Weekly update – 16/11/2022

It’s time to take a trip through a string of qualifying events to the ELM that happened over these last couple of weeks. We’re going to cover qualifications from Poland, Sweden, France, Finland and Italy so we’re really spanning the continent this time around. Let’s begin with Sweden.

Swedish Legacy Nationals

The 5th of November set the scene for the Swedish Legacy Nationals where all four Swedish qualifier slots for the ELM were up for grabs. In the end, these four players won their places in Bologna displaying a nice variety of Legacy decks of both classic and more modern styles. Having a Nationals event is great for bringing all of the Legacy grinders, has-beens and up-and-coming talents to the table.

1st slot	Gustav Bystedt	Maverick
2nd slot	Hampus Bergquist	The Epic Gamble
3rd slot	Anthony Lenagh	UR Delver
4th slot	Peter Floderus	Elves

Finnish Legacy Nationals as well!

Let’s stay in the cold north as the sauna-loving Finns also held their Legacy Nationals during this past time. On the 12th of November, a whopping 120 players came out to fight for the title and four qualifier slots. You can see the top 8 decklists right here.

The four slots have been awarded, using pass-downs in the top 8 to those who were able to travel to the ELM in Bologna. Henrik Forsström, Juha-Matti Vanhatupa and Mikael Heikinheimo and Sebastian Markus are ready to bring Finnish Legacy to Italy this December. The decks that respectively qualified were UR Delver, 8 Cast and 4c Yorion Control.

A grinders travel is worthwhile…

Let’s head south all the way to Toulouse in France, where Relic Fest gathered several hundreds of players to play Duel Commander, Modern and Legacy on the weekend of the 6th of November. Two ELM slots were up for grabs in the Legacy event and 71 players fought over them. One of the people travelling several hours with the goal of winning a Q for the ELM was Sébastian Fayand, who had seen two of his buddies, Lucas Mietton and Marco Vera Goncalves, win their ELM slots the weekend prior. Fayand went undefeated and took home his place alongside Andy Sieurac. The two players piloted Death and Taxes and 8 Cast, and you can see the decklists of the best 8 players right here and the archetypes below. Attentive readers will maybe notice that Vladimir Arneuve, who has been awarded a direct invite for France based on his previous accomplishments, is still in peak condition coming in fourth here.

1st	Sébastian Fayand	DnT
2nd	Andy Sieurac	8 Cast
3rd	Jean Matthieu Khoury	DnT
4th	Vladimir Arneuve	BG Depths
5th	Cyril Pitalot	Yorion Control
6th	Alexandre Escrieut	Naya Depths
7th	Arthur Loussert	Dungeon Stompy
8th	Rémi Vignane	Elves

Italians invited to battle it out online!

The last of the four Italian slots to the ELM was to be decided in a small field of 16 accomplished Italian Legacy players, that had been invited to duke it out in a special tournament on Magic Online. The tournament included known players like Manuel Drudi – Easymoneymarksman on Magic Online, and Marco Vassalo – TrueHero on Magic Online. In the end, the four players found themselves in the top 4 playoffs:

1st	Daniele Terra	Cephalid Breakfast
2nd	Andrea Boccia	Black Stompy
3-4th	Franco Zicchini	Aluren
3-4th	Paolo Buschi	Jeskai Control

Daniele Terra took it home with his spicy Cephalid Breakfast deck, which you can see in detail here. His build includes Urza’s Saga, which doubles up in utility, since it tutors for the combo piece Shuko, as well as providing a second angle of attack through construct beats. Plan A is all about assembling Cephalid Illusionist plus Shuko or Nomads-en-Kor. Step Through finds the wizard Cephalid and both Stoneforge Mystic and Urza’s Saga find Shuko. While previous lists only played 1 Shuko, this list is prepared to grind through a Prismatic Ending or the like and comes prepared with 2 Shuko. Besides constructs attacking, Stoneforge Mystic can also tutor up Kaldra Compleat and Teferi, Time Raveler can offer a layer of protection or at least a Force of Will check.

Four Poles ready for Bologna

In Poland the four slots were given out in various ways. You can see the distribution here:

Maciej Fidziński	Polish Legacy Champion
Cyprian Gawron	Polish Trophy Leader Magic Online – October
Paweł Szostek	Legacy Trial 5 – Poland
Adam Gerwatowski	Direct invite

This gave the chance for Magic Online trophy grinders to prevail and win their seat at the tables in Bologna through online play as well as playing in a trial.

Upcoming Events

We’re almost done with the qualification season for the 2022 European Legacy Masters. This means that most of our players have been found and the preparation has assuredly begun in many corners of Europe so as to be ready to compete at the highest level of Legacy come December.

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Thank you for sticking with us as the season unfolds and the last names on the ELM roster are being determined. Join us for the next instalment of the weekly update for more stories and results from the European Legacy community, and until then, keep playing the greatest format of them all, and keep being awesome!