May 2026, three months ago. Kier Starmer is Prime Minister. The island of Great Britain is yet to experience any of the six successive heatwaves that will shape its arid summer. Alex and Martin sit on a coach bound for Spotlight Secrets, a Magic: the Gathering tournament in London at which they will not perform well. Bath TCG’s Strixhaven League starts the following week.
“If you had to bet on it now,” says Alex, “who do you think the top four will be?”
Martin thinks through the key contenders. “Dom. Liam. Sami. And someone. Could be you, could be Roland. Could be Derek.”
Alex reveals a list on his phone. “I had the exact same people. Dom, Liam, Sami, and someone else.”
We find ourselves at the end of the league’s ten weeks, and things have not played out as expected.
Dom and Liam, two of the league’s most-feared players, have been no-shows all summer, while reigning champion Sami held a respectable second place until he announced his early retirement from the league. That left the someone-elses - Roland, Alex, newcomer Chris - to dominate the top tables. When Roland also bowed out of the season just before its final hurdle, Martin and Georgia surged forward to take the final spots.
Chris, Alex, Martin and Georgia are this season’s top four. The winner’s haul: a booster box of Secrets of Strixhaven, and a trophy in the form of a knitted pig.
Chris (1st in the standings) is the favourite, with a 62.5% match winrate. That’s the highest rate going into the playoffs that anyone’s ever had. (Dom topped out at 61.5% last season.) The night could play out as a coronation for the discard player, an impressive feat for the only member of this top four still in his debut season, but in order to take the pig home, he has to get through Georgia.
Georgia (4th) is the wildcard. She started her season running Arena player Ashlizzle’s Abhorrent Oculus deck list, but frequently faltered by the end of the night under the weight of its myriad decision points. After a one-off player passed through the league using Georgia’s spare deck - the mono-black demons list, also an Ashlizzle build - to significant success of his own, Georgia decided to pivot to the demons herself, accepting that she only enjoys combo decks in the same way addicts enjoy cocaine. Since then she’s set personal-best league nights twice this season to earn her place in the top four. Most importantly, although she enters the playoffs with a 43% winrate on the field as a whole, she has a 100% winrate against Chris specifically. They’ve fought four times and he’s never won. For Chris to succeed tonight, the frontrunner has to beat his final boss when it matters most.
Chris has also never had a league night where he’s won every match. He had three attempts at going undefeated, all cut short in their final round. That brings us to Martin, who denied Chris two of those runs.
Martin (3rd) is the comeback kid. Three weeks into this season, he was dead last on the leaderboard. This happened, too, in Bath TCG’s debut league, where Martin languished at the bottom of the standings after half the season with just three points - a single match win - to his name.
Here’s a quote about what happened next in that first season, from this blog’s first ever post:
Martin retooled his Dimir Midrange deck and tore through the field in a monumental comeback. By the end of the penultimate week, with Sami locked for first and Alex locked for second, Martin and Stephen entered the final rounds of the season in an exact tie for third place.
Something seems to activate when Martin’s back is against a wall that turns him into a ruthless killing machine, as though he’s only on the floor because his jet pack needs refuelling. Just as he did in that first season, Martin once again retooled his reliable blue-black list and took it on a generational run, winning his last seven matches in a row. He went undefeated in weeks nine and ten, shot five places up the leaderboard, and once more earned a tie for third place going into the season’s final round. On top of all that, he denied Chris his last two chances at a weekly trophy. It’s no exaggeration to say Martin and Georgia are the players Chris least wanted to face tonight, having to contend with his greatest nemesis and the guy who decided two weeks ago to refuse to lose.
Martin, however, has his own issue; he has to get past Alex.
Like Georgia, who’s uniquely favoured against Chris, Alex and Martin have played each other three times this season and Alex is up 3-0. If you count their matches from the previous league, he’s up 5-1. Martin has a boss battle of his own to overcome if he’s going to continue his winning streak and make it to the final.
