Hello everyone! My name is Nino Alessi, aka NinoMagic90 on social media and MTGO, and this is the story of how I accidentally ended up winning a beautiful painting by Florinda Zanetti and closing the Swiss, as I always say, taunting the DBS TCG content creators: UNDEFEATED, UNDESTUDED, UNSTOPABLE!!!! INCREDIBLE GUYS!!! Winning my first 4 Seasons Tournament (after getting a lot of The Dick in The Face in previous editions).

I started playing Magic in 2003 thanks to my COUSIN (yes, I wish it were the usual cliché but it's not true!), buying my first Artificial Sacrifice starter deck during the Mirrodin saga. Back then, cards like Megatog were considered powerful; just think how much Magic: The Gathering has evolved.

In the past, I tried to play competitively with my group of friends, venturing into formats like Standard, Extended, and Vintage. Our group, called Rituale dei Cinque Mana (Ritual of the Five Mana), had one member for each color in the game. I was Blue, even if it doesn't seem like it! However, in 2008, the group disbanded for personal and trivial reasons (university and work), and consequently, I stopped playing because the game no longer made sense without them.

I only returned to playing Magic in the summer of 2022, first with the Pauper format and then with Modern, thanks to a new group of friends. Ultimately, that's the secret of this game: there's no point in playing it without friends to share time and good moments with.

The Deck

After yet another ban that disrupted the Modern meta and the arrival of the Modern Horizons 3 set, I chose to play Boros. First, because it's the top tier of the format. Second, because it represents my playstyle: aggressive, direct, and fast.

I wasn't sure I would participate in this event until the last minute, but in the end, I decided to go, driving with my friends Bronz and Bello. But enough talk, let's get straight into the tournament report!

THE REPORT

Ancona, 07:00 AM. Obviously, being from the south, I take my usual academic 15 minutes of delay and show up at 07:15 AM at the McDonald's in Torrette (AN), where we had set the meeting point. I arrive and discover that Bronz was also late (due to an emergency crap), which makes me breathe a sigh of relief.

I had slept very little, going to bed at 01:30 AM and waking up at 06:00 AM. For me, being lazy and suffering terribly from lack of sleep, it was like being in an afterparty haze. For this tournament, I had no expectations, with only one goal: to survive. The important thing was to play well, even if I couldn't even do that according to Coach-Bronz... but since I won, I'd say I was right! LOL!

ROUND 1: Mono-Green Basking Broodscale Combo 2-0

At first, I didn't understand what deck it was because Oppo started with Forest into Delighted Halfling and I immediately started thinking "is he a Yawgmoth nostalgic? M-masaka" then he played Basking Broodscale and an expression of obvious bewilderment appeared on my face as if to say "are you serious? You brought this jank to a 4 Seasons?" only to then discover that it's now a Tier deck and even gets results. Oh well. It seemed like a crap deck to me the whole time, maybe the pilot didn't play it optimally. The fact is that I read all his lines of play with such ease that he never caught me by surprise. I win easily, always responding and racing, I destroy his key combo pieces which I easily intuit because I knew the archetype from Pauper (he also never played protection or discard spells to defend the combo) and I win easily with a clean 2-0, into coffee for oppo.

1-0

ROUND 2: UB Oculus 2-0 into Coach's Monster

A deck I expected to face and one that Boros is already well-positioned against by default. The pilot is a beginner, so much so that he barely knew certain effects of both his cards and mine. I win easily again, too easily perhaps, after all, it's a deck with only very weak cantrips. A clean 2-0 into coffee for oppo. I immediately shoot a Monster scrounged from Coach-Bronzini into my veins to wake me up and move on.

2-0

ROUND 3: JeskaiIDontWinEver 2-0

A deck, in my humble opinion, no longer as effective in the meta since the Nadu ban, and besides, the name already speaks for itself: I win G1 easily, bringing him low on life right away, then closing it out with Goblin Bombardment, with which I almost threw his shoes at him if I could have. G2 he gets mana screwed, I also lock him with Blood Moon - the outcome was already written: gg and coffee for you.

3-0

ROUND 4: UB Oculus 2-1

Here I admit my butt clenched; it was a very close match that I was in danger of losing.

• G1: He screws me over badly, keeping 7 cards in hand all answers, I flood like an animal and see few threats. Let's go to G2.

• G2: I start strong, winning very quickly as he couldn't manage the board.

