to disrupt the opponent’s game plan. Mario played a similar build, but splashed blue for power and Serendib Efreets. He also packed a couple of Evil Eye of Oms-By-Gore to rack up some much-deserved spice points and pay tribute to the source of his livelihood.

Thomas Sutherland’s Mono BlackMario Zanolli’s Evil Eye Doctor

Earthquake League’s resident control master Andrés Hojman chose to sleeve up his favorite white and blue cards to play a sneaky version of Tax Tower control. What everyone found interesting about this deck is that it could pull off a switcheroo and board-in up to nine creatures that could fly over his own Moat, catching his opponents by surprise.

Andres Hojman’s Tax Tower

Juan Reutter’s Power Monolith was the talk of the town. The decklist was extremely flexible: When required, it could play defense with solid cards like The Abyss and Mirror Universe in order to buy time; but it was also able to come out guns blazing with Mana Vault and Fellwar Stone to accelerate the combo. The pair of Transmute Artifacts also allowed the deck to take advantage of several toolbox slots, such as Tetravus and Triskelion. Seeing Juan play this deck was a thing of beauty.

Juan Reutter’s Power Monolith

Round 1

Echeverría vs Goles: Echeverría took down game one thanks to a solid hand that included a turn-one Ancestral Recall and an early Serendib Efreet. Nico tried to stabilize with a Shivan Dragon, but had already soaked up too much damage, and died on the crackback when Echeverría aimed two bolts at him.

Nico had to mulligan on game two, and kept a six with a low land count. His first draw step blessed him with an Ancestral Recall; but little did he know that Echeverría had a Red Elemental Blast in hand, which he used without hesitation against the blue boon. After that, it was an uphill battle for Nico, who couldn’t really get back in the game.

Hojman vs Reutter: In game one Juan mulliganed into a slow-but-serviceable six; while Hojman started off strong with a Library of Alexandria, which dug him an Ivory Tower and a Sylvan Library. These permanents allowed Hojman to accrue sufficient card advantage to take over the lead and put him in a position in which he was able to mill Reutter’s library with a fistful of Countermagic as backup.

Andrés took advantage of this three sideboard Disenchants and four maindeck Divine Offerings to have a critical mass of removal spells that made Juan’s life very difficult. This proved to be effective, since he blew up whatever artifacts Reutter manage to put on the board.

Sutherland vs Trazar: Game one was very grindy, with both players killing off each other’s creatures while trying to develop the board. Sutherland slowly took the initiative by blowing up some of Felipe’s lands and deploying an Order of the Ebon Hand and a Juzám Djinn. Felipe fought back by playing a Nevinyrral’s Disk that he used to reset the battlefield, but at the cost of losing some Moxen. Board parity was short-lived, since Thomas continued to cast big creatures that ended up gobbling up his opponent’s life total.

Game two was all about Trazar, who mounted an early assault with a Sedge Troll and a Mishra’s Factory. Sutherland took care of them with a Strip Mine and a Terror, but then Trazar called the green cavalry, which arrived in the form of Whirling Dervish. Sutherland instantly regretted siding out two of his Disks, and could not deal with the horsemen as they racked up +1/+1 counters.

Game 3 was for Sutherland, who crippled Trazar’s hand with a Mind Twist and a Hymn To Tourach. A pair of Orders of the Ebon Hand hacked down Felipe’s life total, while a couple of Terrors took down whatever opposition he could muster.

Capdevila vs Fernandez: Fernandez took over game one by deploying an Erhnam Djinn and some other small creatures which pecked Jose Luis’s life total. José Luis tried to fight back, but he was manascrewed; so his options to interact were limited. The game was sealed when Capdevila tried to kill an attacking Elf with a Bolt, which got saved by a Giant Growth.

On game two Capdevila proceeded to bolt Camilo’s Llanowar Elf, and then proceeded to lock him out with a Blood Moon, taking over the game without much pressure from his opponent.

Game three was a very tight race between Fernandez’s Erhnam Djinn and Capdevila’s Serendib Efreet. After trading blows for a few turns, Capdevila crossed the finish line by using a Psionic Blast and a few Lightning Bolts and Chain Lightnings to burn Camilo.

Mario Zanolli received a bye.

The doctor will see you now.

