The 2026 Grand Contest Las Vegas occurred on June 26-28 in Sin City. Abdul-Hakeem Russell paced through the field with a 
Pathfinder deck that left little time for opponents to breathe.
Top 8 Decklists
First Place — Pathfinder by @dragonqueendora
Minions (39)
4 Vile Imp
3 War Horse
2 Redmane Hyena
2 Sinterfee
2 Wild Fanatic
3 Colicky Dragonettes
3 Quarrelsome Kobolds
1 Morgana le Fey
3 Redcap Powries
1 Mazuj Ifrit
1 Boudicca
1 Monstrous Lion
3 Saracen Raiders
1 Courtesan Thais
1 Rebecks
1 The Inquisition
2 Infernal Legion
1 Balor of the Evil Eye
Magics (13)
1 Immolation
2 Gift of the Serpent
1 Blaze
2 Disintegrate
1 Warp Spasm
1 Blaze of Glory
2 Searing Truth
1 Shatter Strike
2 Betrayal
Artifacts (6)
2 Torshammar Trinket
1 Ring of Morrigan
2 Toolbox
1 Torid Omphalos
Auras (2)
1 Jihad
1 The Great Famine
Sites (30)
1 Arid Desert
1 Red Desert
1 Remote Desert
1 River of Flame
1 Shifting Sands
1 Vesuvius
1 Ruins 
1 Steppe 
1 Mirror Realm
1 Bonfire
1 Forge
1 Funeral Pyre
1 Poisoned Well
1 Wizard's Den
1 River of Blood
1 Active Volcano
1 Baba Yaga's Hut
1 Bureau of Occult Control
1 Desert Bloom
1 Hellmouth
1 Horns of Behemoth
1 Kor Crematory
1 Leadworks
1 Mismanaged Mortuary
1 Molten Maar
1 Plague Pits
1 Road to Perdition
1 Vast Desert
1 Vindictive Nation
1 Wuthering Heights
Collection (10)
1 Grapple Shot
1 Boil
1 Critical Strike
1 Heat Ray
1 Minor Explosion
1 Angry Mob
1 Detonate
1 Flayer
1 Hellhounds
1 Zap
Opens TCGPlayer Mass Entry with the full decklist pre-loaded.
Select Sorcery: Contested Realm as the Product Line, then click Add to Cart.
Second Place — Sorcerer by @Gwen
Minions (30)
4 Land Surveyor
2 Arjaro Exorcist
1 Saint of Redemption
1 Sister Stefania
3 Autumn Unicorn
3 Root Spider
1 Morgana le Fey
3 Order of the White Wing
2 Gargantula
2 Paladins of Bazia
1 Queen of Midland
1 Asmodeus
2 Infernal Legion
1 Balor of the Evil Eye
2 Wraetannis Titan
1 Death Dealer
Magics (21)
3 Divine Healing
1 Immolation
1 Tithe
2 Disintegrate
4 Landmass
2 Earthquake
3 Poison Nova
1 Powerwish
2 Minor Explosion
2 Craterize
Artifacts (6)
1 Key to the City
1 Four Waters of Paradise
3 Toolbox
1 Torrid Omphalos
Auras (3)
1 Crusade
1 Castle's Ablaze
1 The Great Famine
Sites (30)
1 Pillar of Zeiros
2 Rift of Valley
2 Mirage
1 River of Flame
3 Steppe
2 Imperial Road
1 Mirror Realm
1 Sinkhole
1 Fields of Camlann
1 Valley of Delight
2 Haystack
2 Active Volcano
2 Boulevard of Bones
3 Fertile Earth
2 Heirloom Lost
1 Mount Ussar Sanctuary
2 Plague Pits
Collection (10)
1 Amazon Warriors
1 Bury
1 Dispel
1 Boil
1 Heat Ray
1 Charge
1 Angry Mob
1 Flayer
1 Gift of the Wolf
1 Makeshift Barricade
Opens TCGPlayer Mass Entry with the full decklist pre-loaded.
Select Sorcery: Contested Realm as the Product Line, then click Add to Cart.
Third Place — Avatar of Air by @Bob Sacamano
Minions (35)
1 Highland Princess
3 Kettletop Leprechaun
3 Headless Haunt
3 Autumn Unicorn
3 Root Spider
1 Sir Bors the Younger
2 Sturmgeist
3 Gyre Hippogriffs
3 Dalcean Phalanx
3 Pudge Butcher
1 Bane of Aventis
3 Daperyll Vampire
2 Legion of Gall
2 Renatus Trueblood
2 Lord of Greed
Magics (17)
1 Browse
3 Blink
3 Cast into Exile
3 Grapple Shot
1 Feast for Crows
1 Gigantism
3 Whirling Blades
2 Earthquake
Artifacts (7)
1 Ring of Morrigan
3 Toolbox
3 Rolling Boulder
Auras (1)
1 The Black Plague
Sites (30)
1 Cloud City
4 Dark Tower
4 Gothic Tower
4 Lone Tower
2 Observatory
2 Rift Valley
1 The Colour Out of Space 
3 Windmill
2 Bottomless Pit
1 Mirror Realm
1 Glastonbury Tor
1 Tintagel
3 Fertile Earth
1 The Manor of Daperyll Hill
Collection (10)
1 Blink
1 Disenchant
1 Grapple Shot
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Teleport
1 Amazon Warriors
1 Bury
1 Dispel
1 Murder of Crows
1 Zap
Opens TCGPlayer Mass Entry with the full decklist pre-loaded.
