It honestly took me a few days to even get myself to sit down and write this article. For those of you who have read Mike Flores' most recent article, I placed 34th at the Minneapolis Standard Regional Championship this past weekend, going 11-3-1 over fifteen rounds with Jeskai Control. While this is a feat in itself, and marks my best performance at an invite-only Constructed tournament, I fell short of a Pro Tour invite, by only one slot.

Finished 34th at the #SCGMINN Regional Championship. While I wish I placed a little bit better I had an insane rally from 2-3 to 13-3-1. Shoutout to @fivewithflores for helping me with the list at the 13th hour. @fireshoes pic.twitter.com/3KYolOuLWr

— Roman Fusco, MPSE (@roman_fusco) May 5, 2025

It's hard to put into words how I'm feeling, even now, four days after the event. On one hand, I'm heartbroken that I was so close to the Pro Tour, the first time in years - but I barely missed. On the other hand, I'm incredibly proud of my performance, not only my record at the event, but my deck-building, card choices, play, and mental confidence throughout the event. It's still kind of numbing trying to put everything into words, but I'll do the best I can.

This story starts the week of the event...

This Regional Championship was probably my most stressful Magic event of all time. Going into it I had an inkling of what I wanted to play, but I wasn't exactly confident in my choices. I had been playing Azorius Control and felt it was better than Jeskai (as I wrote in a recent article you may have read), but to my surprise, Jeskai ended up feeling like the better deck. If I had a chance I would've rectified this in an article, but I decided to wait to see how I did at the RC beforehand.

While Azorius has an edge in the mirror against Jeskai, Jeskai was undoubtedly the better deck, as I learned in testing it could out-draw decks like Mono-Black Midrange, Esper and Orzhov Pixie, while having the tools to beat not only Mono-Red, but more importantly, Cori-Steel Cutter. While I was pretty close on registering Jeskai I still agonized over my choices as the event neared, much like any competitive Magic player does. The night before my flight I finalized the majority of my list, pinpointing a few key cards I wanted in my deck.

Torch the Tower and Spell Pierce - the real issue I ran into while playing Jeskai, was that the deck played so many come-into-play tapped lands. You play a minimum of 7-8 Surveil lands, with some decks playing upwards of 9-10. Because of this, I found that a lot of lists I was trying out felt incredibly weak on the draw, as I'd get run over pretty quickly with my first play sometimes being on turn three of the game. To combat this, I wanted to lower my curve to include more 1-drops. "Your deck is full of clunkers" - that's what Mike Flores said. I ended up trimming copies of Beza, the Bounding Spring, and positioning my deck to combat Cori-Steel Cutter, with two copies of Torch the Tower and one copy of Spell Pierce, giving me a play on turn two if I led on tap land into tap land.

Abrade - Again, to have more game against Cori-Steel Cutter and not lose to them Into the Flood Mawing my Temporary Lockdown, I wanted a way to permanently remove Cutter in Game 1, and Abrade was the perfect answer.

Ride's End - A flexible removal spell, I wanted another option against Screaming Nemesis, since my deck cut down on wrath effects and only had Get Lost and countermagic as other clean answers. I also figured some number of Cutter decks would have Nemesis in their sideboard.

Sunfall - This was a hedge against decks like Jeskai Oculus, where Day of Judgment is only okay against. I think with enough Temporary Lockdowns and Lightning Helixes, I could survive until the later turns in which I'd rather have a more impactful wrath that gets around cards like Abhorrent Oculus and Heartfire Hero giving my opponents extra value.

My individual card choices ended up mattering a lot. I talked with Mike Flores multiple times leading up to deck submission, even fifteen minutes beforehand! While he had some strong opinions on cards like Jeskai Revelation and Rediscover the Way, I had some enlightening discussions with SoCal friends that were traveling to the event on why I should give those cards a chance.