Round 2

Reutter vs Zanolli: Game one was for Reutter, who caught Zanolli off guard and aimed a lethal Fireball early on thanks to an infinite-mana-producing Basalt Monolith while the game was still young.

Mario learns that infinite mana is a thing in Old School, while Felipe battles with Nico via webcam.

On game two Juan used Mana Vault to cast a Mind Twist, which reduced Mario’s hand to a single card. However, that card happened to be Ancestral Recall, which put Zanolli back in the game.

Mario then fortified his position with Energy Flux, Serendib Efreet, and Juzám Dijinn, and proceeded to take over the game.

Mario fights back with good cards and questionable footwear

On game three Juan again leveraged his Mana Vault to Mind Twist his opponent, but failed to draw lands, and just sat there while he was being pinged by his artifacts during each of his draw steps. Mario eventually recovered and cast a Nether Void, which further complicated Juan’s possibilities of going off with his combo, who ended up dying to his own Vaults.

Capdevila vs Echeverría: José Luis Echeverría took down José Luis Capdevila in two quick games. In the first bout, Echeverría mulliganed into a near perfect six, and closed the game in quick fashion thanks to a busted opening that involved Moxen, Serendib Efreet, Time Walk and Ancestral Recall.

Game two saw Echeverría start with a similar busted draw, involving multiple mana-producing artifacts, quick threats and several Red and Blue Elemental Blasts to prevent Capdevila from taking off.

Echeverría leverages his board position against Capdevila

Fernandez vs Sutherland: Camilo started off with a Kird Ape and a Mishra’s Factory to push through some early damage, but Thomas kept him in check with a couple of Sinkholes, until he deployed a Neviniyrral’s Disk. After he wiped the board, he cast a Juzám Djinn and a Sengir Vampire, which were too big for Camilo’s anemic board state to deal with; which prompted a concession.

On game two Camilo started off with a Concordant Crossroads, but failed to produce significant threats to make the investment worthwhile. Thomas. On the other hand, took advantage of the Enchant World to accelerate his various Orders and Hypnotic Specters, turning them sideways to victory.

Sutherland takes advantage of Camilo’s Concordant Crossroads to speed up a Hippie.

Goles vs Trazar: On game one both players wrestled to take the the upper hand, trading resources in the process. Trazer resolved an Erhnam Djinn, but Goles nicked it with Control Magic and bashed Felipe into submission.

Game two was a flurry of burn spells aimed to each other, with Goles taking the edge with a Serenidb Efreet, that attacked for lethal, but Trazar responded by using his Psionic Blast to tie the game, forcing two more games.

Trazar takes a sip to ponder his next play against Goles, who is sitting 9,550 Km away

Game three saw a dominant Trazar, who exerted early pressure and kept it up with burn spells and large creatures. Goles was constantly on the back foot, and couldn’t keep up with the amount of threats that Felipe presented.

In the final game, Goles came out the gates with an Early Serendib, but Trazar kept it at bay with a Maze of Ith. Goles quickly ran out of gas, and Felipe’s trolls and djinns mopped up what was left of the UR player in short order.

Andrés Hojman received a bye.

Round 3

Capdevila vs Reutter: In game one Capdevila started off strong with some early pressure in the form of Flying Men and Serendib Efreet, however he kept tapping out in order to apply pressure; which gave Juan the opportunity to power-up his Basalt Monolith and generate sufficient mana to cast a lethal Fireball.

In game two Capdevila tried to complicate his opponent by playing an Energy Flux, but Juan kept his cool and waited until José Luis tapped out to play this three-piece combo in a single turn and finish off his opponent.

Hojman vs Sutherland: In game one Hojman commenced by playing a Mox, Sol Ring, and Ivory Tower; and followed it up with a Moat to stop Sutherland’s Order of the Ebon Hand. Thomas tried to disrupt Andres’ hand with a Hymn To Tourach, which was met by a Spell Blast; but insisted with a three mana Mind Twist that binned a Chaos Orb and a Divine Offering. Believing that the coast was clear, the played a Nevinyrral’s Disk. Andrés untapped, sighed, and passed back. Thomas untapped, activated the Disk and followed up with multiple land destruction effects; leaving Andrés with a lonely strip mine as his only card on the battlefield. Thomas continued the onslaught with a Hypnotic Specter that produced a soft lock, and several turns later was he was able to seal the deal with a Juzám Djinn.