Select Sorcery: Contested Realm as the Product Line, then click Add to Cart.
Fourth Place — Imposter by @Rackhir
Minions (36)
4 Vile Imp
1 Pied Piper of Hameln
2 Sinterfee
1 Cerberus in Chains
1 Fey Changeling
3 Coy Nixie
3 Lugbog Cat
1 Morgana le Fey
1 Sir Agravaine
1 Aino
2 Order of the Sacred Oak
1 Ruler of Thul
2 Selfsame Simulacrum
1 Boudicca
2 Abaddon Succubus
3 Failed Mutation
2 [Sacred Stag}
1 Questing Beast
1 Archangel Raphael
1 Lilth
1 Balor of the Evil Eye
2 Lord of Lies
Magics (13)
1 Plague of Frogs
1 Gift of the Serpent
2 Disintegrate
3 Swap
1 Mesmerism
3 Poison Nova
1 Snowball
1 Betrayal
Artifacts (4)
1 Torshammar Trinket
1 Ring of Morrigan
1 Four Waters of Paradise
1 The Malleus Maleficarum
Auras (7)
1 Acid Rain
3 Wildfire
1 The Great Famine
1 Salt the Earth
1 Atlantean Fate
Sites (30)
1 River of Flame
3 Floodplain
3 Oasis
1 Mirror Realm
3 Babbling Brook
2 Funeral Pyre
4 Pond
3 Troll Bridge
3 Active Volcano
1 Garden of Eden
2 River Rapids
3 Thin Ice
1 Vindictive Nation
Collection (10)
1 Major Explosion
1 Minor Explosion
1 Elementalist
1 Pathfinder
1 Sorcerer
1 Interrogator
1 Ironclad
1 Necromancer
1 Searing Truth
Opens TCGPlayer Mass Entry with the full decklist pre-loaded.
Select Sorcery: Contested Realm as the Product Line, then click Add to Cart.
Fifth Place — Persecutor by @MeterPaleTone
Minions (29)
1 Highland Princess
2 Vile Imp
1 Grigori Rasputin
2 Redmane Hyena
3 Colicky Dragonettes
1 Morgana le Fey
3 Gibbeous Nightgaunts
1 Jack the Ripper
2 Mazuj Ifrit
2 Sturmgeist
3 Gyre Hippogriffs
2 Hillock Basilisk
1 Boudicca
1 Sir Lamorack
1 Bane of Aventus
2 Daperyll Vampire
1 Balor of the Evil Eye
Magics (21)
1 Browse
1 Immolation
2 Firebolts
2 Grapple Shot
3 Begone
1 Blaze of Glory
3 Firebreathing
2 Whirling Blades
2 Poison Nova
3 Lava Flow
1 Betrayal
Artifacts (8)
2 Torshammar Trinket
1 Ring of Morrigan
1 Key to the City
2 Toolbox
1 Peacemaker Arbalest
1 Love Potion
Auras (2)
1 The Black Plague
1 The Great Famine
Sites (30)
1 Cloud City
1 Dark Tower
1 Gothic Tower
1 Lone Tower
1 Smokestacks of Gnaak
3 Ruins
1 Fields of Camlann
2 River of Blood
2 Fields of Phyxis
3 Active Volcano
2 Molten Maar
3 Mountain Peaks
3 Open Mausoleum
4 Vast Desert
2 Wuthering Heights
Collection (10)
1 Disenchant
1 Grapple Shot
1 Firebolts
1 Angry Mob
1 Detonate
1 Displace
1 Flame Strike
2 Hellhounds
1 Zap
Opens TCGPlayer Mass Entry with the full decklist pre-loaded.
Select Sorcery: Contested Realm as the Product Line, then click Add to Cart.
