Glenn Janssens wins the Gentry Open IX

By Niels Viaene

When the dust settled for the swiss rounds, 8 players emerged on top of the ranking, ready to draw into the play-off rounds. One of them had to leave, however, and that let 1 player sneak in.

Renzo Verkooren was that lucky player, that got in after winning his last match, and being informed there was a drop and he would have a chance getting in after all. That sounded like the start of a cinderella story in the making. But there were so many more stories ready to unfold.

How about Alan Schuer and Ruben Naudts securing a top slot, and possibly would become the player to have two Gentry Open Titles? Or Arthur Hugaert, finalist of the first ever Gentry Open, getting a chance to tie Jelle Gyselinck as 1.5 time winner? Then there are Tom De Wael and Bob Jacobs, both multi Top 8 competitors getting another shot at the title. A player that rose to the occasion in Robbe De Vilder is here for the surprise performance from deep in the local field, and then there is Glen Janssens, the dark horse player, a legacy main stay that decided to dive into Gentry because he likes the brewing potential.

Alan lost to Glenn in the Quarter Finals, Bob lost to Ruben, Arthur eliminated Renzo and Robbe reigned supreme over Tom de Wael.

Alan Schuer

Main Deck (60) 4 Dismal Backwater 1 Evolving Wilds 4 Forest 3 Island 4 Jungle Hollow 4 Swamp 4 Thornwood Falls 1 Cavalier of Night 4 Cloudkin Seer 4 Dusk LEgion Zealot 1 Golgari Findbroker 4 Leafkin Druid 1 Loaming Shaman 1 Massacre Girl 1 Muldrotha, the Gravetide 2 Ravenous Chupacabra 4 Risen Reef 1 Tatyova, Benthic Druid 2 Vine Mare 1 Yarok, the Desecrated 2 Fungal Infection 4 Neoform 2 Ob Nixilis’ Cruelty 1 Spark HArvest

Sideboard (15) 3 Duress 1 Fungal Infection 2 Mephitic Vapors 3 Negate 1 Ob Nixilis’ Cruelty 2 Return to Nature 1 Spark Harvest 2 Vicious Offering

Renzo Verkooren

Main Deck (60) 4 Dismal Backwater 4 Dimir Guildgate 2 Swiftwater Cliffs 2 Bloodfall Caves 1 Evolving Wilds 5 Island 5 Swamp 1 Mountain 4 Burglar Rat 4 Whisper Agent 1 Sailor of Means 3 Nightveil Predator 1 Ravenous Chupacabra 2 Vampire Sovereign 1 Nicol Bolas, the Ravager 4 Thought Erasure 2 Moment of Craving 2 Murder 1 Ob Nixilis’ Cruelty 2 Notion Rain 3 Disinformation Campaign 1 Cry of the Carnarium 2 Syncopate 1 Angrath, the Flame-chained 1 Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God 1 Liliana, Dreadhorde General

Sideboard (15) 1 Spell Pierce 4 Duress 3 Fungal Infection 2 Moment of Craving 1 Negate 2 Deep Freeze 1 Bo Nixilis’ Cruelty 1 Cry of the Carnarium

Tom De Wael

Main Deck (60) 5 Forest 4 Island 4 Plains 4 Blossoming Sands 4 Thornwood Falls 4 Tranquil Cove 4 Leafkin Druid 1 Lumbering Battlement 4 Risen Reef 4 Sailor of Means 4 Mirror Image 4 Elite Guardmage 4 Cloudkin Seer 3 Meteor Golem 1 Shared Summons 1 Tamiyo, Collector of Tales 1 Finale of Devastation 4 Justicar’s Portal

Sideboard (15) 4 Negate 3 Naturalize 4 Deep Freeze 4 Healer of the Glade

Bob Jacobs

Main Deck (60) 4 Dismal Backwater 4 Dimir Guildgate 8 Swamp 8 Island 2 Negate 2 Spell Pierce 3 Syncopate 2 Callous Dismissal 1 Blink of an Eye 1 Ob Nixilis’ Cruelty 2 Moment of Craving 2 Spark Harvest 1 Aid the Fallen 1 Essence Scatter 1 Duress 4 Thought Erasure 1 The Eldest Reborn 2 Chemister’s Insight 1 Cry of the Carnarium 1 Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor 3 Narset, Parter of Veils 3 Saheeli, Sublime Articifer 1 God-Eternal Kefnet 1 Ugin, the Ineffable 1 Liliana, Dreadhorde General

Sideboard (15) 2 Moment of Craving 3 Duress 2 Negate 2 Disdainful Stroke 2 Charity Extractor 2 Ob Nixilis’ Cruelty 2 Aid the Fallen

Semi Finals

In the Second Round, we see Glenn Face off against Ruben in what usually is a bad match-up for him, but whether it was by his decision to play Elite Guardmage in the deck, sheer luck or mastery of skill, he was able to overcome the odd and dispatched Ruben. In the other match, Robbe faced off against Artur in an epic mirror match between two UR Drakes decks. A deck that was said to be dead, no less.