Thomas keeps Andrés in check with Disks and Sinkholes

In game two Andrés started off with a Land Tax and some additional non-creature permanents, and then followed up with a Serra Angel. Thomas wiped the board with a Nevinyrral’s Disk, and played a 4/4 flyer of his own to try to close the game. The Vampire hit a few times, but Andrés fought back with two additional Serra Angels; one of which was killed with a Drain Life, and the other traded with the Vampire. Thomas deployed some weenies that slashed Andres’ life down to five life, but were stopped by Andres’ Serendib Djinn before they could swing for lethal. Thomas was left without a good attack, but used two Sinkholes to blow up a couple of Andres’s non-islands, to take advantage of the Djinn’s drawback. This effectively locked Andrés from the game, who scooped a few turns after failing to draw additional lands to keep paying for the 5/6’s upkeep cost.

Echeverría vs Zanolli: In game one Mario started off with land, Mox Jet, and a Hymn to Tourach that dumped the only two lands in Echeverría’s hand, which had him saying “go” with a single Strip Mine for four turns in a row. Mario didn’t lose time and built a board position that was unsurmountable for José Luis, who quickly scooped.

Mario disrupts Echeverría and takes over with black magic

In game two Mario also aggressively attacked Echeverría’s hand with a pair of Hymn to Tourach; however, the reigning champ was prepared, and dealt 15 point of damage thanks to three Psychic Purges, and managed to deal the final five with some timely topdecked burn spells.

Game three was a slugfest. Mario stayed in the game thanks to Ancestral Recall and Library of Alexandria, but failed to produce a significant threat. José Luis slowly pecked his opponent’s total with Mishra’s Factories and a few burn spells, and until he was able to close the deal with a discarded Psychic Purge and a pair of Chain Lightnings.

Fernandez vs Trazar: Camilo was having a bad day. On game one Felipe put his Birds of Paradise to good use, ramping up Trolls and Djinns that smashed Fernandez’s life total down to zero.

Game two was almost a carbon copy of the first, with Trazar ramping up threats to take over a helpless Camilo.

Nicolás Goles earned a bye.

After three rounds of Old School, the standings were as follows:

Position	Name	Points
1	José Luis Echeverria	9
2	Thomas Sutherland	9
3	Mario Zanoli	6
4	Felipe Trazar	6
5	Nicolas Goles	6
6	Andrés Hojman	6
7	Juan Reutter	3
8	José Luis Capdevila	3
9	Camilo Fernandez	0

Premodern Magic

As soon as round three was over, the players swapped old school for premodern and were ready to battle. As with old school, the 9-player metagame was varied and did not disappoint. Aggro, combo, control and midrange strategies were present.

José Luis Capdevila opted for a Devourer-Altar combo, with several interesting changes from the more traditional builds. The first one is that is that it got rid of Red, since fling was not worth splashing. Instead, it relied on black for Duress and Lim-Dul’s Vault. It also swapped the Mind Stones for Sky Diamonds, since having colored mana was a must.

Jose Luis Capdevila’s UB Devourer

José Luis Echeverría sleeved a mono red ponza deck that reminded everyone of the Sped Red decks piloted by Mark LePine and Jamie Parke in Worlds 1999, but with the addition of Rishadan Port as an additional mana denial tool. The deck also had its touch of spice, with Veteran Brawlers making a flamboyant apparition.

Jose Luis Echeverría’s Ponza (One Sphere of Resistance is Missing)

Camilo brought a slower version of Landstill, that relied on Decree of Silence as an additional measure of control.

List of Camilo Fernandez’s Landstill

Nicolás Goles harnessed the power of Stiflenought to play a protect-the-queen strategy that has proven to be extremely popular. Meddling Mage was a strong choice as an additional way to protect his 12/12, as well as a disruptive measure against combo decks.

Nicolás Goles’ Stiflenought

Andrés Hojman chose a deck that was near and dear to his heart, and packed a Recurring Nightmare-Survival of the Fittest midrange deck that was overflowing with silver bullets to take care of his opponent’s game plan.

Andrés Hojman’s RecSur

Juan Reutter decided to go full-aggro and played a Sligh deck inspired in Ben Rubin’s 1998 Worlds deck. Black Vise combined well with the Deck’s Rishadan Ports; while Cursed Scroll and Grim Lavamancer provided late-game staying power.

