ECQ (East Coast Qualifier) RECAP
Format: Constructed (Best 2-of-3)
Saturday, May 11th was the first Exodus TCG East Coast Qualifier held in Newark, NJ! It was hosted at Computer and Gaming Universe where players competed in 3 rounds of Swiss with cut to Top 4. Rounds had a 50-minute time limit and none of the games went to time. There was no time limit for Top 4 playoffs. Quick shout-out and special thanks goes to Emissary Anthony and Head Judge Andrew for organizing the event.
As far as performance, only players with a score of X-1 and above made it into the top Top Cut. Top 3 received an invitation to the World Championship this July as well as a metal certificate in recognition of their accomplishment. There were some extremely interesting decks running around; players had been testing and saving some surprises for an important tournament such as this (as others may also be doing for this weekend's WCQ). So, today we're excited to explore some of those deck lists! We present to you — Top 3:
1st Place
Zachary M.
Rare Dragons
Creatures:
1x Chief Bandit
2x Tanglewood Snag
2x Dream Blossom Dragon
2x Embershard Siren
2x Ephemra the Star Shield
Symmetry:
2x Glimpse of the Sanctuary
2x Crystal Cove
2x Vortex
2x Unsummon
2x Chains
2x Drifters Dueling
1x Reversion
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Main Deck: 22 cards
Energy Deck: 71 cards
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2nd Place
Sean P.
Mass Freeze
Creatures:
1x Ephemra the Star Shield
2x Cierice the Liquescent Icicle
2x Chief Bandit
2x Awakened Star Glacier
2x Starship Galacia
Symmetry:
1x Leech
1x Vortex
2x Glimpse of the Sanctuary
2x Drifters Dueling
2x Crystal Cove
2x Chains
2x Unsummon
2x Reversion
Harmony Rare:
Glacial Drift, the Lost Depths / Abyssal Ridge Eeventide's Gallows
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Main Deck: 23 cards
Energy Deck: 81 cards
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3rd Place
Omar F.
All-Creature Beatdown
Creatures:
2x Embershard Siren
2x Mistrai Driftwood
2x Vastion the World's Hollow
2x Alana the Star Formation
2x Amethyst Voidcap
2x Cascil the Unvanishing Paladin
2x Plaguespire Calamity
2x Lantern Leaflore
1x Paladin's Parable
1x Ephemra the Star Shield
1x Starbound Glacier
1x Emberia, Bringer of Infernos
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Main Deck: 20 cards
Energy Deck: 64 cards
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Our 1st Place ECQ Champion was running Dragon Aggro—a bit different than the Common Dragon build we were expecting! Ephemra the Star Shield gives benefits in the opening hand. Embershard Siren combos nicely with Dream Blossom Dragon (the original reigning king of Dragons from Galaxy Tides) for more energy popping destruction. Tanglewood Snag is another Dragon that consistently destroys energy with its Ability outside of Treefolk decks. The symmetries included in Zach's list give the deck a rock-solid backbone. The real surprise here is the inclusion of a single copy of Chief Bandit! Sure enough, Shardfolk decks were running rampant at the Qualifier, and this single tech made all the difference in those matchups.
Coming in 2nd Place, we have Sean! He was running his oft-tested & highly tuned Freeze deck, which utilized the terrifying Harmony Rare, Abyssal Ridge. His list kept true to Shardfolk aside from a single copy of Ephemra. Starship Galacia and Awakened Star Glacier quickly raise the freeze count on board while setting up for Cierice's Crystal Guardbreak Ability. Meanwhile, Chief Bandit reaps all the benefits, and if the HR is awakened...GG. His deck's symmetry selection also ran 2x Drifters Dueling, further solidifying the fact that the card is an all around powerful pick and not just a toy for Control decks.
Omar is our 3rd Place Finalist! He stormed onto the scene with an All-Creature Beatdown deck that rumor says was built just 5 minutes before the tournament began... Despite losing round 1, this All-Creature deck saw some good matchups. It faced Shardfolk in Round 2 and won, before going up against an All-Symmetry deck in Round 3. The deck features creatures that ramp energy and found that it didn't really need generic symmetry support. We definitely didn't see this one coming (we doubt anyone did)!
For those interested, here are some of the other decks that were played at the tournament:
Runeglyphis
Creatures:
1x Runeglyphis, Eeventide's First Key
1x Tanglewood Snag
1x Ordained Dragon
1x Roiling Storm Thunderhymn
1x Clock Dragon
1x Calligraphy Inkveil
2x Slither Drake
2x Bedragoth
2x Drangelic Outcross
Symmetry:
2x Leech
2x Vortex
2x Chains
2x Unsummon
2x Dragonis Guild Citadel
2x Glimpse of the Sanctuary
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24 cards total
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All-Symmetry
Symmetry:
2x Treeforge Complex
2x Star Struggle
2x Carter, Champion of Cardsmithing
2x Reevaluate
2x Glimpse of the Sanctuary
2x Isles of the Morning Star
2x Traverse the Treetops
2x Vortex
2x Chains
2x Crystal Cove
Harmony Rare:
Glacial Drift, the Lost Depths / Abyssal Ridge Eeventide's Gallows
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20 cards total
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Hand Control
Creatures:
2x Harpoon Halberdier
2x Emberia, Bringer of Infernos
1x Chief Bandit
1x Lantern Leaflore
Symmetry:
1x Treeforge Complex
2x Drifters Dueling
2x Cryocrest Crags
2x Crystal Cove
2x Nebulawood Barrier
2x Glimpse of the Sanctuary
2x Unsummon
2x Reversion
1x Vortex
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22 cards total
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Energy Freezer
Creatures:
2x Crystalline Stag
2x Knight of the Frozen Claymore
2x Chief Bandit
Symmetry:
2x Chains
2x Crystal Cove
2x Drifters Dueling
2x Cryocrest Crags
2x Leech
2x Reversion
1x Unsummon
1x Main Deck Strike
1x Reevaluate
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21 cards total
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Other prizing awarded included:
- Champion Playmat to 1st Place
- Galaxy Tides Booster Box to 1st & 2nd Place
- Converging Chasms Booster Box to 1st-4th Place
- Artist-signed cards to 1st-8th Place
- Over 30 Promo cards to each participant
- Posters of Set 3 & 4 to each participant
- Additional Artist-signed cards raffled off
Congratulations to Zach, Sean, and Omar, for placing Top 3 and securing their spot at Worlds 2019! Well done to everyone who participated in this Qualifier tournament.
Ranking News
Congratulations to our current Top 10 players:
1st: Zachary M. — 89 points
2nd: Anthony S. — 70 points
3rd: Sean P. — 65 points
4th: Edward B. — 63 points
5th: Lucas R. — 61 points
6th: Alex P. — 57 points
7th: Victor M. — 49 points
8th: Zach C. — 44 points
9th: Bellah B. — 41 points
10th: Darren C. — 34 points
The ECQ awarded participating players with 10X more points than a normal tournament.
As expected, rankings shifted massively with 1st-3rd on Rankings now being players
from the Qualifier, as well as some others farther down the list. Players can look forward to
another big shift following this weekend's WCQ (West Coast Qualifier) in Los Angeles.
It's stacking up to be a big event this year and was even featured the other day on the Strategicon e-mail blast. Whether you will be playing for points, prizes, invitations or all of the above -- it's going to be a fiercely fun time with incredible participation gifts in store. We hope everyone on the East Coast had a blast at their event and we look forward to seeing those who plan to compete in the West Coast one!
— Exodus TCG Organized Play Team
Existence Games
