Merlin’s Cup Event Report – April 2025 – Capital Chaos

17 Players disregarded the rain and the fact there was Playoff hockey to compete for the first Merlin’s Cup. Hosted by Jimmy Duncan at his home in Manotick. His basement provided a very cozy space for the 5 rounds plus top 4 matches that were played.

Lorenzo and Jason enjoying a game in the couch area

Between rounds players jammed multi-player MTG formats, U40 games or just hung out on the couches enjoying pizza and drinks.

Altered prize cards were awaiting the Top 4 thanks to the host, some player donations and the altering skills of Kevin Vanier.

The vibe was amazing with many players commenting how much they enjoyed playing x-points due to the variance seen in deck builds. Truly evident in the fact the 3rd place finisher was running a Rukh Egg deck and not a single copy of “The Deck” was seen all day.

We saw some single colour decks along with some usual suspects. Some players branched out to run non-traditional x-points builds (eg stasis). Certainly a format people are still trying to figure out and thinking outside the box in their brewing.

After the 5 rounds of Swiss play we cut to a Top 4. Francois (top seed) went against LG with a mirror match of Lion Dib Bolt (LDB) going down between Lorenzo and Alistair.

Finals between Francois and Lorenzo had everyone that stuck around watching.. Francois took home top prize with a very solid 7-0 track record for the day. His altered Beta Elvish Archer is proudly added into his deck photo.

I must say with this being my first event not run at a bar or event space it felt amazing. Truly kicking back to my teen years of playing MTG in friends basements, just obviously on a more grown up level. I truly hope these events become a regular for the Ottawa group.