Juan Reutter’s Sligh

Thomas Sutherland played a classic Replenish combo, somewhat similar to the version played by Tom Van de Loght in Worlds 2000. The deck did not include the Solitary Confinement and Squee package that was popularized by the 2019 European Premodern Championships, but played a more classic build with Seal of Removal against decks like Stiflenought and Reanimator. It also played Ancient Tomb to speed up its high-costed spell base; and it used Fact or Fiction to be able to grind against slower decks such as Landstill. The lack of Intuition was a controversial.

Thomas Sutherland’s Replenish

Felipe Trazar decided to take matters into his own hands and played a well-tuned version of Landstill, with a pair of Stifles to have another angle of interaction. Extra points were given for his splendid choice of Wrath of Gods.

Felipe Trazar’s Landstill

Mario rounded things up with Elves. The deck was all about flooding the board with fast, mana-producing creatures; and then taking over the game with big spells, such as Biorhythm and Overrun. Plow Under and Tangle Wire gave the deck some tools to interact with his opponent.

Mario Zanolli’s Elves

Round 4

Capdevila vs Zanolli: Mario started things aggressively with a flurry of elves and started attacking Capdevila. He tried to slow down his opponent with a Tangle Wire while he bought time to find one of the missing combo pieces, but couldn’t find it on time, and was killed by the small green dudes.

Game two was also a race of fast mana, with Mario reaching the finish line first when he tapped all of his elves to generate eight mana and resolved Biorhythm against a creatureless Capdevila.

Hojman vs Reutter: Andrés kept a questionable hand and started the match with a Basking Rootwalla that got quickly taken care of by one of Juan’s burn spells. Juan deployed some weenies and then proceeded to disrupt Andrés’ mana with Rishadan Port. The iconic land from Mercadian Masques made things worse for Hojman, who failed to play a three drop and did not draw a fourth land. Once his life total was low enough, Juan proceeded to finish him off with burn spells.

In game Andrés kept a one-lander with two Birds of Paradise. Juan followed the age-old adage and proceeded to bolt both them. Andrés failed to draw another land, and scooped to put an end to a a very anticlimactic match.

Goles vs Sutherland: On game one Thomas complicated Nico’s game plan with a Seal of Removal, and then proceeded to resolve an Attunement and started dumping enchantments. Thomas eventually cast a Replenish with enough free mana to play around Mana Leak, and took the game on the spot.

Nico brought the sideboard hate on game two, by playing a Winter Orb and two Tormod’s Crypt. The Orb was particularly annoying for Sutherland, since he couldn’t hardcast his four-mana enchantments in tandem, and died to a Meddling Mage that went the distance.

Game three was lightning fast, with Nico playing a turn-two Meddling Mage, naming Swords to Plowshares, and a turn-three stifled Dreadnought, which was enough to seal the game in two quick swings.

Fernandez vs Trazar: The first round saw a Landstill mirror. As these things usually go, Both players spent most of their turns playing lands and passing the turn. However, Trazar’s deck had a significant advantage thanks to Decree of Justice, which could go unanswered.

Game two was almost identical to the first one, with an easy win.

Echeverría earned a bye.

Round 5

Trazar vs Zanolli: In the first game Zanolli quickly deployed his hand to obtain a wide board presence, and then proceeded to punish Trazar’s lands with Plow Under and Tangle Wire. Mario took advantage of Trazar’s shields being down, and cast an Overrun to take the game.

Game two was pretty similar to the first one, with Mario playing a bunch of mana dorks and then shutting off Felipe’s mana with Winter Orb and Tangle Wire. When the coast was clear, Mario tapped eight mana to play Biorhythm, and sealed the match.

Capdevila vs Sutherland: Capdevila started off guns Blazing with an Ancient Tomb into a Sky Diamond, and then proceeded to play a City of Traitors, an Altar of Dementia, and then casted Tinker for a Phyrexian Devourer, and the game was over in a Blink of an Eye.

On game two Sutherland started off with some early interaction in the form of Seal of Cleansing, and then proceeded to discard some Parallax Tides and Waves together with an Opalaescence only to bring them back with Replenish. Capdevila Scooped.

