It’s been two months since Wizards shook up Standard by banning Vivi Ornitier among others. In that time, Izzet has remained a popular color combination with Izzet Lessons winning the MTG World Championship in December. As reported by Nick Miller at Star City Games, this past weekend, at SCG CON Atlanta, the Magic Spotlight event saw many Izzet Lessons decks and the breakout archetype, Simic Ouroboroid decks in play. Ultimately, it would be Kyle Nelson piloting a Bant Airbending deck that took home the win.
Nelson almost didn’t even make it into the finals. He entered the Top 8 as the number 8 seed because of tie breakers. From there, he would go 2-1 against Eli Swafford’s Mono-green Landfall deck. Similarly he would go 2-1 against Christopher Kral’s Simic Oroboroid deck. Finally in the finals, he would go 2-0 against Oliver Tomajko’s Izzet Lessons deck in the final round.
The winning Bant Airbending deck was one of only four decks exploring the archetype for this event. Nelson’s version included four copies of Interdimensional Web to make returning permanents from airbent exile easier to accomplish. In the finals against Tomajko, Nelson would also sideboard in Reclamation Sage to deal with Monument of Endurance and [/card]Artist’s Talent[/card].
The eight players in the Top 8 all received invitations to the Pro Tour along with cash and card prizes. Oliver Tomajko won $5,000 as runner up. Kyle Nelson’s winning run won him $10,000.
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