2026 Grand Contest Washington D.C. Tournament Report Pt. 2 w/Steam Persecutor

Sorcery: Contested Realm · by emperor_igor (Brian) · June 12, 2026

Read Part One Here

The morning of the Grand Contest's Day Two started a hair earlier than I liked. Some partying in my hotel atrium woke me up around 4 a.m., and my brain clicked into gear thinking about matches both behind and ahead of me.

My mind wandered back to my local Tuesday games, where I went 1-2 with my Steam Persecutor list and went home to sleeve up a different [earth][fire] version that was more similar to decks I had seen online. Thankfully, my stubbornness and desire to play something more my own won out, and I sleeved the [water] cards back up Thursday night.

The deck ran well through Day One. I wasn’t sure if I could make a deep run in the finals with it, but I was determined to make a go of it. To do that, I had to shore up the games that I had lost the day before.

I was certain I was facing Mike Herbig’s [fire][earth] {Archimago} again in the quarterfinals. I thought through the previous match to see what I could do better. I needed to get my hate sites, like {River of Blood} and {Mismanaged Mortuary}, into the Realm as soon as possible and move forward faster to protect them from {Sinkhole}s. Otherwise, the aggressive game plan of getting on top of him and shutting off his finishers like {Craterize} and {Major Explosion} seemed good.

I considered the {Necromancer} match to see if I could improve against Gideon’s deck. I really needed to maximize value plays like {Poison Nova} for multiple minions to keep up with the {Necromancer}'s value engine. Keeping cognizant of his defensive and movement sites was also a must. My aggressive game plan had fallen flat, so perhaps a more defensive plan would work better? There were other possible matchups I had yet to face, but I felt already prepared for most of those.

2026 Grand Contest, Washington, D.C. Top 8

As expected, I ate my breakfast burrito at the tables and waited for the judges to finish our deck checks. I was paired against Mike in the quarterfinals. The highest seed got to be on the play each match, relegating me to going second in every game unless I matched against Tom again. Not great for the get in there and punch ‘em list, but what can you do?

Quarterfinals vs [fire][earth] {Archimago} - Mike H. (rematch)

I had a lot of time to chat with Mike before our match. Despite his {Archimago} playing tendencies, he was a really great guy and fellow dog-lover, so I almost felt bad about having to Persecute him.

The Realm ain’t gonna contest itself, though, so we got down to business. This match was easily one of the best of my admittedly short Sorcery career. To quote the Princess Bride, it had everything:

Fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love (for our respective dogs), and miracles.

The round started with a critical decision. Do I worry about threshold, or do I mulligan aggressively to graveyard and healing hate? I mulliganed aggressively, bottoming all three sites to find hate to shut down Mike’s game plan.

Three sites from the top and still no hate, so I gave it one more go by using my second player seer on my Atlas. There it was! {Bureau of Occult Control}, a site that wouldn’t exactly shut off his game plan, but it would slow him down considerably. After he played a site and passed, I drew that bad boy and placed it down on my home site, where I could protect it. 

The remainder of the first few turns played out similarly to the night before, with me making a {Vile Imp} and {Horrible Hybrids} and killing a {Kettletop Leprechaun} and getting in damage before he {Earthquake}d my minions away and rearranged our respective sites. Eventually, he replaced my {Bureau of Occult Control} with an {Heirloom Lost}, and remobilized his value train of a cemetery full of spells. 

By this point, my Avatar was on his side of the Realm. {Hyperparasite} was near him for good measure. He was at seven, and I was at 20. I needed to get him to Death’s Door before he could chain healing spells, so I went for a risky maneuver: I dropped an {Aino} and stepped it onto his back line, where it and my {Hyperparasite} could be {Earthquake}d. I had a {Peacemaker Arbalest} and {Lord of Lies} in hand. If I could bait his sweeper, they could probably finish the job.

Sure enough, Mike removed my minions, to which I followed up with {Lord of Lies} right next to him, removing a defensive foot soldier and bringing him to six life. Prime territory to door him and chase him down with my {Peacemaker Arbalest}. The following turn, however, was where the torture and escape parts of our tale began. 

Mike did what any good {Archimago} player would have done: cast {Border Militia} twice and then an {Onslaught}, making 14 two-power soldier tokens with charge. Three of the tokens teamed up to kill my {Lord of Lies}. The other 11 swung me to Death’s Door.

I looked behind me toward the escalators leaving the convention hall, and considered what I might get for lunch on the way home. But it wasn’t over. I had my {Peacemaker Arbalest} and a {Mazuj Ifrit} in hand, and I had to fight on!

The {Peacemaker Arbalest} and {Mazuj Ifrit} combined to give me enough movement and range to get the hell out of dodge and kill the only token close enough to kill me. It wasn’t much, but it was the best I could do. I passed and hoped for the best. He delivered his best instead.