Flores and I made some amazing last-minute card choices, like Riverchurn Monument over Jace, the Perfected Mind, and Urabrask's Forge for the Azorius Omniscience matchups. Suddenly I felt much more confident about my list, and I felt a bit relieved, yet still nervous, as the Day One loomed. Looking back on it now, I can't tell if this is the best Control list I've ever registered for an event, but it feels like the one that had the most thought put into it.

It's still insane to me that I started off this event 2-3. While I beat an early Orzhov Pixie and Izzet Cutter deck, I lost three of my first five rounds to an Izzet Cutter, a Sultai Beanstalk (that's still a thing?) and an Omniscience deck I was one turn away from beating with Urabrasks's Forge. I can tell you I didn't have high hopes of making day two, sitting at three losses, but somehow it all came together.

I ended up playing against Izzet Cutter nine times out of fiteen rounds, with a personal record of 7-1-1 against the deck. I didn't even make any crazy sideboard swaps during the event, but Authority of the Consuls and open decklist information went a long way. I love Control decks in open decklist environments because you get to adjust your answers post-board. Your Izzet opponent is packing Ral, Crackling Wit? Negate comes in. They have Sunspine Lynx? You better save that Change the Equation if you can. I was flexible with how I sideboarded throughout the event, which I think gave me a pretty solid advantage.

If you want specifics:

• R1: Esper Pixie 2-0
• R2: Azorius Omniscience 1-2
• R3: Izzet 2-1
• R4: Izzet 1-2
• R5: Sultai Beanstalk 1-2
• R6: Azorius Omniscience 2-0
• R7: Izzet 2-1
• R8: Izzet 2-0
• R9: Izzet 2-1
• R10: Izzet 2-1
• R11: Jeskai Oculus 2-0
• R12: Zur Overlords 2-1
• R13: Izzet 2-0
• R14: Izzet 1-1-1 (unintentional)
• R15: Izzet 2-0

There wasn't anything super interesting about this event. Overall, I think I beat the decks my deck was tuned for, and lost to the decks I usually lose to - with some surprises along the way. Azorius Omniscience and Sultai Beanstalk are hard matches, and while I took games off my opponents, I still couldn't close out. It's hard to beat double Grand Abolisher when you're one turn from ending the game with Urabrask's Forge, or beat three Eddymurk Crabs in a row.

My record against Izzet, while a bit surprising in my favor, shows that I came prepared, had the right answers, and played well in those matches. Devon Straub was the only Izzet player I actually lost to, and he's become one of my favorite opponents to play against. He thoroughly crushed me in January with Esper Pixie at Spotlight Series Atlanta, and we had a really fun match. I learned to respect Drake Hatcher and felt his list was really well-tuned to combat the Jeskai matchup.

While I beat Jeskai Oculus (shoutout to reader Jacob Gumowski!), which is a great matchup, I am still shocked I beat Domain, or Zur Overlords. I lost Game 1 of this match pretty handily. The issue with Jeskai is that by playing Lightning Helixes and Abrades, you don't have as many wrath effects or ways to interact profitably with Overlords and Zur, Eternal Schemer. I did win Game 2 by out-tempoing my opponent and bashing in with dragons (I think this game I also was able to remove Up the Beanstalk, or maybe he didn't draw them, which let me draw ahead).

In Game 3 I won on turn five on extra turns, or technically my opponent lost, as he drew with no cards in library. Thank Flores and his genius brain for telling me to play Riverchurn Monument. It's actually insane how correct Monument is in Jeskai instead of Jace, the Perfected Mind, and I'm so happy I included it in my deck as it is single handedly responsible for me winning this match.

Traditionally in Azorius Control I always played two copies of Jace, the Perfected Mind in order to win games by milling for 30 cards in one go. However, one Riverchurn Monument is just as good as two Jaces! How, you might ask? Let me explain.

Riverchurn Monument, while lacking the auto-kill factor of two Jaces, can be used in a variety of smart ways in Jeskai. First and foremost, you can buy it back with Shiko's ability. This is important in the Jeskai mirror matches, as you can lose a powerful win condition like Monument to any kind of Negate. This gives you multiple chances to cast it later on.