Alex (2nd) is the mainstay, the only player here who’s been in the playoffs before. In the previous league, he finished in 2nd. In the league before that, he finished in 2nd. He enters the playoffs this time in 2nd, and will be fighting to finally improve on that result; like Chris, he’s had three chances at victory and never quite closed it out (twice denied at the hands of Sami, who’s currently in London playing Modern).
Alex’s consistency is the result of him being drawn to power like a child to a candle flame, always seeking to identify and master the most explosive deck in the format. It’s not a coincidence that he’s the player in the league with the most cards from his decks banned: Heartfire Hero, Monstrous Rage, Screaming Nemesis and, if you count Arena’s best-of-one format, Leyline of Resonance have all fallen on his watch. (Two weeks after the playoffs, Wizards of the Coast will announce the ban of Badgermole Cub, which also sits in his deck tonight.)
When Alex and Martin made their predictions for the playoffs, neither of them expected themselves or each other to make it here. Now, in the final fight for the knitted pig, they stand in each other’s way.
Or, as Martin would put it, Alex is in his way.
Alex and Georgia walk into Bath TCG to find Martin playing cEDH in the shop’s main room.
“Hey!” he says to Georgia. “You ready to beat Chris and me beat Alex?”
“Hey mate,” says Alex, like he didn’t hear that bit. “How’s it going?”
“Winning,” says Martin.
Soon after, Alex and Martin walk off to buy energy drinks and bait each other with all the possible changes they might have made to their decks.
Georgia sits in the corner of the back room, drawing opening hands, seeing how she feels about them.
“These are all shite,” she says as the boys return.
“That’s not what you want.”
The three finalists turn to face the door. In the distance, the theme from The Good, The Bad and the Ugly plays on a speaker. As it grows louder, Chris walks in, silent, playing the standoff music on his phone.
He takes his place opposite Georgia, happy with himself. Martin sits opposite Alex.
“Welcome to the top four,” says Martin, and the group whoop and bang the tables. “It’s gonna be best-of-five, no time limit, because we need to have a wiener -”
“A wiener?”
“A winner.”
“Winner or wiener?” says Chris. “Let’s find out!”
“And may the best woman win,” says Georgia.
“I’d wish you luck,” Martin tells Alex, “but that would be a lie.”
And the league’s final games begin.
Chris and Alex go first. Georgia interrogates Chris in her first playoff game as a prosecutor would a witness, playing consecutive Deep-Cavern Bats to examine his hand for weaknesses. She confiscates those weapons most likely to cause harm, taking an Erode and a Practiced Offense. Chris gets a Moonshadow in play and it’s only getting bigger; Georgia wants to ensure Chris can’t use Practiced Offense to give it double strike. She compromises, however, by leaving him with Carnage, Crimson Chaos, the villainous symbiote from the pages of Spider-Man.
Carnage turns out to be the key piece in this cross-examination. Chris has a Cool But Rude in play, letting him discard cards when he attacks. In his telling, the next turn has him discard Carnage to gain more value and go wide. Georgia’s testimony has him playing Carnage to resurrect a Hardened Academic from the graveyard. The truth, as always, lies somewhere in the middle. Carnage has a special ability; when it’s discarded, you can cast it cheaply, getting the value of the discard and the body on the battlefield.
With the verdict reached, Chris runs away with value, winning the first game without taking a single point of damage. It’s as good a result as he’s ever had against Georgia, the strongest possible start in his campaign for the pig.
Next to them, Martin and Alex trade creatures for spells. Alex’s Earthbender Ascension suffers at the hands of We Say Thee Nay, a denial spell from the newest Marvel set. Martin’s flyer gets grounded by Alex’s Pawpatch Formation, which targets airborne creatures. Alex’s Icetill Explorer is wasted by Martin’s black magic. Both players’ hands deplete as they fire off each of the bullets in their chambers.
Finally, Alex manages to land a Sapling Nursery. Martin’s shoulders hunch. This is the spell that Alex’s lands use to grow sentient trees, and one of the only cards in Alex’s deck that Martin has no good answer for. Alex immediately plays two lands, summoning two trees to fight with. Martin flashes in two Floodpits Drowners, stunning both the trees, and on his turn, while Alex is incapacitated, he sends in his ninja planeswalker Kaito to slice Alex’s life total.