Another site and a {Border Militia} and {Guards!} one-two punch dropped another 16 or 17 Foot Soldiers all around me. Needless to say, things were looking bleak for our hero, with just a {Firebreathing} in hand and my lone {Mazuj Ifrit} to defend me.

As I mentioned earlier, this match had everything, and a miracle was still to come. What I needed was something to even the impossible odds. {Blaze of Glory} came right off the top of my spellbook. Poor Mike had to watch as my {Mazuj Ifrit} flew over top of his Avatar and burned all the soldiers away, smacking him to two in the process. A shot from the {Peacemaker Arbalest} evened the score, and I had one more turn to hope he had no answer. 

Mike leveraged card draw spells like {Pendragon Legacy} and {Gift of the Wolf} in his graveyard to draw as many spells as he could. It all came down to one final draw. Would he get the damage spell he needed to finish me off? {Landmass} came off the top, and Mike laid down the quote of the match:

"You live by the Landmass, you die by the Landmass."

—Mike Herbig

Mike stepped out of my {Peacemaker Arbalest} range, but the {Firebreathing} I had been sitting on cooked him for the last point of damage. 

The lone {Archimago} in the tournament was no more. I had a ticket to face off against John’s {Necromancer} in the semifinals.

Semifinals vs [air][water] {Necromancer} - John

Out of the frying pan and into the fire. John was not an opponent I faced on Day One; probably good for me. His {Necromancer} deck was pretty close to what won SorceryCon 2025. John is an amazing player and one of the few Level 3 judges on the Sorcery judge roster. Thankfully, I didn’t find out most of that until after the match, or I might have been considerably more nervous. This game had nearly as many wild swings as the quarterfinals.

My memory of the first few turns of the match is hazy. He made some Skeletons, my {Persecutor} marched across the Realm with a {Peacemaker Arbalest} in hand. John cast a {Sacred Stag} in the center of the Realm to slow down my advance. I countered with a {Ring of Morrigan} and {Pollimorph}, with the damage trigger from the {Ring of Morrigan} removing the {Sacred Stag}’s ward before {Pollimorph} transformed it into a frog. I slayed the frog and continued my movement into John's territory, ready to start sniping his Avatar with my artifacts.

John cast his {Ring of Morrigan} and a {Dank Omphalos} to outvalue me. I put a {Failed Mutation} into play and carried on with my game plan of dropping his life total with {Peacemaker Arbalest} and removing his skeletons with the {Ring of Morrigan}.

Unfortunately for me, John cast {Atlantean Fate}, which drowned my minion, submerged my weaponry, shut off my {Floodplain} (which was keeping my [water] threshold above two), and my {Innsmouth Dock}. I was with only {Love Potion} in hand. John retrieved my ring with {Sir Pelleas}, rose to the surface, and {Swap}ed it onto his Avatar. I was facing down a pair of {Ring of Morrigan} with little in the way of board presence. At this point, I considered what I would have for lunch as I exited the tournament; there was no hope of coming back.

One good turn deserves another, though, and my own {Atlantean Fate} off the top of my Spellbook drowned his skeleton tokens, {Dank Omphalos}, and both {Ring of Morrigan}. I was on the offensive, pressuring him again.

He built defense via a {Lacuna Entity} and {Abaddon Succubus}, but irony is not dead — I used my {Love Potion} to make his {Abaddon Succubus} fall in love with me.

I kept up the pressure, bringing him to Death’s Door while he chipped away at my life total with his entity that was {Swap}ped onto my back row. I chased him into his back corner, and the {Firebreathing} I’d held all game ended things from two steps away. 

Another game that I was certain I would lose halfway through resulted in another victory. It just goes to show that the game’s never over till you get hit on Death’s Door, and some wild swings can get you back in it with some careful play and a little (or perhaps a lot in my case) luck.

After the match, John told me that almost every minion he drew was submerged under his {Dank Omphalos} and, therefore, could not be cast safely. He lamented not placing it on his {Lone Tower}, where it would not have been affected by the {Atlantean Fate}, but he wanted to cast his {Lugbog Cat}s if they arrived. It was a good reminder about playing around {Atlantean Fate} if you can, because [water] players seem to always have it. 

Like all my matches in this tournament, my opponent was an amazing competitor and a lovely human. We parted with a handshake and well-wishes all around. John headed to the third-place match to contend for a foil {Silver Bullet} promo. I headed to the finals to fight Gideon again for an uncut sheet of Gothic!

Intermission

The Erik’s Curiosa crew wanted to film the third-place match and the finals. They asked Gideon and me if we would mind if the third-place match were played first. Eager for a break, we agreed.

It was a grueling hour and a half long match between Cameron’s {Druid} and John’s {Necromancer}. I took the time to cash in tickets from the weekend’s events for most of a box of Gothic, cracked some packs, and ate some food to let my brain rest after two intense matches.