Sixth Place — Elementalist by @Michael Mindes
Minions (36)
4 Bosk Troll
1 Lady Iseult
1 Sir Tom Thumb
3 War Horse
2 Arjaro Exorcist
3 Sinterfee
3 Autumn Unicorn
3 Quarrelsome Kobolds
1 Sir Bors the Younger
3 Pudge Butcher
1 King Arthur
1 Sir Gawain
1 Sir Lamorack
1 Sir Perceval
1 Doctor Demetrius
2 Gargantula
3 Daperyll Vampire
2 Lord of Lies
Magics (13)
2 Blink
2 Geyser
4 Gift of the Wolf
3 Grapple Shot
2 Whirling Blades
Artifacts (6)
2 Torshammar Trinket
1 Ring of Morrigan
2 Silver Bullet
1 Book of the Dead
Auras (2)
1 The Black Plague
1 Atlantean Fate
Sites (30)
1 Dark Tower
1 Gothic Tower
1 Lone Tower
1 Kingdom of Argartha
1 Pillar of Zeiros
2 Rustic Village
1 Simple Village
1 Lighthouse
1 The Colour Out of Space
1 Windmill
2 Sinkhole
4 Common Village
1 Merlin's Tower
1 Tintagel
2 Wizard's Den
1 City of Glass
1 City of Souls
1 City of Traitors
2 Forlorn Keep
1 Garden of Eden
3 Peculiar Port
Collection (9)
1 Flanking Maneuver
1 Whirling Blades
1 Poison Nova
1 Geyser
1 Torshammar Trinket
1 Stone Rain
1 Swap
1 Horrible Hybrids
1 Penitent Knight
Opens TCGPlayer Mass Entry with the full decklist pre-loaded.
Select Sorcery: Contested Realm as the Product Line, then click Add to Cart.
Seventh Place — Archimago by @TbagScandalous
Minions (17)
3 Cemetery Rats
1 Goat for Azazel
2 Kettletop Leprechaun
1 Mover of Mountains
1 Sister Stefania
3 Root Spider
2 Gargantula
1 Rhitta Gawr of Snowdonia
1 King of the Realm
1 Death Dealer
Magics (36)
2 Assorted Animals
3 Divine Healing
1 Pendragon Legacy
1 Tithe
4 Common Sense
1 Dispel
1 Firebolts
4 Gift of the Wolf
1 Border Militia
2 Bury
1 Heat Ray [fire}
4 Landmass
1 Infiltrate
2 Earthquake
3 Poison Nova
2 Major Explosion
2 Craterize
Artifacts (6)
1 Ring of Morrigan
2 Tombstone Wardens
2 Chains of Prometheus
1 Torrid Omphalos
Sites (30)
3 Gnome Hollows
2 Humble Village earth]1 {Pillar of Zeiros
2 Rift Valley
2 Mirage
1 Remote Desert
1 River of Flame
1 Smokestacks of Gnaak
3 Steppe
1 Mirror Realm
2 Sinkhole
2 Pebbled Paths
1 Wormelow Tump
2 Ersatz Platz
2 Heirloom Lost
1 Mount Ussar Sanctuary
3 Shallow Grave
Collection (10)
1 Holy Ground
1 Annual Fair
1 Babbling Brook
1 Beacon
1 Funeral Pyre
1 Pebbled Paths [earth}
1 Poisoned Well
1 Haystack
1 Fields of Phyxis
2 Active Volcano
Opens TCGPlayer Mass Entry with the full decklist pre-loaded.
Select Sorcery: Contested Realm as the Product Line, then click Add to Cart.
Eighth Place — Dragonlord by @Goldeneagle1833
Minions (43)
1 Vile Imp
3 War Horse
3 Wild Fanatic
1 Morgana le Fey
3 Redcap Powries
3 Clamor of Harpies
3 Hillock Basilisk
3 Petrosian Cavalry
1 Boudicca
2 Monstrous Lion
3 Saracen Raiders
3 Siege Giant
4 Angry Mob
1 Courtesan Thais
2 Panorama Manticore
1 Rebecks
1 Archangel Samael
1 Asmodeus
2 Infernal Legion
1 Balor of the Evil Eye
1 Death Dealer
Magics (15)
1 Critical Strike
2 Disintegrate
1 Warp Spasm
1 Searing Truth
2 Infiltrate
3 Poison Nova
1 Lava Flow
1 Peasant Revolt
2 Betrayal
1 Day of Judgment
Artifacts (1)
1 Ring of Morrigan
Auras (1)
1 The Great Famine
Sites (30)
4 Arid Desert
4 Red Desert
4 Remote Desert
1 Smokestacks of Gnaak
1 Vesuvius
1 Mirror Realm
1 Roots of Yggdrasil
1 Fields of Camlann
3 Poisoned Well
1 River of Blood
1 Horns of Behemoth
3 Molten Maar
4 Vast Desert
Opens TCGPlayer Mass Entry with the full decklist pre-loaded.
Select Sorcery: Contested Realm as the Product Line, then click Add to Cart.
Submit Your Article To Eternal Durdles
Subscribe to Eternal Durdles on YouTube!
Subscribe to Common Sense: Sorcery podcast on YouTube!
Featured image: Tournament Grounds by Rodney Matthews
