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The Week That Was: From Team Scrapheap to Regional Champion

October 24, 2025
Corbin Hosler

Vinnie Fino is no stranger to the Regional Championship. Heading into the latest Regional Championship for the United States in Houston last weekend, he was already a veteran of the circuit, putting in the time and the work on the way to the Pro Tour.

"I've played in most of the RCs, but I never did better than X-6 after making it to Day Two," he explained. "Honestly, going in I just wanted to make the Top 32 and get a foil Aerith Gainsborough promo—everything else was a plus."

It was a modestly ambitious goal for the Los Angeles native. He was looking to take the next step in his competitive Magic journey after a year that left him feeling like he'd turned the corner, even if the splashy result hadn't yet come. The last six months of Magic have been almost "a dream come true" for Fino, and he has seen the improvements in his game in real time. As he put it, he's finally started getting good enough to "enjoy playing and be sad about the results."

But the Regional Championship in Houston—featuring the same Modern format as the Pro Tour from a fortnight earlier—was approaching, and Fino found himself with a strong pull of where to go in the weeks leading up to the event.

That's when Eli Loveman, Joseph Puglisi, and the rest of Team Scrapheap, a squad that keeps cropping up in the competitive scene, came into the picture.

"Testing was really rough for me before the event, to be honest," Fino said. "I have to shout out Eli Loveman for asking Joseph to add me to the team, and thank Joseph for adding me. They just let me watch and learn. And, oh, did I learn."

By the end of the Regional Championship in Houston, Fino was the one teaching: he reeled off a perfect 7-0 start on Day One with one of the breakouts of the tournament, Jeskai Blink, dropping just four games along the way, before taking his first loss. He then won his next six rounds before drawing into the Top 8 in Round 15 with a handshake and more than a little sense of amazement; preparing for a Top 8 matchup is very different than picking up your promo and looking forward to the next event.

But when that moment came, Fino even surprised himself: he wasn't very nervous at all.

"This is going to sound crazy, but after I locked the Top 8, I had such a great feeling that I was going to win, I even made a post on X saying 'I'm 11-1 and I'm going to bring home the trophy,'" he revealed. "The cards came as they needed, and I was lucky enough to make the correct plays when needed. I felt unstoppable!"

And he couldn't be stopped. Fino's Top 8 run looked shockingly similar to his testing run: Jesse Hampton in the mirror in the quarterfinals, Collins Mullen on Amulet Titan, and then John Puglisi-Clark in an all-Team Scrapheap finals.

"Making it to the finals was amazing! I was able to meet my friend and teammate John there and I was able to win," Fino said. "I feel like the deck wanted to win, you know? So I let the deck treat me right and made the best plays I could to set myself up to succeed.

"I was going to play Goryo's starting off with Jonny Guttman's list from the Top 8 of Pro Tour Edge of Eternities, but I really didn't vibe with the deck all that much. In a lot of games, I had a bunch of Goryo's targets in hand with no discard outlets, or a bunch of copies of Goryo's Vengeance in hand with no targets in graveyard. So I ended up locking in Jeskai Blink maybe two weeks before the RC. I played six to seven leagues with honestly some good results."

It was a sign of things to come.

1 Thundering Falls 1 Elegant Parlor 3 Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd 4 Flooded Strand 4 Arid Mesa 2 Ephemerate 3 Scalding Tarn 1 Lightning Bolt 1 Hallowed Fountain 2 Arena of Glory 1 Mountain 3 Teferi, Time Raveler 1 Island 4 Consign to Memory 1 March of Otherworldly Light 4 Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer 2 Sacred Foundry 1 Meticulous Archive 1 Wrath of the Skies 4 Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury 3 Prismatic Ending 4 Solitude 2 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker 2 Plains 1 Steam Vents 4 Quantum Riddler 1 Surgical Extraction 2 Subtlety 3 Mystical Dispute 1 Force of Negation 1 Ghost Vacuum 4 Obsidian Charmaw 2 Wrath of the Skies 1 Celestial Purge

What stands out most about Fino's confidence and victory is how much it traces back to a few conversations in the testing group.

"I have to thank Slaxx (Jesse Hampton) for telling me that I belonged on the team when I felt like I didn't and didn't want to bring the team down by being a part of it," Fino said. "I also need to shout out Ivan Espinosa, my best friend and brother, and my boy Carlo Negrete for telling me to make sure I have fun and not stress out about things I can't control."

Fino's victory is the latest for Team Scrapheap, which now adds another Regional Championship title to its name after Percy Fang's victory in Hartford earlier this year and other recent deep runs. The Regional Championship in Houston was a crowning moment for the squad, and now they have another Pro Tour competitor to add to the roster.

"I think the team has a really effective way of communicating ideas and making sure no idea is just shot down, which really helped me because I had a lot of questions due to not being able to play as much because of work. It was also nice to be treated as an equal with everyone when I still feel like they're leagues above me."

Now, Team Scrapheap will turn their attention to Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed in Richmond. But for Fino, that's just the beginning of a Magic calendar that's suddenly starting to fill up quite quickly. His victory in Houston qualified him not just for every Pro Tour of next year, but the Magic World Championship 32 as well.

It still felt surreal to Fino as he jetted back home to work and responsibilities; late-night flights and games of Magic were hard to contextualize—or even fully remember—in the blur of emotions that accompanied his win. But as he began to consider what this trip meant to his Magic journey, the wheels started turning again. Fino's victory in Houston wasn't just a lucky weekend or a fortunate deck choice—it was the culmination of months and years of dedication, all coming together for the perfect tournament in the way that always seems to happen, eventually, for those who put in the passion that Fino has. Now, he'll take that to the Pro Tour.

"I don't have any Pro Tour experience, so next year will be my first, and hopefully not my last," he said. "Looking ahead, I'm going to make sure I keep having fun and playing great vibes-based decks. I'm also going to make a Jeskai blink guide in time for Vegas."

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