Unfortunately for Martin, all Alex needs to grow more trees is fertile land. He draws Icetill Explorer and immediately plays four lands through it, tending to four more treefolk as they sprout up from the ground.
Martin’s still on 20 life, Alex is down to 7, but Martin has lost.
One point to Chris; one point to Alex.
Martin starts the second game against Alex with a Ghost Vacuum, a machine that hoovers up Alex’s graveyard to stop him from looping lands. Martin sends out small flyers and a Floodpits Drowner, applying pressure to Alex’s life quickly before he can nurture his forest. Alex scours his deck for lands, not playing a card till the third turn, and it’s pretty much too late by then; Martin’s threats keep coming. Alex can’t stop them in time.
Georgia’s deck, too, runs like a dream in the second game. Chris slow-rolls his first couple turns, expecting Georgia to have removal; if he doesn’t summon his creatures, she can’t kill them. For the first two turns, neither player does anything, each of their fingers flexing at their triggers. But when Chris blinks first and casts a creature spell, Georgia fires back, armed with all the answers Chris predicted, correctly, she would have.
Like Martin, Georgia is able to take advantage of her opponent’s slow pace by swarming the board to little resistance. She calls forth Unstoppable Slasher, which can drain the opponent of half their life at once. The following turn she casts Bloodletter of Aclazotz, which doubles the life an opponent loses. Together, the two ingredients make a lethal cocktail; the Slasher stabs Chris in the heart, draining half his life, which allows the Bloodletter to take the other half.
Martin and Georgia win the second games. It’s 1-1 in both matches.
“So whoever played first so far has won,” says Martin.
“Oh, cool,” says Alex, who’s going first this time. “Magic’s easy.”
Alex begins by summoning a Sazh’s Chocobo, a chick that grows larger whenever (you guessed it) Alex plays a land. The bird ends up as a nine-power creature, and Martin’s deck lets him down, never drawing what he needs to remove it. While he throws creatures in the bird’s way to stall its relentless attack, Alex gets away with casting first Earthbender Ascension and then Sapling Nursery unchecked, and runs away with the game.
Chris goes first in the third game against Georgia, summoning his minions to make quick work of the demon player - until a well-timed Day of Black Sun sends a flood of dark magic across the battlefield, washing away his army. Georgia’s counter-attack sends Chris hurtling from 18 life to 6 in a single turn. This game is only a fight in the way that a prize fighter getting KO’d the moment the bell rings is technically still a fight. It’s Georgia’s game, and she wins it unchallenged.
It’s the first game all night won by someone who didn’t go first.
“You broke serve!” says Martin.
2-1 to Georgia, against Chris.
2-1 to Alex, against Martin.
If this was the usual best-of-three match, spell-slinging power couple Alex and Georgia would be our top two finalists. Unfortunately for them, the playoffs are best-of-five, requiring three wins to advance. Still, the pressure is on for their opponents; Martin and Chris need to win both their remaining games to move to the final, while Alex and Georgia can afford to lose one, so long as they win the other.
This is good news for Alex, who mulls to 5 in his fourth game.
“Yes,” cheers Martin. “This is what I needed.” Alex reluctantly keeps a five-card hand that he doesn’t seem thrilled about. Martin has a full grip of seven and he’s first to play. He plays a land and passes. Alex casts a creature; Martin kills it. Passes again. Alex tries something else, and Martin cuts it off. Alex ends up stuck on land, his Surrak stunned by Floodpits Drowner, his Ba Sing Se destroyed by Martin’s Demolition Field. Where their previous games have been like those two toy robots punching each other until one of their heads pops off, this one is more like a game of whack-a-mole with Martin’s hand on the hammer.
Next to them, Chris keeps watching his creatures die to removal, but he just keeps playing more. Georgia’s forced to play like it’s a game of Overcooked as she slowly succumbs to the chaos of the kitchen. Chris steadily depletes her life total, taking very little damage in return.