On Game three Sutherland managed to slow Capdevila with a Seal of Cleansing, and used Attunement to discard a couple of Parallax Tides, while Capdevila set up his board by playing a bunch of artifact mana and two Altars of Dementia. Sutherland cast a non-lethal Replenish for a bunch of Parallax Tides, the Attunement and the Seal of Cleansing, but Capdevila shrugged it off by playing the third Altar of Dementia and Tinkering for the win.

Reutter vs Goles: Juan spurted aggressive 2/1s and Grim Lavamancers that pushed Nico’s life down to six. Goles responded by casting a Stifled Phyrexian Dreadnought, which threatened to swing for lethal. Juan peeled off a Price of Progress, and used two of his Grim Lavamancers to burn his opponent’s remaining life total.

Nico started game two with an Enlightened Tutor for Chill, but Juan had a timely Red Elemental Blast to deal with the enchantment. Juan then proceeded to apply some pressure on Goles’ life total, while denying his mana with a couple of Rishadan Ports and a Wasteland. Goles was severely mana-constrained, and ended up folding.

Echeverría vs Fernandez: Echeverría dedicated the first turns of game one to disrupt Fernandez’s mana base, and then played a couple of Cursed Scrolls. Camilo’s mana-hungry deck was unable to operate properly with little real estate, and was killed by Echeverría’s one mana artifacts.

Game two was almost a copy of the first one, with the exception that Veteran Brawlers showed up and even managed to attack a few times, before getting plowed by Camilo. However, this was not enough, and Camilo did not have sufficient mana to interact properly with José’s artifacts.

Hojman received a bye.

Round 6

Zanolli vs Reutter: Reutter took advantage of Zanolli’s lack of one-drops to chip in some damage with a couple of fast creatures; and then proceeded to keep Mario from taking off by killing most of his elves while keeping him off mana with Wasteland and Rishadan Port. Once Mario’s life total was low enough, Juan finished him off with a Lightning Bolt, an Incinerate and a Fireblast.

The second game saw both players trade resources during the early game, but Mario gained an edge by developing a small army and using it to cast Plow Under. Juan responded by casting Pyrokinesis, wiping Zanolli’s board. Mario was unable to recover, leaving the road clear for Juan to achieve an impressive 2-0, 2-0, 2-0 in the second half of the tournament.

Sutherland vs Hojman: In the first game Hojman slowed down his opponent with a Cabal Therapy, and then locked the game by playing an Avalanche Riders and a Recurring Nightmare, forcing Sutherland to Scoop, since he would not be able to play any of his four-mana spells for the rest of the game.

Game two also saw Hojman disrupting Sutherland’s hand with Duress and Cabal Therapy; but Sutherland responded by hardcasting Opalescence and Parallax Wave to permanently exile all of Andres’ creatures, as well as his Survival of the Fittest and Recurring Nightmare. Andrés scooped.

During game three Thomas tried developing his game plan by playing an Attunement. Andrés played a Recurring Nightmare and then followed up with Avalanche Riders, reander. Juan responded by casting Pyrokinesis, wiping Zanolliâa board. Mario was unable to recover, leaving the road clear fmor Juan to achieve an impressive 2-0, 2-0, 2-0 in the second nilf of the tournament.

During game three Thomas tried developing his game plan by playing an Attunement. Andrés played a Recurring Nightmare and then followed up with Avalanche Riders, ready to set up the lock that won him the first game; but Sutherland was lucky enough to topdeck a Swords to Plowshares that removed Darwin Kastle from the equation. Andrés scrambled to finish the game with a Ravenous Baloth, but the 4/4 beast was not big enough; and Thomas was able to activate Attunement a couple of times until he found a copy of Replenish, and proceeded to permanently remove Andres’ permanents from the game; and then attacked for lethal.

Sutherland goes through the motions after resolving a Replenish

Echeverría vs Capdevila: In game one Echeverría mounted a lackluster offesnse with a couple of creatures. He only had one red mana source, which limited the amount of spells he could cast. Capdevila was also slow, but managed to eventually find hid combo, and killed his opponent.

Game two saw Echeverría in full control, pressuring with early threats, and then blowing every single land and artifact Capdevila managed to play.

