Music City Old School

December 2nd. The Main Event. On this rainy Saturday, we all filed in, fashionably late, as usual. This was the fourth Bootleggers Ball and the second to be Alpha to Alliances. What follows is a bleary-eyed look back to the events of the day.

A total of 23 players took part, making for an intimate, relaxed, and well-spaced event. A hot chicken truck kept us fed and sedated. Yazoo's brew crew plied us with drink and kept the merry vibes going. (Special thanks to the Yazoo folks for having us every time!)

But that doesn't mean we were caught lacking on the prize front. For 23 people, we each came away with something between 5 and 10 signed prize cards each, all group signed. If you haven't been to a BLB, it's something to experience. Between rounds, signing cards is a job on its own. All you sig pigs should learn how it feels to be a signing artist!

Pictured: Sig pigs signing the unholy number of prize cards

Many graciously donated prize alters for the Top 8 finishers on the day. JJ from Chattanooga provided our wonderful Sol Ring alter that went to 1st place. Other alters came from Nick Viau, Merhans, Chris Martin, and others I've definitely forgotten (sorry). Prizes for Highest Unpowered and Most Ice Age cards (excluding basic lands) were also handed out.

Winner, Top 8, Highest Unpowered, and Most Ice Age Cards

A staple of our Christmas event is a prize raffle where players can win anything from a beautiful Brossard Alter (this year there were two--a Zuran Orb and a bauble Chaos Orb proxy!) to a USPS letter carrier's sun hat. Thanks to everyone across the OS scene who provided alters and prizes. A smattering of raffle photos follow:

This year was our best year for charity. We ran back the donation to One Generation Away, a local org that provides meal support and food bank services to those in need. Between the entry fees and the mountain of raffle tickets, the attendees of BLB4 raised over $2,400. And just this week I received a card from OneGenAway that put that big number into perspective. Our donations converted to 8,400 meals. I'm just stunned by that, and so thankful that we have a crew that can go just as hard in helping others as we do in Magic.

The results of our tournament and raffle

Speaking of Magic, the event itself was 5 rounds of A2A. Decklists are below. Our own Stephen Bush took down the event with his Red/Black Necro build, deservingly being awarded the first trophy of a BLB: The Goat. Because he truly is. He also gifted each of his opponents a pack of 5th Edition to crack--and every one was a surprise. "They reprinted THAT in 5th?" Congrats to the champ!

Final Standings and decklists are presented for your netdecking. Enjoy, and we hope to see you some time at a Bootleggers Ball in the future!

1st - Stephen Bush - BR Necro:

2nd - James - Tax Aggro:

3rd - Sonny - Smashville Zoo:

4th - Josh B - USA Tempo:

5th - Chris Martin - RG Berserk:

6th - Cayce - NY LoreBindZoo:

7th - Alan - TaxBind:

8th - Brandon Burgoa - Land Tax Prison (Decklist Missing - just toss 80 random cards from the white section of your OS bulk box and that's about what the deck was. Turns out white cards have a natural synergy that is real powerful.)

9th - Pratt - White Deck Wins: