8/5/21

Last February while locked up in our homes, we started a unique event centered around the desire to connect with one another through the best format the Gathering has to offer. The idea was simple, how could we introduce players to each other on the discord server in addition to driving discussion surrounding card interaction as frequently and casually as possible. With the desire to keep our deckbuilding skills sharp we took the concept of Three Card Blind and twisted it into a total Pauper destruction derby and boom!

...the 5CB Derby was set upon us.

For a recap of the rules and our Derby #1 results check out this article here.

In the subsequent months, a growing roster of contenders who tirelessly crafted and tuned five-card engines to smash one another in an absolute rampage of round robins, was shaping up to become a seasonal event. Mad scientists across several Pauper Discord servers came together to openly analyze micro-matches as well as battle for the cup; the results were pretty astounding.

I'd like to take a moment to put on several hats and tip them all to the madlads who participated and continue striving to make this event into the ultimate monster it's been freakishly mutating itself into. A big round of applause to these folks. Thank you again for keeping those gain knobs cranked at eleven!

After five consecutive Derby events, the season culminated in a month-long Grand Prix event where contenders were allowed to submit two five-card lists instead of just one and to spice it up, every winning list from each prior derby was also entered to battle it out for the championship GP cup. Now that the sun has set for the month of July, 22 lists were submitted and these absolute maniacs jammed 231 games over the span of 21 rounds in four weeks. Total insanity.

That brings us to now and I'm happy to announce and congratulate our Season One GP Cup winner who was none other than MTGDelphi, the reigning champ of the fourth and fifth derbies with his killer robot "Wistful Baloth" earning him a total of 112 pts! Not only did Delphi snatch victory in the last three events, but he was also the only contender with four submissions, all of which placed him in the Top 3 and 7 respectively. Incredible!

(We'll be catching up with MTGDelphi in a future piece to get a closer look at his brewing process for this event, how he was able to top himself in each derby, and his impression of the last six months of the P5CB w/ Topdeck Lethal!)

For now, it's my pleasure to present all twenty-two marvelous engines and their rankings for the Season One GP followed by season one prize support!

To show our appreciation for those and their efforts in building such a cool and free community event, each contender was asked which post-Modern framed Pauper card they would most like to see "Timeshifted" upon their submission to each event.

Each of the Top 5 finishers in all derbies as well as the Top 10 placements for the GP will be receiving a custom printed one-of-a-kind playset of their voted Pauper picks as well as some other derby swag!

Here is a gallery of all their selections this season.

As always, the ultimate goal of this event is to gamify card interaction and brewing discussions as well as create a mini-league or 'fantasy mtg league' of sorts. It's for knowledge, but mostly a fun way for seasoned players and brewers new to the format alike to interact amidst various other virtual Pauper community events operating at the moment.

To summarize, In the first week, we will give contenders a week to brew and submit their engines.

In the second week, matchups will be posted each day and will be opened up for immediate discussion so all contenders can become more involved and talk about their matchups amongst themselves in real-time. Players will report their own results on the standings sheet after each round and results will then be posted at the end of the second week.

We have some great things planned for Season 2 of the 5CB Pauper Derby. A 5CB dojo called the Underground is currently forming for those who want to learn the rules more comprehensively. Lots more content is on its way for those interested in submitting their own five-card engines in our destructive dance on the Topdeck Lethal Discord server.

More to come friends, stay radical.