In the decider Echeverría started off with a Mogg Fanatic. Capdevila Duressed away a Pillage, and noted that his opponent had an Avalanche Riders that would make his life difficult. José played a Rishadan Port and tapped Capdevila’s Underground River for two turns, while his opponent played an Altar of Dementia and two Crystal Veins. The key turn came when Echeverría played his Avalanche Riders, and had to choose between blowing up one of Capdevila’s Crystal Veins or the Underground Sea. He opted for the latter. Capdevila untapped, played a City of Traitors and sacrificed both of his Crystal Veins to hardcast a Phyrexian Devourer to take over the game.

Trazar vs Goles: On game one both players sculpted their hands for a few turns, until Nico launched an assault with Meddling Mage and Phyrexian Dreadnought. Trazar had responses for both threats, and then proceeded to play a Humility that locked up the game.

The second game also went long, but Trazar gained the upper hand by using a Standstill to buy time, until he resolved a Humility with countermagic as a back-up. He then slowly proceeded to peck at Goles’ life total with Mishra’s Factory, and took over the match.

Camilo was having a bad day and decided to drop from the tournament.

After the sixth round, the final standings were the following:

Position	Name	Points
1	José Luis Echeverria	15
2	Mario Zanolli	12
3	Juan Reutter	12
4	Thomas Sutherland	12
5	Felipe Trazar	12
6	Andrés Hojman	9
7	José Luis Capdevila	9
8	Nicolás Goles	6
9	Camilo Fernandez	0

Chaos Orb Flips

With four players tied with twelve points and only three slots available for the knock-out portion of the tournament, Felipe, Juan, Mario and Thomas had to flip orbs in order to determine who would be left out of the competition.

After the pairs were randomly assigned, the first shootout was between Trazar and Sutherland. Trazar went first, and his Orb made a slow flip, and detoured mid-air to the left, aiming the target by one centimeter. Sutherland had luck on his side, and hit the target dead-center.

On the second key, Zanolli and Reutter were up. Mario -who had never flipped an orb before- paid the price for his lack of experience and failed by a couple of centimeters, while Juan used the furious “fingerslap” technique to hit a fast-rotating Orb that landed on target.

In the winner’s bracket, Sutherland landed a no-frills flip. Juan decided that he would try luck once more with the “fingerslap”, but hit the Orb on the edge, which caused it to go wide, almost landing off the table. This meant that Sutherland would be able to chose to play first on the semifinal.

In the loser’s bracket tensions were high, since either Trazar or Zanolli would go home empty handed. Felipe barely landed his flip, while Mario failed to land his for the second time in a row, and was forced to end his solid run.

After an intense Orb shootout, the top four was composed of José Luis Echeverría, Thomas Sutherland, Juan Reutter and Felipe Trazar.

Semifinals

Echeverría vs Trazar: In the first game Echeverría started with some Moxen and a Black Vise, and started punishing Trazar’s life total from the get-go. Trazar tried to develop his board with a Sedge Troll, but was not fast enough as Echeverría cast a Wheel of Fortune to restock his hand and close the game with burn spells.

On game two Trazar bursted through with a couple of accelerated Erhnam Djinns and started to beat down Echeverría, who couldn’t deal with them in an effective manner or race with threats of his own.

On game three Echeverría started puncturing Trazar’s life total with Black Vise and Ankh of Mishra, and then continued to pile up pressure with an Atog. Trazar tried to respond to the red creature by flipping a Chaos Orb, but failed and died shortly at the hands of a giant, grinning Atog.

Reutter vs Sutherland: On game one Sutherland used a pair of Hymn to Tourach to disrupt Juan’s hand. He then tried to keep up the pressure with a Hypnotic Specter, but Reutter scorched it with a Fireball. Sutherland then locked the game by playing a Nevinyrral’s Disk and a Chaos orb which he used as insurance against Juan’s combo, and then proceeded to reduce his opponents life to zero with a Order of the Ebon Hand and a Mishra’s Factory.

