Winning the 2026 Gongaii Cornerstone With Avatar of Air

As of writing, this was the largest Cornerstone ever! We were slated to have 80+ players, but there were a few no-shows, so I believe the final count was 67.

As one of our Helpful Hobs predicted, fire was the name of the game at this Cornerstone. Many saw the results of Grand Contest Germany followed by Grand Contest London and wanted in on the action. Naturally, I had to swing by and provide a breath of fresh air (see what I did there?).

Avatar of Air Turbo Towers by SammyGL

Minions (37)

2 Highland Falconer air
1 Highland Princess air air
2 Palliburie Bats air
1 Skeleton Mage air air
2 Tooth Faeries air
3 Gibbous Nightgaunts air air
3 Headless Haunt air air
3 Phase Assassin air air
2 Stagecoach air
2 Sturmgeist air air
3 Stygian Archers air air
2 Avenging Angel air air
1 Bane of Aventis air air air
3 Gyre Hippogriffs air air
3 Skirmishers of Mu air air
2 Hounds of Ondaros air air
2 Legion of Gall air air air

Magics (13)

2 Displace air air
1 Lightning Bolt air
2 Magic Missiles air
2 Grapple Shot air
1 Arc Lightning air air
2 Chaos Twister air air
2 Whirling Blades air air
1 Arcane Barrage air air air

Auras (1)

1 The Black Plague air air

Artifacts (10)

1 Ring of Morrigan
2 Torshammar Trinket
1 The Rack
3 Toolbox
3 Rolling Boulder

Collection (10)

1 Zap air
1 Disenchant air
1 Displace air air
1 Lightning Bolt air
2 Magic Missiles air
1 Tactical Move air
1 Grapple Shot air
1 Murder of Crows air air
1 Screamer air air
1 Arc Lightning air air

Opens TCGPlayer Mass Entry with the full decklist pre-loaded.

Select Sorcery: Contested Realm as the Product Line, then click Add to Cart.

During my preparations, I tried plenty of different flavors of Avatar of Air, but ultimately decided to stick with my familiar and consistent mono- air build. Not worrying about threshold and having mobility on almost every site was too just good to pass up, even if my own units typically melt in the face of Colicky Dragonettes, Quarrelsome Kobolds, and Deserts.

I've always thought Chaos Twister was a strong card; it's essentially a Betrayal that kills the minion doing the betraying for one fewer mana. However, I avoided running it, as I typically compete online where the hit rate a bit lower and can't be relied on.

After searching the list of air cards for the millionth time, I finally resigned myself to running Chaos Twister to give myself a strong removal option with the potential to chunk a decent amount of life off my opponent or two-for-one them.

Despite a rather spectacular failure with my first attempt (with a mode I hadn't accounted for), I went on to use it with great success in later rounds. After a warm-up, I have a roughly 90-95% hit rate.

I absolutely would not have made the top cut if I didn't have Chaos Twister in this deck. Also, absolutely insane timing with Geoffrey releasing his Chaos Twister tutorial while I was in the middle of figuring out my own style for it!

Our approaches actually weren't too different except for one key improvement: using your other arm to measure the height, as well as keeping things a bit more stable.

Lastly, before jumping into individual matches, I want to give a shout out to everyone who contributed to this event. It ran outrageously smoothly, the prizes were great, and the charity raffle was a ton of fun to participate in.

Also, Brian Smith was there with the original paintings for Bladedancer, Death Dealer, and Frost Elemental! I believe Decent_Josh, who was running the event, has a forthcoming write up with acknowledgements.

Round One — Ironclad Mortals | Win

This was a game against a new new player who ran a mortal-themed Ironclad deck with various buffing mortals, such as House Arn Bannerman. Not much to outline here, as Avatar of Air did Avatar of Air things and ended the game quickly, before they could establish their synergies.

Round Two — Necromancer | Win (On Camera)

This game was also gainst a relatively new player who wasn't familiar with all of Avatar of Air's tricks. They opened with a turn-three Morgana le Fay. I was unable to punish with a Lightning Bolt or a Rolling Boulder, but they stepped her onto my forward air site and let me blow her into The Void on my back row.

Displace allowed me to push and banish a Siege Giant, which was on the edge of my territory, so the board pressure from my opponent was low.

I knew my opponent had a Rolling Boulder in hand from Lookout, so I lined up my minions to bait it from them while pushing damage at the same time.

Tip of the Match:
Do NOT give Avatar of Air a free Rolling Boulder

(Though my opponent had Detonate to take Rolling Boulder away from me)

A few Rolling Boulder pushes and attacks later, and I took the game. After reviewing the replay, I saw my opponent had some pretty spooky cards in hand, so I think a few more months of experience will give them great results from their deck.

Round Three — Interrogator | Loss (On Camera)

Eric, of Wizards of Fun! fame, is a great guy and excellent player, and has the most competitive Interrogator deck I've ever played against.

Mono- air Avatar of Air has a similar-ish gameplan to the air fire Interrogator deck, except if the 'Gator lands a hit they get to draw cards, which is hard to keep up with the deck. I try not to elect for three damage since it adds up quickly, but that might be a mistake.

I didn't draw any early towers. Eric mulled/drew into a few so my advantage on the play was short-lived. I went for my first Chaos Twister of the event, but I was foiled! It was a warm day in Portland with 60+ people in a warehouse, so the back of my hand was a bit damp and the card stuck to the side of my hand!

