The 2026 Grand Contest Hartford occurred on Saturday, October 24, at the Connecticut Convention Center. I brought yet another version of The Immortal Throne Magician list I've been working on. I moved away from being so reliant on Frogs to enable payoffs like Dhol Chants toward 
for Searing Truth and powerful sites like Fields of Camlann to remove exposure to Mock Court.
The shift resulted in a significantly more Magics-focused Spellbook, leading to sweet tech like Orb of Ba'al Berith which generated some insane turns.
I hope to return to a more Frog-forward build soon, and the optimal version might be somewhere in between. Here's what I brought to Hartford:
ImmOrbal Throne Magcian
Minions (5)
1 Highland Princess
1 Morgana le Fay
1 The Lady of the Lake
2 Salmon of Knowledge
Artifacts (19)
1 Aquamarine Core
1 Amethyst Core
1 Ruby Core
1 Onyx Core
1 Key to the City
1 Philosopher's Stone
1 Ring of Morrigan
1 Kythera Mechanism
4 Wiccan Tools
1 Shrine of the Dragonlord
1 Silver Bullet
1 Four Waters of Paradise
1 Pnakotic Manuscript
1 The Immortal Throne
1 13 Treasures of Britain
1 Orb of Ba'al Berith
Magics (16)
3 Divine Healing
1 Plague of Frogs
1 Browse
1 Immolation
1 Pendragon Legacy
2 Return to Nature
3 Searing Truth
1 Pact with the Devil
2 Poison Nova
1 Chaoswish
Auras (2)
1 The Great Famine
1 Atlantean Fate
Sites (18)
1 Joyous Garde
1 Caerleon-Upon-Usk
1 Glastonbury Tor
3 Active Volcano
3 Deep Sea
1 Tadpole Pool
1 Fields of Camlann
2 Mirage
2 Wizard's Den
1 Mirror Realm
1 Vaults of Zul
1 Annual Fair
Collection (10)
1 Ferryman's Coin
1 Exhume
1 Dredge
1 Poisonous Dagger
1 Sunken Treasure
1 Scatter
1 Swap
1 Scavenging Fiend
1 Poison Nova
1 Muirid Fomorians
Opens TCGPlayer Mass Entry with the full decklist pre-loaded.
Select Sorcery: Contested Realm as the Product Line, then click Add to Cart.
En route to this list, I was on a Demonic Contract build, which I'm still working on. The problem with solving tutor-focused builds is reigning in the potential to do everything. Along the way, I explored a build with 4 Blink to move onto Vaults of Zul in the early game. Drawing four cards on turn two was extremely appealing, and I didn't mind letting the opponent get an extra turn if it meant I was resource-flush.
I still think that line is hot A.F., but cut the Blinks since my desired opening hands included Searing Truth and a way to cast it on turn two. That meant prioritizing over any other threshold, which is why the absent tri-site is the -less Tintagel.
In the aforementioned potentially optimal in-between build, some Blink might be attractive, since having a proactive way to get out of a projectile's path without conceding a turn of site-development is extremely attractive. Pudge Butchers are still abundant in the Realm.
Round One | L
I drove to the tournament with Ironclad Jack, who posted a solid 4-2 finish, but heavy traffic made us late and cost us round one. We didn't intend to start our tournament with this kind of loss, but everyone loves an underdog comeback.
Round Two vs Tony | Savior | L
The underdog comeback was still far off as I mulliganed three cards with a one-site opener and passed every turn until I died. My second site was the 23rd card down, resulting in a non-game. While unfortunate and improbable, it is the implicit risk of Magician.
Luckily, Tony is a wonderful member of the community, and it's always a pleasure to sit across the Realm from him.
Round Three vs Mitch | Colorless Ironclad | W
I paired against the other Ironclad player in the event. Mitch has been brewing his threshold-less version of the deck for a while, and the match had some really wild interactions.
The most notable one, which likely gave me the time needed to scale The Immortal Throne, was Silver Bullet animated by Infusion Factory. Mitch, playing out this interaction for the first time, sacrificed the bullet to itself since it has its own bearer abilities and reached for his Collection. We double-took each other as though realizing in that moment...
Judge!
Zach, the esteemed head judge of the tournament, came over and confirmed our suspicion: since the Silver Bullet has to sacrifice itself to use its ability while animated, the effect would fizzle because the caster was no longer in the Realm.
These interactions are great to learn before the upcoming Avatar of the Realm. Don't put your Silver Bullets and Toolboxen in the Infusion Factory.
Round Four vs. Zachary | Avatar of Earth | L
From my point of view, one critical turn swayed the game: Zachary developed Garden of Eden on the last possible turn before I could go off, with an in-realm Salmon of Knowledge, and three summoning-sick Frogs nearly ready to go fishing and a nearby Pnakotic Manuscript. Poetically, my next two draw steps were back-to-back Searing Truthes to pair with my in-hand 13 Treasures of Britain, which just needed a Kythera Mechanism.
While the timing of Garden of Eden was spot on, it came from taking an earlier turn off developing that Tadpole Pool to move out of the way of a Pudge Butcher. Perhaps those Blinks I cut could have made the difference.
Ultimately, additional answers to Garden of Eden are variables I can control in my deckbuilding and will report back what I come up with.
Round Five vs. Oneyjonta | Sorcerer | W
Typically, I'm always happy to sit across from Sorcerer because it means that Garden of Eden won't enter the Realm. This was my most straightforward match since I opened The Immortal Throne for an early clock, but there were still some sweet lines.
Against an extremely aggressive list, Divine Healing paid big dividends. Copying Divine Healing with Orb of Ba'al Berith is an even bigger game. I gained 21 life before I finished scaling The Immortal Throne at 10 life. My Key to the City drawn by Morgana le Fay let me ignore his River of Blood.
Round Six vs. Tommy | Waveshaper | W
The critical highlight from the final round ensued after I Poison Nova'd Tommy's Abbaddon Succubus and Questing Beast. I cast The Immortal Throne to my home site, and dropped a site to draw a card and put the throne to one counter.
Tommy cast Swap to move The Immortal Throne onto his home site. My Magician builds have always included Silver Bullet with access to Swap to counter an opposing Swap, so I knew I had an answer to dig to. There was, however, an even better path to journey toward.
I kept casting spells that would trigger The Immortal Throne, despite Tommy's Waveshaper currently occupying its seat. Along the way, I acquired my Kythera Mechanism and cast Orb of Ba'al Berith to the site adjacent to me. When the throne was at six counters, I cast Chaoswish and put an Orb copy on the storyline.
The copy wished for Swap, exchanging my Onyx Core and The Immortal Throne. Now atop the throne alone, the original Chaoswish cast Divine Intervention (though it could have been any -mana spell) to trigger the throne to eight counters and win the game.
That final sequence drew a small crowd around the table, which earned the community award: a Gothic uncut Exceptional sheet. It was an immense honor to be chosen, and I thank the judge staff and all my opponents for the recognition.
Wrap Up
Although I didn't take home the Grand Contest title, I had an incredible time and learned even more about my deck. I can't wait to make adjustments to contest the Realm again. See you in Boston at Avatar of the Realm!
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Featured Image: Orb of Ba'al of Berith by Dan Seagrave