Round Three vs [air][water] {Necromancer} - Gideon (take two)

Having faced Gideon during Day One, I knew how good he and his deck were. I had to play a pretty much perfect game to beat him. My more aggressive strategy had not worked in our previous match, so I resolved to play more defensively if possible.

Gideon had a turn one {Gilman House}, which would later turn all his [1]-mana skeleton tokens into {Horrible Hybrids} for free. It was already an uphill battle. I had a very strong start, converting a turn-one {Key to the City} into a turn two {Lugbog Cat} on his front row {Troll Bridge}. I drew {Bureau of Occult Control} early, slowing down his {Gilman House} by forcing its activation to cost [2].

Turn three, I made what I consider the first of several mistakes during the game: I placed {Bureau of Occult Control} in my back row instead of forward, where it could help me attack. This was pivotal later in the game.

Soon after, I made another decision that was probably incorrect. He played an {Innsmouth Dock} next to his {Troll Bridge}, and leveraged {Coy Nixie} to move my {Lugbog Cat} off and back onto his {Troll Bridge}. I took the three damage rather than discard, and he removed my {Lugbog Cat} for the low price of a skeleton token.

I believe I had {Lilith}, a {Vile Imp}, and one other card in my hand, and it would probably have been correct to discard the {Vile Imp} or the other card instead to maintain my on-board pressure. I passed with no turn three play, opting to hold my {Vile Imp} in the hopes he would move surface his {Coy Nixie}.

Gideon’s turn four really showcased what makes the {Necromancer} deck so good. He {Shapeshift}ed one of his skeleton tokens into a {Gnarled Wendigo}, and immediately smacked me for five damage. He surfaced his {Coy Nixie} to the middle, prime for my {Vile Imp}.

The following turn, I killed the {Coy Nixie} with {Vile Imp}, developed a fourth site forward near his {Innsmouth Dock}, and put a {Colicky Dragonettes} onto my back row, hoping to protect it from his forced movement. He responded by {Swap}ping my {Key to the City} onto my back row and my {Colicky Dragonettes} up, which I saved from {Troll Bridge} by discarding {Torshammar Trinket}. He pulled the {Colicky Dragonettes} with his {Innsmouth Dock} and killed them with {Gnarled Wendigo}. My plan was to play {Lilith} the following turn to crank the pressure, but his timely {Swap} derailed my plans.

At this point, I experienced something I hadn’t before, which was a full-on tilt. Gideon had interrupted my game plan so expertly that I had trouble getting my head back in the game. I followed up with a {Failed Mutation} and retrieved my {Key to the City} from the back row, but he continued developing {Horrible Hybrids} and a {Lugbog Cat}, and suddenly, the board had completely gotten away from me.

I tried attacking his site to move the {Lugbog Cat} so I could remove the {Horrible Hybrids} with my {Failed Mutation}, but I had forgotten his {Troll Bridge} trigger, and I couldn’t afford to discard {Lilith} as she was my only avenue back into the game. I attacked him and preserved my minion instead, and took four damage for nothing.

Shortly after, he played {Wuthering Heights} in my front row, absolutely a disaster for me, as he could now get to me easily, almost anywhere on the board. If only I had played my {Bureau of Occult Control} forward earlier.

Gideon cast {Lord of Lies} on my face, and the game was effectively all over. I was on Death’s Door, and he had a commanding board presence. I played out my {Lilith}, hoping to steal an {Archangel Raphael} from the top of his spellbook to buy time, but alas, I received a {Green Knight} instead. It would have been an excellent hit at any other time, but I only had one out. {Lord of Lies} ended my run the following turn.

I could make all sorts of excuses for my poor play, but ultimately, Gideon played an amazing game, and I did not, and he deserved to win the first Grand Contest. He was an amazing competitor and a great sport throughout the game, even helping me notice some on-board interaction that I missed while tilted.

I was crushed to have come this far and come up short, but with opponents as amazing as these, you almost want them to win. I collected my foil {Silver Bullet} for second place, said my goodbyes, and headed home for some much-needed sleep.

Wrapping Up

The entire weekend was some of the most fun I’ve had in a while. I met and chatted with so many kind, like-minded people and had a blast playing 16 competitive rounds and many other casual rounds of Sorcery. I can’t say enough about the Erik’s Curiosa crew and the judges; they were friendly and professional, and they did an amazing job with the event.

I am so glad I found this game and community, and have participated in the competitive tournament scene. For anyone reading this and wondering if the tournament scene is for you, I’ll say that this was easy for a mostly casual player to enjoy, and if you’re on the fence about attending an event, just go! Everyone is friendly, the competition is incredibly kind, and the community will help you get your bearings and have a great time.

For anyone looking for more information about my Steam Persecutor deck, check out the Common Sense Sorcery podcast episode where I talk more about it!

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Featured image: {Persecutor} by Dan Seagrave