Ruben Naudts

Main Deck (60) 20 Island 4 Pteramander 4 Siren Stormtamer 1 Spectral Sailor 4 Mist-Cloaked Herald 1 Tempest Djinn 1 Sphinx of Foresight 1 God-Eternal Kefnet 2 Merfolk Trickster 4 Curious Obsession 3 Dive Down 4 Spell Pierce 4 Opt 3 Essence Scatter 1 Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer 2 winged Words 1 Syncopate

Sideboard (15) 1 Essence Scatter 2 Faerie Duelist 4 Negate 3 Kasmina’s Transmutation 2 Unsummon 1 Dive Down 2 Blink of an Eye

Robbe De Vilder

Main Deck (60) 2 Swiftwater Cliffs 2 Evolving Wilds 4 Highland Lake 7 Island 4 Mountain 4 Enigma Drake 4 Crackling Drake 1 God-Eternal Kefnet 4 Anticipate 4 Spell Pierce 1 Quench 4 Shock 4 Chart a Course 1 Beacon Bolt 2 Lava Coil 3 Opt 3 Dive Down 3 Radical Idea 1 Search for Azcanta 1 Ral, Izzet Viceroy 1 Chandra, Awakened Inferno

Sideboard (15) 2 Bombard 3 Essence Scatter 4 Negate 2 Omenspeaker 1 Deep freeze 1 Syncopate 1 Plains 1 Revitalize

The Finale

That means the two people are left are Arthur Hugaert, finalist of the very first edition of the event, and Glenn Janssens, playing in his very first Gentry Open. Arthur brought UR Drakes, a deck he has played in every iteration it was legal in for multiple editions here, but that has been deemed ‘old-fashioned’ by many players. On the other side, we see Glenn, sporting Gates as the weapon of choice. He showed up with some unusual card choices, in particular Elite Guardmage, which has been instrumental to him improving his win rate against mono Blue and mono Red. They don’t do much against Drakes, however…

Arthur Hugaert

Main Deck (60) 4 Swiftwater Cliffs 8 Mountain 8 Island 2 Izzet Guildgate 4 Enigma Drake 4 Crackling Drake 1 Arclight Phoenix 1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun 4 Shock 4 Opt 1 Warlord’s Fury 4 Crash Through 2 Dive Down 1 Maximize Velocity 1 Lava Coil 1 Lightning Strike 3 Chart a Course 3 Tormenting Voice 1 Beacon Bolt 1 Expansion // Explosion 1 Search for Azcantha 1 Flame Sweep

Sideboard (15) 2 Burning Prophet 2 Omenspeaker 1 Dive Down 3 Shivan Fire 3 Negate 1 Disdainful Stroke 1 Dual Shot 1 Essence Scatter 1 Spell Pierce

Glenn Janssens

Main Deck (60) 4 Simic Guildgate 4 Azorius Guildgate 3 Selesnya Guildgate 2 Boros Guildgate 3 Gruul Guildgate 3 Izzet Guildgate 4 Forest 3 Island 3 Arboreal Grazer 3 Gatebreaker Ram 3 Elite Guardmage 1 Cavalier of Gales 2 Gate Colossus 1 Ixalan’s Binding 3 Guild Summit 4 Opt 4 Growth Spiral 3 Gates Ablaze 3 Jaya’s Greeting 1 Sarkhan’s Catharsis 1 Ugin, the Ineffable 1 Ral, Izzet Viceroy 1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria

Sideboard (15) 4 Negate 3 Revitalize 2 Chandra’s Pyrohelix 2 No Escape 2 Forced Landing 2 Return to Nature

In the end, Glenn reigned supreme and rode that Cavalier of Gales and its brainstorm trigger all the way to the end to crown himself a Gentry Champion, joining the echelon as the 8th, they can finally draft!

You can find all the coverage of the Open below:

Before we end, I want to thank all the sponsors of the Gentry Open, Outpost Gent of the venue and foils, Ultimate guard for the bulk of the goodie bag, tournamentcenter for extra goodies and general support, cardmarket series for goodies and last but not least Channel Fireball Events for the playmats and the Golden GP tickets.

That concludes this edition of the Gentry Open and marks the end of one of the most balanced and diverse metagames we have had in Gentry in quite a long while. Now we get to look forward to rotation, we lose Ixalan, Rivals of Ixalan, Dominaria, and M19. In their stead, we get Throne of Eldraine. In the next few articles, we will see what decks are surviving this rotation, and what will be reborn slightly different.

I hope you are at least half as excited as I am because then it will be awesome!