Chris and Martin win their fourth games.
It’s 2-2 for both matches.
The final game will decide the final two.
Alex goes first, and sees a Sapling Nursery in hand. Getting the card into play is his best chance of closing out this final game; Alex knows he has to step carefully to avoid triggering any of Martin’s dormant landmines.
The two play cautiously, both holding up interaction. Every move matters.
On his third turn, Alex plays Earthbender Ascension.
“Counter it,” says Martin.
Alex nods - he was hoping for that.
“Play Enduring Curiosity,” says Martin. He taps all his mana to summon the enchanting cat.
“Play Sapling Nursery,” says Alex, tapping out himself now the coast is clear.
“Fuuuuuuuck.” Martin stares at the board. “You baited me with that counterspell.”
“I did, yeah,” says Alex, allowing himself to smile. He glances at their life totals.
Next to them, Georgia casts Deep-Cavern Bat, locking down the one copy of Sheltered By Ghosts Chris has in his hand. Then she plays Unstoppable Slasher, setting up another lethal strike. Time’s running out for Martin and Chris.
Alex and Martin are both out of cards, but Alex keeps growing his nursery. Martin’s attempting to hold the trees back with Preacher of the Schism, a cleric and vampire, but the trees threaten to send it to its coffin.
Alex draws. “Sazh’s Chocobo. Pass.”
Martin draws. Stares at the card for a second. Looks at the board, at his life total.
“Day of Black Sun. X equals one.”
In Avatar: the Last Airbender, the Day of Black Sun is the day of a solar eclipse which robs the Fire Nation of their firebending powers for its duration. When Martin’s magic summons his own eclipse, the effect is the same; the trees shrivel up and turn to dust, leaving Alex with no creatures, while Martin’s creature of the night survives. It’s the best possible card he could have drawn to get back in the game.
Alex’s forest falls, and he doesn’t make a sound.
Chris, too, finds a way back; he draws Erode and uses it to kill Georgia’s Deep-Cavern Bat. That restores his access to Sheltered By Ghosts, which he casts to lock out Georgia’s Unstoppable Slasher.
In one turn, both Martin and Chris turn the tide.
Martin starts swinging with Preacher. Every time he attacks, he summons another small vampire to his aide. Alex takes the hit. He draws Royal Treatment, a protection spell - but there’s nothing left to protect. He passes. Martin hits him again, and a third vampire is summoned.
Chris hits Georgia with Iron-Shield Elf, gaining life from the Sheltered By Ghosts he has in play. She can’t stop it; Chris can make the elf indestructible when needed, the perfect counter to Georgia’s dark magic. He swings over and over again. His life increases from 16 to 30.
Alex draws a second Royal Treatment. Another dud draw. Passes back to Martin, who hits him again with the Preacher. Alex is on 2 life.
Alex draws, hoping for a way out, and finds Escape Tunnel, which represents a way out, but not in the way he requires.
He looks at his friend, nods. “Good luck in the final.”
Martin breathes out all the air in his chest, as though he’d been holding his breath the entire match. Alex loses his second place spot, and Martin continues his unstoppable run. An 8-0 streak; a league record. He turns to the other match, sees Chris sending his elf in for another attack.
“Come on Chris!” says Martin, knowing a match against the frontrunner is a favoured one for him (and not acknowledging he was rooting for Georgia less than an hour before).
Georgia manages to muster some blockers, protecting what remains of her life total. She’s on 1 life. Chris sits on 30.
In the end, Chris doesn’t need to attack. His Cool But Rude deals damage to the opponent whenever he discards a card.
Chris secures victory by throwing away what’s left of his hand, and Georgia loses her first match of the season against him.
Chris and Martin both break serve, winning on the draw. Alex and Georgia lose their lead, falling out of the title fight.
“You finally beat Georgia!” says Martin.
“Now you have to break Martin’s win streak,” warns Alex.
“Want a break?” Chris asks.
“Nope,” says Martin.
The two finalists begin the last match of the season.
