Saturday 2 December was Mishra’s Day, the charity tournament we run every December. The idea is to bring together the two formats we play at the LCOS and spend a day with cards that are between 20 and 30 years old, catch up with friends, meet new ones, share a fun day and, above all, raise as much money as possible for a good cause. This time it went to Fundación Mona, an NGO devoted to rescuing primates and giving them the best life possible. Thanks to all of you — players, donors and friends — we raised more than 1,200 euros. We will announce the final figure in early January, because we are still collecting. Want to make a donation? Want this fantastic patch? Then read on and you will find out how to get one.
Before that, a word about the tournaments themselves. The plan was to run two championships at once, one Old School and one Premodern. There were 46 of us in total: the community regulars and plenty of friends from all over Spain (Castellón, Valencia, Alicante, Albacete…), every one of them a joy. Honestly, we feel very lucky that almost everyone who plays these formats (there are always exceptions — we all know a few complete tools) is not only a great player but a great person you would happily have a beer or ten with. That’s the way to do it.
The Premodern tournament had 28 players, with green very much to the fore (several Pyrostatic Oath, several Elves, several Oath Ponza, Enchantress…), a Stasis that flew through the early rounds, and the ever-present Goblins and Burn…
After round four we stopped for lunch and enjoyed the Foment, a beautiful restaurant in Molins de Rei that opened in 1921 and has hosted shoots for TV adverts, series and film scenes, including Pedro Almodóvar’s Bad Education. Let’s be honest: for those of us used to playing in grim, dark, filthy places, finding somewhere like this is a treat — high ceilings, natural light, good food and a good location, even if it is outside Barcelona proper.
With full stomachs it was time for the raffle and the charity auction. On one side we raffled a pile of things the players themselves had donated: a playset of Chinese Smokestack, fetchlands, patches, Fundación Mona T-shirts and mugs… 37 items in all.
Once the raffle was done it was time to auction a few things: one of the 4 exclusive Mishra’s Day playmats, an UltraPro deckbox from nearly three decades ago, the original artwork for the 2024 LCOS Premodern playmat and patch, and some Mishra’s Day dividers. That pushed the day’s total up a little further; everyone there understood exactly what Mishra’s Day is for and did not hold back on donating or bumping the current bid by another 5 euros.
Into the home straight, round 5 to decide the Top 8, with this breakdown:
- Oath Ponza
- Enchantress
- Elves
- Elves
- Oath Ponza
- Pyrostatic Oath
- Stasis
- FEB
Alvaro Pericás, a.k.a. Alvaro the Barbarian, who decided at the very last minute to join the Alicante expedition, arrived in the top with a rock-solid 5-0 in the Swiss thanks to Thermokarst and Terravore. Fellow Alicante player David Cortés, a.k.a. Shandalarian, and his gorgeous Japanese Enchantress was one of the 4-1s, as were Telm Fàbregas and Miguel Ginel, both on slightly different builds of Elves. Two of the LCOS Premodern founders, Raul Roso (Oath Ponza) and Fermin García (Pyrostatic Oath), finished on 10 points. Out of the four-way tie on 9 points came Narcís Mir — 3-0 in the first three rounds with Stasis — and Yuse Garcia with a Full English Breakfast.
In the knockouts, the top 4 from the Swiss went through to the semi-finals. There Álvaro beat Miguel’s Elves, but Telm carried Llanowar’s banner into the final after seeing off Shandalarian in a tight semi.
The final was a rematch of round 5: Álvaro vs Telm. In that round Álvaro had rolled straight over the green creatures 2-0, but in the final Elves — arguably the best deck in the format — took the second Mishra’s Day with a narrow 2-1. The final standings:
- Telm Fàbregas - Elves
- Álvaro Pericás aka Alvaro el Barbaro - Oath Ponza
- David Cortés aka Shandalarian - Enchantress
- Miguel Ginel - Elves
- Raul Roso - Oath Ponza
- Fermin Garcia - Pyrostatic Oath
- Narcis Mir - Stasis
- Yuse Garcia - Full English Breakfast
If you have made it this far, you may remember we said at the start that you could get your hands on a patch by reading on. As it happens we have a few spare patches, and we will keep raising money for Fundación Mona throughout December. There are two ways to get one. The first is explained in this video from Old School MTG Channel, Resti Gonzalez’s platform — which also has the finals of both the Premodern and the Old School tournaments.
You can also pick up patches in person at El Nucli (C/ Valladolid 41), our favourite Magic shop in Barcelona. They will be available until the first week of January. For a small donation you can help the monkeys and own a lovely patch — what more could you want?
From all of us organising it, thank you to everyone who made this Mishra’s Day possible. Put Saturday 14 December 2024 in your diary — that is when the next edition of our charity tournament takes place. Anyone who has been will tell you it is a fun, special day, and one well worth experiencing for yourself.