This weekend, 168 of the best players from across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand gathered in the city of Melbourne to take part in the ANZ Super Series Final, the regional championship for the Australia/New Zealand region. The format was Standard, and in addition to the thousands and thousands of dollars of prize money that was up for grabs, players were also competing for Pro Tour slots - not to mention an invitation to the World Championship as well. When all was said and done, Melbourne local Brennan Crawford, in his third RC Top 8, emerged victorious and claimed the trophy!
In the finals, Crawford had his work cut out for him as he faced off against another Melbourne loca, Nathan Basser. Basser was playing Temur Analyst, one of the most powerful decks in the entire format, but across three tense games, Crawford was able to triumph with his Four-Colour Legends deck and in doing so took down the tournament and claimed the Worlds invitation.
The Top 8 clearly represented that Standard is a place where you can succeed with a very wide variety of decks. While two players each played Four-Colour Legends (Brennan Crawford, Max Bracken) and Temur Analyst (Nathan Basser, Rowan Millers), the remaining Top 8 slots were filled with aggressive decks like Gruul Calamity (Ben Tudman) and Bant Toxic (Zen Takahashi), to tried-and-true Esper Midrange (Jeremy Mackney), all the way through to the much slower Azorius Control (Shaun Henry). Standard really does seem to be a format where you can pick a deck you like and be rewarded for practice and preparation.
While Boros Convoke was the most-played deck at the tournament, it didn't have a hugely successful weekend. Only two Boros players managed to make it into the Top 16, and while Azorius Control was also reasonably popular amongst players, it had trouble converting and was not well-represented high in the standings outside the one Top 8 competitor that played the deck. Temur Analyst, however, was very consistent, and may be emerging as the deck to beat in Standard moving forward.
Across both Saturday and Sunday, those who had come to Melbourne enjoyed not just the competition of the regional championship but also the other tournaments, side events, and everything else that was going on as part of the weekend. Events like these aren't just the best way to test your skill against the best players in your region - they're also a terrific way to connect with your regional Magic community, make new friends, and celebrate the best of what Magic has to offer. If this sounds like the sort of thing you'd like to experience, have a look at where the next qualifier near you is taking place!
