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Relive the Action of Magic Spotlight: Dragons

April 14, 2025
Corbin Hosler

In Denver, Dragons flew—and so did Andrew Baeckstrom.

Tarkir: Dragonstorm recently hit the shelves. With that draconic set fresh in the minds of players, the Magic Spotlight Series rolled into Denver with the aptly named Magic Spotlight: Dragons drew old and new players alike for the rare Limited tournament.

The Magic Spotlight Series debuted in Atlanta earlier this year, with Nick Odenheimer winning the first event in style with Gruul Leyline in Standard. Next was Utrecht, where Raul Porojan won Orzhov Blink in Modern. The Spotlight Series is a unique offering because it offers competitors a very direct and simple path to the Pro Tour. If you make the Top 8, you make the Pro Tour. It's a formula that doesn't require any qualifying events or additional resources—if you can make it to the event, you can play for your chance at the Top 8 and the Pro Tour.

That draw proved undeniable to more than 1,200 players this weekend in Denver—not to mention the healthy contingent of old and new-school Magic players in the area. The result was the largest Limited event in years, with Tarkir: Dragonstorm taking center stage early. But the newest set only begins to tell the story of Magic Spotlight: Dragons.

Tarkir: Dragonstorm and the Love of Limited

"It feels like everyone came out for this one," marveled Limited enthusiast and Pro Tour regular Jody Keith, who would go on to have a very noteworthy tournament after that. "You don't get many chances like this to play Limited."



For longtime Magic competitors in attendance—as well as thousands of viewers at home—every other round of Magic Spotlight: Dragons felt like a trip down memory lane. The broadcast followed Hall of Famers Reid Duke and Luis Scott-Vargas through their Day One journeys. We were also treated to many of the best Limited players of the past two decades making their way through the event including Tom Martell, Sam Black, Shuhei Nakamura, Andrew Baeckstrom, as well as Ben Seck.

Grand Prix winner Larry Li traveled to his first major event in five years just for a chance to qualify for the Pro Tour playing Limited. A number of Team Sanctum of All members including Jason Ye and Nicole Tipple were competing late into Day One.

And then there was Mike Hron.

As the Limited legend made his way through Day One—undefeated—whispers preceded the quiet competitor as he worked his way through the field. Even in a field full of decorated current and former Pro Tour players, Hron stood out; "do you know who that is?" was uttered more than once as Magic past met Magic present. It's at this point you may be asking, well who is Mike Hron?


Mike Hron


Hron played in his first Pro Tour last century (Chicago, 1999), and his biggest accomplishment came at Pro Tour Geneva in 2007, where he—go figure—won in a Draft event. He then retired for a decade, came back out to a handful of events between 2013-16, and in that span won three more Limited titles at Grand Prix.

So, when he started stacking wins in Denver after prepping, which just consisted one Sealed run, two drafts and a $100 plane ticket, word got around. Not that anyone could stop him; Hron was one of four players—along with Joseph Nunez, Josh Morton, and Dallas Johnson—to finish Day One with an undefeated record on his way to the Top 8.

Of course, the Magic Spotlight Series is not just a big tournament. As an open-invite event, the room was filled with families and Magic enthusiasts of all ages. That helped create one of the more memorable moments of the weekend, where a very old and very used set of shock lands was gifted to.

The event also offered a chance for families to play together in the same tournament, which doesn't happen often if you're not the Ruel brothers or Brad Nelson and Corey Baumeister. More than one family played together. For one father who is used to cheering on his daughter, the event was an opportunity for Adam Fischer to stretch his until-now-retired Magic muscles—and he made the most of it.

Tarkir: Dragonstorm Takes Denver by... You Get It

Tarkir: Dragonstorm is proving enormously popular across the world as players flock to the powerful multicolor set inhabited by a number of new Dragons showing up across formats. But drafting a set where the default is three colors is not for the faint of heart, and with just so little time to practice beforehand Day One especially felt like anything went.

On Day Two, the variance of Sealed was replaced by Tarkir: Dragonstorm Draft—check out this Feature Draft pod on Sunday—and Pro Tour invitations were just a game or two away. That's when the pressure set in, and those who put in the hours (either over the last week or the last 30 years) were rewarded.

"I prioritized cards that were high-quality picks, and then anything that helps the mana," explained Eduardo Sajgalik, whose strong performance helped propel him to a ninth-place finish. "I definitely prioritize multicolor lands, because sometimes your pod doesn't open very many lands in your colors, and you won't always see very many."

The consensus among the top players was that Tarkir: Dragonstorm offered two basic paths for drafting. Either take mana-fixing cards and all the strongest multicolor cards you can—leading to a green or blue deck relying on Sibsig Appraiser—or play a fast two-color deck like red-white, relying on raw aggression and damage.

693622 693581 693678 Dragonstorm Globe Dragonbroods' Relic

It all came down to Dragon creatures and Dragonstorms. The finals were between two decks playing cards like Teeming Dragonstorm, Encroaching Dragonstorm, and Breaching Dragonstorm alongside a five-color pile of Dragons. To make this strategy work, cards like Dragonstorm Globe and Dragonbroods' Relic put in overtime.

Baeckstrom Bests the Top 8

After eight rounds of Sealed on Day One and two drafts that pushed the limits of a burgeoning format, the Top 8 was finally set. It was a collection of 40-card connoisseurs, befitting the first Magic Spotlight Series to feature Limited play.

  • Andrew Baeckstrom
  • Lee Webb
  • Josh Morton
  • Mike Hron
  • Christian Valenti
  • Nathaniel Hoffman
  • Jody Keith
  • Charles Wong

It was a talented mix of new and veteran talentand a very strong showing for some well-traveled grinders. Christian Valenti is a respected name on the regional circuit in the United States, and after playing in but failing to requalify for the Pro Tour last year, like Keith he came to Colorado with the goal of punching his ticket back there. With some razor-tight matches along the way—including a nailbiter late against Sajgalik—Valenti was able to make good on his goal and now gets to look forward to playing in a hometown Pro Tour in Las Vegas later this summer.

Hoffman and Morton are regular competitors who added their biggest career highlight in Denver, while Wong follows up a strong performance at Pro Tour Aetherdrift with a Top 8 that earned them another PT invite.

But the weekend belonged to the hometown kids. Hron's perfect run on Saturday translated into a Top 8 and a ticket to Vegas, before ending in the Top 8 to Morton. But when Hron fell, Baeckstrom took over.

The game designer and high-level player was once a force on the Grand Prix and Pro Tour circuit—he has four Grand Prix Top 8s to his name with a win at GP Providence in 2017 alongside Limited teammates Martin Jůza and Corey Burkhart. In Denver, his Top 8 path saw him beat Nathaniel Hoffman in the quarterfinals before working through a determined Valenti in a grueling semifinals.

Baeckstrom's last opponent would be Keith, who was fresh off what he called one of the best series of draws in his life to beat Morton.


The finals showed what Tarkir: Dragonstorm Limited was all about: playing a lot of colors and a lot of Dragons. Encroaching Dragonstorm was the MVP of the finals, as both players used and reused it to pull lands out of their deck. By the time Baeckstorm's remaining army of fliers was able to seal the deal, he had pulled every single land out of his deck.

But he had the fliers, and Keith did not. And with that, Andrew Baeckstrom—who came out of retirement for the opportunity to draft again—earned the title of champion of Magic Spotlight: Dragons.

Looking Ahead

There's more Magic Spotlight Series ahead. Next up is Magic Spotlight: Secret Lair, featuring Modern in Indianapolis, on May 30–June 1! Check out this article for all the details.

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