2022 Old School Magic Summer Derby Results and Deck Photos

REPORT of RESULTS

The 6th annual Old School Magic Summer Derby is in the books! This year’s event featured 194 participants, representing 21 countries (Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Philippines, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States) and at least 40 regional Old School clubs spread across 11 different time zones around the world. Over the span of six weeks, we played more than 700 matches of Old School Magic via webcam.

François (Popeye) giving Pascal (Halfasto) the 15-damage Psychic Purge salute as Wheel of Fortune resolves

While entry fees were not collected and the Derby series will always remain free to play, we once again encouraged donations at registration to support Partners in Health, a global nonprofit dedicated to providing a preferential option to the poor in health care. Thanks to contributions from many of the players, I am humbled to report that we raised a total of $1,288 in support of Partners in Health’s COVID-19 response efforts around the world.

The Derby series rotates between different 93/94 format variants every six months. Past Derby events have used the Swedish, Atlantic, and 4-Strip B&R lists (including Eternal Central, Pacific, and Boreal). This instance of the Summer Derby was played using the Swedish 93/94 B&R list, allowing the full range of original art/old card frame re-prints (Revised, 4th/Chronicles, CE/IE, FBB/FWB, etc.).

Pairings were released in two batches in late June and early July, with all participants asked to schedule and play eight individual matches in about four weeks. After the batches were completed, a winnowed field of 16 players advanced to a single-elimination bracket. The Summer Derby Finals were played on Friday, August 5th, and featured Simon Christie of the Houston Falling Stars (USA) versus returning finalist Rich Shay of NEOS (USA).

Simon’s early Serra Angel vs no permanents on Rich’s side in game 1. This actually turned into a bit of a game, credit to Rich.

After all was said and done, Simon Christie took the match 3-1, and was named the Summer Derby Champion for 2022! Congratulations to Simon and to all of the Top 16 finalists, and thank you, again, to all of the players who participated. Thanks very much to our “official” streaming partners for the Top 16 — Mikael Johansson, Dan Serwan, Bryan Manolakos, Simon Rokkjær, Andy Baquero, and Resti Gonzalez! And special thanks must also go out once again to the inimitable Antonio Rodríguez for designing the Derby series logo and Summer Derby banner, and Mattias “Slanfan” Berggren for developing a bespoke “batch pairings” tool for use in tournaments of this format, making it much, much easier to process the results of literally more than a thousand matches behind the curtain. The Derby series has become a fun semi-annual celebration for the international Old School Magic scene, and these contributions and the cooperation of all of the players goes a long way toward making it possible.

For anyone interested in future events, or just trying out webcam Old School Magic for the first time, please consider joining our online community of players! People are always looking for pick-up games in our Facebook group and in the #down-to-play channel on the Old School Discord(s).