Second, you can bounce it back to hand with Marang River Regent! This is actually how I won this Game 3, I was able to exhaust Monument after my opponent tried to Leyline Binding it, but Marang River Regent was able to bounce Binding and get me more activations. Zur Overlords also doesn't have a ton of great ways to permanently deal with Monument, which is why you can either buy it back with Shiko in this matchup, or just kill or bounce their pesky enchantments. This was a really cool sideboard inclusion that felt just as powerful as Jace, the Perfected Mind, but only in one copy instead of two, giving me an extra sideboard slot.

After finishing fifteen grueling rounds of swiss, in which the last 10 I won 9 of, I was utterly exhausted. After I packed up my stuff from my last match I immediately went outside to call my girlfriend, to get some sunlight and away from Magic: the Gathering. While I love going to these events it's really understated just how incredibly exhausting, both mentally and physically they are. I think I've done a solid job in recent years of staying hydrated, bringing snacks, and detoxing at the tournament site to not just get bogged down in tournament fatigue. It's still hard, and shows me I definitely need to work on upping my stamina, sleeping better, and eating better at these events.

Now we get to the hard part. When I saw my name in 34th on the final standings I didn't really know how to respond. I didn't exactly feel gutted, or sad. It was sort of a combination of slight disappointment mixed with my exhaustion, so I honestly didn't know how to process it. I didn't know what to feel. Here's where I point out how lucky I am to have the most supportive friends in this community, and how important it is to build connections in this game.

Aaron Barich took me for a walk outside to talk through it all. This not only helped me to regain composure, but to center myself when thinking about my event from a wider lens, not just from the perspective of just having lost out on a Pro Tour invite by a small percent. This game has taught me over the years that while competing and playing Magic is important to me, it is really about the experiences you get to share with the people you love. I came back into the convention center to a circle of friends that have all been supportive of me for so long, and I value that so much more than any invite to the Pro Tour.

I've taken a lot of time to think about everything these last few days. It's still hard to not ignore the fact that although I came so close to a goal I've had for years, I yet again fell short. You never forget your first big tournament win, whether that's your first RCQ or FNM win. No one prepares you, however, for the losses, the ninth places, the 5-4's to miss day two, the "just short of a PT" invites. It's easy to feel frustrated and heartbroken when it comes to losing while being only inches away from your goal. I know that's how I began to feel on Sunday. However, there are multiple key lessons that I take away from this tournament.

I'm proud of my ability to have kept my emotions at bay during this event. It's hard to ignore thoughts like "I'm not going to day two" or "I'm so close to making the Pro Tour, I'm definitely going to get it!" It's easy to let yourself get distracted by these thoughts that don't matter. At the end of the day I was able to play some of the best Magic I've ever played. Nothing beats the thrill of trying to outmaneuver your opponent playing for high stakes, and I value that experience.

At every experience level this is important to keep in mind. For so many years I let mental blockers like this keep me from making the most optimal plays and enjoy the matches of Magic I was playing. It's incredibly freeing to focus on having fun and playing your best over a quantifiable goal, or what others might think of you.

To piggyback off of this, I can't stress how important it is to build connections and friendships in this game, and to focus on that as your primary purpose of playing. What's the point of spending your weekend playing a card game in the inside of a convention center if you can't share it with the ones you love? This weekend showed me that I'm so lucky to have the people who support me in my life, and I wouldn't trade that for anything. My friends, my family, my mentors, and my partner - all of them are what inspire me to keep going, even in the face of falling short.

From here, I'm just going to keep on keeping on. I don't feel jaded, nor do I feel super excited to try and crush my next event. I'm simply here, finding my way in this game, doing the best I can with the people that make it worthwhile.

I hope this article is of value to you and that you can use it to your advantage the next time you're feeling lost in this game. It's never a bad idea to take a step back and focus on what really matters.

-Roman Fusco