• G3: My opponent goes all-in on one play: I shatter his hand with discard spells and then slam Psychic Frog... UNFORTUNATELY FOR HIM, I topdeck the one-of lifeline Chained to the Rocks which will send everything up in smoke, locking his frog among the mountains and sending him to the coffee stand.

4-0

ROUND 5: Mirror 2-1

I recognized the pilot because he was at the table next to me and I remembered he played Boros, I immediately thought "here we go, Mirror. I've always lost them all, no way I'll win this one".

• G1: I literally win with Amped Raptor into Blood Moon that will lock him for the rest of the game because he didn't fetch a basic white land.

• G2: He starts too nuts with Guide of Souls into Ocelot Pride into another Guide of Souls. I lose at lightning speed.

• G3: I start really strong, a one-sided game and here too the outcome seemed already written. 2-1 into coffee.

5-0

ROUND 6: Zoo 2-0 into Tactical Red Bull

A favorable match-up only if he doesn't make his power play of the deck. Fortunately for me, he always started mediocre.

• G1: I explode doing broken things like chaining Terra Guide of Souls, Aether Hub into Amped Raptor into Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Land another Amped Raptor that will flip The One Ring.

• G2: He starts very mediocre, some interaction then I'll lock him with Blood Moon and do dirty things with The One Ring.

6-0

ROUND 7: Boros Convoke 2-1

G1: He keeps a horrible hand with 5 lands, a Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury and an Ocelot Pride. He starts nuts and punishes me terribly despite missing like an animal.

G2: I start chaining Guide of Souls into Ocelot Pride into Goblin Bombardment, total board control.

G3: I repeat the sequence but without Goblin Bombardment, I lock with Orim's Chant and win.

7-0

ROUND 8: Goryo's Vengeance 2-1 mtg goku

G1: he mulligans to 5, I keep a strong hand and beat him badly.

G2: he concedes quickly.

G3: mulligans to 6, I have a strong hand, I close with all the violence of the deck.

8-0

ROUND 9: Eldrazi Tron INTENTIONAL DRAW & CONDEMNATION OF THE HOLY INQUISITION

Intentional draw with the last opponent to secure top8 and not jeopardize any prizes. Remaining undefeated, unstoppable.

Conclusions

What can I say, guys? The 4 Seasons is the best tournament you can ever play in Italy, along with Paupergeddon, for everything: from the consistently professional and helpful judges, to the crescioni and tagliatelle you can eat, to the incredible and ultra-chill Magic community, but most importantly for the competitive aspect. A big thank you to all the organizers of this event who allow us to experience all these great emotions and experiences. You are awesome!

I would like to thank everyone who participated in this celebration, and among them:

  • My friend/coach Matteo Bronzini aka Bronz for driving despite being tired himself and for always playfully giving me a hard time in addition to the valuable advice he always dispenses. Thank you very much, it's an honor to have you as a friend;
  • Matteo Bellini for everything, he always has a kind word for everyone and it's always a pleasant game-related discussion with him;
  • Doctor Brutti, who, even though he wasn't there, would have gladly given me a hard time too;
  • Kamma, who is a pilot I deeply respect for his great skill, game knowledge, and because, like me, he also prefers the old layout and eternal formats;
  • To the entire Rituale dei 5 Mana, in particular, to my childhood friend Valerio who hosts me every time in Bologna for the 4 Seasons, where every time I lost he comforted me by taking me to eat a good Cotoletta alla Bolognese, and to Fabio Aka Pappo who always transmitted his immense luck to me remotely;
  • To my friend Giuliano Tambone, a loyal companion of countless testing sessions on MTGO and in real life;
  • To Andrea Animobono, also known as Barettobono, for constantly disparaging any results achieved in the competitive circuit;
  • To the entire ABBBruzzese testing group, especially Luca Chieregato, who is a huge pain in the ass but whom I still love very much, to the statistics made by Doctor Colangelo and Mattia Lido, and last but not least, to my RCQ guardian angel Nico Farano;
  • To all those in the Magic community who showed me so much warmth by congratulating me: there were so many of you, thank you with all my heart!
  • To the friends at Metagame.it, for giving me this great opportunity to write this report;
  • To everyone who has spent or will spend time reading this report: thank you very much!

A warm greeting to all, and one last piece of advice: stay fresh and well-rested, because 9 rounds of Swiss with sleep deprivation are hell!

NinoMagic90