High-level Magic tournaments can be exhausting in a way that few things can be. Regional Championships, for instance, are often two days of intense competition culminating in a Top 8 playoff, all with an invitation to the World Championship on the line.

It's exhilarating but grueling work; there's a reason that every "How to win a Regional Championship" article begins with "Get enough sleep and drink enough water." For all the mental exertion it takes to win a premier Magic tournament, the travel, uncomfortable chairs, and packed convention halls, it takes an oft-underestimated amount of physical endurance—which means winners typically sleep like a baby in the nights following their whirlwind victories.

It didn't quite work out that way for Randall Litman.

"I awoke in the middle of the night on Sunday, and I legitimately had to check to make sure that I had indeed won the Regional Championship and that this wasn't a dream," he recalled. "It still doesn't feel real."

Litman was half-right. He had indeed won the Regional Championship—the Face to Face Tour Weekend that hosted Canada's Regional Championship—but it was a dream.

A dream come true, that is.

🏆Randall Litman triumphs in Calgary!🏆

Litman defeats 377 players and is the new Canadian Regional Champion! The World Championships and Pro Tour awaits! Good luck Randall

Full Standings and Decklists: https://t.co/IuMie7gO8b

Become a champion! View F2F Tour Events coming… pic.twitter.com/mrgIcG69Yk

— Face to Face Games (@FaceToFaceGames) November 18, 2024

"I started playing casual, kitchen table Magic in 2005. Around 2010, I decided I wanted to play more competitively in tournaments. I got close at an Innistrad PTQ before taking a bit of a break from Magic after my son was born. Making it to a Pro Tour has been my ultimate—maybe even lofty—goal in Magic for a very long time," Litman reflected. "Worlds wasn't even on the vision board."

Midnight wakeups aside, things could not be going better for the 35-year-old Calgary native. He's spent the last week celebrating a victory that he's dreamed about but never considered possible. From his origins at a Ninth Edition Prerelease, he eventually made the jump to competitive play with a memorable midnight Rise of the Eldrazi tournament where he claimed victory with Mono-Green Eldrazi Ramp, and he's been hooked on the tournament scene ever since.

A teenage Litman may not have considered the Pro Tour in his future at that point, but unlikely things happen all the time. For instance, Litman's Round 9 opponent at the Regional Championship was someone he had played one other time in his life at that Ninth Edition Prerelease he attended years ago.

I don't know what the odds of that are, but I do know that those who have followed Litman's progress since his return in 2023 would say that his Regional Championship performance was no statistical fluke. Litman has been grinding events with various iterations of the Archfiend of the Dross deck he's piloted for many months now. He qualified for the Regional Championship with Rakdos Vampires and felt confident in the hundreds of reps he had with Rakdos midrange decks utilizing Archfiend. He wouldn't have predicted winning the entire thing, but going in, Litman knew he had given himself the best opportunity possible to seize that Pro Tour dream with an additional bonus: his son might get to watch him play at Pro Tour Aetherdrift.

"This is a major milestone for me. As I said, making it to the Pro Tour has been a goal of mine for a very long time, and not only was I able to achieve that, but I was able to punch my ticket for Worlds. I am thrilled to play in my first Pro Tour in Chicago; hopefully it is the first of many."

It's a good time for Litman to board the train. Pro Tour Aetherdrift is coming on February 21–23 at MagicCon: Chicago, which will also feature a host of cool, unique printings of cards like Lightning Bolt, Questing Druid, Sudden Edict, and more available through the Secret Lair Spectacular and the other scheduled events taking place at the convention.

For Litman, Pro Tour Aetherdrift will be yet another opportunity to dust off his Archfiends. While it won't be the Pioneer (or Explorer) format that Litman has put so much work into over the last year in both tabletop and on MTG Arena—Pro Tour Aetherdrift will be Standard Constructed and Aetherdrift Draft—it is still a format where Archfiend of the Dross is not just legal but very good.

And it's been very good to Litman.

I could spend hours describing this deck and why it served Litman so well at the Regional Championship—or I can get out of the way and let him explain.

"The majority of my testing was done online playing Explorer on MTG Arena," Litman said. "I already had tons of reps playing Rakdos with Archfiend prior to the printing of Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber, so I felt very confident with my ability to pilot the deck.

"I have long been a fan of Archfiend of the Dross in Pioneer. I played Grixis Metamorphic Alteration at the last two Pioneer Regional Championships because I just loved the interaction between Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and Archfiend of the Dross. When I saw the preview for Unholy Annex, I was very excited that the deck I had been running for some time was going to get a massive upgrade in a card that seemed to be almost like a black version of Fable. I got my playset on release day and started testing various Demon builds immediately. To me, the tools from Rakdos seemed to be the best and most consistent. After the American and European Regional Championship results came in, I predicted that the top three decks in Calgary would be Phoenix, Demons, and Rakdos Aggro. I fine-tuned my list specifically for those matchups. Ironically, I only played against Demons twice and Rakdos Aggro and Izzet Phoenix once, though Phoenix came in the finals."

The other standout new addition to the winning decklist is Unstoppable Slasher. It punches above its weight and can take over games on its own. It fits perfectly into the grindy playstyle that Litman has developed over four Regional Championship qualifications.

The difference this time, besides a perfectly suited decklist and game plan to JundRakdos them out? Litman says it's his mental game, but not the kind that involved selecting which card to Thoughtseize.

"Before the tournament started, a friend of mine—shout out to Max—messaged me to wish me good luck and shared with me some strategies about manifesting a complete victory for myself and just focusing on playing perfectly. To be obsessed with the decisions I had control over and to disregard things that were outside of my control," Litman explained. "This type of mindset was not a new concept to me. My wife, Diane, has demonstrated to me many times in the fourteen years we've been together that if you set these big, lofty goals that seem impossible but put your mind and focus into them, it is possible to achieve them. I'd never thought to apply this thought process to a tournament, but throughout the weekend, I just kept telling myself that I was well prepared and that this would be my time.

"I don't know if I truly ever believed it—even going into the finals—but reflecting back, I think that this mindset was a driving force for my positive results."

Randall Litman and his trusty Archfiend won an invitation to the World Championship as well as the upcoming Pro Tour Aetherdrift.