This new foray into the Golden Age metagame has come to the end and we have ourselves a winner—18-year-old Alec Ruden! Alec achieved victory with the burn deck that debuted two weeks ago in Auckland. He won the finals in a squeaker, barely finding enough pump to force through the final points of endurance loss on veteran professional Matt Oldaker. A combination of solid play, luck, and a great deck choice propelled Alec to victory in this, his first major event.

The deck he played, by the way, goes by many names, including “High Voltage” and “Blame Australia” (a misnomer). Whatever you want to call it, though, this deck is taking Golden Age by storm. With the potential to win as early as turn 3 or 4, it makes Squadron look absolutely sluggish by comparison. But it wasn’t the only deck to make a big splash this weekend. Two stall archetypes, TDC Stall and old-school New School, both made their mark on the Top 8. Avengers may never be the same, as two players demonstrated the power of Enemy of My Enemy to shore up matchups in that particular deck. Finally, Big Brotherhood still lives as a viable archetype, thanks to a number of powerful cards from the Justice League expansion.

This new Golden Age is an exciting format, made even more exciting by the fact that it’s a prelude (of sorts) to the upcoming Silver Age PC in San Francisco. It’s tough to say whether any of the archetypes that debuted today will stay on top, but they’re sure to be a force in the metagame for many months to come. Today, though, the strongest force in Golden Age is a kid by the name of Alec Ruden. Congratulations to our $10K Minneapolis champion!