Aaron “littlebeep” Gertler triumphed in the first DreamHack Arena Open piloting a strong Temur Clover deck and took home $30,000.
The first of its kind Magic: The Gathering Arena tournament was played this weekend in Anaheim, California. The flashy event was very well produced and had a great cast of players and commentating talent.
The format was a Swiss with double elimination and Top 16 playoffs, with 10 Swiss rounds up to 300 players, and 11 for 300+. The event was capped at 350 players. The cards allowed were MTGA Tournament Mode best-of-three with standard decks. The massive prize pool was distributed like so: $30,000 for the winner, $15,000 for the runner-up, $8,000 for places 3-4, $3,750 for places 5-8, $1,400 for places 9-16 and $800 for those who rank 17-32. To spice things up, the winner also received an invitation to the next Mythic Invitational (scheduled for May 14–17).
Aaron Gertler went with his best deck, Temur Clover. The brew ran great for him and secured him the big prize. This is what the champ’s deck looks like:
Mainboard:
- 4x Fae of Wishes // Granted
- 4x Beanstalk Giant // Fertile Footsteps
- 4x Bonecrusher Giant // Stomp
- 4x Brazen Borrower // Petty Theft
- 4x Lovestruck Beast // Heart's Desire
- 4x Edgewall Innkeeper
- 3x Escape to the Wilds
- 1x The Great Henge
- 4x Lucky Clover
- 1x Omen of the Sea
- 6x Forest
- 2x Mountain
- 4x Island
- 1x Temple of Epiphany
- 1x Temple of Abandon
- 2x Temple of Mystery
- 3x Steam Vents
- 4x Stomping Ground
- 4x Breeding Pool
Sideboard:
- 1x Negate
- 1x Disdainful Stroke
- 1x Storm's Wrath
- 1x Domri's Ambush
- 1x Sorcerous Spyglass
- 1x Chandra, Awakened Inferno
- 1x Mystic Repeal
- 1x Return to Nature
- 1x Fling
- 1x Once and Future
- 1x Escape to the Wilds
- 1x Shadowspear
- 3x Aether Gust
Now that he’s well wormed up, we’re curious to see how this deck and Gertler’s playstyle will evolve before the upcoming Mythic Invitational.