Eric had the win (Sphere of Animosity, The Rack, Blaze of Glory) regardless of the outcome of that play, but it left me in a bad headspace. I had practiced Chaos Twister for weeks in preparation, only to have the first one fizzle spectacularly! At least it made for a great story.

Round Four — Persecutor | Win

This game was a nail-biter. My opponent started on a turn one Mobbed Court which cost them a fair bit of life throughout the game. A Key to the City and turn two Jihad had them effectively start the game at 16 life, but that didn't make me feel any better about being on the receiving end of a turn-two Jihad.

They cast a turn three Corruptor Freak, which I was barely able to remove with an Arcane Barrage for four. They followed up with a 4-power Redcap Powries, and a leveled-up 5-power Redmane Hyena banishing the Corruptor Freak the turn after, and a 2-power Persecutor staring me down.

In any other situation, no single card in my mono air deck could bail me out without relying on a kill site, of which I had zero, but my newly added Chaos Twister was exactly what I needed.

Trusting that my weeks of preparation and freshly washed hands weren't going to let me down, I Chaos Twistered the Redmane Hyena onto the site occupied by the Redcap Powries and Persecutor (and under the effect of Jihad), removing two minions and chunking the Persecutor for five damage.

A few attacks later, I got them to Death's Door, and then I finished the game with a stealthy Gyre Hippogriff off of their City of Traitors.

Round Five — Pathfinder | Loss

I was still really in my head about the failed Chaos Twister in Round Three, and wasn't feeling confident in this room full of fire decks. I really misplayed some key moments in this match (not taking anything away from my opponent, Ally, who played the deck their list very well)!

I had an early The Void to potentially build aorund, but instead tried to get an early Legion of Gall using an out-of-place Beacon. Not only did the Legion of Gall die immediately to Majuz Ifrit holding a Torshammer Trinket in a Blaze of Glory, but I played the Beacon directly in front of Horns of Behemoth!!

There was another moment where their Betrayal was played on my Headless Haunt in the void, and I didn't even pause to consider whether that was a legal play. Like the Interrogator game, it didn't didn't change anything, as I was far far behind in resources, but it was a good reminder to slow down, think through my plays, and double-check the validity of each play.

Round Six — Persecutor | Win

Played against a Seattle local, Chris! We've played this matchup a few times, and unfortunately its not an easy one for air fire Persecutor. Unfortunately, I knocked a friend and fellow local player out of top cut.

Interlude

Between Swiss and Top Cut we had a wild amount of charity raffles to get through. I reflected on my performance so far, and shook off the some of the funk. Some encouraging words from friend and fellow Avatar of Air main Casey, aka Astarael7th), also helped.

Top 16 — Deathspeaker | Win

After the gauntlet of fire aggro, I really looked forward to a playing against a deck I presumed would not immediately go for the throat. Thankfully, this match was relatively quick.

I dealt a lot of damage before Deathspeaker could establish any board presence. By the time they were cast Daperyll Vampire, I had enough Ranged minions to kill it and prevent my opponent from recovering.

Top 8 — Interrogator | Win

Eric again! The one player I hoped to dodge in the Top Cut. Eric opened on Wuthering Heights and a few towers to swiftly knock me down to 7 life.

With some careful trades and spot removal, I stabilized, but nearly ready to throw in the towel. Unfortunately for Eric, he was short on fire threshold, and elected to draw sites for a few turns, hoping to cast Betrayal to convert favorable trades, and stabilize.

Near the end, my Palliburie Bats, Legion of Gall, Skirmishers of Mu, Hounds of Ondaros, and Gyre Hippogriffs in the Realm prevented Eric from being able to hide behind Death's Door, even if he drew Poison Nova or Lava Flow.

I aim to play every game out, but frankly, I was tempted to concede when I felt like I was floundering early. This was a great reminder that even when things seem dire, you only have the opportunity to get lucky if you see the game through.

Eric's deck is absolutely a problem for me, but playing mono element with enough will power worked out this time.

Semifinals — Imposter | Win

This was another matchup I was looked forward to, as I felt confident I could rush down the Imposter before they could out value me. Chaos Twister was the star of the show, killing an Autumn Unicorn with an animated Wildfire before it did any damage.

Shortly thereafter, I doored the Imposter and they fled to a Gnome Hollows while wearing an Ironclad mask. I patiently waited for a Toolbox or Rolling Boulder to end the game, as my opponent wiped the board and hit me for eight damage with the wombo combo of Gigantism and Blaze of Glory on a Kettletop Leprechaun.

Thankfully, I drew Toolbox to Arc Lightning for the win.

Finals — Necromancer | Win (On Camera)

Funnily enough, I met Winston (win$ton) for the first time (digitally) two nights before the Cornerstone in a match in the Summit. He beat me handily with fire Necromancer, so I asked to play a few friendlies to help prepare me for a big Cornerstone this weekend. Well, wouldn't you know it, he was playing in the Cornerstone, too!

At this point in the event, I felt pretty relaxed. The prizing was generous for the top two ranks, so win or lose I secured two foil promo Den of Evils to complete my playset.

Ring of Morrigan is a good card, and having two of them is even better. Winston didn't give up in the face of a magical machine gun, and surprised me with a last minute Courtesan Thais! Ultimately, the Ring of Morrigans prevailed.

Great performance from Winston despite being relatively new to TCGs and only having played Sorcery for two months. I expect we'll see him at many future top tables.