How did Jennifer-Rose Holloway, the newly crowned Regional Champion from the ANZ Magic Super Series in Melbourne, describe her last few days?

"A mix of unreality and obscene mundanity."

That's certainly one of the more unique descriptions I've heard from a Regional Championship winner, but it's understandable given her incredible run through a Standard Regional Championship that everyone in the region has been aiming at for the last several months. It took her half a dozen RCQs to finally make the Top 8 and earn a seat at the event. Even then, this college student's expectations were modest after a busy academic year had eaten into prep time.

Not only that, but this was her first-ever Regional Championship, fresh off her first-ever Regional Championship Qualifier six months ago.

All in all, Holloway's goal when she sat down for Round 1 was straightforward. She recalled the words of Rei "cftsoc" Zhang about how rare and impressive it is to simply qualify for a Regional Championship much less do well in one. Holloway just wanted to have a good time playing with her Sanctum of All teammates and maybe pick up a few wins along the way.

What she did not plan on was finishing eleven grueling rounds, holding the Regional Championship trophy, and earning a seat at the Pro Tour and Magic World Championship 31. And still, she had a handful of key school assignments due on Monday.

"When I won, I got messages from so many people, including friends and family I didn't know were watching, members of my team, and pros I've watched for over ten years," she explained. "But that was mixed with having to remember to do my next assignment and go to my lecture, where nothing had changed, except for me being a little further behind. I thought I'd have Sunday to do homework!

"It feels like I've become Hannah Montana; my professors don't know anything about my weird hobby and just want me to show up to class and do my assignments, but that weird hobby is now full of opportunity and responsibilities that feel fully disconnected from my material world."

It's a lighthearted comparison but not inaccurate: the alter ego that the character Miley Stewart played on the international stage. Now, after her memorable run with Dimir Midrange, Holloway will do something similar.

🏆Congratulations to Jennifer-Rose Holloway, the winner of the ANZ Super Series Final in Melbourne!🏆

Jennifer-Rose's Dimir Midrange saw off everything Standard threw at her this weekend, culminating in a blistering win in the championship match. GGWP! pic.twitter.com/MK8FvghP11

— PlayMTG (@PlayMTG) May 11, 2025

"It hasn't really set in yet. My brain goes to rest, then I remember that I just won an RC, queued for the Pro Tour, and queued for Worlds. It's so hard to comprehend," she reflected. "It wasn't like my dream to play in either; both just seemed impossible to me. Going into the Regional Championship, I had what I thought were pretty high expectations: to win at least two matches!"

With university assignments due and a fresh metagame upended by Cori-Steel Cutter facing her down, nerves were high ahead of Holloway's Regional Championship, and her expectations were modest. It didn't help that her testing didn't yield anything conclusive; she didn't have the bandwidth to learn the ins and outs of the Izzet mirror, and the prior week's Regional Championship results showed that trusty Dimir Midrange had game against most of the metagame, with one notable struggle. Holloway was undeterred.

Huge congratulation to Jennifer-Rose Holloway (@JegSpiserEnAvis) for winning RC Melbourne! She put a lot of effort into preparing with Dimir Midrange and the work paid off pic.twitter.com/Zu1inor0Jb

— Sanctum of All (@SanctumOfAll) May 11, 2025

"During our testing, I constantly felt like I was on the wrong decklist. I chose to play Boomer Dimir, as myself and my friend Paras have called it for a little while now. Honestly, my hot take is that—even after winning the event—people shouldn't play it," Holloway revealed in a twist. "It truly suffers against Cori-Steel Cutter. Plus, you have to be the type of person who can handle your deck drawing only two lands, then getting flooded … the joys of 25 lands. But most importantly, you have to be the kind of person who, when everyone 'correctly' tells you the deck is bad and you should be playing Cutter instead, thinks, 'Yeah, but the vibes are simply better on Dimir.'

"Those are the freaks, lovingly, who, like me, should be playing the deck."

Well, if that's not a ringing endorsement, I don't know what is.

In all seriousness, Holloway's run with Dimir—including her 1-1 record against Izzet Prowess—showcased the lengths to which the players are going to find an edge in Standard. Cori-Steel Cutter is undeniably the premier card of the format, but beneath the surface, things have been bubbling as players look to gain an edge. The Top 8 in Melbourne showcased a pair of Prowess decks, two Jeskai Oculus (another returning Standard standout), Orzhov Pixie, a breakout Gruul Delirium list, and an unexpected Rakdos Midrange deck with Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate and Phyrexian Dragon Engine.

There's a lot to take in when considering a deck for your first Regional Championship. In the end, it was the "Boomer Dimir" deck that felt most comfortable in Holloway's hands, and her wins stacked up throughout the day. As the Top 8 grew closer, Holloway felt like she was watching it happen to someone else; she was still caught up in how her own play could be tightened. But the wins kept coming, and then came the win-and-in. And she swiftly won.

"That part was the strangest feeling, that I was probably in the Top 8 and going to the Pro Tour!" recalled Holloway, who sat in stunned silence for a few moments before checking the flood of messages. "In that moment, where Sanctum was congratulating me and I was celebrating, I locked my phone and put it in front of me just to try and comprehend what I was feeling, mostly to no avail. That moment was bookended by a friend request from Jason Ye and a message asking me if I wanted to be a part of Sanctum's Pro Tour testing.

"I described the moment to a friend as feeling so unreal it was like in one of the sports movies where the kid sinks the final hoop, just for the national coach to walk onto the court and tell him to pack up and get ready for nationals, just before a cut to the credits. From there, I celebrated with my local teammates as they finished their games. I went home exhausted and tried (and failed) to sleep."

It was the tournament run of a lifetime, and Holloway deflected much of the credit to her Sanctum of All teammates.

"The three main people who helped me prepare were Paras, my university friend who qualified before me, and Suzannah and Madeline from Brisbane who flew down and were simply incredible. They looked after me and kept my morale high all weekend," Holloway said. "I got them each to sign one of my Faerie Masterminds on Day Two, as they were the 'masterminds' of my success. I just felt like they were so behind me the whole time I wanted them literally there with me. And the Sanctum Discord in general has been so amazingly open and helpful to me, never having me feel like an outsider or unimportant.

"After being presented with the trophy, I was crying backstage when I looked at my phone and saw a friend request from Nicole Tipple, my favorite Sanctum member whose Pixie Guide has brought me many wins during the RCQ season, and the message 'Welcome to the Sanctum Worlds team.' That simply caused me to cry a little more. And finally, I want to shout out the most important person both for this event and my life: my loving partner Ericka. She couldn't come to the event due to her long-term health issue, but that didn't stop her from constantly telling me 'You'll win this' every day for three weeks before the event."

So, what's next for this Regional Championship winner and soon-to-be Pro Tour and World Championship competitor? Well, as you might have guessed, her final exams at university. But after that? There's a new world of Magic possibilities.

"My future was most plotted out in service of an academic career, but this has created a new opportunity I would love to explore," she explained. "I'm hoping to make some content from the event, post some VOD reviews of my broadcasted games, write a tournament report and maybe a guide. I'm not sure if I can become a content creator or even want to, but I just want to put out some content to return all the amazing support and articles and videos and guides all the amazing members of this community post to help each other."