On game two, Reutter’s initial hand was as shown in the picture:

Juan Reutter’s starting seven in game two

He pondered for several minutes on what was the correct strategy to optimize the draw, and ended up playing the Volcanic Island, the Mana Vault and the Black Lotus to cast a turn-one Tetravus and proceeded to put the three tokens during his next upkeep. Thomas took a beating from the flyers, while Juan Transmuted his tapped Mana Vault for a Sol Ring. Thomas was able to cast a Nevinyrral’s Disk on turn four, and untapped with it at four life. On his turn he proceeded to activate the Disk, wiping the board; and casted two Sinkhole’s on Juan’s Volcanic Island and Tundra, leaving him with a single Underground Sea. Thomas then played an Order of the Ebon Hand and a Juzám Djinn, and closed the match.

After the game, Juan Ignacio and Thomas discussed about possible lines that would have won the game. They agreed that the best use of his starting hand was the one that he took, but they would have used the Transmute Artifact on the empty Tetravus to fetch a Trikselion, which would have been too much for Thomas to handle, forcing a third game.

Finals

Drone-eye view of the finals

The first game was a grindy affair. José Echeverría made the first move with a turn-two Ankh of Mishra. Thomas developed his board with a Mox Jet and a turn-two Hypnotic Specter, but José shot it down with a Lightning Bolt. Echeverría played a Serendib Efreet, which got Terrorized. Echeverría continued to build pressure with an Atog, a Mishra’s Factory and a Mox Ruby. Thomas reached four mana, and played a Juzám Djinn. José responded by attacking with his Atog, and sacrificed his Ankh of Mishra after it went unblocked. Thomas returned the favor by attacking with his Djinn and played a Sengir Vampire, which was killed with a Psionic Blast. Echeverría played a Serendib Efreet and chose to play defense. Thomas swung again with his Djinn and Echeverría double-blocked with his Factory and Efreet. Sutherland was happy trading his Juzám for a 3/4, since he played a second Sengir Vampire and an Order of the Ebon Hand. Echeverría was now on the back foot, and started taking damage from the 4/4. A second Hypnotic Specter joined the battle, and once the black creatures brought Echeverría’s life total down to three, Sutherland finished him off with a Drain Life.

Game two saw Echeverría start off with a Library of Alexandria, who used it to draw cards off it during the next two turns, cast some Moxen and then refill his hand with Ancestral Recall. Thomas used Demonic Tutor to search for a Dark Ritual, and then proceeded to cast a Mind Twist for four, shutting off José’s Library, but taking five in the process thanks to a Pychic Purge. Thomas continued to attack José’s hand with a Hymn to Tourach, but was responded with a Lightning Bolt to the dome by José. The Hymn dumped another Psychic Purge, bringing Thomas Down to seven life. Echeverría cast a Chain Lightning and passed the turn. Sutherland resolved a Hypnotic Specter and was hesitant to attack with it, fearing a third Psychic Purge would be too much for his four remaining life points. He decided to attack anyway, since he was in a precarious position and needed to put some pressure if we wanted to have any chance of winning; but Echeverría was all gas and revealed the third Psychic Purge as his only remaining card in hand.

On the decider Sutherland started off with a Swamp and passed. Echeverría pondered for a few seconds, and then slammed a Volcanic Island, two Moxes and a Serendib Efreet. It was then Thomas’ turn to go to the tank; since he had the option of racing the Efreet by using his Dark Ritual to accelerate a Juzám Djinn, or play a second turn Nevinyrral’s Disk to reset the board. After some consideration, he chose to play the artifact. Echeverría untapped, swung with his Efreet and then played a Chaos Orb, and activated it to try to destroy the Disk, but failed by less than one centimeter, making the crowd gasp and Sutherland sigh in relief. Thomas untapped, activated the Disk, and played an Order of the Ebon Hand; which was burned by a Chain Lightning. Sutherland missed a land drop, and had to content with casting a Hymn to Tourach that triggered a Psychic Purge, while Echeverría pressured his opponent’s life total with a Mishra’s Factory. Thomas drew the fourth land and played a Juzám Djinn which started taking down to swing unopposed after stripping Echeverría’s manland. Sutherland brought Echeverría down to five, and then cast a drain Life for two in order to stay out of burn range. Echeverría drew and offered the hand in concession, passing down the champion’s mantle to a new Shake winner.

Conclusions

2020’s Shake was an amazing celebration, and everyone had a great time. The idea of combining old school and premodern turned out to be a success, since each era of the early days of Magic was duly represented.

Also, each player brought their A-game, with creative and competitive decks that rang true to their play styles.

Thanks for the long read! We hope you enjoyed it.

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