Season 5 Championships: The Top 4

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These are the 4 strongest competitors this season! They have earned the most points and have earned the right to a first round bye.

Our first seed, Brian Gerbi, has achieved a 2nd place, 1st place, and Top 8 finish all with Mono Water and in 3 out of 4 of his appearances  this season. He finished the season with a Top 8 at Trial 5 and stumbled in swiss and missed Top cut in the final Trial. So while he is still the Sword Saint because of the most points, he has to bounce back and prove he is deserving of the top spot after a shaky finish to the season. Gerbi awaits the winner of the two strong Jo(h)ns. He should have no trouble preparing for his bracket as his skill level and experience are among the best. All 3 have favorite types of decks and there probably won't be many surprises in deck choices. Gerbi should have no trouble navigating a probable grindy 2nd round matchup.

Second seed Nghia Tran loves the unconventional. While midrange decks are prevalent, Nghia prefers to play decks that win in different ways such as Aggro, Combo, Mill and Turbo Discard in the past. He has found success with Fire/Ice aggression this season featuring Fritt and Bablizz which lead him to two 2nd place finishes and a Top 4. He has described his bracket as tricky because it features two solid players, Peter Dang and David Burgos, both of whom play different styles of decks which can directly counter what Nghia wants to do. Will he be able to win his own way in the face of defined meta picks?

Phillip Marciano finished as the third seed thanks to his strong push in the later part of the season after stumbling in the first two Trials. He has made the Top cut in 3 of the Trials, but hasn't been able to get an event win or reach the finals this season. He will look to prove that he belongs in elite company. Phillip has played a wide variety of decks this season and the only trend is that the decks are on the slow and grindy variety. He awaits the winner of Milo and Mike, so he needs to prepare for aggression, Fusoya, or a Wind-based matchup.

The last of the first round byes and the fourth seed is Anson Quach. Anson has been consistently good since he has joined the Circuit. Anson usually does well at each event, regularly making the Top cut or on the bubble with an X-2 record. He was a Top 4 at the first Trial and 1st at Trial 5. He is known for having Warrior of Light pet decks, but branched out to Fire/Ice aggro at Trial 2 and has been tinkering with a Fire/Ice control deck to great results when Opus VIII came around. The winner of Blue vs Peter Wong will be his opponent in the second round. Anson has to be a bit worried because he may potentially be facing Blue, possibly the strongest opponent playing in the first round. Blue's play style is the slow, grindy, conservative turtle, while Peter Wong prefers aggression, evasion, and discard. No matter who makes it out of the first round, it won't be an easy deck choice for Anson to make as he needs to choose something that could potentially beat both. Perhaps his Fire/Ice deck is well positioned enough for the task.

This concludes our previews for the Season 5 Championship! We're all looking forward to great matches and interesting deck choices.

Who will win? Who's your pick?  Come and find out! A Circuit has been reborn, a Champion will be crowned, and a Legend will rise.

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