Chris goes first, but Martin pulls ahead when he lands Preacher of the Schism. It’s a key card in the matchup because it has 4 toughness; only Carnage has that much power, so Chris hits a wall he can’t traverse. Chris struggles, getting Martin down to 15 life before succumbing to the vampire’s bite.
“That was quick,” says Alex, glancing over from his bronze-medal match with Georgia.
“Preacher,” shrugs Chris.
Alex nods like a wise sage.
“Come on, we’ve got our own match to play!” says Georgia.
“Right,” says Alex, pointing to the hexproof Leatherhead in play. “Mightform Harmonizer, Fabled Passage, crack it, two counters from Earthbender Ascension, double, double, swing for 28?”
Georgia shakes her head, sighs, scoops up her cards.
Martin’s up 1-0. It’s the closest he’s ever been to winning one of his mum’s knitted pigs. His second game, though, starts with a mull to five. Chris keeps a decent seven - threats, a Cool But Rude - and patiently builds his engine while Martin chips away at his life in 1-2 damage increments. Martin needs Kaito or Enduring Curiosity to pull ahead with card advantage, but nothing comes. Chris finds a second Cool But Rude, and it proves too much for the blue-black player.
Chris equalises. It’s one-all.
Georgia beats Alex in their second game (one-all for them as well) but is starting to slow to low-power mode, the fatigue of the night’s best-of-five games catching up to her. Decisions happen slower as the demon player stares at her hand, squints, blinks, leans forward, rests on the table for emotional support.
Chris fights a tactical battle against Martin in their third contest. Seeing the devastation Martin’s Day of Black Sun wreaked on Alex’s board in their final showdown, Chris holds back hasty creatures in his hand, wise enough to commit less to the fray. Martin’s hand is clogged with three copies of Enduring Curiosity, an expensive spell that can’t keep Chris at bay.
When Martin finally sends out a Curiosity, Chris kills it. Martin holds up one mana, representing removal, and Chris decides to test the waters.
“Hardened Acaedmic,” says Chris, calling one of his hasty fighters to the field.
“No response.”
After the attack connects, Chris feels safe the following turn summoning his other fast creature. Martin sends out another Curiosity, but Chris has lethal in the air.
Chris is up 2-1. He’s one win away from becoming the store’s newest league champion.
Martin has to win this game to stay in the fight. His back’s against the wall. He and Chris trade damage back and forth. It’s a close contest; Martin finds himself on 4, with Chris on 8.
And then Martin casts Day of Black Sun.
The eclipse cost Alex the finals, and stopped Chris from going undefeated last week. Chris sweeps all his creatures aside. This time, however, it leaves his two copies of Cool But Rude untouched.
“I’ll tick these up,” says Chris, bringing the upgraded abilities of the cards online; when Chris discards a card, he’ll deal exactly four damage to his opponent.
“I might just be dead,” says Martin, examining the board.
And as with Georgia, Chris closes out the playoffs by throwing away his cards, and with them, his opponent’s remaining hope of winning.
Chris is Bath TCG’s new league champion. Martin takes a hard-fought second place.
While they scoop up their cards, Alex animates his forests with Ba Sing Se and uses them to beat down Georgia’s defences. Martin had a Demolition Field to blow up the problematic land, but Georgia lacks an answer to the army of sentient trees. She sways like a falling leaf, then hits the ground.
Alex secures third place. Georgia finishes fourth.
The shop presents Chris with the knitted pig, this one customised for the Strixhaven league, with Lowryn’s faerie wings replaced by a school textbook.
“So how was this week overall?” says Georgia.
“Five out of six,” says Chris.
Martin heads into the shop’s main room to grab booster pack prizes. Georgia follows after.
“You know,” Chris tells Alex, “it’s not the box, it’s not even the pig.”
“Yeah?” says Alex, expecting something about the power of friendship.
“It’s the little crown on my name.”
“Ah.”
Martin looks up at Georgia, sitting in the aftermath of their defeat.
“Losing to Chris,” he says, shaking his head. “How could we?”
