From the beginning, Linden Koot knew this was what he wanted to do.
When he was a 13-year-old middle schooler, his friend introduced him to Magic. That was the same year that the Amonkhet and Ixalan blocks were released. While many teenagers might scoff at the idea of picking up a card game and heading to a game store on the weekend, it only took Koot a few games to make up his mind.
"Once I was in, I knew that this was what I wanted to play and make my hobby," he recalled. "My competitive journey would start very quickly, and that part of the game hooked me immediately. I would, in the coming years, participate in many local events and begin participating in Grands Prix, attending the ones in Vancouver and Portland."
It's not an uncommon path so much as it is an uncommon amount of time getting there. Sure, we know about wunderkinds like Nathan Steuer who rose to prominence at an early age, but overall very few young players—or very few people—have both the decisiveness and the dedication to rise through the ranks. But Koot did just that, and when tabletop play returned several years ago, his hard work paid off when he made the Top 8 at a 2023 Regional Championship in Edmonton, where he earned his first-ever Pro Tour invitation.
Koot picked up Magic at 13, competed alongside international players shortly after, notched a Regional Championship Top 8 appearance at 19, then traveled to Spain for the Pro Tour. What could he do to celebrate turning 21 that could possibly top the impressive list of achievements acquired in such a short time?
The Koot stands alone!
— Face to Face Games (@FaceToFaceGames) May 25, 2025
Linden Koot is the Canadian Regional Champion besting 476 other Players!
Good luck at the Pro Tour and World Championships!
Become a champion! Come to an F2F Tour Event near you! https://t.co/hvGNDshAd8
Full Standings and Decklists:… pic.twitter.com/3NvMIQYqym
The storybook run has continued for Koot. And it does so not just because of his level of dedication. The Surrey native also shouted out his testing team as key to his incredible run over two grueling days of Standard Constructed with Azorius Omniscience, one of the most unique archetypes in the format and a favorite of Koot's.
While he played the games alone, high-stakes Magic is always a team sport. From team drafts at the early Pro Tours and the team competitions of the 2010s to one very memorable Two-Headed Giant Pro Tour and the dozens of testing squads that come together ahead of Regional Championships in 2025, there's a reason you always see half a dozen people celebrating with the latest trophy winner: when it comes to Magic at the highest levels, it takes a village.
And, of course, a skilled pilot, which is where Koot comes in. He's not the kind of Magic player to just show up at the Regional Championship, compete, then move on and show up in three months for the next one. Instead, Koot is mixing it up at Friday Night Magic.
"My favorite part of competitive Magic has been my friends, for sure. Being able to connect with people over a shared love of the game and a shared love of competitive Magic has formed lifelong friendships," he explained. "I love playing and being with my friends and my local community, so I show up whenever I can. I love to participate in local competitive events even when I already have my invitation. Sometimes I end up with an extra RC invite or two."
Koot is serious about competitive Magic, and that means that the Regional Championship he just won began in earnest weeks ago, when he was running through different decks at local events to get a feel for what was to come.
"I'm not sure if there was a specific moment, but a while ago, I came in second at a local Regional Championship Qualifier playing Omniscience, and that's when I locked in and saw the potential of the deck," he recalled. "That's where I began to see the vision for the list that I would be playing at the Regional Championship.
"I had some high expectations for myself. I would not say that I had a specific goal, but I was gunning for a Pro Tour invitation. I had put a lot of work into tuning and figuring out my decklist by working with my friends and local groups. It was stressful preparing for this RC, but it was the kind of pressure that I like. The pressure of believing that I can do it. If I put in the work, I can achieve it. I wanted to give it my all. As for this RC, I felt like I put in the work."
"The kind of pressure that I like" is what stands out to me, because what is high-stakes Magic if not its own unique kind of pressure cooker? When that moment arrives and all the weeks of work come together under the cameras and the bright lights and the heat is turned up on every little decision? You're either cooking or you're cooked, and that's the challenge that every Regional Championship Magic competitor chases.
And Koot? He was definitely cooking in Montreal. He extended his net before the event, prepped with Team Vendilion Clique out of Vancouver for some live testing sessions, and worked with Team Scoreboard, another squad of Canadian Pro Tour regulars. That testing confirmed what he had suspected during the RCQ. Koot and his team went to Montreal locked in, feeling good about Omniscience Combo.
"The deck overall is really fun to play. Early on, I was impressed by the deck's raw power and locked in on it quite early," Koot explained. "My objective was to streamline the deck and give it a post-sideboard plan that could circumvent some of the deck's weaknesses in the post-sideboard games. The deck is great in Game 1, as most graveyard-centric decks usually are. The problems come in post-sideboard games."
That much is clear to anyone who has ever tried to fight through copies of
"Honestly, it worked quite well for me throughout the testing process," Koot explained. "I would continue to test and refine my plan, adjusting and tuning. 'Where do I juke? How hard do I juke? And why am I juking, and how do these look in practice, both when it's expected and when it's unexpected from the opponent?' To highlight a particular moment, in the finals against Izzet Prowess, I sideboarded in fifteen cards for Game 2 and Game 3."
That's enough to confuse any opponent who is trying to deduce what they need to answer in the sideboarded games, and that strategy brought Koot and Omniscience a highly visible finish against the format's top decks.
This win showed off the deck's staying power, not just against Izzet Prowess , but against the field at large. Koot played against seven distinct archetypes on his way to the Top 8. Once there, he beat three Izzet players, including Rei "cftsoc" Zhang in the finals, earning an invite to not just his second Pro Tour, but his first World Championship later this year.
"I want to shout out all my friends who supported me in the testing process and those who cheered me on through the stream and in person. Thank you to my family members who tuned in while having no idea what was going on. Winning this, you could say it means... the world," he said with a smile. "But for real, it has not sunk in at all. It was a lifelong dream to make the Pro Tour, and I was determined to get back. But making it to the World Championship? I can't even describe what this means to me."
