The greatest field of competitors ever to assemble in the history of Vs. has fought a long and hard day here in the Big Apple. Twelve rounds and twelve hours of heated battle have brutally threshed the grain from the chaff, and the pool of 309 PC hopefuls has been narrowed down to a scant 119 players. Day 2 will be even more intense, slashing the field to a final eight in a harsh series of drafts.
Many of the game’s mightiest rose to the day’s challenge, as fan favorites like Ryan Jones, Michael Jacob, Vidi Wijaya, Hans Joachim Höh, Matt Oldaker, Antonino De Rosa, David Fielder, Jason Hager, Gabe Walls, and many more well-known players proceed to the next level of combat tomorrow. At the same time, many other equally well-known competitors fell by the wayside, proving that sometimes fate has alternative plans even for the deserving—players like Tim Batow, Kyle Dembinski, Robert Leander, Josh Wiitanen, Jason Bagari, Sammy Gilly, and Adam Horvath narrowly fell short of the day’s 7-5 requirement. Day 1 of PC NY was one of the most gruesomely grinding events ever.
But from the struggle, conflict, and disappointment, a great deal of innovation and surprise has also risen! Though Curve Sentinels dominated the tournament in raw numbers, the sheer level of variation in decklists was impressive. On top of that, two new promising archetypes have risen to the forefront of the metagame. The Xavier’s Dream deck created by Tim Batow and Michael Barnes shredded competition, landing Barnes in the first seed position for Day 2. At the same time, Jason Hager, arguably the game’s most creatively successful player, debuted the latest creation from him and his teammates. New School, a drastic upgrade from Hager’s first masterpiece EMS, served to qualify multiple members of the team despite only four players running it.
The boiling hot competition of Day 1 has come to a gentle simmer as the remaining competitors rest for the night. Tomorrow, though, it’s out of the frying pan and into the fire for the 119 players duking it out for $250,000. It’s been an intense two days and the best is yet to come, so stay with us here at Metagame.com as we bring you live coverage of the rest of Pro Circuit New York all weekend long!